Love my Sportivo. Have owed a prelude before and I'd say the prelude is only a touch quicker but sacrifices everything else you get in the corolla. The sportivo's are more expensive but its a toyota so it holds its value and also comes with all the options (leather seats, climate control, 6 cd stacker 6 speaker stereo, all power options, airbags, 6 speed manual and the celica engine...). I'm biased but i really dont think that you'd be disappointed.