Hi Brian and all,
Sorry, I wasn't very clear in my earlier post. I had no doubt that GM
rebadged the Toyota product as a GM product as they have been doing similar
things for years, as has Ford and probably all the rest. In Canada we don't
have GEO dealerships at all, the GEO products are sold as Chevrolets. A few
years ago Car & Driver did an amusing article on who makes what for who and
where. Mazda for Ford, Mercury Marine for Corvette, etc.
What I was questioning was what Mr Gould said about Consumer Reports
differing opinions on the two vehicles. His description of Consumer Reports
test procedure in the Suzuki case was so amazingly far from the actual test
described in the article that I was suggesting his account of CR's review of
the two vehicles may be just as inaccurate.

"Brian Whatcott" wrote in message
...
Investigating the Consumer Report incredulity about Corollas and
Novas coming down the same line, I found the following site.

From the Dutch site:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~mjs/corollastory.html

I marked with asterisks the lines describing US badge engineering:
Nova, Prizm, and Prizm respectively.

Brian W

The fifth generation Corolla (May, 1983) saw the switch to
front-wheel-drive and independent rear suspension, but not for the
separate body 2- and 3-door Coupes which were built on the same floor
pan as the last series, and were from now on called Corolla Levin and
Sprinter Trueno for the whole range. The wheelbase for the 4-door
Sedan and the new 5-door (6-window) Sedan was 243 cm. These were the
only two body syles (rated at 7.5), the Wagons were not changed; in
October 1984, a short back Hatchback (3- and 5-door) was added, called
Corolla FX in Japan. The Sprinter, for the first time had its own
sheet metal pressing, though it hardly differed from that of the
Corolla. It was also built as 4- or 5-door Sedan, the 4-door with a
6-window roof as well (where the Corolla had only 4).

This Sprinter was sold in USA as Chevrolet Nova. **************

May 1987 saw the introduction of the sixth generation Corolla and now
things became quite complicated. Wheelbase remained the same at 243
cm, but the cars were 2 cm wider. There were two bodies, called here
Corolla-shell (an 8) and Sprinter-shell (a 9, the most balanced shell
ever) for reasons of convenience. Suspension remained the same, but
the more commercial versions of the Wagons featured a rigid axle with
leaf springs at the rear. This was the first year for the
front-wheel-drive Wagon (5-door). The Corolla body shell existed also
as a 4-door (4-window) Sedan, and a 3-door and 5-door (6-window) short
backed Hatchback (still called Corolla FX in Japan). The Sprinter body
existed as a 6-window 4- and 5-door Sedan (called Sprinter Cielo in
Japan) as well as a 5-door Wagon, called Toyota Sprinter Carib (intro
February, 1988) in Japan with 4-wheel drive and a coil-sprung live
rear axle. This Sprinter Carib succeeded to the earlier Tercel-based
Sprinter Carib. The 4-wheel-drive lay-out was already introduced on
the 4-door Sedan in October, 1987. The Toyota Corolla Levin and
Sprinter Trueno now were front-wheel-drive also, the 3-door was
deleted; the car was called Corolla in the export. The Corolla-shell
Wagon appeared also as Toyota Sprinter by August, 1988.

The Sprinter-shell was sold in USA as Geo Prizm
(not the Wagon). *********

The Sprinter-shell Wagon, always with 4-wheel-drive was named Corolla
in the export markets. The Sprinter-shell 5-door Sedan was part of the
Corolla line in the export.

Then, in June 1991, the seventh generation was introduced with a
rounded body shell, I rate it a 6. Wheelbase rose to 246.5 cm. These
cars appeared in Europe and USA about a year later. Again Corolla and
Sprinter had different bodies, Corolla started as a 4-door Sedan only,
the 5-door Wagon was added in September, 1991, and 3-door and 6-window
5-door short backed Hatchbacks in May, 1992 (again called Corolla FX
in Japan).

The Sprinter-shell existed as a 4-door Sedan and a 5-door
Sedan, the latter not available in Japan;
Geo Prizm in USA only as 4-door Sedan; ***********************


5-door Sedan part of the Corolla line in Europe. The Corolla Levin
and Sprinter Trueno had their own new body as a 2-door Coupe and were
for Japan only. Suspension lay-out was the same as for the sixth
generation, except that there was now also a 4wd Wagon (Van) with a
rigid rear axle and leaf springs. There was no Sprinter-shell Wagon,
the Sprinter Carib carried over from the previous generation. The
Corolla-shell Sprinter Wagon was repeated. May 1992, saw the
introduction of a separate body shell as a 4-door pillared Hardtop,
the Corolla Ceres and Sprinter Marino, for Japan only.

snipped the rest