See the USA in your CHEVROLET...!

[spiralactivator]

Well, it finally happened. My 1995 Ford Taurus, inherited from my father, finally conked out. Blew a head gasket and it's off to the glue factory. So long, Old Paint.

But it's okay because tomorrow I will get the title transferred on a shiny, new, only slightly battered 1993 CHEVROLET CAVALIER! Yay! It's burgundy, 4-cylinder, and aside from being full of nauseating pine-tree fresheners and soiled bath mats (?!?!), is an almost-perfect fit for me.

I'm quite excited because I've never driven a Chevy before. I've had a Plymouth and a Ford, so I guess GM is the next logical stop.

 

[sudsmaster]

I've had a Plymouth and a Ford, so I guess GM is the nex

Yes, if you're into downward spirals... LOL.

As you can guess, I'm not impressed with the Cavalier. I was saddeled with a few of them whilst my 300M was being worked upon ... and I found it much inferior to my Dodge Neon. Which, by the way, is a car that you can usually pick up for a song, and is not at all bad if you stick to the manual tranny and the single overhead cam motor, and avoid ABS brakes. Don't ask how I know all this! LOL. Well, mine has the single cam motor and it's good. I could do without the ABS brake and the auto tranny, though.

 

[westytoploader]

I hope 1993 was a good year for the 'Cav and that your new ride doesn't give you any problems. From your description it sounds like a low-mileage vehicle so that will probably be the case, which is good.

Especially after reading Consumer Reports, as well as the CR Reliablity Report in the April auto issues, for the recent-model Cavaliers up until it was discontinued and the Cobalt was introduced as its subpar replacement. If the Cavalier is a real Chevrolet, the Elite is a real Hoover, and the plastic GE is a real washer. The recent models were rated "Poor" in both reliability and satisfaction. One of this year's graduates at my school had a 1998 model, and to say that it was a POS was an understatement. It began an annoying behavior of conking out at stop signs and red lights, which sounded like a bad MAP sensor but we were never able to figure it out in shop class. I moved it, and was amazed that anything could have such poor fit-and-finish. The rubber on the steering wheel was cracked and felt horribly cheap, the color was coming off the plastic in some places, and it jerked so bad that you could basically put it in gear blindfolded (automatic) and know which direction you were going. Strange that this was so crappy...we had a '98 Suburban and it was a solid, well-made vehicle. However, the Chevy/GM cars, in my opinion, aren't nearly what they used to be, and if I were to buy a GM product today, it would only be a large SUV or pickup.

We too have had all different brands. Our early-90's Fords were horrible, though my '98 F-150 wasn't too bad, GM was OK until our '99 Yukon had radiator problems and a cracked head gasket, and now we're on Daimler/Chrysler. So far, my mom's 2005 PT Cruiser GT and my 2004 Dodge Ram 1500 have been very reliable. The PT Cruiser has rarely left town, but my dad drove the Dodge to Houston and back daily (about 60-70 miles one-way) for a year until he wanted something with better gas mileage and bought a 2000 Infiniti I30, so there's a little over 60,000 miles on it now. We regularly take them in for routine maintenence, so it will be interesting to see how they last. With us, the air conditioning and cooling systems are the first to go...oy!!!

All 3 are extremely easy to drive, as well as fun, especially the PT with its turbocharger and AutoStick mode. You also don't need a Hemi in a Dodge truck unless you want to pay extra for another decal and 11 miles/gallon consumption; the 4.7 liter V8 in mine has no problem getting up to speed and I get around 15-16 MPG...still a gas-guzzler but not as bad, LOL! The fit-and-finish isn't bad either on any of them, nothing feels "cheap" and there are no "wear spots" either, yet. I do think keeping a vehicle clean helps with this, as a dirty car is likely to look worse on the inside!

--Austin

 

[jasonl]

Chevy S-10

I've always like the Chevy S-10 trucks. Had a 1988 and a 2000 one. Not the first problem.

I think for my next car it would be a Prius or another TDI Beetle.

 

[SactoTeddyBear]

Re: I've got a Ranger:

it is a 1993 Model "XLT" Extra Cab, with a Dura-Liner and Camper Shell added on about 1-1/2 months after it was given to me for my Birthday, of that year.

It has had some Major Repairs, but they were my fault of not keeping "P-M" Service on it, as I should have.

It only actually has about 79,500 original Miles on it also.

If I were to be getting another Vehicle, I would go with either a Chevy Prism, Toyota Corrola, Subaru Legacy Outback or a Forester, Plymouth/Dodge Neon, Ford F-150 Extra Cab, or another Ranger, similar to mine, except all of my future Vehicles are going to have the Power Windows and Cruise Control, besides now having a Multi-CD Player/AM/FM Unit.

I won't have an Exterior Color of; Yellow, Red, Green, Black or White, but I would have either a Charcoal Gray, Maroon, Dark Blue or a Champaign Color.

Good Luck with your selection, let us know what you end up with getting.

Peace and Fun Driving, Steve
SactoTeddyBear...

 

[westtexman]

I hope you know how to change an alternator . .

Not to knock the your new wheels, but I drove a 1993 Chevy Cavalier (5-speed, 2-door) for 8 years. Got me though high school and college. During the time I owned it, I had to change the alternator five times, the starter once, the shifter cables twice (ever seen shifter cables lock up on a manual transmission?), and a couple of other things.

It made it to 138,000 and I was driving to back to work from lunch when the alternator went out for the 5th time. After spending 2 hours changing the alternator in 100-degree heat while wearing a suit (the location of the alternator made it a pain to change), I decided it was time to get another ride. I was short on funds, so I bought a used Honda Accord which served me well for a long time. I've now moved up to a gas-guzzling 2005 F-150 Supercrew, but now I'm considering getting another car on the side for my work travels. I am putting about 25,000 miles a year on a car these days! These $75.00 fill-ups one to two times a week are KILLING ME!

Good luck and have fun. Mine was fun to drive.

Bryan

 

[launderess]

Only have experiences with the CC from rental cars, but at an average rental rate of 2x per week, am here to tell you couldn't stand driving the damn things.

Rattle boxes does not come close to describing the suspension system, (hit pot hole, still rattling away 5 or 6 miles later). Fit and finish screamed cheap (lots of plastic), passing was something one had to think about long before the actual event took place. Thankfully these were rental cars so no maintainece worries, but the girls behind the counter stated the rental car company (National) had lots of problems.

Whenever I could, took a Pontiac "Sunfire" instead of the CC for an economy car. Such fun! Lots of power and a treat to drive. My all time favourite mid-sized rental was the Oldsmobile "Alero". What a great car! Should have nabbed one as GM was phasing them out at fire sale prices.

Today mainly take Toyota Camerys or the new Malibu.

L.

 

[kevinpreston8]

Misc comments....

Alternators--Bad alternators are not the car's fault. Often people will get a remanufactured one and in my experience, the remanufacturers are the WORST with alternators. I went through 5 in one year with my Mustang GT, each one replaced under warranty from Kragen (yes, crappy Kragen but oh well). Finally I told them I was tired of this and they no-charge upgraded me to an Autolite. Problems ceased.

Rental Cars: Unless you get a new one, NEVER judge a car by driving one you rented. Although a car nut all my life, my old boss told me about that one, as he worked for an agency at some point. People really, really abuse these cars (I know, I have been with friends who used rentals). Abusing a car early in its life (overreving the engine, jamming the transmission) creates alot of wear on it, and if a car is severely abused, I don't care who makes it, it will be a rattletrap at 20,000 miles. I just rented a Chevy SSR the other week and could not believe how the seats were stained in it, certaintly not the fault of the car. I was also surprised at the difference in the Monte Carlo I rented versus my friends. One needs to look at a well cared for example and new ones to really get a feel for it, in my opinion.

Pine Tree Fresheners--Seriously, why are these made, why do people use them? Dear sweet Jesus, what stink do people have in their car that is actually WORSE than that pine smell? It's like those people who use Oust or all those other smelly cover up chemicals in their house, to make it smell "clean". I always wanted to ask them, why don't you CLEAN you freaking house? I guess that is too much trouble. Like on that one commercial where the "mom" is complaining how smelly her daughters band uniform is so she just douses it in Febreze. Hey mom, why don't you get off your lazy butt and WASH something!!!!

Ok ok it's late and I am ranting again.

 

[mistereric]

Yay Cavaliers!

Wow... okay, finally something I know something about.

My first car was a 93 Cavalier RS coupe. I kept that one until I was able to buy a very very used 93 Cavalier Z24. My sister owned an 88 Z24 model, and I had 2 different Pontiac Sunbird convertibles (which are just Cavaliers in fancier clothing). My current car is a maroon 1993 Cavalier RS wagon thats got every single blessed option in the book. 27k miles when I got it in 03, power everything, V6, roof rack, AC, auto.

I bought it after having had a 97 Grand Prix that fell apart on me every 5 minutes at only 37k miles. I love my second generation Cavalier, even though it needs more maintenence than a modern car. The Cavaliers produced after 1994 are not the same car. I've taken both models apart, driven the second and third generation cars, and hands down, your 93 is a MUCH nicer car than one made later. Just look at the prices of a used 1994 Z24 model vs a 1997 Z24. So far, everything everyone has said was in regards to the 3rd generation model, NOT yours!

I've replaced the alternator once on my car, this year. I figure 14 years is pretty good (the car was made in 92). I've done brakes once and will do them again today, as I drive like a lunatic and wear them out very quickly.

Laundress: the Sunfire is the same car as the Cavalier. Produced on the same line in Lordstown. The only difference is a little bit more padding under the carpet and nice warm red instrument lights.

Things to watch out for on a 2nd gen cav like yours would be the TCC solenoid, possible rust in the cowl panel (causes leaks, and leaks smell bad, and all of a sudden there are a bunch of magic trees in your car...). Thats pretty much it. Oil every 3k, stay away from cheap remanufactured alternators, and you should be set.

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