(first posted 6/7/2017) One of Old GM’s worst habits was to drag out model cycles. This afflicted most severely their subcompact and compact offerings—witness the 13-year run of the first-generation Cavalier, and the 10-year run of the second generation. Post-bankruptcy, that habit seems to have been banished. That’s good. If GM wants to remain competitive in the compact segment, it can’t afford to be cavalier (ahem) with its compacts. While an ’03 Civic or Corolla shared little with their ’95 counterparts, these Cavaliers are almost identical. That’s bad.
The Cavalier had started in 1982 as a North American offshoot of a new, global GM platform. Unfortunately for GM, the Cavalier lacked polish and couldn’t sell at the lofty prices they were asking for it, and so began the Cavalier’s march downstairs into the bargain basement. To its credit, GM did give it some nips and tucks, and its optional V6 engine and low prices were decidedly unlike its Japanese rivals.
The ’95 model was pretty but underneath it was much the same as before. While there were a couple of cosmetic tweaks during its decade-long run, the only major change was the introduction in 2002 of GM’s new Ecotec four-cylinder, finally replacing the 20-year-old 122 four-cylinder engine.
GM’s M.O. for the Cavalier was simple: slap ‘em together and sell ‘em cheap. The Cav still had a three-speed automatic on the options list until 2001. The 2005 interior was almost identical to the 1995 one. And for a company that had slapped ABS badges on so many of their cars in the early ‘90s and bragged about this important safety feature, it was astounding they would make this feature an option for 2003.
Its successor, the Cobalt, used a global platform once again. It wasn’t anywhere near the top of the class but it was an improvement, although sales slumped considerably. But the 2011 Cruze that followed it showed GM was getting smart about its compacts. It arrived a little late in North America (it debuted in ’09 elsewhere) but it was almost identical to Cruzes sold overseas, not a cheap bastardization of a global product. There were a lot of happy Cav owners but it was almost always a car that sold on price and perceived reliability. The Cruze was now a genuinely good compact and became one of America’s best-selling compacts, like the Cavalier had been, proving GM could successfully sell one of their global compacts in North America. Oh, and that they didn’t need to sell it at fire sale prices. There’s a new Cruze out now and it took only 5 years for GM to introduce it. It looks like GM has learned their lesson.
1995 and 2003 Cavaliers photographed near Runyon Canyon in Hollywood, CA.
1991-94 coupe photographed in East Village, Manhattan, NY.
Related Reading:
Curbside Classic: 1990 Chevrolet Cavalier Z-24- Camaro Z-28 Minus Four?
I owned a 82 J2000 that I bought because I wanted to buy American, and for that excellent GM A/C system. It didn’t hurt that my little blue hatchback resembled it’s “big brother” Firebird.
However, little things broke on that car about once a year. The speedometer cable rattled at speeds over 35 mph. The shift knob broke into 3 big chunks, the exhaust manifold split into 2 large chunks, the tires were an oddball size (but then, most OEM tires were back then). The front struts barely lasted 3 years, and then the clutch gave up at about the 4 year mark.
I think “the powers that be” at GM decided that if Honda and Toyota could get by with just a bit of sheet metal tweaking and calling it a new model….GM thought it could do pretty much the same. Besides, the J-cars always sold in decent numbers.
BTW, no one is bothered by Toyota offering a 4 speed automatic transmission LONG after “everyone” else has moved to 5 and 6 speed automatic transmissions in their small cars?
I think the logic of Toyota and Honda getting by with tiny sheet metal tweaking comes from GM and Chrysler. ( Nissan does it quietly too ) Parts recycling engineering too. It’s too bad the parts availability doesn’t greatly benefit from those practices though.
The black plastic insert just looks so alike. The whole approach of the facelift is almost uncannily same.
Howard, I’m bothered. Toyota has dropped the ball in some respects: slow adoption of turbocharging, ancient Yaris hatch and Lexus GX, 4-speed autos, unimpressive Camry interior…
So is Toyota is the new GM? (shudder!)
I think so. NIssan is Mopar, Honda is FordMoCo and Mazda+Subaru+Mitsubishi are AMC
Hyundai and KIA are where Toyota and Honda were 30 years ago.
Not Subaru!
We looked at a new Corolla a few weeks ago with the sticker price of over 25K. To say the interior was lacking is an understatement. My friend that was looking at these cars started checking out the dash and gave a slight tug on the lower plastic portion. it pulled away in his hands!
Needless to say we moved on to the Hyundai dealer and the interior quality was light years better and more solid. He bought a very nicely equipped Special Edition model for less than 19K less taxes and loves the car.
The worst part of Cavalier is the ’03 facelift. It made a boring, but natural looking car very unpleasant to look at.
When I was early in college, there was a guy thinking Cavalier was cool looking in yellow with black strips. He was looking from behind, and he was scared by the horror of the front clip when I told him to look again.
It would look even worse if the picture in the post includes the ’03 front clip.
Worst part of that facelift is the surgery scars are clearly visible, with the old headlight shape following the carried over fender cutline. It reminds me a lot of the 1973 Nova restyle.
I think after growing up with Hotwheels cars since a little baby, I didn’t realize how bad Nova’s restyle looks ( because I got used to by looking at them too much )
But when consistency is lost it’s bad. Chrysler cleverly cut the body lines of Volare/Aspen in Fifth Avenue and Diplomat. It’s cut into such a tiny piece.
The 03 and 95 no, but the Toyota Corolla was in fact virtually unchanged between 2003 and 2013. Long model cycles of a well sorted car are just fine, and much better than multiple short model cycles of lemons. The J- bodies sin was that they weren’t good to begin with AND they were made forever.
A long model cycle isn’t necessarily bad, so long as the car is on point to start with, and efforts are made to keep it there.
Yep, the Cavalier. One of the favorite whipping boys for the internet crowd. I’m not one of them, for good reason:
My wife’s current ride is a 2015 Dodge Dart GT, which she adores and is slowly undergoing the tuner treatment with occasional showings at Cars & Coffee Richmond. Unfortunately her job changed and instead of showing up at the retail site six miles from home that she was hired, she was now facing 1-1/2 hour commute each way (paid for), plus her 8-1/2 hour workday. Not wanting be beat her car to death (this change wasn’t permanent) in the interim, we decided to find a beater for the long commutes.
Enter a 2001 Cavalier base model, ex-Henrico County government car, white, air, automatic, anti-lock and aftermarket radio, 189k on the clock at purchase. Easily cleaned, solid other than some rust out under the doors, I plunked down the negotiated $500, then added $600 in DMV taxes and fees, tune-up, replacement of ALL fluids, and four new tires. For the past few months it’s been doing the job on the long hauls very nicely, and very reliably.
Yeah, they weren’t built to be appealing to the internet car crowd (who wouldn’t buy new anything in the first place), but they’re certainly solid, reliable transportation devices. Figure we can get this thing into at least the low 200k’s as long as we don’t skimp on service and repairs.
I like it. And Maggie’s very happy with it.
I rented a Hyundai Elantra and a Dodge Dart sort of back to back a few months ago. After reading some of the reviews for the Dart I was expecting it to be a bit crappy….but in my opinion it’s a pretty decent car. I even started checking the inventories of all the Dodge dealers within an hours drive. I found about a half dozen with manual transmissions and nearly all were highline GTs. For what a GT was stickered at, a Fiesta ST or even a Focus ST is a better car/value….at least as a new car.
My experience with that 82 J2000 (bought new) tells me your experience with your Cavalier is probably typical in that these cars will easily do high mileages if regularly maintained. Unfortunately, most folks that scrimp when buying a car, also scrimp when maintaining it.
“For what a GT was stickered at…”
Never mind that, how much were they going for? I’d expect quite a lot of cash on the hood for how long it was between when they announced the end of the Dartand when they finally stopped building them.
On Cavaliers, they seem to be the go-to choice for the lowest class of “real car” racing (one rung up from shifter karts) on the local track. Get a manual coupe, gut it, and presumably if you blow an engine one from an automatic sedan will do.
So just who is this “internet crowd” you keep referring to?
Don’t be so damn defensive; Cavaliers make great beaters.
Chevys will run poorly longer than most other cars will run at all.
As the old Packard slogan had it, “Ask the man who owns one” – and maintains it properly.
The 2200 SFI engine, albeit a few “minor” bugs is a very reliable engine and very easy to maintain.
There are a few areas to watch for, with corrosion:
The Engine Sub-Frame
The coolant tube, that extends from the passenger side of the cylinder head and routes across the spark plugs
The Quarter Panels
Rear Bumper Reinforcement
As far as engine:
Ditch the Dex-Cool Orange for conventional green or universal gold, and it will save you literal thousands on a future head gasket replacement
Make sure to keep up with your oil changes, as a small number of these engines can and do suffer timing chain stretch/breaks when they are abused and above the 200,000 mile mark.
The thing I most remember about this generation of the Cavalier/Sunfire was the abysmal crash test ratings. The IIHS rated it “Poor” in both the front and rear crashes, and though the NHTSA gave it a decent four stars in the front crash, it received just one star in the driver side crash. It wasn’t just crash tests that demonstrated its lack of safety — in a 2007 IIHS report on driver deaths, the Cavalier was at the very top (meaning more deaths). Quite frankly, it’s shocking that GM continued to sell these as long as they did; they weren’t all that safe in 1995, and by the time they stopped selling them 10 years later, the J-body was probably the most unsafe new car in America.
Even though Cavalier was kind of bad in safety, Dodge Neon was worse during most of the time, probably because the structure was bad to start with, ( frameless door at first ) even after the revision, it was still kind of bad. However Cavalier managed to score less for one year. Anyway in most situations Dodge Neon is wiped out from the road ( rust resistance and many others ) so people could remember Cavalier was bad in safety.
We had a 1993 which we bought used. There were lots and lots of used ones around and they were really really cheap. The car was pretty crappy but it gave good service. And, it was actually pretty quick. We kept it for six years and 100,000 or so miles. The motor mounts broke and at a stop light the engine vibrated so badly we had to put the car in neutral or the engine would have shaken the car to pieces. Our mechanic said to not even bother with new motor mounts because they all seemed to break.
I would not have bought this car if I wasn’t a little desperate and needed something that fit the budget. Would have traded sooner but we decided what the heck, lets just drive it till we can’t stand it any more.
Ours was the RS model, supposedly a little nicer than base, white with a red tape stripe on the side. I think all the 1993s had a red stripe. The salesmans joke was that RS stood for “Red Stripe”. The 1994s had a blue stripe.
J cars are quite rare here now NZ was unlucky in that we got three flavours of them from Australia Japan and the US, the latter variety arriving as used ex JDM Chevrolets and Toyotas they do out number the Holden and Isuzu/Holden versions but that isnt hard Ive seen exactly one of the rare Isuzu Aska rebadges in recent years and only two Holden versions, not great cars.
You know, I never, never think “Hey look! A Cavalier!” when I’m out on the streets. I suspect that in ten years I will suddenly realize I haven’t seen a Cav in a while and post an article about it on here, everyone will share their Cav memories and someone will report they saw one yesterday.
My favorite Cavalier was right up my Focus’ butt on a highway off ramp. They pulled up at the light and it was a rusty gold 4 door with no hubcaps and a giant wing on the back. The two muttonheads in it gave me the finger when I burst out laughing. 🙂
It was probably an automatic too. Amateurs…
Despite all the Cavalier hate, I thought they were very competent cars in their second year, after adopting the TBI 2.0.
A friends parents bought an ’82 Cimmaron, which actually might have been a decent car, had it not been ruined by that gutless, rattly, saggy, carbed 1.8 GM saddled them with in their first year.
In 1984, I went with the same friend, who was car-shopping, and we tested a new, stripper, stick-shift 2.0 Cavalier wagon. At the time, I had a ’71 Audi wagon – a wonderful driving, riding & handling vehicle but somewhat fragile, with a noisy push-rod 1,8 four not much more refined than the TBI Cavalier engine.
So I was impressed with the new Cavalier, Though, by then my friend decided he couldn’t afford a new car anyway.
While it lacked the refinement of the better imports, and was forever cursed by GM’s bean-counters, they were fairly reliable. It was the first small American car I felt I could live with, if I were buying a new car.
Happy Motoring, Mark
I loved my 1984 Olds Firenza and my 1992 Cavalier was the best GM I ever owned. My 2005 Cobalt was the end for GM with me and first hand stories from Cruze owners make my Cobalt seem like a great car.
Same with my 2007 Cobalt. No more GM for me
http://www.consumerreports.org/car-reliability/10-most-reliable-cars/
Everyone I know, that owns a Cruze, has loved them and said nothing really bad about them.
There is a recall for the water pumps leaking, which GM dealers will fix within 1-2 hours. And the PCM detects the leak before the engine overheats, with a warning on the dash that reads: “Engine Hot – A/C Off”.
The Cobalt was an Opel-designed nightmare, with a ridiculous designed engine(that shared the same water pump & power steering pump designs from the Quad 4, to only add MORE problems to mix), and the electric driven power steering is a result of stupid CAFE regulations. Removing the hydraulic pumping losses of the camshaft-driven system did add fuel economy.
However, it was doomed to fail, because with FWD setups, most of your weight is on the front wheels. Not exactly rocket science and also one of the many reasons that most FWD cars still have hydraulic-assisted power steering.
Cobalts were too front end heavy for manual rack and pinion, thanks to the full engine cradle made from 12-gauge tubular steel(which also made front end collisions much worse as the car would get hit very high on the hood and upper core support as the front end dropped down on the sluggish springs, as opposed to the shock-absorbing bumper that had a thick reinforcement and styrofoam absorbing pad behind the fascia)
This is also why the battery was moved into the trunk, as a cheap way to try and compensate for a flawed engineering design.
Then factor in the 83% parts content from “Hecho en Mexico”, and you have a recipe for building junk.
Thank your government and Democrats for stupid CAFE regulations and NAFTA. Thank your college-educated engineers for designing it so stupidly. Thank your GM bean counters for trying to make them too cheaply.
The Cavalier, Cobalt, and Cruze were all produced within 15 minutes of my house, in Lordstown, Ohio. A small number came from Mexico, but the Mexican VIN “3” models are a small minority of the total production numbers.
The Cobalt was an Opel-designed nightmare, with a ridiculous designed engine(that shared the same water pump & power steering pump designs from the Quad 4, to only add MORE problems to mix), and the electric driven power steering is a result of stupid CAFE regulations. Removing the hydraulic pumping losses of the camshaft-driven system did add fuel economy.
iirc, the Cobalt is on the first gen Delta platform, which was only used on North American products. The Opel Astra H which was in production over the same period uses the last iteration of the T platform. The rear axle of an Astra is a round tube while the rear axle of a Cobalt is a triangular shaped piece made of perforated, flat, steel pieces.
A lot of cars use electric power steering now. The Cobalt, and Malibu suffered from being early adapters, compounded by GM’s refusal to admit there was a problem with them. GM still tried to make excuses when the government finally ordered them to recall the power steering due to it’s habit of randomly turning itself off while the car was in motion.
… the full engine cradle made from 12-gauge tubular steel(which also made front end collisions much worse as the car would get hit very high on the hood and upper core support as the front end dropped down
An interesting observation. When I was shopping for a beater a year ago, I noticed that minimal insurance on an old Cobalt, not including collision, cost $100 more per year than an Astra or Focus.
This is also why the battery was moved into the trunk, as a cheap way to try and compensate for a flawed engineering design.
I wondered about that choice as it seemed to add a lot of complexity to the design. Cobalts also require special batteries that have a fitting to connect the tube that vents hydrogen outside of the car, rather than letting it accumulate in the trunk and create an explosion hazard. The Astra H carried it’s battery in the engine compartment, even when fitted with a version of the Cobalt’s 2.2 Ecotec for the Australian market.
Well, when you wreck a car and the insurance comes to haul it out of your driveway while handing you a check for the value of it, me and my family are the ones that eventually buy it at an auction, salvage the remaining usable parts for resale, and then crush it into a 6’x6′ cube.
Seen plenty of Cobalts/G5s with similar crash patterns come in for salvage over the short production run.
Seen plenty of Cobalts/G5s with similar crash patterns come in for salvage over the short production run.
A factor in that sort of damage is that half the vehicles on the road today are pickups and SUVs that are not subject to the same bumper height regs as passenger cars. The probabilities of a passenger car’s bumper being overridden and the grill, radiator and hood being smashed are excellent.
Last winter I saw a Civic that had rear ended another car. The collision had to be at low speed because it was a residential street with a 25mph limit and was completely covered with hard packed and polished snow and ice, so speed and braking forces would have been too low to cause the front end of the car to dive far below it’s normal right height. The Civic’s hood was jackknifed.
I was at the VW dealer a few months ago and saw a Jetta wagon that had been in an accident. Bumper was fine. Grill, headlights, front fenders, radiator and hood all smashed.
That sort of damage is now a routine risk we drivers of conventional passenger cars face every day.
Wow, come to the US and start photographing Cavaliers? Will, Will, Will . . . .
I think we have to remember that the way the CAFE system was set up at the time, each company had to maintain a fleet mpg average. To sell more big profitable cars you had to sell more small less profitable but high mpg cars. To make matters worse, fuel prices came crashing down to modern lows in the 90s, a circumstance that has always sent Americans in search of big, powerful comfortable vehicles.
I recall reading that the original Neon was the only small American car that could be built at a profit, and maybe not even that one as it turned out. GM and Ford lost money on their cars in this segment but pushing them out the door with rebates and low prices was the price that had to be paid to sell those Corvettes and Crown Vics that actually paid the bills.
Relevant points, but let’s not forget that these unit losses were their own doing, for not building a car that was competitive in the first place, thus they had no choice but to sell on low price.
There were a few exceptions to that: the Mazda 323-based gen2 Escort was quite competitive, and enjoyed decent transaction prices until late in its run, when it got rather stale. There’s little doubt that it was profitable during its early years at least.
And as you said, the Neon started out the gate looking very competitive (and profitable) but weakness soon dragged it down too.
I give the Cavalier credit for being cheap and reliable; it made a far better used car than a new one as they depreciated rapidly, were robust in later years, there wasn’t much to break on them and what there was was ancient tech and easy to fix and diagnose. For whatever used car budget you had, the Cavalier had a lot more life in it than a comparable Civic or Corolla.
But I remember renting one in Mexico in the early 2000s and it was an awful car. It droned up the hills and down the hills and up the hills and down the hills and was just unpleasant to drive. Ugly, cheap dark black interior, ugly upholstery, if the Cavalier was cheap, you knew it. I don’t hate it, and if someone asked me for a good car for $1500, I’d certainly recommend one, but there are reasons it is cheap and you know it.
BTW, Will, my rental in Baltimore was a brand new 2017 Cruze 5 door hatchback. Quite nice; a pleasant drive. Of course I mostly just drove it between the airport and my mom’s retirement place, but there’s no question that GM has left its small car issues behind, and some time ago.
Just Curious, Paul:
What did you think of the engine shutting off when you came to a stop at a traffic light, and then coming back on when you hit the gas when the light turned green?
I found this quite strange when I test drove one of these back in August of last year when I was looking for a new commuter car. I ended up getting a new Civic instead. The Civic gets similar gas mileage numbers, without this ‘feature’. This seems like an unusual approach to meeting CAFE numbers. Wouldn’t you wear out starters? Or does the car uses some sort of flywheel to restart the engine?
My sister has the previous generation Cruze and loves it. A neighbor two doors up loves hers too.
FWIW, I see more early 00’s Cavi’s than Cobalts running around. The ignition switch fiasco seemed to kill off many Cobalts. BHPH dealers want to avoid the hassles, so off to scrap yards instead.
We leased a red ’96 Cavalier coupe…one step up from the base model (color-keyed bumpers, bigger wheels). Was a decent car and other than one factory recall, it was trouble-free and we drove it right up to our 45K mile lease max. Thought about purchasing it at the end of the lease, but buy-out was not cost effective.
The Cadaver (and it’s lame successor, the Cobalt) gets ragged on mercilessly and, honestly, it’s mostly deserved. But here’s the thing. They built hundreds of thousands of them and, to this day, it’s not particularly unusual to see one still running around on the streets. They were the epitome of “It’s the only new/used car I could afford” which was generally reliable point A to point B basic transportation. I would give them the most current ‘cockroach of the road’ which can be kept running on the cheap to this day, the same of which can’t be said of its contemporaries, cars like the Ford Tempo and Dodge Neon. I haven’t seen either of the latter in years. But a 10-20 year old Cadaver? I would say one crops up at least every six months or so.
I owned two of these.
A 98 and an 03.
The 98 wasn’t that bad. Black Exterior/Grey Interior. Oil changes were easy and it’s still running with over 230,000mi. Sold it to a family friend. The A/C even still works, although the body is about 40% rusted away.
The 03 was a nightmare and a borderline lemon. Gold/Tan. I have no idea how they managed to make the motor less efficient and let’s not even discuss the cartridge style oil filter where you had to remove a part of the intake to access, making changes an absolute nightmare. The entire oil filter cap including the nut was plastic, pretty much guaranteeing it was going to get stripped. May whoever responsible be tazered repeatedly.
*squints and rubs temples*
Man, I hated that car.
As always, thank you for the piece.
Nobody has mentioned the Toyota Cavalier? I was half expecting KiwiBryce to say he has seen a couple of them “ex-JDM”
I forget the reasoning behind Toyota selling a rebadged Chevy in its homeland but they even spent time correcting the poor build quality of the US-provided units and went on to provide excellent customer service with these things. IIRC there was a TRD version available too.
As I mentioned above we have them here ex JDM the numbers are thinning though not too many left.
Well, RHD Cavaliers were equipped with the ill-fated “2.4L Junk Cam”(which was a redesigned Oldsmobile Quad 4, with a larger crankshaft, smaller bore diameter, and taller intake/exhaust ports to improve NVH and low-rpm torque output).
The Quad 4 was notorious for water pump failure, namely by leaking through the bearings. Since it was geared into the engine timing chain instead of driven by the serpentine belt, this allowed the coolant to mix with the oil.
The 2.4L had the exact same water pump design, and the exact same problems with them.
Then, in 2003, GM started using the 2.2L Scrap-O-Tech, which had the EXACT SAME water pump design. So, they took a bad design that was killing their sales, and decided to put it into their “improved” model that was supposed to replace the old ones…..
I worked with some of the guys, that actually built the Toyota Cavalier with RHD. They were retired from GM, at the time I worked with them. Toyota actually rejected most of those cars for being below Japan’s safety and quality standards.
Those Toyochevy Cavaliers landed in NZ ex JDM they dont have a very good rep and are now extremely rare on the roads,
To paraphrase a good friend of mine-who is an unashamed J-car enthusiast (especially with Sunbirds and Sunfires):
“They are horrible cars, and are great as beaters mostly because of that (along with the fact that parts are dime a dozen)… Also, they are “my” horrible cars that I happen to feel nostalgic for, mostly because I really wish my dad had kept that mint-condition early 1990’s Sunbird Convertible he sold, and had it eventually fall into my hands (due to said nostalgia)…That’s why I love them.”
Said friend currently owns a 2002 Ford Focus, but would have been just as likely to have a Cavalier or Sunfire/Sunbird, if she could have found a decent example when she was looking for a car.
I’ve only driven a few rental Cavaliers and one Cobalt, and in fact found the Cobalt far better. But to me the deadly sin is that GM, once the leader in branding, didn’t stick with a name over all those years. I don’t think it’s irrelevant to,their success, that the Civic and Corolla names have been around for 40 and 50 years, respectively. Vega, Chevette, Cavalier, Cobalt, Cruze? Why would a consumer expect a car to be good if Chevy can’t even stick with the name?
Dman, GM could have done that with a superior Cavalier, at least in name.
With 20 some years of familiarity and consistently good sales, GM could have saved some money rebuilding their small car cred [Cobalt- Chevy’s “premium” compact, Cruze ] had they kept the name.
Perhaps letting it languish for so long ruined any marketing value “Cavalier” had.
But when you can slap the Nova name on a Corolla, or LeMans on a Daewoo, or the mindless use of Cutlass on so many Oldsmobiles, Cadillac on Chevrolets and Opels continuing the Cavalier name would seem like a bean counter’s dream.
Not when all your attention is focused on trucks and SUVs, I guess. Credibility ? Who needs credibility ? We’ve got trucks. Pull those GM 900s forward.
Well Ford and Chrysler have also changed their smaller car names too. Some here seem to have selective memories?
Falcon-Granada, Fairmont, Tempo, Contour, Focus all within the span of the 1970’s to the late 90’s.
Not really, since we’re talking about GM and the Cavalier. Chrysler and GM did the same thing. And it was still misguided.
A few/rare Asian name changes:
Tercel > Echo > Yaris
Stanza > Altima
Cressida > Avalon
My beater is a 1998 Cavalier base coupe, horrendously unreliable. Got it from the original owner, it was babied it’s whole life and before 130000 miles I had a host of cooling system issues and then a crankshaft position sensor failure. Known for their wonky PCM modules and faulty cooling fans
I never, so far, have had the pleasure of being at the helm of a Cav. The one at the Detroit auto show in 05 looked so forlorn. There was a mob, including me, checking out the new Malibu Maxx and pre-production Cobalts were on turntables with a crowd admiring them. The Cav sat virtually ignored.
Did drive an 09 Cobalt a year ago and was very impressed, for what it is. Engine smooth, strong and quiet. Generally tight body. Responsive handling. If only GM had taken a little more time to get it sorted out. As it is, they suffered short lived struts and suspension bushings, a fast wearing plastic gear in the steering that would start to rattle by 30k miles, short lived switch that fails to detect when it’s in Park, so you can’t shut the engine off, timing chain that could stretch and wear enough to jump time shortly after 100K. Then there was the seat, which was like sitting on a shapeless bag of mush.
Then there was GM’s attitude when something went seriously wrong. The electric power steering would randomly turn itself off. The government ordered a recall. GM said if the power steering turned off, an idiot light would turn on to warn you, so pull off the road, shut off the engine and restart to reboot the computer and the power steering would probably start working again. GM didn’t see what the fuss was about as if it never occurred to them that the steering should not cut off in the first place. Then there was Ray DeGeorgio, who approved the ignition switch even though it did not meet GM’s own specification for torque required to turn it off.
Road tests of the first gen Cruze were raves. I admired them at the Detroit auto show for their tall greenhouse with good visibility and reasonably straightforward controls. The Cruze with the 1.4T came in as the most unreliable car in the US in CR’s surveys.
That is probably why GM keeps changing the name of their small cars. As each underdeveloped model poisons it’s name, they move to a new name hoping for a fresh start.
Chevette, Cavalier, Cobalt, Cruze…Chevy should name their next small car Cromulent.
Caput(t), last GM salute to Opel.
The Delta platform was benchmarked against the late 90s VW Golf. Very stiff. Of course by the time it came out as the Cobalt in 2005 [ first the ION ], how many updates had been done to the Golf by then ?
The intermediate steering shaft clunk has been standard on GM cars for years. My 99 Cavalier was repaired under warranty for it and I have read a number of posts about the same problem in Impalas as late as 2010.
I despised GM for going ahead with that ignition switch. Multiple replacements on my ION, two full park pawl replacements and the key still would release after the new, final switch was approved. Electrical glitch in the Passlock system.
GM even gave itself an award for that frigging switch in 2002, right before release on an unsuspecting public in the new ION.
The intermediate steering shaft clunk has been standard on GM cars for years. My 99 Cavalier was repaired under warranty for it and I have read a number of posts about the same problem in Impalas as late as 2010.
Cobalts have had trouble with the U-joint in the intermediate shaft, just like a lot of others. The rattle I’m talking about is different. The electric power steering motor mounts on the side of the steering shaft housing and drives a worm gear. The worm gear engages a gear mounted directly on the steering shaft. The gear mounted on the shaft is plastic. The plastic wears fast and the engagement between it and the worm gear develops a lot of slop.
The 46K ,mile Cobalt I test drove last year had a lot of suspension noise. The dealer replaced all the shocks, which eliminated the clunks from that source. With the suspension quiet, all was well on the second test drive, until I rolled over some railroad tracks at low speed and heard the rattle in the steering column.
Here’s a video of a Cobalt steering shaft opened up showing the plastic gear.
Thanks Steve. I had never heard of that, and after watching the video, I’ll know what it is should I hear it.
66,ooo miles now and haven’t encountered it, but am happy to be forewarned.
“GM even gave itself an award for that frigging switch in 2002..”
How can you give yourself an award? That’s worthless! How low could they go…?
Strange about the 1.4T being that bad. Other than a first year issue with the wastegate nobody I have spoke to with any 2011-current Cruze has had any engine related issues to speak of and some are well over 100K miles. Even my friend who works at our Chevy dealer in parts says they rarely come in for engine related issues. Now I have heard a few complaints of A/C with a musty smell ( as with many modern cars today) and a few complaints of antifreeze smells which turned out to be a throttle body gasket I believe. Other than that they seem to be quite good little cars overall.
I own two 2012 1.4T Cruzes. There are cooling issues that come up. One has had a water pump and a neck piece replaced, the other just the neck piece so far. The first one has also had a turbo replaced at just below 99K miles. The other, at 71K, hasn’t had that happen yet.
There are cooling issues that come up. One has had a water pump and a neck piece replaced, the other just the neck piece so far.
That cooling issue on the early 1.4s seems to be widespread. Tons of complaints in the owner comments on Edmunds. And, when the engine overheated, the car would go into gimp mode, with a top speed of about 25mph, which caused awkward moments for people who were on the freeway when it happened.
The only frequent issue I have seen with the 1.8 in the LS trim is replacement of the thermostat housing.
Looking in this year’s Consumer Reports, Chevy seems to to have gotten it’s arms around most of the Cruze’s issues by 14.
My childhood neighbor bought a 1996 green coupe with stick, A/C and a cassette brand new as a commuter car for work etc. Other than the defective factory head gasket that was replaced free of charge under warranty he had no other issues with it for the 150K miles he owned it and overall liked the car well enough that he bought a replacement Cobalt coupe in 2008. he sold the 12 year old Cavvy for 1200 bucks to a college student that lived down the street and it lived on for a while longer. He definitely got his money’s worth.
I bought my 99 Cavalier new, because of it’s retro-tech and the fact it had been in production for so long. That was an asset for me.
The price was great. I could have purchased a more expensive car, but refused to spend that sort of money. I thought the 2 door was especially pretty.
Even with that butcher job in 03 one could still see an attractive design underneath. Too much junk slathered on the 03. Like a 57 Hudson or 58 Packard, an obvious facelift done on the cheap. Tacky.
My 99 had 4 speed auto with traction control, ABS, AC, modest spoiler. It got the sort of over maintenance I would give any mechanical object. And I loved it. Loved looking at it.
I still regret it was totalled in a rear ender. No ignition recalls or suspension bushings going bad like the ION. No recall for power steering unit replacement. Or multiple trips back to the dealer for warranty repairs.
The early Ecotecs were problematic, but after 2004 and a redesigned oiler for the timing chain [and tensioner], many are wracking up impressive mileage #s without incident.
The engine in my 05 ION and the GM 4 speed automatic are it’s best aspects. I have no worry about either being a problem over the next 10 years. And of course it gets the same severe duty servicing that the Cavalier did.
But in an 03-05 Cavalier, one has to look at that sad sack face and the awful tail lights. One of the worst facelifts of that period, along with the Monte Carlo and L Series. I never would have replaced the 99 with an 03-05 for that alone.
The Cobalts had been on sale for several months when I went shopping for the Cavalier’s replacement. But all six on the lot were overloaded and came in white or black. Rows and rows of SUVs and trucks. Hence the ION whose dealer had a wide selection of variously equipped and priced offerings.
Minus the problems my out of pocket expenses have been one of the ignition switches [refunded by GM] and sway bar bushing replacement, along with gas, oil and tires. Front brakes at 60,000 miles and a battery after nearly 9 years.
However, while I have acquired a strong affection for it, my Lordstown Cavalier was better built than the vaunted Spring Hill manufactured ION.
Sort of emblematic of GM’s attitude toward it’s small car offerings of the period, having gone downhill for many years prior and exemplified best by the hapless ION and Cobalt.
The early Ecotecs were problematic, but after 2004 and a redesigned oiler for the timing chain [and tensioner], many are wracking up impressive mileage #s without incident.
That redesigned oiler still didn’t solve the problem. Somewhere around 09 they finally redesigned the tensioner. I looked at one 09 with about 60K on it and I could hear the timing chain slap when the engine was started, though the noise stopped as soon as the oil pressure came up. I forgot to check which tensioner that one had. I then looked at another 09, with 46K on it, and the new tensioner, which had a much stronger spring. No timing chain slap on startup. That second 09 would have been mine were it not for the worn, rattling gear in the steering.
Thanks again Steve. Geez, unbelievable. 2009 ??? Only 10 years into production. “We’re on it “. Pretty discouraging.
I like my car but am objective about it’s faults. But this? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
The engine gets Mobil 1. Has had early fluid, belts, hoses, plug/boot changes in the interest of long term ownership and no breakdowns in the desert heat. Years of no car payments.
Seems like even that won’t prevent failure of cheap plastic internal parts.
I guess I’ll find out what the next 60,ooo miles brings. My bad.
Makes me miss that simple minded Cavalier even more.
The engine gets Mobil 1. Has had early fluid, belts, hoses, plug/boot changes in the interest of long term ownership and no breakdowns in the desert heat.
Intense preventive maintenance has probably helped your chain and tensioner. A lot of people who buy cheap cars, like a Cobalt, go cheap on maintenance too, which aggravates the weaknesses.
The Buick Verano, instead of using the 1.4T from the Cruze, has a 2.4 which, iirc, is a development of the 2.2 in the Cobalt. Nary a spec of engine trouble in the Verano. Can’t help but wonder how much better the Cruze’s reputation would be if they had carried over the Cobalt’s 2.2, having finally addressed it’s largest weakness.
Here is the chain noise like I heard on the 60K Cobalt. Oil pressure helps the spring in the tensioner, so the noise goes away when the pressure comes up, for a while. When the chain gets bad enough, the rattle can be heard all the time.
I’ll keep an ear out for it Steve, once again thank you.
Put me in a real funk yesterday.
The irony of it is, one of my purchase motivators [as with every car I have purchased] was the knowledge it didn’t have a timing belt but a chain.
Time to stop betting on the 3 legged dog in the race.
The actual problem was oil volume being restricted from the flow holes being drilled too small, and that is why the stronger spring never solved the problem. Aftermarket timing chain sets were redesigned with larger holes, so more oil could flow through at engine idle.
The problem occurred at idle, and became worse if the owner failed to follow maintenance schedule or use synthetic oils with high oxidation temperature thresholds.
Given the difficulty of actually accessing the oil filter, to change the oil(which is a 10-minute job on my 1991 Pontiac Grand Am w/The Iron Duke 2.5L), it is easy to see why GM failed miserably with the Cobalt and should have been a lesson why they shouldn’t emulate the European automakers.
Not trying to tout the ” ‘Murica” bullhorn, here, but I know of one 1995 Saturn SL1 that is currently owned and driven daily in St. Louis, MO. It has over 630,000 miles on its odometer, and first-gen Saturn S-Series were a fully North American design with 95% parts content from the USA.
That car is still on the factory engine and transmission. The owner took a photo of his odometer, at 499,990 miles, a few years ago.
Ditch that Ion for an old 90s Saturn S-Series, and you will see the difference of “night and day” from the capabilities of Spring Hill, TN
My 1995 Saturn SC2 is still running strong, and just turned 174,000 miles on it, today. Picked it up for $200, out of a police impound yard.
Previous owner abused the hell out of it, never changed the oil(still had a factory Saturn oil filter on it), never changed the transmission fluid(factory Saturn filter there, as well), had redid the valve cover gasket with orange silicone(needless to say the engine bay has very little corrosion from all the oil-covered metal), had 163,082 miles on it, still had factory-installed spark plugs, almost pure water in the expansion tank(bad cap), no cooling fan, broken rear trailing arms(he was driving the car like that when it was impounded), and a broken emergency brake cable.
So, a rebuilt valve body, fresh fluids/filters, a new valve cover gasket, fresh plugs and wires, used cooling fan from a JY, new brake cables, and a set of used trailing arms, and you can’t feel the transmission even shift between gears. Engine idles as it should(probably wouldn’t hurt to replace all the engine mounts after 22 years of service, with some GM original replacements), and that little Twin Cam doesn’t struggle at all to wind out 6,500rpms.
It struggles to keep oil in it, from all the abuse it suffered, though. Can’t blame GM and Spring Hill for an owner that doesn’t follow their maintenance schedule.
Both head lamp motors still work. The power sunroof still works. Rear defroster? Still works. Fog lamps? Still work. Cruise controls? Still work. Delay wipers? Oh, those still work too….
We bought a new 2004 Cavalier for a great price. Air, auto, CD player.
At a time in our lives when we needed reliable transportation ( 500 mile round trips to deal with medical issues) the Cav did what it had to do. Yes it was cheap–I recall that you could see the dashboard vibrating while stopped.
Still see a few regularly in this northern Ontario town, they have managed to survive the brutal winters, yet still keep going.
Well, you are right about the Cobalt being an “improvement”. It was an “improvement” to the sales revenue of salvage yards with a plentiful supply of used Scrap-O-Tech 2.2L DOHC engines, to replace the owner’s blown engine, WHEN the timing chain failed.
Aside from the timing chain issue, GM decided to emulate Chrysler from the 1980s, and decided to supercharge and turbocharge these rolling, pop-can assembled scrap heaps, resulting in oil-contaminated vales and cracked engine blocks, as well…….
The 20-year old OHV 2.2L may have been a dog, but I can guarantee there are more of those 20-year old “dogs” still on the road, than there are Scrap-O-Techs……..
But, if you need a good boat anchor, I’m sure you can easily find a 2003-2005 J-Body, a 2002-2005 N-Body, a Saturn L200 or Ion with a blown engine for dirt cheap.
Just pull the engine out, leave the chains attached to it, take it on your boat, and throw it over the side once you are on the lake, because that was about all they were good for.
I really LOVE the “interference” design, too(as opposed to the NON-interference designs of OHV engines), that made sure to bend all the valves and damage the pistons, once the timing chain let loose…..
I bought a 2002 Cavalier at an auction in 2003. It was a corporate fleet vehicle with the old pushrod 2.2 with 9000 miles. Kept it for 5 years and 40000 miles. The car itself was really decent but it was jinxed. In those 5 years I was rear ended by a woman on a cell phone and had 2 intimate encounters with deer. I finally sold it to my sister in law who gave it to her daughter. I heard last year they finally scrapped it with close to 300,000 miles so I guess the jinx was just with me. The only real complaint I had with it was it had the most uncomfortable seats I ever had in any car. An upholstered park bench would’ve been an improvement.
I concur, the interiors could have used a little more comfort. Even my S-Series has lower lumbar support, and my 1991 Grand Am seats are still more comfortable than 1995-2005 Cavaliers.
But, your story is EXACTLY why the 2200 SFI engine is no longer in production, and was replaced by the Scrap-O-Tec 2.2L DOHC.
The 2200 SFI didn’t fit in GM’s corporate business model, of building the “100,000-mile Throwaway” cars
It’s impossible to describe the disappointment that was the two generations of Chevy Cavaliers built from mid-’81 to 2005 without mentioning the Saturn, Roger Smith’s intended proof that with a whole new set of attitudes Americans could design and build good small cars as well as the Japanese. Instead, its overwrought and overlong development proved GM could build mediocre small cars at a loss, although they did lean people like fenders that wayward shopping carts can’t ding and not having to become tough negotiators at dealerships. But Ford managed a better car with their 1991 Escort for much less money simply by partnering with someone who had figured out the game. GM in addition to Saturn also had NUMMI, alliances with Isuzu and others. They didn’t make the best of any of them.
And once GM builds a good sedan, they kill it off.
The more I read, the more I get the impression GM’s US products were designed for a short service life.
Rented one of these in 2005 for a drive up from Portland to Seattle. On a two lane road along the Oregon coast, a semi passed me going the other way. I heard the door sheetmetal pop in from the air pressure. Just a crude, crude car.
Not even a little bit does this astound me. The same company talked big about the superior safety performance of the amber rear turn signals they put on the GMT800 trucks (out one side of their mouth) while continuing their nonstop tooth-and-claw/lawyer-and-lobbyist crusade against any notion of joining the rest of the world and requiring those very same amber turn signals—”not cost-effective”, “no proven benefit”, etc (out the other side of their mouth).
Long term, in 2023, the “genuinely good compact” Cruze has turbos break at 100+ miles, and they then get junked. The ‘older, crude’ design Chevys are simpler and cheap to repair.
Friend has a 2008 Cobalt with 200K miles and had it since new. Had a minor accident and damaged the hood a few months, got it fixed and keeps driving it. Cheaper than trying to find a good priced used car.
The cavalier was everything wrong with GM. Saturn brand shoulda never existed and the saturn car shoulda replaced the J cars in 91. Instead GM kept the J (for junk) cars in production for another 14 years.
I test drove an 01 cavalier and everything about the car screamed poor quality. Poor quality and poor assembly. Everything you’d touch was bargain bin cheap and felt like it would break off in a week. They made the worst mid-late 2000s chrysler products feel like a mercedes in comparison. They really were that bad.