I lived with one for two months. I had a Laser Blue Metallic LS with the automatic. I always meant to write up a review but school and lack free time interfered...I wonder if it would be too late too now...a
Anyway...here's the rundown:
The Good
Handsome, if conservative exterior
Pleasant, is unimaginative interior design.
No rattles
Great Brakes
Very good power delivery (always felt strong even on the highway
Smooth Shifting Transmission
Simple controls
AUX Jack
Automatic headlights (loved that feature)
Nicely designed and easy to read guages
Easy fold down rear seats (also the releases are in the trunk, which is convenient)
Good Visibility
Excellent highway stability (felt as solid as my car, even at 90-100)
Information Center is useful and a nice feature
Comfortable front seats
Small Steering wheel
The Bad
Transmission sometimes hesitates to downshift
Cheap interior materials
Build Quality not very impressive (mostly inside but the front fascia was misaligned under the right headlight)
Steering always felt strange. The waiting was nice and there was some feedback but it always felt artificial in the way it moved...I got used to it, but I was always aware of it.
Base stereo sucks...no bass, music sounds hollow
Rear seat legroom not very good, cushion not very comfortably positioned either
Never sure whether I liked the engine's soundtrack or not
The hub caps look like ass, go for the wheels
Arm rest fabric on door panels very uncomfortable, plus it's just fabric over hard plastic...no padding
Cheap plastics easily scratched...scratched the door panel with my finger nail(!!!) while rolling the window down
Ignition area easily scratched
No proper oil gauge, temp gauge or battery life gauge (but most cars lack that these days)
The Ugly
I got very poor fuel economy, especially in the city. Average was 18, worst was 16.8 Highway was better..best was 32.2. Still, as I've said, The Prizm gets 40+mpg highway...and we averaged 40 mpg going an average speed of 90 mph or so fully loaded with stuff, us a 30 gallon rank with about 5 gallons of water and fish, and 2 cats. It gets 25 or so in the city.
Basically it got slightly better than what my Intrepid averages.
Fuel economy aside, I liked the car overall and would consider a used one...but it would have to be a more up level one with nicer interior bits and wheels instead of hubcaps...and a center armrest. I doubt I would be willing to pay for a new one though.