For Sale: 2000 Chevy Prizm $2200

[bowtieguy]

it's doubtful that anyone is close enough to want to come look at it, but i thought i'd put it up FS here just in case. gotta sell my prizm. i really love the car, but i have a growing family and teenager drivers on the way.

there's no way, my wife will let them learn in her camaros, and i can't afford to insure 3 vehicles. i don't have the patience to teach them on a 5 speed so...

i've avg over 40mpg w/ just very simple mods and driving tech. the car has been well maintained and got new a/c last summer. i have lots of receipts for maintenence and repairs done. currently it has 158xxx miles and ~80k on the transplanted motor(~20k on the clutch). for those unaware, this is the toyota corolla twin(same drivetrain)w/ the VVTi motor.

looking for a late model 4 cyl accord or camry w/ AT to replace it BTW. gotta a decent amount invested, so i'd like to get $2200 out of it. i'm in no particular hurry, but let me know(tax returns are on the way).

http://www.gassavers.org/garage/view/1239

[imzjustplayin]

I mean not to hurt your selling of your car but.... really? REALLY? You're not going to bother teaching your kids how to drive a 5-speed? I'm pretty sure most teenagers would love the opportunity to drive a 5-speed regardless of what it is. I know that I wanted to smash my face in when I knew that noone I knew had a manual transmission vehicle and that I wanted to drive manual so badly. You know it and I know it that teaching someone how to drive a manual isn't that big of a deal. It'll be a great "bonding" experience and once they know, they'll appreciate the knowledge for later on.

I just feel it's wrong to have new drivers not know the joys of having all the "non" luxury "features" that older cars tend to have. This is coming from a person who started off on a Lexus LS400 then Toyota FJ cruiser and now finally my very own Honda Civic...

Driving a manual means you actually have to pay attention to your driving and won't allow them to do distracting things like talking on the phone, text messaging, doing makeup or other such nonsense.. Women can learn stick shift, teenagers can learn stick shift, just about anybody can.

[ben98gs]

I kinda agree... Everyone should at least know HOW to drive a stick. The Prizm sounds like a perfect first car. It is cheap and reliable. Insurance should be cheaper than an accord or camry of about the same year. Even teenage girls should know how to drive a manual transmission car, that way it is never a reason that they are stranded somewhere in an emergency, "I do not know how to drive it."

Just my $0.02, but ultimately it is your choice and wish you good luck on the sale if that is what you decide.

[imzjustplayin]

I didn't even think about insurance! If you're buying a new car and you've got a loan on it, then you must have comp and collision coverage but if you have a teenager assigned to them, you'll have insurance rates that skyrocket through the roof! The prizm should be one of the cheapest cars to insure.

[bowtieguy]

no question about learning. but, i believe(as do some experts) that new drivers should learn and get the basics in an AT. i drive for a living, and plan to teach my kids the Smith System. if you know the system, you'd agree it would be difficult to learn both simultaneously.

besides, there's the sizing issue. it bites to ride 5 in my car. the camaro, as you know, only seats 4.

[imzjustplayin]

So you spend a year teaching them in an AT and then have them drive the M/T after that. I know for certain that I was proficient at driving by the time a year rolled by (that includes the time from when I got the permit). It's not that you couldn't teach them all the basics with a M/T but that it might scare them. The Corolla you have is the perfect car for a teenager as newer cars tend to have too much HP and consequently make them drive more aggressively than they should. I should know, I drove a 250HP LS400. :P The corolla will be much cheaper on gas and when they learn to drive manual, they'll appreciate it far more than having a high HP automatic.

If you're paranoid about the safety, don't be, kids will always manage to find a way to make something unsafe. Worse thing you could do is convince your kids they're driving a safe vehicle, make them think the vehicle they drive is unsafe, that way they'll drive more conservatively. Studies have shown that despite the addition of technologies which make the car safer, they've found that people drive more aggressively, negating the benefits of said technology. Just so you know, the Corolla you have has high safety marks so I wouldn't worry too much about it anyway.

[VetteOwner]

Originally Posted by bowtieguy

no question about learning. but, i believe(as do some experts) that new drivers should learn and get the basics in an AT. i drive for a living, and plan to teach my kids the Smith System. if you know the system, you'd agree it would be difficult to learn both simultaneously.

besides, there's the sizing issue. it bites to ride 5 in my car. the camaro, as you know, only seats 4.

lol stupid experts if u ask me. my dad taught me how to drive manual and would never trade it for anything. driving isnt hard and i agree with whoever said a manual tranny will keep them concentrated on driving.

when i occasionally do drive an automatic vehicle i feel myself spacing out more lol.

first he took me up to our churches empty parking lot had me get in and just practice starting from a dead stop in my 5 speed truck. after i got pretty good at it he drove me out to the boonies, pulled over, told me to get in and drive.

i did, sure i killed it a few times but he said to keep the speed low that day while i was learning and just keep it on the road and learn to shift

also the first snowfall the following year he drove me back the empty lot and said ok make the truck spin out and practice correcting it. lol i was a natural and he asked how i got so good i told him playing way to many videogames haha

and what the heck is the smith system?

[imzjustplayin]

smith system:http://www.smith-system.com/

It'll be pretty damn hard to teach your kids to follow this system when you're not around. People drive differently depending on who is in the car and who is watching them. The only way to get them to follow that behavior outlined in that training program is to get them to want to do it. If they don't want to do it out of their own free will, they'll only do it when you're around or being scrutinized.. Your best luck to mileage is to just give them the Corolla M/T. If you want **** mileage, be sure to give them the Camaro, or A/T Camry/Accord as those cars mostly average 20mpg. I should know, my dad owns what is basically a Camry and my friend's own an Accord. Year doesn't matter on those vehicles as they're pretty much designed with fuel economy as the lowest priority.

The Corolla/Prizm will be the cheapest car to maintain by a long shot. Being a M/T makes it significantly more reliable than the automatics.. There is a lot more you can do with a broken M/T than with a broken A/T. If the clutch is burnt out or the synchros are bad on the M/T, there is still hope of getting home but if the torque converter or the synchros go out on an A/T, you're basically stranded. Also you can't push start an automatic with a dead battery like you can with a M/T. There are so many advantages of having a M/T over an A/T it'd be silly not to consider one unless you're dealing with handicapped people.

[GasSavers_JoeBob]

When I was in high school (that was back in the days when dinosaurs walked the earth, and we started cars by sticking our feet through the floor), we had driver training as part of the curriculum. Most of the training was in these GIGANTIC Pontiac station wagons. But everybody got one day (about three hours...I had it during Easter vacation) in the then-new Pontiac T-37 manual transmission car. The T-37, IIRC, was the replacement for the GTO, and was only made that one year (1971). What a car to learn to drive a stick in! I just regret that I wasn't a good enough driver at that time to appreciate it! Yet, by the end of the day, I was at least marginally competent to drive a stick.

This one looks just like the one I drove...same color and everything.

Oh...the day we had the stick-shift car, that was the day we also learned to drive in the mountains!

[Project84]

I agree with everything being said. Teach them in the cheap, easy to replace, requires more attention car.

ANYONE can drive an auto, and anyone can do it while spacing out, talking on a phone, texting, playing with the radio, etc.

My first car was an '84 Camaro 305ci auto. I wrecked it, of course. Playing w/ the radio while driving and BAM! Rear ended a Corolla oddly enough. I looked up at the intersection and saw a green light, glanced down, BAM... apparently I didn't judge my speed well enough to flowing traffic.

That's actually what gave me a new appreciation for cars, and sparked my interest in being a mechanic. I was told, "You bought it, you fix it or sell it, it's not sitting in the driveway looking like THAT." Off to the junkyard I went w/ a sack lunch and spent 9 hours pulling the front end off another 3rd gen camaro.

Miss that car... here it was when I bought it, before the wreck.


After the wreck, right before I sold it.


Drag racing!!!!!


Threads w/ pics are just better.