and he's dressin it up to race. let's not forget it's a 5-speed and he can't drive stick for ****. I couldn't teach him stick on my 4-speed Sentra.

my other friend and I have a running bet on how long until he blows a head gasket, cos as everyone knows, those 2.2L cavalier engines are built to GM's strict, rigorous quality specifications (LMAO). If he's not needing a head gasket, he'll be putting a clutch in, if he continues at the rate he's abusing it now.

but I say within 3 months he replaces his alternator and battery. Delco alternators have ventilation problems that cause the diodes to overheat, and their factory batteries ALL leak from the (+) terminal. (I should know, I used to pick up the ones people returned to Fisher). my sister has a 98 Z24 and she's already replaced the alternator, battery, valve cover gasket, and had some tranny work done to it.

I told him to stay away from those things and go with something imported, but he says "jap is junk" and insists on buying "american". (again, LMAO). anyone who knows the real history knows that the first cavalier was a Toyota.

we'll see who finishes this one in the end. his 89 grand am is dead, my 88 maxima is probably still on the road......

and given the contest between the 2.2 in his cavalier and the 2.2 in my accord, I think I got him beat. anyone else care to add their sentiments?

I just had to throw this one in for a few laughs. I like how the new cavaliers have a look-alike dual exhaust. LOL. from a 4-cylinder. LMAO...

Dan
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sounds to me like someone is jealous that their buddy is driving a newer, nicer car. you should lay off of him. no one flames you for driving an old beater, 4 banger accord. maybe all he can afford is a cavalier. yeah, he may have a few problems down the road, but i'm sure he'll get a lot more life out of that car than you have with all of the cars that you've killed. btw, he's going to spank your accord.

 

nah, I had a cavalier.... I can say from experience... that thing was junk. someone else I know had one they raced... and blew the engine.

 

I worked at Carmax in Atlanta. I dreaded the Cavaliers and the Neons because they sounded like crap.

 

cavaliers are crap..but theres a fewx exceptions. A regular 2.2 cavalier with the z24 transmission will own us and that chip. BUT they break down ALOT.. I do mean ALOT. My brother has one and its gone from a bad tranny (thats how he got the z24 one) to a bad oil pump. I do admit hes fast.. he can even beat regular cavaliers..altough im sure second gens (manual) can most likely beat him, Anywho grand ams are so GHETTO..i have one. that gm2.5 really sucks.. no power i think its not even rated at 100 hp. and the turbo ones tend to start leaking oil then they have those pistons rings that are so fragile plus you cant find them locally. blel. Im sticking with my max. I like it sof ar now that its manual just having some issied..back to the subject.. some cavaliers are nice..specielly the new ones with that ecotech. and yea cavaliers were toyota. (i hate their small engine) that accord can take it on show him

 

I just stay off the subject of saying how other cars suck myself. Sometimes they come back to bite me in the ***. But I do have to say, the cavalier is not the best built car....but neither is our maxima's, or an accord, etc. It really does come down to how you drive your car. If you beat the hell out of it, of course it's going to be problematic. People don't really look at the fact of the people who take care of thier car and it lasts, whether it's a cavalier or not. Hell there is a reason my car is still on the road. It was well taken care of for most of it's like, until I got a hold of it. :P

S

 

I dunno, I just don't like cavaliers. I think they're cheaply built. I truly think that these domestic car companies like GM are trying to keep the prices down on their cars, in order to keep up with the import market, whose cars are typically less expensive and will run for 250,000 miles. but to do so they have to cut corners. I've seen a plastic (yes, a PLASTIC) idler/tensioner pulley on a GMC sonoma. they made the arm metal, but the actual pulley, the part that spins, was plastic. and I have to wonder.......

of course, no car is without its problems. I hear chrysler has problems with their transmissions. I hear ford engines suck in general, everyone knows about the automatic transmission problems with our year maximas, and some have said that hondas burn oil after 200,000 miles. it's all machine, pistons, crankshaft, camshafts, connecting rods, valves, throwout bearing, torque converter, water pump, alternator, battery.... and it's all subject to mechanical failure. an engine kept well-tuned with clean oil will last considerably longer than one that's neglected. how it's built does matter, but how it's taken care of is more important. I never liked hondas but this one looks like it was taken care of inside and out... it was retrofitted to R-134, it's basically immaculate. it's quiet and runs like it's brand new, for a 1990 model. and for a 4-cyl, she has a swift kick to her. so we'll see how she does.

 

I've yet to own a car that didn't make it to over 200,000 miles
without any major problems except:
tranny on maxima at 145,000
head gasket on MR2 at 140,000
My Z has only 145,000 on it.
My wife's 2000 Grand Prix only has 80,000 on it.
my other cars have all been domestic and went over 200,000 easy.

 

well he showed me his cavalier again... I don't like them, but it looks like a decent ride. but he already has a fart can on it. but here's the killer: he opened the passengers side door and showed me this piece that's in the door jamb. It's a little blue dot, kinda like a plug or something, about 3/4" in diameter. guess what it said on it.


it said..... FORD!!!!!

ROTFLMFAO!! it even had the ford oval symbol! ford parts on a chevy cavalier! hell, and all this time I thought it was bad enough chevy was using toyota parts, and hondas were coming stock with AC-Delco parts, a company owned by GM. LMAO

now I've seen it all.

 

I raced my friends 2000 Z24 that had only motor mounts and an intake manifold and he almost beat my sentra. He pulled on me though first and second... got about 1/2 car ahead then i pulled him pretty good 3rd and 4th. I was fairly impressed. I have to say, Cavaliers have poor build quality... but i have seen a number hit the 200,000+ mile mark. My sisters blew three head gaskets in a short time though. Just because these cars make it that far doesnt mean they have been fixed 20 times.

My 86 300zx had original parts except clutch. It made it 150,000 miles now. NO major repairs unlike a cavalier that needs head gaskets like oil changes.

 

Yeah, head gaskets seems to be a Cavalier's favorite food. My car is pass 200k, and the only major thing that went wrong with it was the tranny back at 166k.

S

 

I think that's partially because GM dresses these cars up like race cars, so that 16-year old guys with blonde highlights in their hair will like them and buy them, hack up the exhaust and put a fart can on the back of it, and an aluminum spoiler so high and obtrusive that they can pull in shortwave stations from new zealand. they dress these cars up to be something they're not intended to be: a street rod. if kids want street rods, there are plenty of shelby mustangs, corvette stingrays, novas, chevelles, etc. with much more potential than a cheaply built car with a 2.2 litre 4-banger. you can't take a stock 350 out of a cavalier and drop a 454 in it, like you can with a chevelle or nova or vette. mainly because you can't get cars like that anymore.

people are freakin stupid. give em a honda civic with a 1.6 and they think it's fast.

the other day I was on the highway and it sounded like there was a nest of bees p**sed off in my back seat... but it was just the civic in the lane next to mine.

Dan
---------------------------------
C.H.E.V.R.O.L.E.T - Cheap, Halfa**ed Engineering, Virtually Runs On Luck Each Time

 

and my ex-roommate had a 99 cavalier 5-speed with the 2.2 that he dressed up to race.... and he did race it, for a while. but the day I got my maxima I took him out cruisin and he flat out said to me I could nail his a** to the ground. talk about satisfaction! anyway, he wasn't racing for long cos eventually he did blow the head gasket... yep... surprise... and then he got this '87 camaro with a 2.8 he was drivin for a while... but it didn't run for very long either cos he ignored the little red light that came on that said "TEMP". I guess that light isn't very important, right?



Dan
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I'll add my sentiments: Accords are over-rated tin can driving, egg-beater sounding, transmission slipping before 60,000 miles, boring looking cars. I'd push a Cavalier before I'd drive an Accord.

Btw, the new Cobalt kicks ***!