Been looking for a cheap used car and keep seeing these every where.In a 5 speed manuel,i know people make fun of them,but any previous owners on here?anything to watch out for on them?

 

id stay away, mainly cause the GM 2.2L is crap

 

No. There is really no redeeming qualities other than cheap parts and relatively easy 3.8L V6 swaps.

 

The only way I'd ever buy one was as a beater. A stupidly cheap beater.

 

yeah im sorry, would never do.

 

We had one with a 2.4L 4 and it was a great little car. We put nearly 200,000 miles on it in 4 years and did nothing but change the fluid and belts. Auto tranny, manual locks and windows. The engine does make a lot of noise but it sounds pretty good, it just doesnt go anywhere

 

I wouldn't even think about buying one.

 

I had a sunfire as a rental car in 97(ish). The best quote I've heard about the inside of the car is that it "looks like it was designed by playschool" and was later dubbed "my first interior". As a beater, I would rather own an older Honda/Subaru/Toyota for the same price.

 

You're on the wrong forum to ask that question and to answer your question. NO

 

My friend is an electrical engineer and a car nut. He had one in high school, and he's done nothing but curse it's mere existence.

In fact, this is in his facebook account:

 

I had a friend in a while back that had one scary Z-24 Cavalier that was one major sleeper with a custom/pieced together turbo kit.

 

all caveliers are scary. i didnt know why I was having nightmares for a while, but then i realized a cavalier was the car of my dreams.

 

I had a 98 Z24, was a nice car for the price until it hit 75k then it just went to sh*t in a hurry. Half of it was my fault though didn't keep her tip top when I had a g/f (damn you b-otch!)

 

My old roommate had a cavalier and I had to drop him off at auto shops 3 times last year. POS.

 

they really arent bad cars at all , honda +gm = fail , you asked the wrong forum. all these people are biased. most of the cavi's I have had , are just as good if not better than any of my honda beaters. dont be fooled by the biased people on this site. the 2.2 was a GREAT motor. they last forever . its just that most people who bought cavaliers were 16-21 year old women or younger guys , or middle aged women. and most of the time were not kept up on. Alot of GM owners for some reason seem to think that oil is fine until the light comes on and they dont care about regular maintenance. on a chevy 80% of the time , if the light comes on you have not much time before **** starts to break.

**** we have a 93 still going and running great!

 

as a project car. not so much unless you already have a grasp for GM 4 bangers.

 

My friend's never owned a Honda. He's had Fords and Mazdas. No Honda fanboy bias. He also does all his own maintenance- brakes, oil, etc very regularly. He hates the Cavalier with a passion. It doesn't matter that the engine is bulletproof if it's gutless and every other part of the car is a piece of sh*t.

 

well unless he owned it from the beginning , he cant say anything. He had bad luck with HIS cavi , I owned mine new in 96 , base model , manual everything. still going with 248k , never replaced engine or tranny. she started burning oil about at the 230k mile point. Ide say that this car did us very very good. Its all about regular maintenance. however AC delco needs to learn how to make an alternator damnit. parts are cheap for this thing and it has more ***** than a civic. stock for stock.

 

I also work for GM , I see alot of these with 150k plus all the time. they do very well if maintained right. also , the manual tranny's are very very stout.

 

and befroe the biased thing comes into play. I am a mitsu/subaru fanboi all day long. I work for chevy , but that don't mean I like them. The cavi's just have worked out really well , we have had quite a few in the family , dad had one I have and still have 2 , sis has one , cousin just traded his 05 with 165k for a cobalt SS.

 

Cavaliers are fine. Drove one for two years. The 2.2L ecotec has really evolved into a great engine.

 

Indeed, the Ecotec has turned out to be a decent engine. However, it also wasn't available in the Cavalier until 2002.