1990 Chevrolet Cavalier

Summary:

Excellent cheap transportation

Faults:

Replaced starter.

Replaced fan motor.

General Comments:

I've always been a fan of the Chevrolet Cavaliers. They are cheap to purchase, easy to work on and cheap to maintain.

I've always had good luck with these cars. The secret is, buy an older model with low-low miles (30k-50k) for cheap money. (Do not spend 5 grand on a model with 120k miles on the odometer!!!). Then get rid of it after you put 120k-140k on it. If you follow this method, you will be happy.

This car is not a 200k car, but will last you 10 years easy with good maintenance.

My current 1990 Cavalier, I bought for $1000.00 with 54k miles on the odometer. It now has 95k and runs flawlessly.

My previous 1995 Cavalier, I purchased for $2700.00 with only 22k on the odometer. I got rid of it at 122k. No better bang for the buck.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 25th February, 2010

1990 Chevrolet Cavalier Z24 3.1

Summary:

Good for around town, but not something to take out of state

Faults:

TCC solenoid intermittently cut in and out in cold weather.

Sometimes car would have trouble starting when hot.

Power window regulators problematic.

Cooling system faulty.

Transmission acts strange.

Interior is quite bad.

General Comments:

The cooling system on these cars is very different, the pressure cap is on the overflow tank. If you fill it to the recommended level, the car tends to dump some coolant on the ground when it is warm. However, if you don't fill it all the way, the Low Coolant light comes on. However, that doesn't mean it is real low, just keep an eye on the temp gauge.

The transmission, in second gear, seems like it was not wanting to fully engage, like it was trying to stall the car at a certain RPM. It never failed completely.

Things in the interior tend to break easy, and parts at a junk yard are hard to find, because the center consoles on these things pretty much break when you even carefully try to disassemble. Probably due to these cars being 20 years old.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 12th February, 2010

1990 Chevrolet Cavalier

Faults:

The windows have problems opening and closing.

Wind noise from driver side door on the highway.

Speedometer cable is noisy.

Headliner is sagging.

General Comments:

This is a very comfortable car, and for its age it looks good inside. It was an AZ government car until about 100K, so it was well taken care of.

It rides great and gets fantastic gas mileage. With mixed driving about 28 mpg. To me this seems to have the ride of a larger car. It is not very fast and you need to get going pretty good to merge into 75 mile an hour traffic outside of Phoenix. Once it is on the highway, it is fine.

It passed the AZ emissions tests with no problems.

My daughter is embarrassed when I park it at her house, even though it is free of dents and looks good to me. Maybe it is the Official Government Vehicle that has been painted over, but still shows through that is bothering her.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 16th May, 2009

1990 Chevrolet Cavalier LX 2.2

Summary:

A piece of crap that proves worthy

Faults:

Coolant leaks.

Back passenger window was broken (Duct taped it, keeps out the rain and some of the cold.) Failed inspection because of it, but replaced it with plexi-glass.

Speakers don’t work, not like I have a radio either.

Removed the radio.

Left passenger door window doesn’t roll down, the manual crank broke off.

Left Passenger door doesn’t close. (duct taped it for now)

($ 235 job, if I wish to get it fixed)

No seat belts..

Windshield wipers stopped working around 74,382 miles or 174,382 miles.. ($125 job)

Brakes don’t work to well.

Missing right side turn signal lamp- a BMW slammed into me one day. No scratches or dents on that car, mine however was not so lucky.

Previous owner didn’t really take care of the car.

General Comments:

I don’t know what you would call this model. It is a 1990 4 door model of cavalier. I do not see too many on the road, which is surprising since these cars are awesome.

I don’t know how many miles are on the car, seriously. I am the third owner, had the car for about a year and still don’t know how many miles are on the damn thing. The title says “Number too high to count” I didn’t even think that was possible.

People may rag on this car from time to time but honestly it is the best car I ever bought. The original owner needed to sell this car because she got a Saturn Sc-1, and needed the money so I bought this car for $350. I needed something to get around form place to place with little cost. My hearse was not really doing the job so I decided to try this car and I was very impressed by it.

The 2.2 liter engine is perfect,28-30 mpg is pretty kick ass. I usually drive this car around mostly south jersey and central jersey looking for weird N. J stuff and this car does the job. It is so good on gas and if it breaks down one or maybe two can easily push it. I have driven to southern Delaware, and back on just a single tank of gas.

The gas is not the only thing that makes this car awesome. For a little car this car is very comfortable. I have slept in the back of the car and in the front a couple of time in the summer and liked it. I am able to fit five people in the car. I just wouldn’t do it now since the rear left door is duct taped and bungee corded shut. Which is funny when it flies open when I do burn outs and doughnuts.

Did I mention this car is awesome to do doughnuts and burn outs in, or funny. The car only goes up to 85 mph which is really funny when people try to race you on the freeway. My friends always get a kick out of that. Especially when I punch it to 70 and the car shakes badly.

The A. C sucks, but that’s what the windows are for. The heat is all right. It’s nothing to brag about.

The seats are still doing good. Just the back. The front seats will need to be replaced. Got a spring that keeps prodding my back.

The shocks aren’t too bad. I’m not really a fat guy, (160) and 5’11 so I can’t really say anything about. Might have to get new ones soon.

Needs all new fluids.

Everything on this car isn’t in the greatest shape but it’s in a stable shape. I’m going to school for Mortuary arts and this car gets me to school and back A-Okay. With little gas used! I’m not the richest kid but when I get a little more money I might put a decent engine in this car and transmission to race. People are always saying I should get a newer car, but why? I’ve already got a slamming car, it’s not as durable as a Volkswagen but it’s somewhat decent.

I'd deff get another one, if I could.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 26th January, 2009