1998 Chevrolet Prizm review from North America

The power steering needed to be worked on at about 100,000 miles. The A/C compressor locked up at about 90,000. The inside door handles broke on both the driver and passenger side. The driver side was repaired, passenger side was not. Annoying to roll down the window to open from the inside, but hardly a crucial issue. Other than that nothing has gone wrong with this car.

This is an extremely basic and reliable little car. It doesn't have much in the way of creature comforts, in fact the interior of the car feels a little cheapy, but it gets about 30mpg and is pretty inexpensive on the used market these days. It isn't fast at all, but it does have enough pep to pass at highway speeds. Most importantly it is extremely reliable and has run perfectly for almost 75,000 miles and 7 years with nothing more than oil changes and basic maintenance. The power steering started making awful noises at 100k as noted above, I took it to the mechanic and it cost about $200 to replace some hoses. Other than that I have had no unscheduled repairs.

Overall this is an excellent car, although very plain.