This car is/has: a. your local rock station on preset b. Taco Bell dinners c.JEG'S stuff; most of it doesn't (perceptibly) work d. a mausoleum for an abandoned aux/FM tuner e. (in the trunk) a box full of power steering/trans/engine leak-stop fluids
I had a 1996 Cav (base model) with auto. That car was the most reliable vehicle I've ever had. I mean, it just always started up and never broke down or left me stranded ever....Regardless of my negligent maintenance of it. Bought it with about 150,000 miles on it, around 200,000 miles in the radiator hoses were bulging so bad it was ridiculous, the upper one finally gave way on the highway. Temp went up but car never overheated, took the next exit and pulled in to the gas station there billowing steam from under the hood. After it cooled I took my pocket knife and cut the bulgy part of the hose off and clamped what was left to to the radiator. I refused to pay the ridiculous price the gas station was asking for antifreeze so I bought a gallon of water instead, dumped it into the overflow and shut the hood. Car started up and finished the remaining 100 miles or so with no complaint. Never had another car since come close to it's durability, sold it about 2 years after that incident at 308,000 miles....Still running.
My sister's Cav is totally neglected, by both the previous owner and her. It is in seriously rough shape, but somehow she can still drive 80 mph on the interstate with it. It is a miracle it still starts.
I coveted that 2.4L four pot but I got the 2.2L OHV lawn mower engine in my '99 Cavalier...say what you will about the Cav...but they CANNOT be killed. If you show it even the smallest bit of love (and maintenance), it will last until it rust claims it.
Naegleria Fowleri I have the same exact car (first car) and I love it. I got it for 3k with 16k miles on it. Plan on having it for a while and am looking forward to it!
I own a 2003 cavalier. They are great little cars, mine has over 124000 miles on it, still gets 400+ miles to a full tank, and a week after buying it I drove it nonstop from PA to TX. They are cheap and reliable.
Kelly Pagano Thats fucking cool. I just get excited when he makes jokes about the east coast area like around PA, MD, and DE because its relatable (like one time when he made a joke about going to ocean city in the summer). I imagine you get the same type of joy.
Same here. I guess it just goes to show that culturally there were very few lanes to follow back then pre-internet lol. We were all the same 90s loving drones
I have 1997 cavalier 4 door, 2.2 liter. 242,000 miles on the odometer. Only one owner. The engine and transmission have never been touched for repairs. It’s a daily driver for my son to get to school. It’s far exceeded my expectations.
They really do, especially those from that era. Maybe it's the front, idk, but it aged pretty well. A well done one could look really nice at a Cars & Coffee.
I've owned a couple Cavaliers. They were cheap plastic and the interior rattled like crazy but I couldn't kill them, they seemed to run forever. The front seats I thought were very comfortable in the last generation.
+Biker Jim True that. I've had my 03 almost ten years now. Things are starting to go on it but not the engine knock on wood. The seats are nice. I have a manual so you can have some fun keeping the revs up. Had to put a full magnaflow exhaust on for shits. Everyone loves the sound of it actually. Made my own intake. Not much more power but the throttle response is way better. Now its makes some power when its making a lot of noise.
Scariest moment when I was in one of these 4 door Cavaliers and somehow made it to 100 mph and the wind gushing into the cabin made me think it was falling apart 😂
how could you leave out the fact that this car has one of the lowest side impact ratings of any modern (after 2000 when the IIHS tested it) car? If memory serves me this thing got a one star rating on side impact, and that's before they bumped up the difficulty. basically if you get hit on the side with a shopping cart you'll be at the pearly gates in no time.
@@jacobfleming565 ....Not the same body. Not even remotely the same class. I'm sure driving a semi increases your survivability favorably as opposed to driving any Volvo of any equal.
@@jacobfleming565 Do you consider a truck or an SUV a "car"?...Tha fuck outta here. It's really about weight to velocity ratio and not engineering at all.
I'm still driving my 2002 cavy. Mine has 221k good cheap car and kicks ass in Wisconsin winter's too with some blizzak tires. It will rust out before the 2.2 dies.
I have a black Z24 that I bought new in June of 96. The car only has 34,000 miles and looks brand new! It drives like new, we take it on trips to North Carolina from Northern Michigan. It is a great car, has never seen snow. We love it!
"You're not nostalgic for the soda, or the high wind... you're nostalgic for... The events that _enveloped_ the artifacts..." Makes me all sentimental lol. And bang-on with the whole description of the 90's with sun-visor CD sleeves, Pioneer head-units, and detachable CD-player face-plates, and my high-school girlfriend in the late-90's/early-2000's even had a silver Cavalier Z24! Holy shit. Is this just a general Midwestern thing or something?
I had one, black '97 z24 5 speed. Quick, handled well, fun to drive and dependable. Comfortable seats and driving position. Had alot of fun in that car.
Loved the video. Met many of these descriptions at the beginning of the videos. I had a 1998 LD9-powered Z24, with the manual gearbox. Bought it brand new--my first such purchase--for exactly $ 15,500. It was a quick and comfortable car for its size, but the handling and steering were . . . not good. Had a cold air intake on it that deleted a bunch of nonsense air plumbing. It sounded great. I kept mine nearly 13 years, the last 3 of those sitting in my driveway after I bought myself my first "proper" vehicle. I had some of the best times of my life in that car, and most of my 20s. I'm firmly in mid-life now. The memory of that car triggers an entire part of my history. Your video is spot on. Thank you so much for making it.
In my opinion, you should drive a Cavalier or Sunfire at some time in your life. Why? Because it will make you insanely grateful of any other car you end up buying. I drove one of these around for a year and a half. My brother drove that same car for 2 years. My dad drove that car for 5 years. To and from work. 40km each way (25 miles or so). When my brother ended up getting a high paying job at 20, and I didn't get my driver's license until 18 (the one that let me drive alone in Canada), the car was garaged for almost a year. But, when I got my graduated license, we pulled the car out, pushing it out cause for some reason we didn't think it would run. Put the key in, turn it on, and it ran. After a year, without an oil change, without a boost, without anything you would think might be needed, it turned out. And then turned off half way between my house and work 4 days later. My Sunfire 2002 Sedan had 160k Kilometres on it when I traded it in for my Chevy Cruze. They gave me 700 bucks for it. My brother put 500 dollars worth of stereo stuff in it. I talked to that car the last day I had it. Just as my dad did, I was driving it 40km each way, in the winter, in the summer, and it was fine. But it was shit as well. But it made me appreciate every other car I've driven since, whether it be my dad's Malibu, my girlfriend's BMW, or even a Trax I had to rent while my Cruze was being repaired. It's a lesson car. Everyone should drive one.
It was GM's cheapest car, if you rule out Metros, so of COURSE it was "shit" in some ways. But it was also awesome in a lot of ways, for that price point. In your almost TLDR-length post, you admit it was a workhorse that surprised you with its reliability. It was a workhorse, it was more stylish than the competition, it had more power, and it drove like a larger car (for good and ill). Yes, it had cheap, plasticky interior materials and poor fit and finish. That's why it was affordable.
legit. I had a 2004 cavalier base, all manual except the transmission, sold it and got a 2014 Mazda 6, fuk is like im driving a bmw in comparison lmao Its been 2 weeks and im still not used to the feeling, that happens when you drive a shitty car for so long, very similar to poor mans mentality
+Chris Groff I'm still drying my tears of laughter. Almost threw up my pizza. Despite I'm 33, laughing so hard at someone burp-speaking reminds me of how much of a manchild I am. Yay for 90's cars and humor.
Had not one but two of these cars...good times. They came with 5-spoke aluminum mags though, which really stood out and made the car look much more cool. The wheels shown in this vid are skinny metal rims with Z22 hubcaps... Great video!
+555 Gear In drivers ed yeah, we had a bunch of these! But everyone wanted to drive the Taurus instead and later I got my own Escort so I never owned one of these.
I had a 2004 sunfire, but it's basically the same thing. I kinda wanna go back and drive one again too, because I feel like all the things I loved about it won't hold up
phantomknight321 I recently drove a Cavalier sedan (great condition) after not driving one since drivers ed, I've gotta say, it still feels pretty decent. Easy steering, pretty peppy and quick, very light on it's toes. But for me the seat felt a little more uncomfortable and the seat offset from center is a little odd, but I still say it makes a great first car!
Had a red, 96 convertible z24. Best car I ever owned. Never got stuck in the winter (live in the Midwest, we get a hell of a lot of snow) always started up. Never died. Frame rotted out and had to get rid of it. I think about that car everyday.
Hey now guys there's a difference between reviewing your average joe car and a Goat, I still think they'll be worth some cash someday, last Pontiac ever built and one of the few LS powered Sedans out there
@@coru307 my brothers first car was a 2000 sunfire. He still has it and runs it over the winter (has a 2007 Cobalt SS for the warm months) at 218k miles.
+connly33 how much time did it spend in the shop to make it to 340k miles? It doesn't count as making it to that mileage if it needed a whole engine replacement.
+CarGeek266 Nothing that I know of besides preventative maintenance and things like the water pump alternator etc. From what I can tell from receipts left in the car. All that has really been done to the engine is a head gasket replacement at 180k . i just replaced the cooling fan motor. And from the looks of the oil when I changed it as soon as i bought it ( from its second owner. where the service history ends ) it had gone at least 10 K miles since its last. Doesn't burn any significant amount of oil . but you can tell from the oil contamination even though I've done 2 or 3 changes there is a good amount of combustion gasses getting into the oil. Needs 2 CV joints and a wheel bearing soon. I only got it for $500 so I may replace them or just drive it untill the registration is out in 9 months and I can afford something better.
It also intermittently throws check engine codes, issues with the EGR system and O2 sensor. It definitely runs a bit lean when it warms up, and a bit rich when it's warming up
I had purchased the first wave of Surge from Amazon back months ago whenever that happened. I waited until the next weekend where a friend and I had a can, the same friend who pounded back gallons of this stuff in the 90s while playing Twisted Metal and Destruction Derby on his "new to him" Playstation. We felt the same way at Mr. Regular... no rush of nostalgia, no mind blowing feelings, just regular "hey I remember this taste kinda" soda. He also had a Cavalier! hahaa
+John C i wanted this one to end, because this car seems shit to me. no, not really shit, but so uninteresting that i would rather watch fast and furious 12 again than drive this piece of boredom if i were to.
The worst manual shifter I've even encountered was on a previous gen Cavalier Z24. Was like a stick dropped into a bucket of motor oil. No idea how you could ever find the right gear with that thing.
+rotaryfreak3 A friend of mine in high school had a Sunbird, and I test drove a couple manual J bodies, all of which had the same crappy shifter, had a rubbery and clunky feel.
+Roman Woolery After 350,000 miles the cables are bound to be stretched. I had a 92 Maxima SE 5spd and the shifter was good for a cable shift, probably comparable to Hondas of the era which is saying a lot, so there was probably something wrong with the linkage. I also drove a couple 02-03 6 spds and they were even better.
My 93 had by far one of the worst feeling shifters I have ever dealt with, and being a 50k mile car when I sold it in 03, it had no worn out excuses... it was both rubbery and clunky at the same time. Only worse shifter I have had was my 92 K1500, but Hurst fixed that...
I have an 03 and the shifter is stiff even after ten years and the clutch still feels weird. It hangs between gears and you don't want to jam it in. You just have to alter your clutch and gas pedal technique to make it go. You have to count on the half second between gears. If you get it right it is still a quick car. Not fast but I can make it across an intersection before the other side even starts moving.
Graduated HS in 2002, and your monologue about Pioneer head units really brought me back! Don't forget having a Jensen amp pushing a Road Gear 12 sub lol!
I've a red 2001 Pontiac Sunfire. Same J car. Bought it so I could abuse it. 233,000 miles on it and it does not leak or smoke. just leaves rust everywhere. Could use a 5 speed.
In my town THIS is the official car of showing up at the tim hortons parking lot at 1am to smoke cigarettes, redline your engine for 2 minutes straight and throw trash everywhere while you hang out with all your ricer buddies until the sun comes up. EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT.
Oh man, these things are a nightmare in New Zealand. They are more common in wrecking yards these days, but 10 years or so ago they were everywhere. People bought the Toyota Cavalier expecting it to be reliable like a normal Toyota. Unfortunately they were duped. Interestingly there was a trend in Japan to rebadge the cars as Chevrolets. Being a grey market import, the local Holden (GM down under) dealers didn't want to know about them. So off to the neighbourhood Toyota dealer (where I worked) the owner would go. Which kind of made sense. Except that the only parts catalogue we had access to was phonebook sized paper tome, written entirely in Japanese. After deciphering the diagrams, we would attempt to order parts, only to find that they would need to be back ordered from the USA. Even for basic service parts. I think the Cavalier was considered by the trade as the worst possible 90s economy car available!
Well. Reasons that these cavaliers were called the worst economy cars ever made were I believe the fact that the majority of these were never kept up on Maintenance. If the cars were never driven to the ground and torn up, and always had the maintenance done at the right time and never let the motor overheat, it'll be reliable as a Honda and will roll for years and miles away.
+Josh Carpenter gm built it, but the design was bought from toyota, hence why there was a toyota cavalier, hence why the engine is the only good about these cars lol
An earlier 5-speed SHO would be even better, though the later V8 ones were pretty cool in their own right even if they did have hideous reliability. I had a 1995 5-speed SHO, and all things considered, that thing was an absolute rocket ship.
I had a 1995 Chevrolet Cavalier that I bought new. Between me (the original owner) and my sister (the 2nd owner) we had it for 13 years @ 210000 miles. Other than a transmission issue @ 150000 miles, a starter here, an alternator there, it served us well. Decent A to B transportation. It did its job.
I'm actually really glad I've found this channel years after its inception. I'm binging this. I'm so glad that these aren't around in appreciable numbers anymore
This guy's probably never turn the wrench in his life. I've been a mechanic all my life and I have a 2005 Cavalier with a dual cam 2.2 five speed stick. It's a great little car
Had a 1992 Cavalier RS with the 3.1 V-6. That car was a real sleeper. When it woke up it left everything in the rear view mirror. It could move fast. Most people thought it only had 4 cylinders but were in for a surprise when they saw how fast it moved.
+Shadow Lynk It didn't used to be like that. Different divisions were almost entirely separate car companies, developing their own engines and having their own design departments, only the very basics of platforms and bits and bobs were shared. It was in this corporate configuration that GM DOMINATED the US car market to such a degree that it tread lightly under the spectre of anti-trust action. Then, some MBAs got together and said, "Consolidation!" No more wasting money on all that redundant effort, now on it's corporate engines and a unified design studio, all the cars will be the same just with fancier trim and different grills, surely the profits will sore after trimming all that fat... ...And then GM fell into insolvency, twice.
+Matthew “Crash McNeal” VandenBerg I call bullshit on the LD9 being GM's best four banger. Maybe for power but for reliability the 2.2L is the best way to go.
Y'all realize my comment plays to Mr Regular's statement that "money is GM's biggest advantage"? GM's cash paid for the R&D on Old's Quad-4 and it became a corporate motor. Leslie48 gets it.
I have a 2000 Z24 cavalier. black with a nice aluminum rims. i love it. but i wish it has a sunroof. I usually wash it and keep it clean. many people complement when its really clean.
We had a 96 Pontiac Grand-Am with the same motor. It lasted passed 200k miles and was still running like a champ, we had to scrap it due to the frame was rusted out sadly...
+themayor086 there was probably an importer based there that just bought them in, we've got one in Brisbane who just bought in 90s fwd coronas. Not really sure how they made money lol
yeah fair chunk of them floating around, came about in the early 2000s, along with JDM versions of toyota, mitsubishi and mazda vans, skylines amongst other models before dept. of transport clamped down and implemented the 25-year rule, grey imports they're called.
I drive my late great aunts red 2002 cavy coupe every day 5 speed 167k miles and all original she bought it new and passed it to me when she passed and it has been a life saver every since 2016 when i got it! Wouldnt sell it for the world and ill drive it till it quits! Ive always loved this car ever since she got it! And yea they might have been cheap and cheaply made but man their reliable😩🙌 and not bad looking cars! Yall quit hatin on us cavy owners😅 much love from Mississippi! Love the video💪 and the car😁 imma '96 baby myself🤘🤓
I saw a few of the Toyota Cavaliers back in the 1990s. I live near the old Lordstown plant where the Cavaliers were built. They always had one on display at the Canfield Fair every year in the late 1990s. They were usually painted some ridiculous 90s color like teal or something similar. I used to have a picture of me standing next to one when I was 12 or so.
I saw a 'JDM' Toyota Cavalier, or whatever it was called, when wandering drunk on Gate 2 Street in Okinawa eight years ago. I was confused, and wasn't sure what I was seeing. I've always thought that was a dream brought about by too much Habusake and street vendor yakitori. I guess it wasn't a dream. There really was a Toyota Cavalier. Bless this car.
I bought one for two grand. In 2000 . Had foglights, a 5 speed . All the good z24 stuff. One way to work at that time . Was a hundred miles . Through the southern desert of Idaho . That car would do 120 mph all day long ! I loved it ! Wish I still had it !
My friend bought one of these new in 1996. Same color and everything. We thought it was the fastest thing on the road at the time... of course we were 18 and had only my old Monza to compare it to. This video really took me back.
Best car I ever owned. I gave the car away to a family member who needed it and now uses it for a second car. It had 260,000 miles and I just maintained everything. Cheap parts and my biggest "expense" was the rotors. A month before I gave it away we took it from Miami to Gatlinburg TN. Never worried one second, AC never went out and got us home safe.
I have a 99 Sunfire (the better looking, same-exact-thing-underneath, version of this), and I can concur: the brake pedal says "ANTI-LOCK BRAKES" on it. You mash the pedal in an emergency and the ABS goes "Yeah, we'll get to it eventually, hope you don't go too far in the meantime lol"
It is weird how bad the brakes get.. It has vented brakes in the front, so you'd think it would do fine. Also, when you replace them, replace the entire brake rotor as well as the pads. Because if you don't (Like I did) The brakes become less decisive than an AARP member in a buffet line. Sometimes they work fine and other times NEWP.
+DRIV3R24 Yeah I don't know about better looking, The sunfire although it was basically the same thing with a few cosmetics changed. I found the cavalier had a better face/ass end then the bubble sunfire did.
My Dad was a high seniority line worker at GM Lordstown (Ohio) circa '67, occasionally he would bring cars home to test for a day or two and submit a survey. Cars wA couple of years he brought Chevy vans because he worked in the van plant. He transferred back to the car plant around '87-88, brought a 2nd gen Cavalier Z24 HT home. Always a surprise when Dad picked me up from school in some else's car. Instead of going straight home, he proceed to take us on the freeway to "blow out" the Cavi and see what she could do. Entering a curving entrance ramp, the Cavi managed to hit about 75 mph by the time we hit the main part of the highway, he practically had his foot to the floor--the car was pulling hard. We were both smiling like mischievous kids who did something wrong when no one important is watching. Maybe it only had 140 horses at the most, but those horses came hard and loud once called upon, and your ass better hold on when it comes. I'm gonna get me a 2nd gen with the 3.1 V6 one of these days. Have a 2.8 V6 Type 10 convertible I drove the shit out if that is currently not roadworthy.
My brother had a new one back in the late 90s and that thing had so much warranty work on the interior. Stuff would just break constantly, his doors would lock every time you slammed them, but you're right, the engine was solid.
The Twin Cam was really Oldsmobile's Quad 4 with a different valve cover, and your comment about them being durable couldn't be farther from the truth. If you got to 100K with one and it didn't have either a rod knock or a blown head gasket, you counted yourself among the lucky ones. Many of them had to be fixed during the warranty period, they were so bad. But this car is somewhat rare compared to the usual Z24; most came with either the 2.8 or 3.1 V6.
+justsomeguytoyou So true man. I had a Monte Carlo Z34 and the car had both rod knock and a possible blown head gasket at 120,000 miles. During my last few weeks with the car, it started smoking badly with oil leaking into exhaust system and by that point I was already done with the car. By some miracle I was able to sell it in that condition, counted my blessings and never looked back.
@@kenpachizaraki7028 haha, thanks m8. I like the remake, but I meant something like the GameCube remake of resident evil, something closer to the original.
the cavalier and sunfire represented something very specific in my teen years. They were always the car of choice for that one chick from the trailer park who was always guaranteed to bone if you showed up with a case of budlight a pack of marlboro menthols and a blunt of dirt weed. This stereo type remained constant through 3 different states on the eastern coast that i lived in.
A guy I knew in high school had one of these, painted neon green with black flames, a walmart spoiler, and a fart can obnoxious enough to fill any high schooler desire. It wasnt fast, it wasnt practical, and it was horrible to look at, but it had character. And that's more than most cars can say
