1991 Geo Prizm LSi review from North America

The alternator went out once and I had to have it towed to a repair shop.

The roof fabric started falling off in late 2004.

In early 2002 some of the thinner plastic parts (interior) broke after extremely cold weather. This would be the bit of plastic that slides along the groove for the gear shift. Since those plastic bits broke there was just a gaping hole and there was no indicator whether the car was in park, reverse, etc. I had to count the number of clicks to know I had it on the right one.

Summer 2003 the driver's side door handle broke, but I was able to fix it with super glue.

Transmission seized up at 147,500 miles. This was probably my fault because I'd neglected to maintain it. The transmission dipstick had broken in half in the summer of 1999 and I never had it replaced. Starting about early 2004, the car made a horrible whining noise in the higher gears. It concerned me, but we just didn't have the money to take it to a mechanic. We also live in a rural area where there are no expressways. We rarely go on the highway. The noise then started happening even in the lower gears. I kept meaning to take it to a mechanic, but never did. Then we took a trip on the highway (Jan 2005) and on the way back it gave me a brief warning that it was seizing and I was able to slow down before it seized up completely and we slid across the icy highway (thankfully no injuries and no damage).

I think the transmission seizing was mainly a lesson in car maintenance and not so much the fault of the car itself.

As far as I know it's never been recalled for anything and I've never had any major trouble with it.

I've taken it on road trips all over the country with no problems.

It does lack power on large hills, that's why I gave it only a 6 for performance. I found that I needed to get a good start so that it wouldn't slow down halfway up a large hill. Sometimes this meant going over the speed limit at the base of the hill. Oddly, with cruise control engaged it usually did fine on the hills. So maybe I just didn't want to push it too hard as a driver.

This car has excellent response and handling.

With cruise control it's comfortable for long trips.

Good gas mileage which is something that's hard to come by these days. Even in its old age it was getting 30-32mpg in the city.

I'll probably be rid of it now. Because of front end damage due to an accident it had some years ago, I don't want to put any money into fixing the transmission. I sure will miss this car. It's really been the best car I've ever owned.