Might get a 98 Cavalier

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ViviTheMage

ViviTheMage

Lifer
Dec 12, 2002
36,189
87
91
madgenius.com
Any personal reviews? I do know its a 2.4Liter and its an automatic with about 79k miles on it. I might get it for about 2500$, if I like it, and its TEAL?? haha.
 
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BigJ

Lifer
Nov 18, 2001
21,330
1
81
As much as everyone rags on 'em, my experience has been good; the one that my father passed down to me worked well. It was an '89 with over 200,000 miles on it, with barely any maitenance costs, and pretty reliable. Some jerkoff finally T-Boned me, and then that was the end of it.
 
ViviTheMage

ViviTheMage

Lifer
Dec 12, 2002
36,189
87
91
madgenius.com
Originally posted by: BigJ
As much as everyone rags on 'em, my experience has been good; the one that my father passed down to me worked well. It was an '89 with over 200,000 miles on it, with barely any maitenance costs, and pretty reliable. Some jerkoff finally T-Boned me, and then that was the end of it.
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poor thing! a automatic lived for 200k miles, you must live in a salt free state, haha.
 
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BigJ

Lifer
Nov 18, 2001
21,330
1
81
Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
Originally posted by: BigJ
As much as everyone rags on 'em, my experience has been good; the one that my father passed down to me worked well. It was an '89 with over 200,000 miles on it, with barely any maitenance costs, and pretty reliable. Some jerkoff finally T-Boned me, and then that was the end of it.
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poor thing! a automatic lived for 200k miles, you must live in a salt free state, haha.
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It was well taken care of. Did routine maitenance (oil, belts, plugs, etc) and didn't beat the hell out of it, and it wound up lasting that long.

Also, it was a real chore to get up to speed in that puppy. No acceleration whatsoever.
 
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Udel

Senior member
Sep 2, 2005
892
0
0
I can vouch, driven one for the past 5 years and its been good to me.
 
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EatSpam

Diamond Member
May 1, 2005
6,423
0
0
Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
Any personal reviews? I do know its a 2.8Liter and its an automatic with about 79k miles on it. I might get it for about 2500$, if I like it, and its TEAL?? haha.
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The '98 Cavalier came in a 115hp 2.2 liter and a 150hp 2.4 liter. I had a '98 Cavalier with the 2.2l engine and an auto. Overall, it was a good little car. I had to redo brakes at 20K and new tires at 35K. The stock tires and brakes sucked. Other than that, just oil changes. Never left me stranded. Great on gas. I see a ton of '97-'00 model Cavaliers around town here, owned by students...

Its probably a fine buy at $2500, but it is an 8 year old car, so the usual inspection advice applies. 79K is not bad either.
 
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Mucho

Guest
Oct 20, 2001
8,231
2
0
I had a 91 Cavalier second worst car I'd ever own, the only worst one was my 84 Aries.
 
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EatSpam

Diamond Member
May 1, 2005
6,423
0
0
Originally posted by: jndietz
I own a 2002 Z24 Cavalier. Its a great car. Engine is reliable and gets great gas mileage :)
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I had one of those, too. It was a good car, but I hated the manual tranny. Of course, after driving one of those for 3 years, just about any other manual is a piece of cake. :)
 
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teckmaster

Golden Member
Feb 1, 2000
1,256
0
0
several family members and friends of mine drive them. Hardly ever a problem with them. And yes, they do get great gas mileage
 
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sniperruff

Lifer
Apr 17, 2002
11,644
2
0
it's an ok car. cheap and frugal but interior is utter crap. it's pretty noisy as well, but it'll get you from A to B for a low price.
 
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EatSpam

Diamond Member
May 1, 2005
6,423
0
0
Originally posted by: ViviTheMage
Its a 2.4L. I am curious...how bad would the acceleration be compared to my Dodge Shadow '94 Manual?
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The 2.4L is fairly quick and the Cavalier doesn't weigh too much - about the same as the Shadow.

Spec sheet for the '94 Shadow...

Considering that no '94 Shadow had a turbo engine, the 150hp 2.4L Cavalier should be faster than a '94 Shadow of any design. The V6 Shadow would come closest.
 
Aves

Aves

Lifer
Feb 7, 2001
12,232
30
101
Originally posted by: sniperruff
it's an ok car. cheap and frugal but interior is utter crap. it's pretty noisy as well, but it'll get you from A to B for a low price.
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Agreed. We had a '98 Cavalier until last year. It was decent but nothing great. We got 170K miles out of it and the only real issue was that the AC went out.
 
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Dunbar

Platinum Member
Feb 19, 2001
2,041
0
0
I had a 2004 as a rental for a couple weeks, the 2.4L powertrain is actually excellent for a such old design. There's plenty of power and the automatic responds perfectly to accelerator inputs. Only downside is the thrashy engine sound, but that's common in most big 4 cylinders. I got 32mpg, about the same as the Civic I had, and the Cavalier had a lot more guts.

I'd be a bit weery of such an old domestic, but it's probably one of the better deals out there on a $2500 budget. Have a mechanic check it out and do a carfax at a minimum.
 
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TrueBlueLS

Platinum Member
Jul 13, 2001
2,931
1
0
Originally posted by: Dunbar
I had a 2004 as a rental for a couple weeks, the 2.4L powertrain is actually excellent for a such old design. There's plenty of power and the automatic responds perfectly to accelerator inputs. Only downside is the thrashy engine sound, but that's common in most big 4 cylinders. I got 32mpg, about the same as the Civic I had, and the Cavalier had a lot more guts.

I'd be a bit weery of such an old domestic, but it's probably one of the better deals out there on a $2500 budget. Have a mechanic check it out and do a carfax at a minimum.
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Your 2004 rental was a 2.2 of DOHC flavors. The Ecotec is "rated" at 10 less HP than the Twin Cam.
 
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