1993 Chevrolet Cavalier 2.2
Summary:
Piece of junk
Faults:
Poor construction.
Sagging head liner.
Sensors always needed replaced.
Water always leaked into car and trunk.
Noise from wind was always loud inside car.
Raw gas smell was a problem.
Serious rust problems.
CV boot defective.
Anti sway bar snapped while driving.
Very bumpy ride.
General Comments:
This car is a piece of junk, there are too many problems to mention.
The gas mileage is horrible.
I think the body was made too heavy for the motor.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 22nd September, 2010
11th Feb 2011, 12:09
You can't make junk like this good. It's impossible. I think GM really bumped their head designing this one. This is to the optimist who has money coming out their ears to fork out for the ongoing problems of this old battle axe.
11th Feb 2011, 14:37
When I was in college, I worked at the airport car rental lot around this era, and saw these Cavaliers first-hand. The interiors were cheap and utilitarian, hard plastic dashboards, cheap vinyl seats with thin cloth. The door handles would pull out of the door panels, the vinyl would pull away from the armrest, the cheap fabric on the door panels would droop as the glue came undone. The engines were rattly and anemic.
All in all, they were the total picture of a tin can. These were inexpensive cars, built cheap, and marketed toward people who were not expected to demand quality. What my parents used to call a puddle-jumper.
11th Feb 2011, 19:21
In the words of Consumer Reports, 'The Cavalier/Sunfire are crude, outdated, and unpleasant.' No wonder thousands of small car seekers flocked to Toyota and Honda. GM never cared. I wanted to support the domestics when I wanted a small car, but I wisely refused to buy a rebadged Daewoo (Aveo), record setting recall Focus, or head gasket eating Neon.
18th Feb 2011, 15:29
Well said to the above comments. It's one thing to hear about cheap, problematic cars like this, but experiencing it first hand as an owner like I was is really terrible. That's why I went to Nissan or Toyota, to skip all the unneeded problems.
22nd Sep 2010, 15:16
Okay, 14 years old with over 100K miles and you expect what... a new car? Your list of complaints would be evident on any car that was not kept up or maintained properly by the mileage interval you are at. If you were the original owner and you washed it once a week and did all of your fluid changes when needed, etc., etc, I could see the complaints.
These cars ran pretty good with the 2.2 litre engine in them when they were new and ran properly. Also you could get into the mid 20's for mileage if they were running well.
You obviously bought a mileaged out car that is ready for retirement. You are only going to get so much out of a worn out old car. To bash the actual car model for someone's neglect after so many years is not really an accurate measure of the car's true potential. I knew a lot of people with these Cavaliers and the Sunbirds of the same years, and they were pretty reliable and near bulletproof. I actually had a '90 Cavalier, but it was a Z24. It still had shiny black brake drums on the back at 5 years old when I traded it. It was so clean and rust free, it was amazing, and that was after years in NY winters with salt. I kept it up really well though. Anything will fail eventually if not kept up properly.