Fun Little Car

I bought my Cavalier second hand from an older gentleman. With me being in college, I needed a reliable car, that got good gas mileage, but most importantly looked cool and performed nicely. I was lucky when I stumbled upon the Cavalier that I bought, because the older man wanted a fun, sporty car until his name came up on the waiting list for the Saturn Sky.

The Cavalier which I bought from him was the LS Sport model with everything but the sunroof and leather seats. This included sport suspension, extra body cladding, power everything, as well as other thing which I probably am not aware of.

To sum everything up, this car is fun. The car handles very nicely. I feel that it handles better than most other cars that I have driven or ridden in. The car honestly feels like it is on rails. The car is very light and therefore quite responsive.

The 2.2L Ecotec engine is all aluminum, so it is very light, especially for how powerful it is. I do not want to give anyone the impression that this is a muscle car, but it is rather powerful for being an economy car. The engine puts out around 140 HP and 150 ft/lbs of torque. For a sub-3000 pound car, I find this to be sufficient. The engine is smooth and responsive. So far I am at 43,000 miles and I have not had a single problem with the engine. My only complaint is on occasion, you think the car has started, but when you let go of the ignition when you are starting it, it is not running. So naturally, you try to start it again, and it will not. If you wait about 15 seconds, it starts right up.

The 2.2L Ecotec is mated to a 5-speed manual Getrag transmission. The shifts are quick and smooth. When it is cold, the transmission is VERY slow going into second, but I believe this is fairly normal. Although I have not done any extreme modifications, this transmission is supposedly good to 300+ HP as long as you have the proper clutch to go with it. I know there are people on j-body.org running 12 lbs of boost with no transmission problems. Speaking of boost, the Ecotec handles it very well. Although I have no personal experience with it, the only major mods that you need to run boost on this engine are in regards to fuel delivery.

I have had problem with the CD player in this car. The stock CD player sound nice, and has cool features (plays MP3 CDs, easy to use, displays text on the screen). Unfortunately, it would not read many CDs very well, so I got an after market one. There is a myth circulating, that you cannot put after market head units into late model GM cars because of the Class II wiring. This is not true, although there are some unfortunate side-effects. If you have/use OnStar, you will not be able to use it with an after market CD player. Also, the door chimes go through the CD player, and with an after market CD player you will lose them. Because of this, I have left my headlights on accidentally on a few occasions.

The only other complaint I have had was with the upper strut mounts. Both of them failed, and it is a rather costly repair. Fortunately, this repair was covered under warranty.

Gas mileage is fantastic for my style of driving. I tend to push this car pretty hard during my daily driving routine. I am still able to get between 29 and 33 miles per gallon consistently. This is a mix of city and highway miles. I find this efficiency to be very convenient since the car only has a 12 gallon tank. That is fine with me since I get well over 300 miles per tank.

The interior is nice, but a bit on the cramped side. I am 5'10", and my head barely touches the ceiling. This is fine as I am able to recline the driver's seat slightly to make more head room. Other than that, the seats are reasonably comfortable. The back seat has plenty of room once you get back there. It is difficult to get into the back seat, but what do you expect with a 2-door coupe?

The features in this car are lacking. It has the basics, but it would be nice if there was a compass, exterior temperature display, etc. But keep in mind that this is an economy car.

The trunk has a fair amount of room. With the 60/40 split fold down seat, this is not much of a problem. It is easy for me to get my mountain bike in the trunk with the seats folded down.

Repairs are relatively easy on this car. I do many of my own repairs. Oil changes are a breeze if you have ramps. This car sits relatively close to the ground, but if you have the car on ramps everything is very easy to get to. Speaking of easy to get to, the oil filter is in a convenient spot. It is under a cap on the top of the engine block. Remove the cap, pull out the dirty filter medium, and put in a new one. Very simple and innovative.

In the winter, this car handles very nicely. I find it very nice having a manual transmission with such a light car. I get stuck more easily than my older, heavier car, but I find it MUCH easier to get it unstuck.

Overall, I love my Cavalier.