Faults:

Leak in rear trunk seal - dealer fixed this within half a day. (Had water accumulating in the trunk). Never happened again. Replaced the front tires at 12,000 KM. I tend to drive hard and the 140 HP Eco tech makes it easy to smoke tires. :)

General Comments:

First off, this is my second Chevy Cavalier.

The first one, a 2000, was quite similar to this car. When GM made the 2003 Cavalier, they made a few new things - better engine, modified front and rear appearance, and bigger tires. All are positive improvements to the car.

Performance.

This car is not a sports car. It is not meant to be riced but can be.

However, the Cavalier 0-60 time with the 2.2 DOHC Ecotech engine puts out a 140 HP and over 140 lbs of torque. This car can almost (.2 sec) beat a Civic Si. Throw in an after-market Super charger and cold-air intake, I dare say you would have a 200+ HP sleeper car. (Available at any GM dealership).

Torque steer is a big problem with engines that have 100+ hp. The Cavalier is no exception. If you want to burn a set of tires quickly, rev the engine to 5,000 up a hill. The tires will smoke.

Comfort.

The car's seats are horrible. They're fine for short trips. But forget it if you want lumbar support. They aren't' cutting it. Buy a new seat or consider a different car if seating is real important to you. Me, I can tolerate a bad seat, I've owned and ridden in too many bench-seat pick up trucks to care.

Back seat leg room is as to be expected. Trunk space is very large. The cargo net comes in handy. The air conditioning is exceptionally powerful.

My only complaint is that the A/C is always on when you choose to defrost the windows. The only exception to this rule is when the temperature sensor detects it's below freezing outside, it doesn't pump out cold air.

Handling.

The car lumbers through corners, but is fairly quick. It's very easy to skid the car on hard accelleration (make the tires yell). If you do get one, make sure the tires are 15 inches at least. They make a huge difference in road handling. Oh and the factory tires are just garbage. They don't last and tend to be really soft.

Fuel economy.

Fairly good. Not great, but hey, it's good enough for me. I don't' need an extreme gas-sipper YET.

Reliability.

Not bad. I haven't had any problems with the car except for a minor trunk leak. I replaced the front tires because I burned through the el-cheapo factory ones at 10K. I change the oil regularly, and it so far hasn't let me down.

Overall.

Not a bad cheap car. It could be worse. The stereo is a bit old, circa 1998, but, it works. I will eventually buy this car out due to the fact that I am a bit hard on vehicles. No problem. My next vehicle will be a different style though, I need something different...

Faults:

No major faults.

General Comments:

Given the cost of this vehicle, $12600 (+tax) it has been well worth the money.

The brakes were very noisy from new, they sounded like they already had 40000km on them. The dealer agreed to machine them 1 month after purchase at about 5000km. After this was done there was no difference in the noise from the brakes and the dealer later indicated this was normal on this car. Rotors only lasted 75000km and since they were replaced by premium after market rotors the noise problem is gone.

The location of the emergency brake and cup holders make the drivers side cup holder almost unusable, any cup with a handle ends up getting caught on the emergency brake. The location of the heater controls means that cups in the cup holder block access making it difficult to adjust the inside temperature. The drivers side manual remote wing mirror control is very flimsy and makes adjusting the mirror difficult.

The engine has gotten a lot louder, now sounding a bit like a diesel, but gas mileage and power are still fine.

Wind and tire noise at highway speeds are rather loud, making it necessary to speak loudly in order to have a conversation with a passenger.

Having said all this I have driven 85000km (all highway) in 18 months and the only money I have spent is on oil changes, gas and brakes.

This car is very good value.