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?
I voted for the better-presenting Prizm and will hunt for a seat cover. Honestly, for $2k these are each pretty respectable.
Friends of mine would fit three child seats in the back of their Matrix. Not only do I prefer the look and paint color of the Vibe, it’s the one that I want to actually get in and drive.
Very tough call today. Picking the Vibe for the body style and hope it doesn’t become death by a thousand cuts on the maintenance due to the mileage. I have a 2009 Corolla with 260k miles. Wheel bearing last week, ignition coil this week, needs rear brakes soon (drums!) and I’ve been sitting on the parts for months……
Tough call, vibe just because I didn’t care for them or the matrix when they were new but they have aged so well like all Toyotas of the 2000s. That Prizm looks looks honest and indestructible.
Prizm – it’s cleaner and it has all it’s plastic wheel covers.
You’re not fooling me, Chevrolet Prism. I was born in the 70’s, I know who you really are.
A running driving vehicle for less than $2k.
Both please.
Hatchback all day every day. I like the Prism but the Vibe is simply a better vehicle, and 200,000 versus 125,000 miles doesn’t mean much with these cars. The Toyota mechanicals are good for it as long as it hasn’t been abused.
I really wanted to vote Vibe for the more useful form factor, but it has 75K more miles on it, plus needs exhaust work in addition to whatever is lighting up the dash, which I find hateful to do. So Chevy for me this time.
Currently owning two NUMMI cars (’87 Nova and ’99 Prizm) this is a tough choice. At nearly 28 years old our Prizm is still DAILY driven by my 17-year old. 250k+ miles and it’s just good, honest, transportation. We’ve had other generation NUMMI cars over the years and if you do basic routine maintenance, and Fluid Film all the cavities, they will last forever.
I’m going with the Prizm here because of miles alone.
I prefer the Vibe, but at this pricepoint, you’re looking for basic reliable transportation. As long as the rust isn’t bad, I think the Prism has more life left in it.
People disgust me – I’ve never, ever had a car seat look remotely as filthy as either of those. There needs to be a “neither” button that’s permanently available if both cars look like they have roaches or rats living inside, or bodily fluid stains.
Seriously. Though at least it looks like both of these owner’s at least vacuumed them before taking the listing photos.
At this price point I have to decide based on what needs to be done to keep the thing running as long as possible. So my vote went to the Geo. An o2 sensor is a parking lot job, the Vibe needs more work to get it fully operational. I’d happily drive either but if I’m trying to be as cheap as possible that’s where my money goes.
So yeah, Prizm, new O2 sensor, and maybe if I’m feeling punchy a new radio with carplay for like $200.
I’d rather go to Lapeer than Chicago any day. Vibe it is.
Vibe. The people I know who owned one missed it when it was gone, with one person wishing they’d make another one. The only reason they got rid of them was because other people decided to crash into them.
So I’ll take the Vibe, give it a good clean and maybe some new (old) wheels and drive it for ages.
I’d be Vibe-ing after a good look underneath to make sure the Michigan winters haven’t consume the frame.
Years is more important than miles with these northern cars, the Vibe’s had almost a decade less exposure to salty slush so it’s my pick.
unless the poncho was a fright pig it was going to get my vote. I kind of wish I had bought one of these over my veloster, sadly they were the same price used, 5 years newer lol
Either would be a decent choice, but the Vibe is basically a whole generation of car newer and a more useful body style to boot. The extra miles don’t bother me much with this powertrain so that’s where I’m voting today.
The driving school I attended used second-gen Geo Prizms. The instructor’s brake would sometimes get jammed into the carpet.
I don’t need nor want to spend any more time in those cars.
The Prizm reminds me of my AE80 Nova, which was also silver. It gets my vote only for that.
These are both excellent cars. I wouldn’t hesitate to daily either one. I had the Prism’s Corolla sibling, and I genuinely loved it. It was a tight squeeze for me though, so I picked the more comfortable Vibe.
Hmm. Miles or model years, miles or model years. The lower miles on the Prizm won for me this time.
Vibe!! I bought one as my daughter’s first car, and it was great. Such a useful body style!
That driver’s seat alone in the Chevy made me vote the other way. Sorry I need to go throw up a little
The previous owner already threw up on the seat for you!