It seems that the GEO tracker is the successor to the Samurai? Am I right on that? If that is true, does anyone know the years of production of the Tracker?  And also, were most of them 2-wheel or 4-wheel drive?
Eugene

The Sidekick/Tracker is a stand alone vehicle by Suzuki. The Samurai continued to be built years after the Sidekick/Tracker was introduced (Just not sold in the USA). The Sidekick/Tracker was introduced in 1989 and was built through 2000 (<-- Not posativr about 2000)

Zig

http://www.zukiworld.com/main_departments_techspecs.htm

Question for all you Zuk nuts (OK ACK where are you with the infinate knowledge  )

Looking at the histories they are showing the Sidekick up through 98 and then the start of the Vitara. BUT, I was almost posative that Chevy sold the Vitata rebadged as a Geo Tracker and then a Chevy Tracker up through 2000.

Am I wrong??

Zig

Quote from: azxr on September 10, 2006, 04:48:43 PM

http://www.zukiworld.com/main_departments_techspecs.htm

Question for all you Zuk nuts (OK ACK where are you with the infinate knowledge  )

Looking at the histories they are showing the Sidekick up through 98 and then the start of the Vitara. BUT, I was almost posative that Chevy sold the Vitata rebadged as a Geo Tracker and then a Chevy Tracker up through 2000.

Am I wrong??

Zig

It was either '97 or '98 that GM dropped the "Geo" name, and started selling them as "Chevrolet Trackers" through 2003.

OK cool, I knew I had seen Tracker on teh back of Vitaras.

Zig

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It was either '97 or '98 that GM dropped the "Geo" name, and started selling them as "Chevrolet Trackers" through 2003.

They dropped Geo in "98 and sold as the Chevy Tracker trough "04. Which is when the Equinox came on the scene .

...OK ACK where are you with the infinate knowledge  ;) 

Not know.  Sounds like an interesting research project...   Unfortunately, my plate is full right now. 

I'm not sure that I'll ever find the time to do a proper review on the SX-4.  Although it is a very nice driving vehicle, is equipped with an all-wheel-drive system and is priced very nicely, It does not have the function and features that I am looking (or am interested in) for in a vehicle right now.  Which is to say, it probably isn't the kind of vehicle that will adapt to offroading.

I guess I am hijacking, so I'll gather my notes and post something here soon in a new thread/more appropriate forum...

Quote from: Zukipilot on September 11, 2006, 04:52:10 AM

Quote from: azxr on September 10, 2006, 04:48:43 PM

http://www.zukiworld.com/main_departments_techspecs.htm

Question for all you Zuk nuts (OK ACK where are you with the infinate knowledge  )

Looking at the histories they are showing the Sidekick up through 98 and then the start of the Vitara. BUT, I was almost posative that Chevy sold the Vitata rebadged as a Geo Tracker and then a Chevy Tracker up through 2000.

Am I wrong??

Zig

It was either '97 or '98 that GM dropped the "Geo" name, and started selling them as "Chevrolet Trackers" through 2003.

chevy bought geo in 96, they rebadged it to chevy in 98. But if you look closely at the geo badge on the front grille on the 96-97 theres a little chevy bowtie in the middle.

Geo was always a part of GM and Chevy, they just officially made it part of the fold in 96. 

Selling small foreign cars as rebadged Chevy and Fords didn't work in the late 80's because nobody went to an american dealership to buy a small car.  They just went and bought a honda, or Izuzu, or wherever.  In order to get people used to coming to domestic dealerships to buy small cars GM created Geo and attached it to the Chevy dealerships.  Dodge and Eagle, and Ford I think just lost market share. 

You can find a good writeup over at Wikipedia on Geo. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geo_%28Cars%29

Box body (generation 1) Tracker and Sidekick were the same basic body from 89 through 98.  Tracker went from Geo at the end of 97 model year and in 98 it was badged as Chevy Tracker.  Still the same vehicle.  In fact other than a few mods the 97 and 98 cant be told apart.   The next year 99,  they changed body style to the generation 2 body which ran as both Sidekick and Tracker through 04.

I understand that in Europe the generation 1 body Sidekick continued after 98 and was called the Vitara over there even though it was different than the generation 2 Vitara being sold in America.

It was either '97 or '98 that GM dropped the "Geo" name, and started selling them as "Chevrolet Trackers" through 2003.

chevy bought geo in 96, they rebadged it to chevy in 98. But if you look closely at the geo badge on the front grille on the 96-97 theres a little chevy bowtie in the middle.

Uhhh, no sorry dude.  Geo always was, and never was, Chevrolet.  Chevrolet never bought Geo.  Geo was created by GM to have different badging to put on Toyota's(Prizm) Suzuki's(Metro and Tracker) and Isuzu's(Storm), and sell them as low cost options on Chevy lots.  As of I beleive 97 or 98, they decided that selling these cars under the assumed Geo name wasn't a good idea, but continuing to rebadge the competition's vehicles and sticking them on their lot was *scratching head and furrowing brow*, so Geo is then nixed and the Tracker, Prizm, and Metro carry on as Chevrolets from that point on, until eventually replaced with original GM engineered models.  Although I am not 100% sure, I don't beleive there to be any corrolation between the demise of Geo, and the change from Sidekick to Vitara.  I'm pretty sure that changed when they went from squarish to jellybean bodystyles, while I distinctly remember the Chevrolet badging already on a squarish bodystyle.  As far as the logo goes, that was the logo on every Geo. The Lattitude/longitude around a Bowtie...the whole idea was Chevrolet cars...from around the globe. 

   And I'll end the post with my typical rant.  Not that it's important techincal information that could ruin someones rig or get them hurt, but I'm still very disappointed with the misinformation flying around this thread.  Come on Zukiworld, lets keep the QC intact here.  To redeem my faith, can someone tell me what vehicle now carries the torch as the last rebadged vehicle sold as a Chevrolet? (hint, it really did have the torch passed to it because it was introduced in the 2004, officially the last year as the Tracker, and like Tracker it has Suzuki DNA.)

   I was always under the impression that GM added the Geo line in order to help meet the CAFE requirements. 

I understand that in Europe the generation 1 body Sidekick continued after 98 and was called the Vitara over there even though it was different than the generation 2 Vitara being sold in America.

Yep, it was always called a Vitara over here. Mine is a generation 1 2000 model. In 1998 the new shape was launched as a GV (SWB) or a Grand Vitara (LWB), the old shape reverted to an 8V engine with an updated TBI. The gen 1 saloons were discontinued in 2001 but the commercial version with the 1.9TD engine was launched that year. The commercial wasn't a good seller and was dropped in 2003. The Gen 1 model, now exclusively fitted with the TD, is still produced in Spain by Santana who made many of the Suzukis sold in Europe. Santana produced Land Rovers for a time before they switched to making Zuks and many of the early model SJs have a Land Rover VIN plate.