Faults:

Fuel pump at 85000.

Water pump at 90000.

Rocker panels and bottoms of doors rotting away.

General Comments:

The station wagon has a lot of room for a compact car.

The 2.2 liter engine, although very dependable, is not rated for towing anything. A more powerful engine with towing capacity would have made this car my perfect car.

Body paint has held up very well, but rocker panels and doors will rust away without intervention on my part.

Faults:

The rear oil seal started leaking at 200000 kilometers due to overfilling the motor with oil.

The body started rusting under the doors soon after I purchased the car.

Other than usual maintenance, nothing went seriously wrong with the car.

General Comments:

This car is deadly fast, with the 3.1L mated to a five speed.

I have gone well over 130 M.P.H. in it without and modifications to the car.

The car feels a little light at high speed and it feels like the back of the car wants to come around on you like a rear wheel drive car.

There is really no need for seats in the rear because, children seem to be the only thing that fits in the back. Chevrolet should have made these cars like a poor man's Corvette.

Faults:

Intake gaskets (238,787km)

Regular maintenance.

General Comments:

With the original factory 14" steel wheels this car was floaty (to the point of being very scary) - I threw on Z24 wheels with Goodyear Invicta tires from a '93 Cavalier Z24 and this eliminated that problem.

The car holds well though out corners, but it does lean and minor imperfections in the road surface can widen it's path if you pushing it's limits.

The 3.1 V6 is very torquey - could do a burn out from 1500rpm to red line in first & second gear, and the motor would still happily chirp the tires entering third gear.

I have driven this car extremely hard since the day I got it, and it's taken it in stride - I just perform normal maintenance and never had any glitches or expensive repairs.

Some slight torque steer makes it self apparent under WOT applications in the low gears, but can be controled with a firm hand on the stearing wheel.

Gas millage around the city was crap as this Cav only averaged 300-400K per tank, while on the highway I usually average between 590-650K per tank (54L).

On the snow, the rear could get a bit hairy - but the solution for this is to slow down and drive to the conditions of the road.

I found the steering comunicative, fairly quick, and accurate - though at low speeds it is overly heavy.

I wouldn't mind a bit stronger brakes, but they resist fade quite well and happily stop the car repeatedly.

Given the only major repairs I had was the intake gasket, and then just normal maintenance (belts, oil, filters, ect), I must say this car has been very good on the budget despite my heavy footed driving style.

Reliability has been this cars strong front - tried, trusted and true as GM loves to promote for many of it's vehicles.

Unfortunately the rocker panels quickly rust out on these cars, and that's a shame.

The front seats are comfortable and supportive, though they can get fatiguing on extended trips over 4 hours in length.

The rear seat is very uncomfortable on anything, but short trips.

Rear leg room can be limited, esp if the front passengers are tall.

The materials used on the interior wear very well - though the plastic is cheap, and my center console broke during the winter from the cold.

These 4-door Cavaliers, whether equipped with the V6 or the base 2.2L 4 cylinder motor, make a fantastic second family car or a great primary car for single people - they are dirt cheap to buy & maintain; not to mention they are very reliable as this car never once failed to start, broke down or left me stranded.