Should I buy Cavalier / Sunfire?

My husband and I are looking to buy a car for my daughter to commute to college with next year. One type of car we're considering is the Cavalier / Sunfire. Probably 1999-2003 model years. Is this a good car? Is there any problems or anything we should look out for?

She is going to be living at home, so we can make sure the car gets service on time.

Reply to
Janet
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The opinions of others about their particular vehicle, good or bad, is of little used in trying to evaluate the ONE you are considering. As with any used car there is no way to know how a particular vehicle was used, or abused, by the previous owner(s) or whether it was given the proper maintenance, or not.

Find yourself a competent technician. Have him look at the particular vehicle you are considering. If it has a decent warranty and he believes it is an OK car, and the price is right, buy it WBMA

mike hunt

Janet wrote:

Janet wrote:

Reply to
MajorDomo

I had a 1989 Cavalier wagon that was a excellent car. But that was several generations back. As far as I know the current Cavalier is a reasonable car for the money.

Back in 1999 I was in your shoes. Helped the daughter buy a Dodge Neon

5-speed to get her to college. She's graduated, married now and is still driving it. No major troubles with it (yet) as it approaches 100K miles. Frankly, I didn't expect such a cheap car to go that many miles as trouble free as it has. (Knock on wood!)
Reply to
James C. Reeves

Unless you're only wanting to spend a few thousand dollars for a temporary car, I'd almost be willing to suggest buying a new Cavalier at this point. I'm generally a fan of buying slightly used cars so that the first owner takes most of the depreciation hit, but new leftover Cavaliers can be had for cheap right now. Its replacement, the Cobalt, has been in the showrooms for a few months now and dealers are eager to unload remaining Cavaliers. GM is currently offering a $4,000 rebate plus however much else you get the dealer to knock off. It's not unreasonable to be able to purchase a nicely equipped Cavalier for around $11,000 or less at present.

You'll hear widely varying opinions of Cavaliers from bad to good. My opinion is that a Cavalier is a good vehicle, but many of them get abused as former rental/fleet units. You also have to consider the typical Cavalier owner. Many tend to have tight budgets and more important tasks in life than maintaining a vehicle. ANY vehicle will yield a short service life when not maintained correctly. That's the most risky part of buying any used vehicle. You can't trust the salespeople and former owners are usually hard to contact.

I've had two Cavaliers in the family through the years. The first was a 1990 purchased new. Two biggest problems were a TCC solenoid in the transmission (common problem, not too expensive to repair) and a corroded heater core (somebody forgot to change the coolant for 10 years - oops). It was totalled last year after being rear-ended by a Ford F-250 truck at 95,000 miles. Mechanically, the car was in excellent condition, although the factory paint job was poor prompting a repaint a few thousand miles before its demise. The second was a 2000 that was a former rental car. It was purchased with 18,000 miles. Sold it last year with 43,000 miles without a single problem of any kind. Aside from the coolant issue on the 1990, all other maintainance was performed by the book (or before) and neither was ever abused.

IF I were in the market for used Cavalier or Sunfire, I'd look for one of the last few model years that included the more fuel-efficient 4-speed automatic transmission as opposed to the older 3-speed unit (assuming you're looking for an automatic instead of a manual) and the Ecotec 2.2L engine instead of the older 2.2L OHV engine. The Ecotec is more powerful, quieter, and smoother. Expect any of these cars to develop their fair share of squeaks and rattles as they are assembled with low cost in mind, particularly in areas of noise control.

Overall, I think a Cavalier is a "good" car without any major flaws, but most aren't maintained well in the used market, so buyer beware as is the case with any used vehicle. As a previous poster recommended, have a competent mechanic go over the entire car. Buy a Carfax history report. Get NADA and Kelly Blue Book values. Add all those together along with your gut feeling to determine whether or not you've found the right car.

Good luck, ~Roger

Reply to
Roger Maxwell

Hehe, I had a 1988 Z24, 2.8L V6, w/5-speed Munci, owned it for four years, went from 178,000kms when I bought it for $3200CDN to 360,000kms when I sold it for $900CDN. Put VERY little into it, never broke down (probably because of proper maintenance), never caught me off-guard with a blow part. I told the girl that bought it to take good care of it, requires lots of maintenance, it's an old car. She didn't listen, don't think she even changed the oil. 6 months later, after she hit a few curbs destroying the rims and fenders, the engine blew up.

Steve

Reply to
Steve Mackie

I'd get a later model one with the Ecotec engine. Look, they are just a little tin can of a car, but they are fairly reliable. We don't do that much work to them. The fit and finish isn't that great, they develop rattles and noises as they get a few miles on them, but they don't have any major problems that I've run into.

Ian

Reply to
shiden_kai

yeah I agree, get a later one with an Ecotec, if you just HAVE to get an older one, I'd suggest the 2.2 instead of the 2.4, its a less powerful motor, but less issues.

Avoid the 3 speeds, its actually a solid transmission, but the gas mileage sucks, and then theres extra wear on the motor since its revving higher most of the time.

If the squeeks and rattles get too annoying, you can always take apart the interior, get some felt padding thats sticky on one side, and apply it to certain points where the pieces contact each other, also some rubberized caulking can help in other areas, either that or do what I did when I was a teenager with a sunfire, install the loudest stereo possible to drown out the squeeks. (stupid but it works)

Reply to
Paradox

With any used car the keys are low mileage and a documented service history.

"When a legislature undertakes to proscribe the exercise of a citizen's constitutional rights it acts lawlessly and the citizen can take matters into his own hands and proceed on the basis that such a law is no law at all."

- Justice William O. Douglas

Reply to
MisterSkippy

Good advice.

Ian

Reply to
shiden_kai

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