1993 Geo Prizm LSi from North America - Comments

The fuse box went into melt down mode.

The transmission revs up the engine, resulting in three engines that have thrown rods.

Must change the oil every 1500 miles.

Alignment drifts resulting is my having to align the car every 2 months or so.

Radiator leaks anti-freeze from an unknown location.

If you take it down to the basics, the car will get you where you need to go, but no where else and not fast.

It's a good car for kids that drive too fast cause the car will physically limit their ability to do harm.

Give me a break Its got a 160,000 miles time to get a clue and a new car, you apparently have done something to the car cause I had one forever and NOTHING to this day has went wrong with the car.. and it has 248,000 miles on it!

I cannot personally believe your accusations about the Prizm, manufactured by Toyota. The 1.6 litre and 1.8 litre engines that Toyota supplied the Prizm with are exceptionally well built and seem to be designed for people that conveniently forget about maintenance. I should know- I have worked for a Toyota-Chevrolet dealer for over 2 years. If you purchased this car used, shame on you for not getting the vehicle maintenance records from the previous owner, that is probably where the problem began. If you purchased this car new, shame on you for either not maintaining it correctly, or not selling it to some other fool before you put in three motors.

I believe this review and these other people are out of there mind. Maintenance, if you do maintenance things still break. I have a hole in the gas tank, the primer is coming through the paint even though I wax it twice a year. The air conditioning stoped working. My tires leak no matter what I do. Even with new tires. The engine is making a knocking noise. The buttons on the radio are falling off. Prizms suck despite what people think and my car only has 70,000 miles. Jump on me all you want, but this is what has happened. So go ahead say I don't take care of my car.

Whenever I read these reviews, I cannot help, but think that any review that goes through engines that have been proven reliable in such a short period of time followed by phrases like "It doesn't get there fast" is usually an indication that the car is being abused. It's a small 4 cylinder engine. If you want something fast, buy either a bigger 4 cylinder, a turbo, or a V6.

Is that true in this case? who knows. Anybody can get a lemon. But, this car has apparently been a lemon three times. So, unless there's a REASON that the car is throwing rods that's not being addressed, then it is almost certainly an abuse issue.

With respect to the response above. A hole in a gas tank is not a design or quality problem. It can happen in a $50k Mercedes just the same as it can happen in a $500 used Chevy. Beyond that, if your tires are continuing to leak even after replacing them, then it can only be two things. Either the place you're buying them isn't replacing your valve stems or there's a defect in the rim itself. There's nothing else that it COULD be.

The transmission revs up the engine, causing it to throw rods three times? Now there's a statement that doesn't make a lot of sense. By any chance, did the engines throw a rod when you had the transmission locked into first with your foot jammed to the floor, and the tachometer reading 8,000 rpms? Here's a clue: that's your fault, not the transmission. Perhaps you've never heard the term "red line".

Both the 1.6L and 1.8L are overhead cam engines. There are no rods to throw. Also, the transmission cannot make the engine rev too high -- and if that is the case, why replace the engine and not the transmission?

The Toyota Corolla (and the Prizm, which is just a rebadged Corolla) are notoriously long-lived and reliable. That being said, ANY car will need some serious attention once it has such high mileage. This is especially true if previous owners have abused or neglected the car.