Faults:

If you drive your car responsibly as I have, the only problems you'll encounter are basic maintenance such as oil changes, tires, etc...

Depending on where you live, if you leave your car out in the heat, the dash will crack as expected.

General Comments:

For a stock Cavalier, it's quick being able to manage a 16.00 1/4 mile pass. Yes, if you drive it right it's very capable of that. Again if you drive it right, you'll beat most cars on the street, and you can say "yeah, it's stock."

It doesn't take much to have a fast Cavalier. Just a few simple bolt-ons and you can have a low to mid 15 second car. Strap on a turbo or supercharger and you'll put yourself in the 13's.

The Cavalier is said to get 28 mpg, well I can easily get 34 mpg. Just drive conservatively people!

Faults:

Fuel pump died. Fixed, cheap. My fault it died - it's bad to run fuel pumps on no gas all the time.

General Comments:

Bought it for 4 grand. Easy on the wallet. Most reliable car out of all my friends (Infiniti, Acura, Subaru).

Good on gas.

Perky acceleration.

Cabin comfy, but the car is a tad rattly.

Faults:

Fuel pump, instrument cluster.

Both rear taillight wire assemblies.

General Comments:

Excellent car, the only problems I have had are fuel pump and instrument cluster. All other repairs were maintenence as in oil, tires, brakes and belt. Car gets between 30 and 35 MPG.

Faults:

Nothing bad has happened with this car thus far.

General Comments:

I decided to write this more from a standpoint of first impressions.

This car is not the most "grippy" car when it comes to turning, but it has nice acceleration (for a four cylinder) and the engine is fairly strong.

The styling is not something I would choose, but it is not objectionable.

Faults:

Nothing has gone wrong with this car.

Every 3 months or so, it won't start on the 1st try; have to try twice. Oh well...

General Comments:

This car is very reliable and economical.

On the down side, it could be more comfortable, roomier, more powerful, and styled a little nicer.

Cup holders are in an awkward position.

Doesn't handle as well as I'd like, but I do push it into corners fairly hard at times. Brakes could be better but only an issue when I drive too fast.

Overall I liked this car. It may sound like I'm complaining, but it's just a cavalier, what did you expect!? For the price, can't complain.

Faults:

Around 25,000 kms the non-tilt steering column kept coming loose, making it very difficult to drive as it shook violently. After having the car into the dealership a dozen times for the same problem, the owner, whom my father knows, informed us it was likely due to a design flaw and that his mechanics were unable to fix the it. We were quoted $1200 for installation of a new steering column (it was 1 month out of warranty) but were told there was no guarantee it would fix the problem.

After 2 years of ownership we received a recall notice for the turn signals. Despite the fact that ours were working normally, we brought the car in. The mechanic lubricated the bulbs with a contact grease as per the recall. This caused our turn signals to stop working almost immediately. They were never able to solve the problem.

The front upper strut mounts failed prematurely, around 22,000 kms. The dealership tried unsuccessfully to lubricate them, (yes lubricate them) and the problem persisted until they finally replaced them both with new mounts. Less than 6 months and 5,000 kms later they had failed again.

General Comments:

My wife & I got rid of our 2003 Cavalier (which we purchased new) last year as it was becoming too dangerous to drive. With only 30,000 kms, the front strut mounts kept failing, the turn signals stopped working, and the non-tilt steering column kept coming loose, making it very difficult to steer.

It's really too bad because the engine and transmission were fabulous. It was light and fast and had surprisingly great fuel economy. Despite the problems, I do miss that car and we would definitely still have it today were it not for the life-threatening problems.