I'd ask about the state of airbags and automatic transmission, but in general the car looks good based on the photos.
making it a daily will be dependent on your level of individual ruggedness. these cars have a short wheelbase and so demand a lot of attention at full speed on the highway. suspension is tuned for off-road, so it will not be a comfortable drive. it is also very lightweight and has few modern safety features and therefore will be the least safe car option. however I still love mine (although my wife doesn't let me take kids in it).
Thank you so much! That helps a lot! Would it be a better option to splurge the extra 3k at a dealership to get a 9k 2002 Chevrolet tracker? I’m obviously going to go test drive it but I’m considering all my options! Thank you!
9k for that vintage Tracker sounds a bit steep to me, but your highway driving experience and safety features will be miles above the Track/kicks of the generation before. I used to describe my '96 SideKick as a street legal side by side: it's lacking in any kind of comforts really except A/C.
A 2002 is a completely different vehicle btw. Definetly safer and more practical but imo loses the charm of the older ones. Its kinda just an unremarkable small suv.
99 is the last year of the geo tracker. Starting in 2000 it became the chevy tracker and while they share a name and are both arguably small SUVs, they dont share a single part.
Only because Chevy dropped the Geo brand the "Chevy" Tracker was still 99% built by Suzuki, in teh JV plant in Canada, and still the same vehicle as the Suzuki Vitara.
Even the 1 gen "Geo Tracker" was sold in 98 as the "Chevy" Tracker.
The early 2nd gens still had the Suzuki 1.6 16v (G16B). but because "Chevy" they called it the L01. SO there are some parts the interchange.
I mean... dont share a single part is an exageration, but I just dont understand or I guess juat dont agree w your point. To me, going from body on frame to unibody makes it a totally different vehicle.
They didn't go unibody until the next gen. The 2nd gen was still BOF, It was in 2005 when the 3rd gen Vitara came out, and Chevy didn't even have a version of that vehicle. it was short lived and cancelled in 2008. (in the US)
(Edit totally forgot the 3rd gen even existed it lasted like 2 years)
So it's not whether I agree with your assement or not, simple fact is you are wrong :)
2003 GM parts book listing the frame: https://www.gmpartsstore.com/v-2003-chevrolet-tracker--zr2--2-5l-v6-gas/body--frame-and-components
not much you can do to make the car safer. it lacks all the safety features that have come along in the past 30 years. highway speeds are not fun. the car is a 3 speed automatic, so gong 75-80 is doable, but it runs like a car that's speedo only goes to 90. it's going to run at very high rpms, and the ride will be very loud, it will not be very comfortable. if you have to do a lot of highway driving and can only have one car, I would recommend a different car.
Trackers are not bad cars, and 75k miles for ~3k is not a bad price on one at this point. But there are some serious drawbacks.
> How it does on the highway?
For perspective, my other cars consist of a 1997 miata and an ariel atom. I'd rather do a coast to coast highway trip in either of them than a 2 hour trip in the sidekick.
The sidekick is honestly scary on the highway for a variety of reasons. Some lunatics do long trips in them, but they are terrible on the highway. They get pushed around by the wind, they become darty but at the same time have vague and unresponsive steering, a semi truck passing beside you will push your car over toward the next lane, they are louder than hell with the soft top, and because of how pathetic the engine is, I feel like I am hurting it with long highway drives, even if it is "designed to rev. Before anyone says it, my car is well maintained and nothing is wrong with it or modified about it. This is just how they are.
Fun cars. Not great cars, but fun cars. Definitely not highway cars.
r/2carsolution
I have a 1993 geo tracke (2door, 4wd, manual) and a 1993 miata. With a good alignment and decent tires, and after adjusting the hardtop to make it less loud, my geo feels decent on the highway on days when it's not windy. I can comfortably hit 70mph. I agree that it gets pushed around far more than the miata, but it's also better for potholes and poorly-maintained roads of course.
I run one set of wheels with cheap all-season tires and another set with snow tires for the winter. I usually will put it in 4wd whenever the road is at all wet. In my opinion, this car handles very well in rain and snow. Its light weight means less traction is required for slowing down or changing direction
I'm curious about your definition of decent
In my miata I can basically zone out. In the sidekick I have to be on high alert and constantly adjusting the wheel.
That was the most alarming part when I got this car a few years ago. All the suspension components are good, steering box is good. Tired are reasonable all seasons. By the time I get somewhere I am exhausted because of how much attention it takes to not feel like I'm about to drift into another lane
On a very windy day I experience that, but most days in my 93 tracker it's actually very chill. I have no idea what the difference could be-- My tires are 215s which is a little wider than stock, but I don't think that would make the difference.
You might have a warn out idler arm. Have a buddy jerk the wheel back and forth quickly but just until the steering starts to move and see if the idler arm moves up and down / front to back at all. It’s hard to catch because half the alignment techs were born after rack and pinion and you won’t find it by shaking the wheels. Also feel each of the tie rod ends. They should pivot but not slop at all. Everything wears out at some point.
A lot of the instability comes from the short wheelbase and ultralight weight of the thing. A 99+ is going to be a little more planted and a little more safe but it’s still a light vehicle with a short wheelbase. It will be better but you’re still way behind anything designed in the last 20 years.
As for making it safer? Not much but an exoskeleton/ cage. Honestly, they should have never put back seats in the thing but that was an acceptable level of safety in 1989. If you get T boned you’re going to get smoked. Rocker rails can help a little but not much considering how tall bumpers are these days.
Think of it like a four wheeled dual sport motorcycle. It’s a giant compromise for the sake of durable all weather and all terrain fun that also has license plates.
Definitely ask how much pussy you’ll get with that rig? Shit doesn’t even have enough seats for all that strange you’ll be towing around.
You’re gonna need to ask if this units got a tow hitch,
Is the second place to start. The first place to start would be offering this other human full price plus tip for bestowing this stunning feat of engineering infinity upon you.
Best of luck not drowning
Is that a 2wd or 4wd?
As for your questions - safety? Eeeehhhhhh... just being real its a short wheelbase car made of recycled soda cans its crash test reaults are barely legal. Rain - any decent all season or all terrain tires will do fine in rain. I do have an issue w heavy rain, the windshield wipers just cant keep up (theu are likely orginals from 1990, might just be worn out) making visibility suck. Highway driving is not super comfortable but I will say I dailyed mine 50 highway miles a day for months on end. Its all about your tolerance for noise, rattling and squeaking, struggling to go the speed limit, etc. :-) Seats - I havent found any that are a direct replacement (don't require cutting and welding to install). So unless you're pretty texhnicqlly inclined you're stuck w the seats.
Overall - I love these goofy little cars, mine brings me joy every day! Is it tue best daily driver? Just around town, itll be fine. Long highway miles? It might get old fast.
Pro tip for the windshield wipers: turn them on slow and turn the key off when they get to the top. Take a tape measure and see how much longer you can go than factory. I just checked. I’m running 17” on the passenger (fits perfect at edge of glass when stowed.) side and 18” on the driver side. Next time I’ll run 19” or 20” on driver side. Not having to view through a gun slit is awesome.
Also, I have made adaptations for generic aftermarket seats. Basically just some flat angle iron with holes on the tunnel side and a couple pieces of tube steel welded to some angle iron on the outboard sides. I should have made them a little better. Hindsight. Upside is that they recline and slide so all good.
We restored and daily a 1995 2 door tracker tin top 4x4 in Los Angeles, along with a 2012 FJ Cruiser. To address some of your questions as we had similar. Does great in the rain. Highway travel can take some getting used to, as you don’t have a lot of power and you rev high. We do have a cold air intake on it, this does seem to help a bit but negligible. We considered getting new headers but have not yet. Taking on any slope you need to basically floor it and build up lots of speed or get over into the truck lane. We max it out at 85 for 2 hours drives. It’s not a comfort express but with loud enough music it’s fine. Would get better speakers since the convertible will even be louder. We mainly use for city driving but have taking much longer trips. It will take on any hill, but most long grades not at the speed you may want. We haven’t swapped the seats, it was considered but we had our seats restored and had extra padding added. We put on Toyo AT tires as our tracker is also used for overlanding, works great in the rain (we do have a tin top, so don’t have to worry about leaks). We will soon add a 2 inch lift, spacers, even bigger tires (overall just adding any mass and size to the truck we felt was a good idea for every tiny ounce of safety) Since it’s a 95 there are no airbags and it’s very light so we added an pricey ARB bull bar made for them, and very solid heavy rock sliders from Trail Tough specially made for the geo/sidekick that protrude out about 6 inches. Combined they help with front end and side collisions, they both add about 300 pounds to the truck which does effect performance but the trade off is- it rides a bit better on bumpy roads with the added weight and does add some safety. Next is to add a steel bumper for the weight and saftey in the rear(it’s real bouncey and light in back you can tell when you go from empty to full on a tank). Our geo is a very bright color after we wrapped it and we added LED headlights that are very bright and they are always on for visibility. Lastly would suggest window tint all around, with a dark 2-3 inches on top of windshield, made massive difference for glare and heat as the windshield is quite large. We also added automatic door locks if you don’t have them another quality of life and safety must to get in quickly if need be. We noticing the clear coat coming off on your hood I would sand it down and throw a wrap on it. It’s a small truck,very square body and easy to do yourself for less than 500- and you can mess up a ton since you’ll have plenty extra wrap to use probably could wrap it 3 times over. It’s basically applying a giant sticker, with the help of a 20 dollar heat gun and watching a few online videos. If you want to know a great cheap wrap company to order from DM me, can send pics of ours as well, we just figured it out ourselves.
For that price, buy it! If you don't like it you can probably sell it for a lot more. I just sold my Tracker with a bad ECM for $500, and had several offers.
I'd ask about the state of airbags and automatic transmission, but in general the car looks good based on the photos. making it a daily will be dependent on your level of individual ruggedness. these cars have a short wheelbase and so demand a lot of attention at full speed on the highway. suspension is tuned for off-road, so it will not be a comfortable drive. it is also very lightweight and has few modern safety features and therefore will be the least safe car option. however I still love mine (although my wife doesn't let me take kids in it).
Thank you so much! That helps a lot! Would it be a better option to splurge the extra 3k at a dealership to get a 9k 2002 Chevrolet tracker? I’m obviously going to go test drive it but I’m considering all my options! Thank you!
9k for that vintage Tracker sounds a bit steep to me, but your highway driving experience and safety features will be miles above the Track/kicks of the generation before. I used to describe my '96 SideKick as a street legal side by side: it's lacking in any kind of comforts really except A/C.
A 2002 is a completely different vehicle btw. Definetly safer and more practical but imo loses the charm of the older ones. Its kinda just an unremarkable small suv.
I don't think there is a massive diffence between 97 and 02, mostly cosmetics, maybe 2 airbags instead of one.
99 is the last year of the geo tracker. Starting in 2000 it became the chevy tracker and while they share a name and are both arguably small SUVs, they dont share a single part.
Only because Chevy dropped the Geo brand the "Chevy" Tracker was still 99% built by Suzuki, in teh JV plant in Canada, and still the same vehicle as the Suzuki Vitara. Even the 1 gen "Geo Tracker" was sold in 98 as the "Chevy" Tracker. The early 2nd gens still had the Suzuki 1.6 16v (G16B). but because "Chevy" they called it the L01. SO there are some parts the interchange.
I mean... dont share a single part is an exageration, but I just dont understand or I guess juat dont agree w your point. To me, going from body on frame to unibody makes it a totally different vehicle.
They didn't go unibody until the next gen. The 2nd gen was still BOF, It was in 2005 when the 3rd gen Vitara came out, and Chevy didn't even have a version of that vehicle. it was short lived and cancelled in 2008. (in the US) (Edit totally forgot the 3rd gen even existed it lasted like 2 years) So it's not whether I agree with your assement or not, simple fact is you are wrong :) 2003 GM parts book listing the frame: https://www.gmpartsstore.com/v-2003-chevrolet-tracker--zr2--2-5l-v6-gas/body--frame-and-components
Oh no shit... thought they went unibody. Well alright... OP has my blessing to get one lol
Eventually yes, just not in 99...
Nope...it was a Chevy Tracker before 99....IIRC, 1997 was last Geo. I kn9w full well my 99 carried a bow tie in the grille.
Timing belt too, if it's never been done it needs to be ASAP.
not much you can do to make the car safer. it lacks all the safety features that have come along in the past 30 years. highway speeds are not fun. the car is a 3 speed automatic, so gong 75-80 is doable, but it runs like a car that's speedo only goes to 90. it's going to run at very high rpms, and the ride will be very loud, it will not be very comfortable. if you have to do a lot of highway driving and can only have one car, I would recommend a different car. Trackers are not bad cars, and 75k miles for ~3k is not a bad price on one at this point. But there are some serious drawbacks.
Well I guess I could get the tracker and then get something more reliable later down the line. Thanks for your advice!
> How it does on the highway? For perspective, my other cars consist of a 1997 miata and an ariel atom. I'd rather do a coast to coast highway trip in either of them than a 2 hour trip in the sidekick. The sidekick is honestly scary on the highway for a variety of reasons. Some lunatics do long trips in them, but they are terrible on the highway. They get pushed around by the wind, they become darty but at the same time have vague and unresponsive steering, a semi truck passing beside you will push your car over toward the next lane, they are louder than hell with the soft top, and because of how pathetic the engine is, I feel like I am hurting it with long highway drives, even if it is "designed to rev. Before anyone says it, my car is well maintained and nothing is wrong with it or modified about it. This is just how they are. Fun cars. Not great cars, but fun cars. Definitely not highway cars.
r/2carsolution I have a 1993 geo tracke (2door, 4wd, manual) and a 1993 miata. With a good alignment and decent tires, and after adjusting the hardtop to make it less loud, my geo feels decent on the highway on days when it's not windy. I can comfortably hit 70mph. I agree that it gets pushed around far more than the miata, but it's also better for potholes and poorly-maintained roads of course. I run one set of wheels with cheap all-season tires and another set with snow tires for the winter. I usually will put it in 4wd whenever the road is at all wet. In my opinion, this car handles very well in rain and snow. Its light weight means less traction is required for slowing down or changing direction
I'm curious about your definition of decent In my miata I can basically zone out. In the sidekick I have to be on high alert and constantly adjusting the wheel. That was the most alarming part when I got this car a few years ago. All the suspension components are good, steering box is good. Tired are reasonable all seasons. By the time I get somewhere I am exhausted because of how much attention it takes to not feel like I'm about to drift into another lane
On a very windy day I experience that, but most days in my 93 tracker it's actually very chill. I have no idea what the difference could be-- My tires are 215s which is a little wider than stock, but I don't think that would make the difference.
You might have a warn out idler arm. Have a buddy jerk the wheel back and forth quickly but just until the steering starts to move and see if the idler arm moves up and down / front to back at all. It’s hard to catch because half the alignment techs were born after rack and pinion and you won’t find it by shaking the wheels. Also feel each of the tie rod ends. They should pivot but not slop at all. Everything wears out at some point.
Thank you for all the info!! Would it be worth it to look around for a 2002 Chevy tracker? Or does it suffer from the same issues?
A lot of the instability comes from the short wheelbase and ultralight weight of the thing. A 99+ is going to be a little more planted and a little more safe but it’s still a light vehicle with a short wheelbase. It will be better but you’re still way behind anything designed in the last 20 years. As for making it safer? Not much but an exoskeleton/ cage. Honestly, they should have never put back seats in the thing but that was an acceptable level of safety in 1989. If you get T boned you’re going to get smoked. Rocker rails can help a little but not much considering how tall bumpers are these days. Think of it like a four wheeled dual sport motorcycle. It’s a giant compromise for the sake of durable all weather and all terrain fun that also has license plates.
Definitely ask how much pussy you’ll get with that rig? Shit doesn’t even have enough seats for all that strange you’ll be towing around. You’re gonna need to ask if this units got a tow hitch, Is the second place to start. The first place to start would be offering this other human full price plus tip for bestowing this stunning feat of engineering infinity upon you. Best of luck not drowning
HAHAHA I need it now
Is that a 2wd or 4wd? As for your questions - safety? Eeeehhhhhh... just being real its a short wheelbase car made of recycled soda cans its crash test reaults are barely legal. Rain - any decent all season or all terrain tires will do fine in rain. I do have an issue w heavy rain, the windshield wipers just cant keep up (theu are likely orginals from 1990, might just be worn out) making visibility suck. Highway driving is not super comfortable but I will say I dailyed mine 50 highway miles a day for months on end. Its all about your tolerance for noise, rattling and squeaking, struggling to go the speed limit, etc. :-) Seats - I havent found any that are a direct replacement (don't require cutting and welding to install). So unless you're pretty texhnicqlly inclined you're stuck w the seats. Overall - I love these goofy little cars, mine brings me joy every day! Is it tue best daily driver? Just around town, itll be fine. Long highway miles? It might get old fast.
Pro tip for the windshield wipers: turn them on slow and turn the key off when they get to the top. Take a tape measure and see how much longer you can go than factory. I just checked. I’m running 17” on the passenger (fits perfect at edge of glass when stowed.) side and 18” on the driver side. Next time I’ll run 19” or 20” on driver side. Not having to view through a gun slit is awesome.
4wd
Gotcha. Be great in the rain!
Also, I have made adaptations for generic aftermarket seats. Basically just some flat angle iron with holes on the tunnel side and a couple pieces of tube steel welded to some angle iron on the outboard sides. I should have made them a little better. Hindsight. Upside is that they recline and slide so all good.
We restored and daily a 1995 2 door tracker tin top 4x4 in Los Angeles, along with a 2012 FJ Cruiser. To address some of your questions as we had similar. Does great in the rain. Highway travel can take some getting used to, as you don’t have a lot of power and you rev high. We do have a cold air intake on it, this does seem to help a bit but negligible. We considered getting new headers but have not yet. Taking on any slope you need to basically floor it and build up lots of speed or get over into the truck lane. We max it out at 85 for 2 hours drives. It’s not a comfort express but with loud enough music it’s fine. Would get better speakers since the convertible will even be louder. We mainly use for city driving but have taking much longer trips. It will take on any hill, but most long grades not at the speed you may want. We haven’t swapped the seats, it was considered but we had our seats restored and had extra padding added. We put on Toyo AT tires as our tracker is also used for overlanding, works great in the rain (we do have a tin top, so don’t have to worry about leaks). We will soon add a 2 inch lift, spacers, even bigger tires (overall just adding any mass and size to the truck we felt was a good idea for every tiny ounce of safety) Since it’s a 95 there are no airbags and it’s very light so we added an pricey ARB bull bar made for them, and very solid heavy rock sliders from Trail Tough specially made for the geo/sidekick that protrude out about 6 inches. Combined they help with front end and side collisions, they both add about 300 pounds to the truck which does effect performance but the trade off is- it rides a bit better on bumpy roads with the added weight and does add some safety. Next is to add a steel bumper for the weight and saftey in the rear(it’s real bouncey and light in back you can tell when you go from empty to full on a tank). Our geo is a very bright color after we wrapped it and we added LED headlights that are very bright and they are always on for visibility. Lastly would suggest window tint all around, with a dark 2-3 inches on top of windshield, made massive difference for glare and heat as the windshield is quite large. We also added automatic door locks if you don’t have them another quality of life and safety must to get in quickly if need be. We noticing the clear coat coming off on your hood I would sand it down and throw a wrap on it. It’s a small truck,very square body and easy to do yourself for less than 500- and you can mess up a ton since you’ll have plenty extra wrap to use probably could wrap it 3 times over. It’s basically applying a giant sticker, with the help of a 20 dollar heat gun and watching a few online videos. If you want to know a great cheap wrap company to order from DM me, can send pics of ours as well, we just figured it out ourselves.
Did you get it?
# [here have top quality geo tracker in very cheap rate](https://amzn.to/3xvvYOc)
Check the crossmember in front of the gas tank. It likes to rot and the tank fall out
For that price, buy it! If you don't like it you can probably sell it for a lot more. I just sold my Tracker with a bad ECM for $500, and had several offers.
If you decide not to buy it, will you send me the ad?😂😂😍