My Dad had a pre-facelift 2.0i GL and from then on, I've always been a Vauxhall boy. It's just a lot harder to be a fan of their product now than it was then.
When the MK3 Vauxhall Cavalier got a driver's airbag, it lost the fully adjustable reach and rake steering wheel facility. This feature was useful as it allowed you to find your ideal driving position to suit your needs and not everybody is the same in height and length as a person.
I've got a mk3 1.8 M reg, got it in 2008 and it was still i really good nick and had only 40k on it, tried to keep it good, the bodywork is getting beyond it now, but I'm starting to fix it up, and all the welding that needed done is done. Before that I had the 2.0 earlier mk3, which went like stink but the body underneath was past it so stripped it and kept the parts for new one. A few years ago I also found a one elderly owner K plate diplomat with 70k on it (which was almost about to be scrapped), every single piece of paperwork even the original bill of sale, and the most immaculate preserved leather interior I've ever seen. That's in my garage getting the bits of bodywork it needed done, thankfully pretty solid in the places that matter, floors/inner sills etc just scabby bits needing fixed, and everything like suspension bushes replaced and axles cleaned up. Such good cars in their time and I still feel now they can easily keep up with modern traffic.
the third generation Vauxhall Cavalier (this car) is actually the Opel Vectra A, in the same way that the Nova is actually the Corsa A. the first and second generation Cavalier are the Opel Ascona B and C respectively.
@@TeamCGS2005 Insignia is just as bad... The Mk3 Cavalier GSi was the best normal price european saloon car that they ever produces. Best coupe for GM was Opel Manta GTE & GSi and best Astra was the Mk2 16V GTE. All those cars where actually capable of good handling and fast cornering etc.. Something almost all stock Vauxhall's since cannot claim. ;) All there FWD cars under steer to much.
My mate had a gsi turbo in bright pink it got pinched in 2 days out of works compound didn't touch my peugout 305 though with grass growing out the passager door after a ding for some reason
I miss our cavalier MK3,. 2.0. 8 valve. Floor rotten nothing to weld to so couldn't get m.o.t. Gutted to scrap it nothing else wrong with it, never broke down in it's 25 years.
I have the 1.8 8v last serviced 2007, lay in a barn from 2007 until 2020 when I saved it from scrap, still hasn't been serviced, I put new handbrake cables and two tyres on it. Passed mot with flying colours
This is what happens when you go on three training courses: 1) How to power dress. 2) Choose your words c.arefully 3) BONUS: Emphatically use your hands and other body language cues to make you look sincere.
My father had a Ford Orion which he would use as a Minicab. He got in a car accident and the cab company rented him the Cavalier. I remember the feeling very well. I felt we had finally stepped into modernity. I felt we were less poor now. The curved lines, inside and out in those days of 1993 etc were radical and futuristic.
A great all rounder for the time period! Fast forward 10 years and they were all being sold cheaply and run into the ground! Fast forward 26 years and these cars are very rare, potential future classic!
I had a weird cavalier..it was a mk3 2.0i 8v L model but was fitted with the gsi 4x4 system.....brilliant car...insurance was a nightmare ,they could never find it on their system but it was all genuine from the factory!
@@HIOP0 Let the man express himself, you could make a case for it being weird on the basis that it wasn't actually a GSI or even a SRI. It wasn't much more than an entry model car, hardly any spec, plain looking with plastic wheel trims. But it had a lively 2.0 litre engine and 4WD.
@@martytdd1606 LISTEN UP FARTY MARTY... NOWHERE IN MY RESPONSE WAS HE PREVENTED FROM "EXPRESSING HIMSELF". THIS IS A PUBLIC RESOURCE, YOU DON'T LIKE WHAT YOU READ, YOU CAN LEAVE AT ANY TIME. HOPE THAT HELPS WINDAE LICKER 🙂
When I was 15 back in 1991 I did my work experience at our local Vauxhall garage, I remember seeing a 4x4 2.0 L when I was there, never seen one since!
@@andisadler2897 The Calibra Turbo handled like it was on rails, that naturally aspirated Cavalier would too but only 130hp. It's a shame they didn't make a Calibra non turbo 4x4, they could of at least offered it on the 2.5 V6 My Calibra Turbo was one of only 108 left when I sold it in 2015, so also very rare. The Calibra had a redtop Cosworth head, I think only a few Cavalier GSI's had the Coscast but all Calibra turbo's did, shame no Cosworth badge was put on the cars, as that would of stopped..... Stupid little Mummy's boy racers with too much money and no sense, taking the C20LET Cosworth engines from both the Calibra and Cavalier Turbo's and plonking them into a Nova GTE or SR. Why? Andi sadler, I went to school wiv an Andrew Sadler. Where are you from?
This was the first Vauxhall that truly didn’t rust away after the first rainfall. They may not have been exciting cars - thus being aimed at fleet managers - but these were generally solid, well-built cars. For a 25 year old car, still looked pretty good (when new).
Far better and polished than the rushed Vectra mess that appeared such a short time later. The largest problem for Vauxhall though was the Mondeo, they were constantly playing catch up to the new technology blue oval flagship
His hand movements make it look like he's conducting an orchestra :-D The Cavalier design was quite slick for the time. More futuristic than most rivals - though mechanically it was utterly conventional. Vauxhall have badly lost their way since GM sold them off IMO. Not a single car in the lineup that I would even consider now.
@@anthonyperkins7556 Once upon a time that wouldn't have been so bad - in the 80s and 90s PSA made some great drivers cars. A Vauxhall engine in a Peugeot chassis would have been a sound proposition. Nowadays they are just pointless plastic toy cars with very little to commend them. Whats more they don't even have much in the way of hot hatches anymore, another area in which they once excelled. Sad.
I've always been a Ford man, but the Mk3 Cavalier was a great car made even better by this facelift. Nice work having William Woollard present the review; bit of a shame about the guy at the start, mind you.
Had loads of cavaliers,solid build great ride loads of room,most where ex company cars with 100 k plus on the clock,Cdx model had a great spec and a 2.0 16v but my l reg 2.0 Sri seemed a better drive and loads of grunt.Great cars back in the day,I may get another as a weekend toy.
I Myself had had numerous cars and makes. Citroen Saxo Vts was my first legal! car. After that I got a MGZR 160 VVC then got a Civic Type R cheap which gave me nothing but problems due to worn cam pulleys and the chain kept slipping. I got a normal Astra for a runabout and it was the most reliable car I've ever owned. Ran it every day,took it to Belguim and all it needed was a coil pack. Nowadays i was so impressed with Vauxhall so i bought a Zafira GSI stage 1 map, Scorpion straight through decat and goes like the wind. Needed 7 seats but something with abit of power so its ideal. Still got it today...APRIL 2019.
It was the car i past my driving test in . I owned three Cavaliers and i loved every one of them , i then went onto the vectra tourer . I am now on my third vectra C .
The early SRI 8 Valve was 130 BHP SEH Engine code. The One to have was the Red top 150 BHP. Later downgraded to 136 BHP in Ecotec form. In 1992 when Cats came into being standard the 8 Valve became 115 BHP with 2.0 CNE Engine code.
one of the few almost 30 years old cars that look not old today...I also see them sometimes, not as oldtimers but as daily drivers. No passats or mondeo from that time anymore.
I had a new Astra in 1992 that kept breaking down. Local dealer couldn't diagnose the cause so I ended up selling it back to them at a loss......I swore I'd never buy a Vauxhall again.
He done just said "the grill is one of the most important parts of a car". What about brakes and tyres and preventing the rear wheel arches from rusting pretty much straight out of the factory...
Good old days when vauxhall had great cars back then and with good engines alot better then now, now days their cars are not that great they come with so many problems and just ugly designs, were are these cars gone I mean I still used to see these in early 2000s even in 2005 there alot but today we don't see any of these at all. I would say I don't see any cars from 90s today on roads which is sad and it's not because they broke down it's actually because car manufacture kept making more cars and people just buy them because of fianance which is just making people buy new cars and not keep older ones. Back then people had kept cars for 10 years then sold them to get a different model but now people sell new cars just after 2 to 4 years max and then sell hence older cars are gone. Sad sad sad just sad thing to see these lovely older cars gone.
Pretty sure the GM guy at the beginning is a robot. This was the first generation of Cavalier that didn’t rot away at the first mention of rain. Vauxhall finally got serious about rust prevention with this car, although I’m sure they still rotted eventually.
I had almost all the cavalier engine sizes and specs the nicest car was the GSI 2 wheel drive like shit of the shovel. I'm pretty sure there was a rare 1.4 engine too.
I had a MK3, the 2.0iL It was very spartan, hand-raulic windows and no rev counter. Went like stink though, not a bad car for a 20 year old back in the early 90's. ☺️👍🏻
The presenter looks like he was given hands about five minutes before the video and was trying to figure out how they worked. Should have left it to a professional. I had a 2.0 CDi. Apart from being passed or passing 10 identical cars every minute, it was a great car. The 5th gear was super tall and so great for eating up motorway miles. I would have it at an indicated 90 doing about 3,500 revs. It was a hatch as well so just a great vehicle all around. Never gave me any bother and was just a nice solid drive.
Even in 1993 "power steering, so the wife can give up those weight-training courses". We now imagine that those were 70s attitudes, but that sort of slimy, patronising misogyny lived much longer... Indeed, it lives still.
Loved the mk2 cavs and these mk3s looked nice too especially GL and above but on the revamps I never saw the point of the 2.5 V6.....the 2 litre engines gave a good choice of power levels especially in 16v 136bhp form and above. The V6 only gave another 10-20bhp but was probably a heavier unit.
For power without a doubt the four cylinder turbo model was supreme. The V6 was nice in automatic form for completely different reasons. This was the era when Vauxhall Opel made some very nice cars. Latterly they started playing catch up for too much of the time. The Omega was no slouch, comfort and quality not far off BMW 5-Series standards, and far better value.
I disagree as the new Mokka X owned by me now as well as the Astra K before makes the previous vauxhalls I've had before very lame in comparison and I have had quite a few including the cavalier. Both of the latest cars are very reliable and far more pleasant to drive by far.
As a 30,000+ miles per year rep in the early 90s, I drove Cavaliers, Sierras and Mondeos. For a high mileage, long distance driver, the Fords beat the Cavalier hands down. The Cavalier had a very small and cramped cabin, and overall felt equivalent to the Escort rather than the much more spacious Sierra/Mondeo. Of the 3, my personal preference was for the Sierra.
blokey at the beginning had obviously only recently come off his public speaking course. Told to make lots of hand gestures on the course to emphasise his points, he does so like one of his robots on the assembly line. comes across as terribly fake.
Richard Edwards Lets not forget this was a fleet/press car, which generally means it was flogged pretty hard during its run-in period. Not an excuse but probably not the best sample from which to make conclusions about how robust the car was.
Can't say I miss them , had 2 of these, nice looking cars but terrible things to drive, the 1.6 was very sluggish & the ecotec was a nightmare... traded them both in after several headaches with engine management lights & electrical faults constantly going wrong... everybody slags the vectra down but God compared to these I can honestly say they were far more reliable & more fun to be in , I owned 7 vectras & never once did they break down, not start or give me any problems apart from the usual wear & tear as you would expect with any cars
This is when Vauxhall was at its best. A real shame Vauxhall has died since Peugeot took over. Any new Vauxhall is a Peugeot... not a British brand... false advertising????
@@paulanderson79 You can trace the demise of Vauxhall back to Thatcher blocking the sale of Leyland and Landrover to Bedford (GM) due to flag waving. Strange that she did that, seeing she flogged near enough everything else off to any foreigners willing to pay.
Wooliam Willard, crushing bore - it was his voice. Tomorrow's World series got rid of him but somehow he ended up at Top Gear. One of the most boring, predictable and irritating voices on TV back then . What he said was o.k. it was his voice. Still, at least he wasn't on the 'take like Chris Goffey (Leyland/Rover fanatic)
