Faults:

Clutch was already going when I bought the car.

General Comments:

Built like a mini tank. The 1.6 liter engine is not very fast, but this car is very reliable for around the town. Mileage is great.

When I had bought the car, the clutch was already going. Spent 350 dollars on it.

Previous owner's family had used it like a toy. The car body was battered on the driver's side. Body was quite rusty due to salty roads. But as I said, this rusty mini tank just refused to die.

I sold this Prism to buy a newer 1998 Chevy one.

Faults:

Nothing has gone wrong with the car as of yet.

I suspect an engine or transmission mount(s) may be needed. Brakes are okay, not the best.

General Comments:

I love the reliability and the expensive-looking interior of my 1994 LSi model (compared to other inexpensive brands). It gets about 25 MPG highway (that's not too great, in my opinion). However, I absolutely hate how loud the road noise is. It drives me insane. The interior vibrates like crazy, other Prizm owners have remarked about this. The car is supposed to be equivalent to a Corolla. Okay, I accept that. Nevertheless, the feel of the car seems much closer to a Tercel, and certainly a lot more crude than a Camry of the same vintage. I wish I would have spent another $300 US and purchased a Camry.

In summation: I was hoping the car would have less road noise and less of a choppy ride, but it is indeed a basic-needs, no frills econo-box. Meh. Love the reliability factor, though.

Faults:

All interior problems. Knobs falling off the stereo, and heating and cooling adjustments.

Fabric on roof coming unglued, and driver's side door handle broke off. But it's all just normal wear and tear.

When it's cold outside, I sometimes seem to get ice on the inside of my window also, and when driving in cold conditions, my windows fog up very fast, even with the defroster on full blast.

General Comments:

I literally love this car. I live in Colorado, and it handles great in the snow for being such a small car. On mornings when it's 7 below, I never worry about my car not starting.

It's great on gas, and feels like it will literally run forever. I always get my oil changed on time, and always give it a well deserved bath.

I need a bigger car, and that's the only general problem; it's so small.

Faults:

- The radio doesn't make a sound.

- Burns a small amount of oil over time.

- Chirping, squeaking from one of the serpentine belt bearings.

- Dome light comes on 50% of the time when the doors are open.

- A seal in the transmission is slowly leaking

- Harsh vibration when taking tight right turns over 40MPH.

Mechanically, under the hood it never gave me any major problems.

General Comments:

It's pretty much the perfect, reliable college car. The things that are wrong with it are small annoyances, but I never actually had to do any major work on it. It's chock full of easily breaking plastic parts that rattle to their hearts content. But with proper care and use, breaking shouldn't be a problem.

The 1.6L engine power is lazy, and coupled with the 3 speed automatic, is a real killjoy. Driving over 70 MPH means a droning 3500RPM count, and a roaring, loud ride.

The performance and fuel economy could be better, but it gets you where you need to be.

I love the size of the vehicle, seating position is perfect, and visibility is wonderful. The seats are surprisingly comfortable for a compact car too. I took a 6 hour trip one time, and hardly fidgeted.