Hi
I’m looking for a reliable and inexpensive used car. I have a small budget and have been told Toyotas and Hondas are very reliable. I have also read that a Geo Prizm is the same car as a Toyota Corolla. How true is that ? Are they the same as far as reliablity and gas mileage go ?
mechaincally they are the same car. I think they were even made in the same factory.
The Prizm is a Corolla sold by Chevrolet dealers. The Prizm and the Corolla were built in the same factory, side by side. They are mechanically identical. They don’t make new Prizms any more, but as used cars they are one of the best you can get.
We had a Prizm in my family that ran trouble-free for 16 years and nearly 200,000 miles. We sold it about a year and a half ago to a neighbor who is still driving it.
Going even earlier into the pre-Geo days the Chevy Novas of the 80’s were also Toyotas. I also think that after the end of Geo they sold the Prism as a Chevy Prism for a few years, so you might look for those too. They are pretty good values-- it used to be you could get a Prism for about half as much as a Corolla.
We had a 1988 Nova. There were differences in the body, of course. But, mechanically, it was all Toyota. 246,000 miles, we junked it only because new parts were no longer available at 14 years of age, and the rebuilt stuff had to be replaced every 13 months or so.
We used to own 1987 Chevy Nova and it was 1.6L Toyota. Basically Irlandes is right that it was same as Corolla. We had it for 14 years/170,000 miles troublefree and incredible great gas mileage. We regretted we sold it.