What a difference a grand makes. We’re doubling our price cap each day this week, trying to find the price point at which a car stops being a beater, and today’s cars are a definite step up from yesterday. They’re both products of the erstwhile New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc, also known as NUMMI, which means they’re both secretly Toyotas in disguise.
Yesterday we were looking at cars for a grand or less, and it wasn’t even a competition. The paint-challenged Chevy Lumina blew that Honda Accord out of the water. You all saw something by the Honda’s myriad of dashboard lights, but it sure wasn’t paradise.
Actually, for seven hundred bucks, that Lumina is a damn good deal. It looks like hell, but if the seller is being honest, it runs and drives just fine. And as many of you pointed out, Rust-Oleum is cheap.
But what if you can swing two thousand? Your choices open up drastically, as it turns out. I intentionally chose two more Midwest cars, because finding clean cars on the West Coast is almost too easy. These two aren’t perfect, but they’re pretty damn clean for the price. Let’s check them out.
2002 Chevrolet Prizm – $1,900
Engine/drivetrain: 1.8-liter DOHC inline 4, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Chicago, IL
Odometer reading: 125,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
This car, like the Geo Prizm and Chevy Nova before it, is basically just a Toyota Corolla with slightly different sheetmetal. Toyota sold a bunch of variations on the Corolla theme in Japan, so creating the Chevy and Geo versions was a simple matter of using one of those variations, in this case the Toyota Sprinter. It wasn’t built in Japan, though; like all Prizms and Novas, it came out of the NUMMI factory in Fremont, California, which is now a Tesla factory. This is the final year for the Prizm, and it’s a low-mileage one-owner car.
The Prizm has the same engine and drivetrain as its Corolla sibling, a Toyota 1.8 liter 1ZZ-FE four cylinder engine, and either a five-speed manual or a three- or four-speed automatic. This one is an automatic, and since it’s kind of a fancy model, I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt and assume it has the four-speed. It runs and drives well, but it does have a check engine light for a bad oxygen sensor.
It has power windows and locks, as well as a sunroof, fancy stuff for a Prizm. The driver’s seat looks a little grubby, possibly water-stained? Maybe someone left the sunroof open. Apart from that, it’s in decent shape, and the air conditioning works.
It does have a little rust in the corners, but it’s a Chicago car, so that’s to be expected. The back bumper is also scuffed up, and there are a few dings, which are also no surprise for a city car. And why are these things always silver? Did they come in other colors?
2009 Pontiac Vibe – $2,000
Engine/drivetrain: 1.8-liter DOHC inline 4, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Lapeer, MI
Odometer reading: 198,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
After NUMMI stopped building Corollas and Prizms, it turned its attention to the Toyota Matrix wagon and its near-twin the Pontiac Vibe. The Matrix was pretty conservative, as you would expect from Toyota, but the Vibe was a bit more fun. This is the second-generation Vibe, in its second-to-last model year. This car, sadly, was to be Pontiac’s last vehicle. Not this particular one, though. I don’t think, anyway.
The Vibe and Matrix were still very heavily Corolla-based, and powered by Toyota engines. This one has a 1.8-liter engine and a four-speed automatic, not the most exciting drivetrain around, but it’s reliable and efficient. It’s closing in on 200,000 miles, and the seller drives it daily without trouble. It does have a noisy exhaust, but that’s not unusual for Michigan cars, I’m finding. The ABS and traction control warning lights are also on, which is likely the result of a bad wheel sensor.
It’s a little dirty inside, but it looks intact. The seller doesn’t give us much information to go on, so your guess is as good as mine concerning how much stuff actually works in here. I do wish sellers would be a little more verbose sometimes. There’s no reason to write a whole book about a car, but jeez, give us something.
It’s nice and shiny outside, and I don’t see any rust. There is a chunk missing from the plastic front bumper cover, but if it bothers you, you can probably find one in a junkyard to replace it. Will you find one in navy blue, though? Probably not.
To me, these two seem like decent little cars. Each of them needs something, but nothing that should stop you from driving them until you get around to fixing it. And neither one of them is going to embarrass you in a parking lot. A $2,000 car is probably more like a $2,500 car by the time you get everything whipped into shape, but that’s still a hell of a deal these days. Which way are you leaning?
My friend got a used Matrix as his first car back in 2010. He’s still driving it. It had nearly 100k miles on it when he got it, so who knows how many are on it now. While I prefer the styling of the Matrix over the Vibe, I’ll still take the Vibe today.
Neither. They both will require an unknown amount of repairs to get the lights off and pass inspection.
I never believe a seller when they say their car “just needs x” to turn off a warning light.
Everything else being equal, I will always choose hatch over sedan.
Both of these are good choices. You can’t go wrong wither way. $2000 for a running/driving Toyota is a good deal 🙂
I voted for the Vibe because the hatchback is more useful, and it’s a lot newer, but the sunroof makes the Prizm a compelling choice too. Maybe you can get a stainless exhaust for the Vibe, so it won’t rust again.
In this price range, it’s more about condition, and you have to take each example individually. Even better if you can see it on a lift.
I see so many Pontiac Vibes out on the road just chugging along. They’re usually red. I just don’t think you can kill that car.