5-speed automatic runs smooth and 0-60 acceleration is excellent for a 4-banger-lots of surprised looks from other drivers thinking they can smoke me.

Boot covers are cute once in place, but annoying to install manually. For the sticker price of the car, top should fold and hide into back for cleaner look. No interior locks or trunk release! For the speed of the car, tires should've been bigger. HP should be in 200-range. Car is mod-ready, but for the money, why not get a 'Vette? Plastic interior moldings TAC-KY!! Speedometer only goes to 115! (That's embarrasing.) Convertibles discontinued in 2000 :(

Factory drk. green metallic paint looks very good with light peanut butter drop-top. '99 body styling was best look for this car. Handling is good. No major mechanical problems (mostly just sorry mechanics!). Bought the car new with 11 miles on it. After 2 yrs., car has 65+ and no problems.

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Handles decent, cheap.

ride is terrible, noisy, had rattles off the lot, a new rattle every day, it seems. Gas mileage is bad for an economy car. My toyota corolla gets 750km to a full tank where this crap gets only 500km. no power. Interior feels like it cost about 2 bucks. Factory stereo on newer models cannot be easily replaced, stereo is tied into all the electronics. Brake rotors warped in less than 2 years, same on my friends cavy. engine options both loud and harsh.

What a cheaply built piece of crap. Get something SAFER if you care about the people in your car.

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2001 toyota corolla - faster, better mileage, MUCH nicer car all around. Drive one, you'll see the difference.
1985 toyota corolla - purchased for under 200 bucks, no rattles! 2 year old cavy sounds like it's going to break apart.

A lot of room. Very sporty looking. Great with highway miles.

Head gasket blown three times so far. Rack and pinonion needed to be replaced. Fuel pump.Brakes often. Whole muffler system replaced.Car is made very cheaply. Sounds like it's falling a part when running. Definitely didn't get my money's worth. GM should offer a moneyback rebate or better trade in values.

The car STINKS! I thought I was buying a really cool car that was suppose to be maintance FREE up to a 100,000 miles!!! What a joke that was! Car has had nothing but problems! First car I ever owned, very disappointed. Will never buy another chevy!!!!!!What a LEMON!!!! GM should offer some kind of rebate on 1996 cavalier because of all the problems with that particular year.

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Plymouth sundance awesome car lasted much longer than cavalier. Sporty and roomy.

- Good gas mileage (usually get 350-400 miles from a full tank)
- Roomy interior
- Decent stereo system
- Good heating and air conditioning system
- Easy to handle, good brakes
- Roomy trunk, lots of storage space

- Humming noise when air conditioner is turned on
- External noise can be loud when driving

Great first car...inexpensive, sporty look, low maintenance. Highly recommend for people who want a new car, but are not willing to spend an arm and a leg for it. Withstands well under pressure...bought my car in late October 1999, now have 53,100 miles on it...haven't had to do much repair to it....one incident with worn spark plugs at 40,000 miles. I replaced those and the car was good to go. Other than that, I have not had any major problems with my Cavalier (knock on wood)!

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Street racing sleeper. Adapts to mods very well. I've got the K&N filter, Flowmaster exhaust system, PC chip, Centerforce clutch, MSD Ignition, Venom fuel pump, Venom fuel lines, Venom fuel injectors, Venom 400 control module, Crower upgraded rods and shaved piston heads, and a Vortech supercharger. This is all riding on the stock rims and tires. Just with the exhaust pipe and tinted windows as the only visible mods this is a total sleeper. I race Corvettes, turboed Hondas, Firebirds, and VW's and smoke them all. Little do they know I have 430hp with 510ft.lbs or torque on a 2700lbs car. I should take pictures of their faces when they finally catch up.

Doors like to rust on inside bottom. Not to bad, just put a sealer on them.

Great car for the racer who doesn't want a rice-rocket or German car where you have to pay $100 for an oil change. American muscle hot-rod without the cost of restoring a 455cid Chevelle SS. Killer car with potential and a half.

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1991 Cavalier Z24 - Auto - Convinced me to buy my 1994.
1996 Dodge Avenger ES - Auto - Had it for 8 months and have $5000 in repairs.

Aggressive looks, fast acceleration, nice handling

Like other compact sports cars, don't expect too much room in the back seats of this one.

Awesome car! If you want a compact sports car with respectable horsepower you can't go wrong. Although small, this thing can run and ride very well. At 15K (with a 17,980 sticker price) mine came fully loaded with all the bells and whistles. Now we are talking 16" wheels(yes on this small car), front and rear spoilers, fog lamps, CD player, etc. But I had choosen the 5-speed manual because it rocks the house inside out. At 5 years of owning this car I have not had any problems with it. I will not even begin to list all of the cars I have beat in racing with this Z. This is exactly why I need to invest on getting spectacular looking tailights because thats all the other cars are going to see is my tailights. If you don't believe me, head out to your chevy dealer and test drive one of these. Only one thing, be careful you don't spin out if you test drive a manual. Trust me you will spin out even if you are not trying to especially if you are not used to a manual. The salesperson may get mad :)At last, this is NOT your ordinary Cavalier baby.

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+ Aftermarket
+ American
+ Comfort
+ Interior and Exterior Design
+ Looks
+ Price
+ Reliability
+ Space

- Standard ABS is unrefined and too sensitive
- Crash test results for side impacts
- Cup holders can block climate control knobs
- Long doors on coupe can get frozen shut in winter
- Replacing the factory stereo (head unit) is not easy, and you lose chimes
- The center brake light in the rear window of my car is not sealed correctly so in the winter moisture gets in there

This model seems very modern for a car that came out in '95. Over those 6 years Chevy has perfected this model and the 2000 cosmetic redesign looks very nice. The taillights look a bit more aggressive and the hood has a nice contour to it as it moves up to the new larger headlight size. I have the ultra silver metallic color which looks stunning. I've had the car for over a year and I still find myself turning around looking at the car as I'm walking away after driving.

The car rides nice except on bumpy roads where the car bounces. On highways the car can easily get up to 100 mph with the A/C on and cruising at high speeds is very nice. The wind noise is low, the engine is quiet and the gas milage is pretty good. I drove my mother's 4 door 2000 Cavalier from Chicago to Boston and back in just one day each way with 4 people in the car, and the seats were not a problem (with the occasional rest stop). For a small car that's pretty impressive, usually trips like that in small cars are hard but in the Cavalier it was easy.

The stock stereo system is fine for people who arn't serious about car audio, with plenty of bass and treble. The doors have 4x6 speakers and in the rear you'll find 6x9 speakers. As I mentioned in the weaknesses gm rigged it to be difficult to replace the head unit for some reason that I'm not aware of. I just had Circuit City do it even though they cringe went it comes to working on this car :P

If you're into customizing your car then you'll find lots of aftermarket products for this car. Why get a Honda when you can get an American car that costs less with some very nice aftermarket stuff? Check out the J-Body organization at http://www.j-body.org.

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1999 Chevy Lumina = Cavalier has better gas milage
Honda Civic Si = My friend's Cavalier is faster

Appearance, acceleration, enough room in it, and comfy seats. Also, reall good price

sound system could be a lil better

I have one word for this car: Cute.
Its a great first car..nothing really fancy or classy about it..just basic cuteness and reliability.
I got mine with a cd player which was a plus and a requirement that has a decent system, the car was clean and it had lots of safety features which is a plus also. Overall, its a great car for getting where you need to be and lookin cute.

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Not too "crammed in" like an Eclipse, not to expensive like a mustang....

This car is cheap and parts are easy as pie to find. It runs great and putting in a new deck and speakers was no problem.

It rusts along the bottom of the door and the sound system that come with the car sucks.

This car gets me where I want to go. I paid $1000 bucks for the car and it needed a little body work on it. I think I put about $500 more bucks into repairs and now the car looks like new. This car also runs well if you know how to take care of it. Overall a nice car for a cheap price.

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Sporty looking, good on gas.

Too many major repairs. Poor manufacturing. Lots of rattles, car doors don't close correctly. Never shifted right. Transmission and clutch went out at 51,000 miles.

These cars are made very poor. TALK ABOUT LEMMON!!!!!! OWNED THE CAR 10 MONTHS - 51,000 MILES AND THE TRANSMISSION AND CLUTCH BOTH WENT OUT!!! I CALLED THE DEALER TO SEE IF THERE WAS ANYTHING THEY COULD DO WITH NO RESULTS. You don't expect a major repair like a new transmission and new clutch. I've owned used Fords and olds with 115,000 miles and no major repairs. NEVER BUY A CHEVY, ESPECIALLY A CAVALIER!!!!

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Chrysler Sebring is excellent compared to Cavaliers, also owned a Ford Escort and it also exceeded the Cavalier in every aspect, body, repairs, gas, etc.