The Prizm is a clone of the Toyota Corolla with minor styling and equipment differences; but despite its close kinship, the Prizm has never been as successful as its Japanese cousin.
Both cars are built at a California plant that General Motors shares with Toyota. When Toyota switches to a new version of the Corolla in the next year or two, Chevrolet is expected to drop the Prizm.
Exterior
Available only as a four-door sedan, the front-drive Prizm is 174 inches long — about an inch shorter than the Honda Civic sedan and 7 inches shorter than the Chevrolet Cavalier.
Interior
The Prizm comes in base and more-expensive LSi price levels. Air conditioning is standard on both, but the LSi has several other standard features, including power windows and locks, cruise control, a rear window defogger, tachometer and tilt steering column.
Both models seat five, but only the LSi comes with a 60/40 split folding rear seat. Chevy lists trunk capacity as 12.1 cubic feet without the rear seat folded.
Under the Hood
The Prizm uses the same 125-horsepower 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine as the Corolla. A five-speed manual transmission is standard, and three- and four-speed automatic transmissions are optional.Side-impact airbags for the front seats and antilock brakes are optional.
Driving Impressions
Because it is a Corolla in disguise, the Prizm offers the same quality, reliability and smooth, refined performance. But because the Prizm isnÂ’t as popular as the Corolla, new or used, it has a lower resale value.
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