1997 Chevrolet Cavalier

Summary:

Great

Faults:

Great car, but I believe the wind shield wipers have a defect in this year they work, but shut off in the up position and dealer refused to fix. I have saw several in my home town with this defect.

General Comments:

I have had great success with this car, but wish for chevrolet to recall this wiper defect.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 11th September, 2005

1997 Chevrolet Cavalier LS 2.2

Faults:

The head gasket needed to be replaced at approx 28,000 miles.

The seat belt caps broke and we could never get them replaced.

The car was taken into the dealers service center for the horn which was not working and they said nothing was wrong with it. This was about 4 or years ago. I finally took it to another dealership and it was a fuse.

The A/C has two leaks in it and now it will cost about $900 to fix it.

Besides the recalls and the above fixes, the car has been great to me and my family. I have two new 2005 Chevys', but I couldn't get rid of the CAV.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 27th June, 2005

9th Mar 2006, 12:05

My "97 Cavalier has both seat belt caps broken also and the a/c has not worked since I bought it in '04.

1997 Chevrolet Cavalier 2 door colored bumpers 2.2

Summary:

The whole experience sucked

Faults:

You name it.

Wipers dead. 5,000 Repaired under warranty.

Brake pulsations at 10,000mi.

Axle seals replaced twice around 12,000.

Popping out of 3rd gear.

Misfire codes.

Pistons replaced at 19,000.

Then the engine started puking rod bearings every 10,000 miles.

GM paid for 2 engine rebuilds, I had to foot the bill for the 3rd.

General Comments:

Quite disappointingly, my car was an unexpected lemon.

Turns out my cousins 1997 was also troublesome in different ways... Head gasket problems all the time.

My car had so much stuff go wrong with it, Plus... an incapable dealership, GM not helping out much, and a lot of weird events made that 2 years of ownership a real burdon.

If a car gets 2 engine rebuilds by the time its out of warranty, I'd say that's a buyback.

Gm didn't care. Now I don't care about anything else they want to offer me. there's too many choices out there for that crap.

The dealership that sold me the car is now out off business... go figure.

All the other dealerships are still around... they must be doing it right.

I wish I would have known.

So here's the ultimate lesson for everyone... The car you buy is not just the car you buy, its also the dealership that services it.

When you go to buy be sure to check out the service department. Listen to whats going on and check out the mechanics...

Take a peek in the window of some fixed cars,

See grease on the steering wheel?

Grease stains on the carpet?

Don't shop there.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 3rd May, 2005

4th May 2005, 06:58

"Colored" bumpers?

Don't you know you can't use that word anymore, it's not pc.

24th Nov 2005, 01:11

What the hell are you talking about? You're the only one using that word!

31st Jan 2006, 21:39

I thought this was a car review site. There are plenty of other sites to go to for talking politics, the foolish variety (most if it) or otherwise.

I am surprised you had so much trouble with your Cavalier. Every one I have ever known (and owned) has been an excellent car. However, a large number of cars from all the manufacturers had problems in 1996 with it being the first year of OBDII.

Things improved dramatically a few years later after all the initial bugs were worked out, but customers unfortunately suffered dramatically in the beginning. I would take a 1995 model anything over a 1996 any day. I was in the automotive field during that time, so I saw a lot of the nightmares people were experiencing first hand. Although this is not an excuse, no manufacturer was immune.

Good luck and sorry to hear about your difficulty.