Chevrolet Sprint
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The Chevrolet Sprint was a rebadged version of the Suzuki Swift sold in the United States and Canada. From 1985-1988, the car was sold as the Suzuki Forsa in Canada. The Sprint was also sold in Canada as the Pontiac Firefly.
During the mid-1980s, imported subcompacts such as the Hyundai Pony, Nissan Micra (and Sentra) and Chevrolet Spectrum were becoming hipper, and GM felt like it would discontinue its predecessor, the Chevette when the Sprint was sold in North America. GM continued its Chevette until 1987, however, and the Chevette was sold alongside its successors, the Sprint and Spectrum.
In the 1988 model year, the non-turbocharged hatchback was named the Chevrolet Sprint Metro. The Metro name was carried through into the Geo brand and retained when it was rebadged to Chevrolet again in 1998. The Suzuki Swift was redesigned for the 1989 model year, and a new name was given to the General Motors rebadge in the United States: Geo Metro. However, as the Geo brand was not introduced to the Canada market until 1992, the car retained the Chevrolet Sprint name for another three model years in Canada.
From 1985 to 1986 the 1.0 L 3-cylinder engine used a hemispherical head carburated design. This model was documented at 60 mpg (US). Later, as fuel injection was mandated, the cylinder head was redesigned to add the additional cooling required. The Sprint was originally offered in Western U.S. states for the 1985 model year; subsequently Chevrolet marketed the Sprint to the rest of the North American market as well. All models had the hatchback body style and initially all were two-door models. Starting in 1987, a four-door hatchback version was offered, called the Sprint Plus. That year, another model called the Sprint ER was offered as a coupe, with a few extra features, including an "upshift" light to indicate the ideal speed to shift to the next highest gear (manual transmission models). Although air conditioning was offered in all years, the three-speed automatic transmission wasn't offered until 1986. All models featured front-wheel drive and 12-inch tires, which contributed to the Sprint's excellent handling and super-economical upkeep costs.
Turbocharged versions of the 1.0 L 3-cylinder engine were available in the Turbo Sprint from 1987 to 1990. Colors were limited to red and white for the Turbo Sprint. The corresponding Suzuki was not turbocharged; instead, it used a 1.3 L 4-cylinder engine (which was essentially another cylinder 'tacked-on' to the 3-cylinder design).
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