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Please do me a favor - is this a good deal??
Chain set up is a more expensive way to build engines
I trust what is said here, and will verify it. Thanks for the info. Chains last much longer than belts, but over the years, they get noisy.
Other makers use chains in similar-displacement engines as well - Saturn, for one. The home-grown Saturn 1.9L 4-cylinder uses a chain (not sure about the European 4- and 6-cylinder engines in the L-series, though).
1998-current Prizm uses the Toyota engine. So it's the same timing mechanism.
Is it possible to put ABS on it? If
so, any idea what the cost would be
to have it done?
Thanks,
Ken
Please let me know at grishlan@yahoo.com
Thanks.
I also have a 94 Sentra that has been extremely good to me for 130,000 (I will put another 30K - 35K by end of 2002 And perhaps retire it and start using Geo). The Sentra with its high mileage is still less noisy at the same speed.
Do Geos make more noise than Sentras?
I have been thinking to take it to the dealer or auto shop?
Any thoughts?
i traded in a 93 maxda protege LX that had the clunking problem (when you shift gears) that a lot of them have! even the new, new proteges.
anyway, the prism only has 63k on it, and it looks like new. it's not the lsi and i miss the lux of the LX, but this one also has a "roadier", more sporty feel that is hard to explain, but i like driving it better.
i hope this car is as reliable as it's cracked up to be. has anyone switched from mazda to geo and happy they made the change?
I am a proud owner of a new 2001 Prizm. Put up 2000 miles in less than a month and did an oil/filter change around 1500 miles. So far so good, the car runs fine with no problems and engine noise is non-existance even with 3-spd automatic.
However, I noticed that the coolant level is kinda low and I am wondering what type of coolant should I use? After doing some research, I narrowed down to either GM Dex-Coolant (orange color) or Toyota red coolant. Since Prizm is basically a Corolla, should I go with the Toyota red coolant? Also should I flush the coolant and place it with regular green coolant when that maintenance schedule come up? Thanks for any help!
If you don't get discount coupons, find a friend who has a Toyota - they send discount coupons all the time, which make the cost of routine parts (antifreeze, filters, etc.) just about as inexpensive (or cheaper in some cases) than you'd find by buying decent aftermarket maintenance items.
Thanks
Frank
Thanks,
Frank
I have been reading all the posts, and this sounds like such a great little car! No wonder I'm buying one on April 2nd..... :-)
Anyway, please bear with my stupidity, but when you get ANYTHING done on these brand new cars--you take it back to the Chevy Dealeership, right? I'm only asking because of post #380 about the coolant. I hate to feel like a retard, but I have never had a brand spankin' new car.....the closest I've had was a 1999 bought in 2000 with 14K miles on it....
Also, another weird question, does anyone have (or know where to find) written down, blow by blow maintenance schedule (for dummies like me!)??
For example, it would say like:
1,000 miles Oil Change
3,000 miles Oil Change, radiatior flush,
5,000 miles Whatever.....
And on, and on, and on.....
Any advice/help would be appreciated. Thanks!
Ramona
I am so fed up with my current car--a 1999 Kia Sportage EX, 4X4. I bought it last July and have had nothing but problems with it! It has been in the shop at least once a month.... What burns my a** is that I was stupid enough to believe that I was buying a "reliable" automobile--yeah right! I can rely on seeing the service department once a month! Anyway, to make a horrible story even worse, I am "upside down" on the payments--meaning I still owe 13K on the car, and the most I have been able to find a dealership to give me for my POS is 10K. Sheesh! The Chevy Dealership here in Ann Arbor MI is really great, and they are trying really hard to work with me--the Prizm has the best lease special that I can find right now. I have been trying to sell my car by myself for almost three months now--NO CALLS!!! So, I am cutting my losses.....Then, even WORSE, my car totally would not start at all last night--I ran errands all day, came home around 1 pm, then had to go back out at 5 pm, and surprise, surprise, my POS wouldn't start! I had this problem last November and December--I would go somewhere and come out 5 minutes to an hour later, and it wouldn't start. They fixed it before Christmas, and now, it's acting up again. I CAN'T WAIT TO TRADE THIS IN!!!!! I don't even want to list all the things that have gone wrong with this car (at only 22K miles no less!) because I will just work myself up into a rage and go postal on a co-worker!!! Suffice to say, I will be sooo happy when I get into another car!
Also, you mentioned the special only going on until April 2nd??? I was told by Rampy Chevrolet, here in Ann Arbor, that the special is STARTING on April 1st. Are they lying to me?
Thanks for reading and sharing!
Ramona
Thanks,YG.
Anyway, thanks for all the information!
Well, I don't have to worry about the POS Kia anymore--although, kunze1, I did try everything to sell this thing, flyers at my work, and everyone else I know--their work too, flyers in the window, autotrader.com and the magazine, all local newspapers, etc.....
I picked up my new Prizm last night--from a different dealership than in Ann Arbor. To think of the mess I could have gotten into with those people! And, now I KNOW for a fact that they were lying to me--they told me that the rebate didn't START until the 1st of April--and come to find out here that it ends on the 2nd!!! I came sooo close to being screwed! Thank GOD I found a good dealership--and this one is right by my house, so I'll be close by for oil changes and such (hopefully, not much more than that!) I'll have to update in a couple of months, because of course, everyone loves the car brand spankin' new.....
Thanks to everyone for listening to my grumblings, and for all the help and advice. This site is great!
Ramona
I looked at the Saturn S wagon, Ford Focus Wagon and Ford Escort, Dodge Neon, and Chevy Cavalier, before I looked at the Chevy Prizm. I wanted to look at the Toyota Cars, but my wife did not want anything from Japan. So to appease us both, I went with the Prizm.
I got a 3 speed automatic for $13,800 with a five year 60,000 mile warranty. I have 9500 miles on it now, and life could not be better. After the last oil change (at 9000 miles), the oil was almost like new. The car drives great, and has surprising power for a 4 cylinder engine. The engine is quiet, even at start up, and I get around 25 miles to the gallon in bumper to bumper Houston traffic.
I have only have two complaints about the car, but they are my own fault. One, a rear window defogger. I did not know it was not standard on the car. And two, power door locks. It is a pain to reach around to unlock doors for kids. Other than that, I am 100% happy with this vehicle. I hope that this will be my son's first car when he turns 16, 10 years from now.
It is a shame though that Chevrolet is phasing this car out. I think it is the best car they have. It makes the Cavalier look silly.
I hope this helps anyone thinking of buying a Prizm.
I just picked up my new silver with alloy wheels Prizm LSi 5 speed tonight, celebrated at Chi Chi's with my wife, and then drove home 60 miles. Sharp looking, and wow, what a smooth running and driving little sedan! More impressed now than my initial dealer test drive, and very peppy too! I like the way the RPM's drop down low at highway cruising speeds (did not do this well, on a Mazda Protoge I test drove, so no wonder the Protoge is only rated around 30 mpg on the highway). The new Prizm gas gauge was still above full when I got home, so that is a good sign. Concerning tires, before purchase, I had noticed some LSi's on the dealer lot had Firestone, and some had Goodyear Integrity tires. I then looked at the Tire Rack web site to compare the ratings of the Firestones to the Goodyears. The Goodyears were rated a little better in just about every category (wet and dry traction, snow, etc.) so I requested they swap out wheels, tires, and all from another Prizm to get the Goodyears. This they willingly did, and gave me the Goodyear warranty paper work. With the LSi (and with either tire) one gets little wider tire P185, instead of the P175, so road handling should be a little improved, over base Prizm. Since I put on at least 145 miles a day (4 day work week) I should have on about 600 miles by this time next week. (Unless I just go out and drive it around for fun this weekend!!!!) Found out the Chev dealer has factory mud guards available, so may invest in some soon.
Dave
kunze1, sorry my earlier post was not so clear...
I did take a HUGE loss on the Kia, but I was expecting that. The problem was, I owed close to 3.5K negative balance on the POS, and I only had $500 to my name. So, with the rebate, I only had to go over the price of the Prizm by $1500. I probably could have tried to bargain with the dealership (which, by the way, is a great place! University Chevrolet, in Ypsilanti MI.) but too bad I had NO leverage--I just needed to unload the Kia ASAP! Hopefully, I have now learned my lesson, and will never be in another situation like this. I am a bargain shopper by nature, so I wish I could have bargained for this car, but oh well.....
The sticker price was $15,795, for the basic Prizm, 5 speed, medium red color. The funny thing is, it has power nothing, but it does have a sunroof and cruise control. Weird!
Anyway, I don't know how they worked everything out, (and I personally couldn't care at this point--I just hope it's not another lemon...) but I walked out of there with the new car after putting $500 down only, and my payments (including tax, title, etc...) are at $294.51 a month. I know, I know, I wanted to keep them under $250 a month (was paying $350/month for the Kia) but it was physically impossible, with how much negative balance I had on the previous car. I don't know how good of a deal this is or not, but like I said, I was in no position to bargain with them, and I got rid of my POS Kia, and I am driving a new car, while paying off the stupid negative in 3 years. The other dealership in Ann Arbor, on the other hand, kept telling me to BUY a car (yeah right! Get into even MORE years of payments than I'm in right now?!?!?!? HA!), dragged their feet on paperwork for a week, and they came up with some outrageous figure of $380 per month, with $2700 down. Buddy, (I said) if I had that kind of money, I wouldn't be in the mess I'm in right now!!! So, I pretty much told them to go fly a kite. On a side note, I also think I have a stalker from that bad dealership. The salesguy called me (after I had bought my Prizm from the good dealership) wondering if I had any family members that worked for GM, that they would try to work with me and get me a deal, blah, blah, blah. Ya know what? It was the most satisfying thing in the world to tell him that they blew it, and I was already driving a new Prizm, WITH the deal that I wanted, and I did it in ONE DAY!!! He just kept sputtering about how that was an impossible deal, and how'd they do that, and on, and on, and on..... So what, I'm a liar now? Puhleeze, give me a break. Well, I think he is stalking me because since that converstaion, I have 5 other voicemails at work. I don't think I will be calling back.....
But, I know what you mean about the gas guage! I got the car on Thursday with 12 miles on it, it now has 170 miles, and the needle is barely at 3/4 tank! This is great! My boyfriend was laughing at me and calling me "Base Model", and I told him to just drive it, and then see. Well, since then, he has wanted to go places all weekend, and "spare" me from driving in the traffic and bad weather (it's snowing here in Michigan right now...) Yeah, right! My little egg beater is pretty fun to drive, base model or not! :-) Let's hope it keeps on goin' strong--I'm freaked out after owning that lemon Kia POS!
bk_furman, where did you hear that they are phasing the car out??? Eeek! Just my luck, I find a car that is great, and it will be discontinued--Madonn' Mia!!!
Once again, thanks for listening (reading) and sorry for the super long posting....
Mona
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thegrog3@hotmail.com