Let’s ease up just a little here. I have two cars in the driveway that were totalled out after flooding – a 1999 Camry and a 2002 Mazda Protege. Both are fine. Really.
But they were worked over by people who know what they are doing (not me), and they probably weren’t flooded as badly as the Prizm. And being close to new at the time, spending some money to replace stuff probably made economic sense. I don’t know what was replaced or what the rework cost.
Apparently the OP has very little money, so maybe a car that runs badly at times is better than no car at all. OTOH, you can buy a car that runs badly for not all that much money and that might be a better route.