The regulators who thought that door-mounted seat belts and motorized seat belts were a good alternative to an air bag must have been smoking crack 24/7/365.
I had a 1994 in this exact spec except the RS appearance. Funny thing about the door locks on the cavalier: it was a bit too easy to hit them because they stuck out from the doors. I had a highschool friend who was on the very-heavy side. She was convinced that my car was haunted because the door locks would lock and unlock on their own. I didn't have the heart to tell her that her fat thigh was hitting the door lock.
This is the first car that I have clear memories of. Ours was a '92 wagon in teal, with a little red stripe. I remember those brushes, the giant speaker grilles, and the cassette eject button which would sproing off of the mechanism whenever you inserted a tape. I learned some of my first curse words in this car. The engine block cracked on our way home from my first communion and we traded it for a truck shortly after. Rest in pieces Chevy Cavalier, official car of early 90s lower middle class Americans who refused to buy Japanese imports. You were not a great car, but you'll live rent free in my head forever.
I remember when these still had that new car smell. My mom had one we went everywhere in it now they're none around anymore. Gone just a faded memory of a time long gone. Miss you Mom. These cars will always remind of the time we spent together I'll never ever forget.
Oh man this brings back good memories for me. I owned a 1992 Cavalier which was my first new car. I loved it. It would be my first of two Cavalier, the other a 2002 but this one was special. The only issue I ever had was a recall for an intake manifold gasket. I had the cassette player in mine. I don’t remember a CD player even being an option at that time. Thanks for the review!!
I'm a bit of a Cavalier nerd myself. I hate to nitpick but just a couple factual corrections. So white was the only colored bumper option you could get, all the other colors had black/charcoal unpainted bumpers (even the RS trim). And the white hubcaps are not factory. Those would've been silver new but over time the paint chips/fades off and they look white. Or these have been painted, hard to tell. Your comment about the CD stereo has me very curious to see a window sticker on one of these cars now, if that $1,600 is correct, that is INSANE for an optional radio. Other than that, VERY well informed and researched video as always, I love watching these. I will be reaching out to you if you ever come to Detroit, you're welcome to review my fleet!
I think you are incorrect about the white wheel covers not being factory. Just google these cars and there are many of them with the white wheel covers on them and they are not all faded out or road damaged to white. I believe they were a correct factory option and there is a white RS sedan not far from my house that is white with the white wheel covers on it.
@@packard5682 I’ve been into these cars since they were cheap every day transportation, they are not factory. You either got white painted steelies in 1991 or silver painted hubcaps from 92-94
I've got 4 second gen Cavaliers. 3 of them registered, the 4th one is currently under restoration. All 4 are southern cars with no rust. I had 5, but striped a 94 RS convertible to use the drivetrain, dash, console, wiring, etc on my 88 wagon. The RS was a super nice car, but I needed the parts more than the car. I've got some videos of them on my channel. Love these cars. Simple, easy to work on and extremely reliable.
My grandma had one of these when I was little. So many memories in that car. It was the first car I ever "drove" (moved in the driveway lol) Hers was the same color but it had a blue stripe all the way around it. Unfortunately my aunt hit a deer with it and totaled it out. 😔
One important cost cutting point: the bumpers were white molded plastic, not painted so only white RS Cavaliers had “body color” bumpers. Also, door mounted seatbelts were the cheapest possible work around the the passive restraint law...mounted to a less sturdy part of the car structure than the b-post. Utter madness. On the the other hand, GM stereos of the time...even just the basic am/fm sounded great compared to the tinny crap you’d find in a Japanese car base level unit. I think the best thing to be said about these cars is that they got the job done. The V6’s did have a nice burbling exhaust note
I've always been concerned with those seatbelts in a crash. I feel like the door could fold or fly open and you have no protection at all in a crash. There is a latch on the B-pillar to help prevent this, but there could always be an what-if situation
I had friends with cavaliers (80s, not 90s) and as an escort owner I was surprised by the cheapness of the interiors. A friend had a Z24 version and if you braced your knee on the console around a corner, the whole thing would flex about a half inch with the radio just kind of flopping around in the opening. I have to say, though, that your review car is a really clean example for almost 30 years old. Also with 120 HP that car would probably be much better off with a 5-speed manual than a 3-speed auto.
I have a 1989 two door with a 2.0 that only makes 90 HP! Luckily it has a 5 speed that makes it a little more fun, but it is miserably slow. Forget about passing anyone.
If you think a cavalier interior moves around a lot, try riding in a 2nd gen S10. My center console unit has several inches of play and the cassette player just jiggles around until it can recenter itself. It’s almost like it has its own built in suspension, which is actually really convenient because the tapes don’t skip on bumpy dirt roads.
This car always brings back childhood memories..there was a few Cavaliers though out my childhood..all were these 90s 2nd gens and 3rd gens. But the 2nd gens were always a favorite of mine. My grandma on my dad's side had a white Cavalier sedan very similar to the one in the video. I remember going to countless trips to Kmart in that car. I remember it had a big Chevy bowtie logo on the back window. Lol 2nd childhood memory with the Cavalier was the black coupe my mom had for a short time before trading it in on a Festiva (which she later regretted) the thing I remember most about that one is the headliner sagged and whenever I'd ride in the backseat and the window was down all the old glue would blow into my eyes..I always hated that. 3rd one is exactly a Cavalier..but it's sister car the Pontiac Sunbird..my mom had a Sunbird convertible for a few years and it was fun in the summer..but it sucked in the winter when the thermostat went out and we had to use one of those lil auto zone plug in heaters to defrost the windshield. I remember having to bundle up in my coat every morning when my mom would take me to school. My mom had allot of different cars over the years..but looking back it's probably why I like so many 90s and 80s cars. And the Cavalier of this generation has become a favorite of mine.
10:26 I like the face of this car. Unibrowed, with a moustache grille above its open mouth. Gives it a loveable, dorky vibe. The 90s was an era of friendly-faced cars.
Great review ! These were very popular back in the 80s and early 90s, between the Chrysler K cars and Ford Tempo's . The Cavaliers had many trim levels and were fairly comfortable and reliable .
My mom had a 1994 Cavalier coupe in that nice teal color GM was using in the mid-90s. That’s still her favorite car to this day and I’ve always been trying to find a clean running example but it’s so difficult. She crashed her Cavalier back in 98 or 97 and we always talk about that car 26 years later.
Great review as always. My 94 Cavalier coupe named Kate was a beast of a car. It was an automatic, teal with black bumpers ( which I spray painted silver), had an aftermarket CD player and wheels from a late 80s Cavalier Z24. Only issue I had was when hard accelerating, the trans would slip. I modded it with a transmission cooler, proper sized Cherry bomb glasspack and high flow catalytic converter which made it sound like a pissed off goose according to a friend of mine. Eventually I sold it for a 94 Probe GT( huge mistake lol) and it had 188,000 miles when I did so. Once raced my buddy after seeing a movie at the theater when at the time had his Sunfire GT.
I had an 02' Cavalier with the same 2.2 motor (last year before ecotech) I used to tell people it was 50s technology designed in the 70s, built in the 80s, updated in the 90's and built into the 2000's
Wow that is low mileage. It’s also in pretty good condition. My dream car is the 88-90 Cavalier Z24 with 5 speed, 3.1l V6 and the signature GM digital dash! I love that you’re getting to review all these J bodies!
I had 2 of them. An 87 and an 89 convertible. The 87 was better. Both had digital clusters. And I had to repair both of them. They all seemed to have a common issue where the fuel level gauge would stop working. There was always a spot on the back of the cluster where GM used a plastic ribbon with electrical circuits instead of a printed circuit board. There would always be a circuit for the fuel gauge that had peeled away from the plastic and had to be patched. Usually a bit of thin wire and solder would do the trick.
My parents had a 1992 Cavalier RS 4 door in dark grey that had ABS. It wasn’t too bad of a car. They had it for a couple of years but then sold it because it had the habit of stalling whenever they got off the Atlantic City Expressway exit.
I took drivers ed in one just like this! My instructor was a former rally car driver so he was pretty cool. That is until on I-70 he suddenly says “watch this” and quickly turned the ignition off and then back on. Needless to say I was quite surprised but it was all good.
I went to visit my friend in Gulf Shores Alabama in 1986. Her mother had a new four door Cavalier with a stick. We rode in it. I was surprised how much I liked that little car.
@@djpollo2474 I wish I still had it and I've got no clue on the milage but I sold it to my mechanic and he sold it to someone else but always tells me that guy still has it
@@prestige_w0rldwide atleast you know the bare minimum of it, I completely lost contact of my first car, a 1988 mk3 supra turbo model targa top manual transmission... needless to say I regret it
@@djpollo2474 Damn that would be an awesome first car. The cavalier was really perfect for me cause I'm not sure very many cars would've held up like it did Im talking about reverse 180s, Neutral slamming, reverse neutral slamming I mean like every other day for 3 years until I finally neutral slammed it one day and the transmission went out which also just got me thinking I could've had a whole channel worth of content just from racing and neutral slamming that car lol good times
I had a 92 Cavalier 2 door base model with the 5 speed. It seemed plain but was enough, drove it all over the country and even up Pikes Peak..... and yes back down as well. I took that car on any dirt road I could find. Never any problem. Probably got it because my room mate at the time had one, a 91. Another friend had an 89. Would have loved the Z24 for the extra power.
I was a dealership Tech back in the 90s and I worked at a Chevy dealership and an Oldsmobile dealership. The 2.2 in the car you are testing was also available in the Olds Cutlass Ciera ain its final few years when it replaced the 2.5. It also replaced the 2.5 in the 2nd generation (1994 up) Chevy S-10. The key to fixing the head gasket problem that the 2.2s have is an issue at the left rear corner of the engine block. At that point, there is a hollow dowel pin that coolant also passes through that the head gasket (especially the OEM GM one) doesn't want to fit over. Unfortunately, the official factory service manuals of the time recommended forcing the gasket over this dowel pin despite the corresponding hole in the gasket being too small to fit over this dowel pin. The factory service manual actually recommended using a 3/8 inch socket and a hammer to "gently" tap the gasket down over the dowel pin. This caused the gasket to stretch, and after compressing the gasket by torquing the cylinder head bolts, the gasket would eventually tear and leak coolant from between the head and the block at the left rear corner of the engine. When I used to repair these engines at the dealership I would take a rat tail file and use it to gently open up the diameter in the hole in the gasket so that it would just fit slightly snug over the dowel pin and then I would put a small bead of RTV around the dowel pin as well. Once that was done, the engine never suffered another head gasket issue. My brother's first car was a 1996 Chevy Cavalier with the same engine and at 30,000 miles the head gasket blew. I changed the head gasket the same way I described it above and that car continue to run on the original head gasket until it had over 300,000 MI. Eventually the engine started to misfire at idle because the valves wouldn't seal anymore and the three-speed automatic transmission started slipping so my brother sold the car for 500 bucks to somebody who was going to fix it up. That is the only flaw with the head gasket and it's a very simple fix when the gasket is being changed. However if you install it the way the factory service manual suggest that you do it you can guarantee you'll be doing it again in another 30 to 40,000 miles. Otherwise it's a fantastic little engine.
My mom had a 91 cavalier with 4 doors, white paint and grey bumpers. It was a real piece of junk but had so many great times with my friends. I had gotten my permit license in 2008 and my mom would let me drive her car so that I could go to the movies with my friends.
Nice video to bring back some memories. I had a 92 RS 4 cylinder Cavalier coupe as my second car in the early 90’s. Was a fairly reliable car, but did have a head gasket replaced under warranty once. Guess those were common on those as you mentioned in the video. The one to have though was the RS Coupe with the 3.1 V6 and 5 speed transmission. It was a sleeper at the time with a lot more torque than the base 2.2 4 cylinder. Sounded better also. Compared to today’s cars though, these things were pretty rough and slow. We have come a long way in the last 30 years.
Most likely that engine lost some power. When I had mine it took off quick from a stop. I replaced the factory speakers myself. The fuel filter is an easy DIY replacement. Slide under the car from behind the rear passenger side tire with a wrench and pliers and you can change the fuel filter. My Cavalier RS had power windows and split fold rear seats. I once bought a 6 foot ladder and fitted it inside my Cavalier and was able to close the trunk. I made several long road trips in that Cavalier. Lafayette Louisiana to Corpus Christi Texas, Corpus Christi to Dallas, and another trip from Lafayette Louisiana to 75 miles north east of Little Rock Arkansas.
Right out of high school i bought a black 92 Cavalier RS coupe to replace my 88 Grand Am coupe. Eventually would end up a 01 Cavalier sedan. An LS. Both had that 2.2 four banger. My daily driver was a Skyhawk wagon. Loved these little J body. Great review.
I had a friend in high school who had a white cavalier, the two things I remember were the turn signal twang and the controls on the sides of the cluster. Surprised there's still one left in WI that hasn't rusted out!
I had a 94 wagon. You think the sedan was slow. I got it used dirt cheap because the head was cracked. Fixed it myself in the front yard. Drove it for 5 years and sold it for the same price I paid for it. Oh, and it had ICE cold air conditioning.
Hi very rare to see these with the white wheels, I love the second generation of cavalier, my Grand ma had one when I was a kid, I grew up in that car special memories for me, I had my grandmas friend who had one as well, there was one where I lived be fore a silver one if you look at the picture everytime I saw it it made me happy if I was having a bad day, something about it very sweet car.
The RS was predominantly a sold to rental car fleets while the more base VL oh was the sales leader. I'm 42 years old and I vividly remember a time when when these little little UAW it turns peppered the roadways but how quickly they all started disappearing. Aside from the head gasket issue they also had extremely weak and troublesome 3 speed automatic transmissions that were prune to fail yes as if set to disintegrate exactly at 100 K miles. If he thinks this cavalier is slow slow that he should drive drive one of the larger and and heavier Chevrolet Chevrolet Corsicas Which shared many of it's it's mechanical parts. As for those door mounted seatbelts I had a teacher who was killed when when someone someone hit her at a normally survivable speed will speed. The door flew open during the during the crash and the seat belts literally threw her out of the car onto the road to the road where she was Struck by another car. I'm definitely a Toyota guy but if you ever wanted an example on how lazy lazy and cheap cheap the American car companies were especially GM Use this car as the perfect example. What hes driving right there Is the result of of 14 years of that line's evolution. It's not like that it's a new model model with some eccentric little quirks little quarks but rather that's The end of their 3rd try. Even 10 years later later Chevrolet couldn't seem to work out it's most common reliability bugs. Whether it be the 1981 king 81 or the 2004 they both had head gasket issues, Is weak automatic transmissions, Cheap interior plastics that were prone to cracking, Poor paint Quality, Leaky door and window seals, Crude handling, Harsh Choppy rides and most of all really shitty reliability history. The only reason people people bought a cavalier or or one of the other J Body cousins like the sunbird/Sunfire, Buick skyhawk, Or Olds forenza Was because it was cheap ( in the worst sense of the world). It showed a true a true contempt for the customer To cynically put Plastic body kits with color key'd wheels on a rolling dinosaur Until they could no longer get away with it. It took 24 years befoe The sociopaths At GM to realize that they couldn't keep polishing the same turd bird due to the cavaliers fierce competition.
I like my 93 Z24 with the 3.1. Fun cars. Fun fact: a 3.1 can gain a considerable bump in hp with a top swap (heads/intake) from a 2000+ Buick Century with the 3100 (3100 shared the same block as the 3.1 but borrowed the heads and intake design from the 3400's).
Hey, Zack. Nicholas here with the Trabant I have been updating you about. I have fond memories of my friend in high school getting a 94 Cavalier as his first car and how much he hated it. He was late to school one time and tried sneaking in. He puts Old Blue in reverse and SCREEEEEEEEEEEEECH goes one of the belts. Talk about a dead give away.
"And it is...SLOW." When I had mine, I told everyone that RS stood for "Really Slow." Also, "Right Stripped." Or, "Real Shitty." My buddy corrected me once, saying it stood for, "Red Stripe," which seemed to make sense, considering the red stripe in the original body-side moulding that seems to have been updated by 1994 on your featured car. By the end of my ownership, all the moulding on the passenger side was removed from my 1992 RS.
We had like five 2nd gen J cars in my group of friends back in the day. Mine was a 94 Sunburd LE 2 door 3.1V6 and 5 speed. Had that car from the time I got out of Highschool in 99 to 2009 when it got totaled with almost 230,000 miles after a Jeep ran into me unfortunately. The other cars my friends had were 89 Cavalier Z24 2.8v6 automatic, 91 Sunbird 2 door base 2.0 5 speed, 93 Sunbird LE 2 door 2.0 automatic, and a 94 Cavalier 4 door base 2.2 automatic. Even the girl I took to prom had a 90 Sunbird convertible with the 2.0 turbo automatic. While Chevy offered the 2.2 and 2.8, Pontiac offered the 2.0 and 2.0 turbo. Then eventually they both shared the 3.1 as the top engine choice. The first place that starts to rust on these cars is the undersides of the doors. You just don't see these on the road anymore.
When I turned 18, I bought I new '93 Honda Civic LX. My best friend had a '92 Cavalier RS 2-door. The Cavalier wasn't an awful car, but it felt at least a decade older than the Civic. The Civic was also quicker and got much better fuel economy. I had no idea that a CD player was optional (and I'm amazed at any takers for $1600)! My '93 Civic had a CD player but it was only about $800, if I recall correctly.
My cavalier was a 95 5 speed base model 4cyl in blue. 1rst manual Transmission car I owned. My best friend had a 90 auto z24 with ground effects and lowered in white.
These Cavaliers were/are decent little cars: good size, adequate comfort. Really, all most people need for comfortable commuting is an automatic transmission, effective air conditioning, and some type of radio / media player. There are two things I liked about these Cavaliers over their Japanese competition at the time: 1) superior engine torque, especially if it has the V6; 2) robust construction (sort of) so the car didn't feel too light. These Cavaliers fit the bill for thousands of buyers at a very attractive price, and were very "honest" cars that got people from point A to B. Personally, I like the aerodynamic styling of the grill-less front fascia.
I can remember what year the RS trim came out, but I went out and rented one for a couple of days, it was a great little car. It was white just like this one, but I remember the car had that Grey interior and had blue exterior accent trim. I wish I could have one today
As a 90s kid I spent a lot of time in 2nd gen Cavaliers but this is the first one I ever saw with a factory CD player. I didn't even think it was an option. $1,600 dollars in 1994 money would be just over $3,000 today. I can't believe someone paid $1,600 extra to get a CD player in their Cavalier with wind-up windows. Were power windows even an option on these?
i had 3 1991's. they were great cars and i used to be able to find clean examples (no rust at all) for a couple grand. one of the cars i had was a 1991 convertible RS 3.1. the car was fairly peppy with a 3.1 but the 3 speed transmission was reliable but kind of sucks for ratios. the car would have been much more fun with the manual.
As someone in his late 40s who remembers this era of GM crap, it's cars like this Cavalier that gave the Japanese car makers major inroads in the North American market. The cheapness, poor reliability and overall poor build quality, drove people looking for affordable cars straight into the arms of Civics and Corollas. You realized paying slightly more got you a much better put together car that cost less to maintain, and that any savings you had from buying the slightly cheaper GM product, got eaten up and then some in repair costs in no time, compared to something from Honda or Toyota that was virtually trouble free for at least 5-6 years from new.
I had the 91 Cavalier, which I bought in 2000, then drove it for 5 yrs! This beast started every morning. Lots of highway miles. Firewall eventually started leaking and sold it. But for $1500 what can you get for that today? Then I bought a 97 Cavalier, again great car. They were tough little cars....GM is garbage today
Hated this generation primarily because they all had black bumpers. On a good note, Gm was know to have some of the best A/C and stereos… including the foreign cars.
Unfortunately, GM has discontinued the Cobalt in America after they went bankrupt in 2009. As you now, small cars are no longer popular in America and so the American brands have discontinued them. Notice that GM, Chrysler and Ford discontinue their small cars and replace it with a new model instead of improving it like Honda & Toyota do with their cars.
Neat car. I haven't seen one on the road in some time. I think cash for clunkers claimed most of them. One of my friends in high school (back in the 90s) had one, with the monochrome "euro" look it was one of the cooler cars in the parking lot.
74k miles? Nearly mint condition? I'm willing to bet this was a senior citizen's car that was only driven to church on Sunday. It might be that the turn signal flasher relay is going bad, making that spring sound. Technology Connections made an interesting video about how turn signals work. The turn signal stick is oddly stubby. In '94, CD players were still a luxury feature. Economy of scale meant that the components cost more for lower production.
I bought a 1994 Cavalier RS sedan in 1996. Very good car until someone in a Ford F-250 ran a yield sign slamming into my driver’s side front fender in 2002.
Actually I think yes the RS was a trim decor pkg, but I believe it had the sport suspension. I know that I rented a base trim Cavalier and I had an 84 type 10 coupe (I believe it was an 84, it was a long time ago) ,but this RS I rented had a sporty suspension
g6 was a replacement of the grand am, the g5 was the new sunfire and btw the cobalt is a much better car than a cavalier, i had both a z24 and cobalt 2.4 and theres no comparison, the turbo ss is the only decent sub compact gm ever made
Wow a topped and tailed 1981 GM J body with newer dashboard I. 1994, it looked oh so 80s and dated even for the time but ford still had the Ford tempo/topaz in production at the same time
You forgot to mention the Toyota Cavalier!!! In the 1990's with the Toyota GM partnership Austrailia and Japan got a rebadged Chevy Cavalier. (Not to be confused with the corolla/prism)
The regulators who thought that door-mounted seat belts and motorized seat belts were a good alternative to an air bag must have been smoking crack 24/7/365.
I had a 1994 in this exact spec except the RS appearance. Funny thing about the door locks on the cavalier: it was a bit too easy to hit them because they stuck out from the doors. I had a highschool friend who was on the very-heavy side. She was convinced that my car was haunted because the door locks would lock and unlock on their own. I didn't have the heart to tell her that her fat thigh was hitting the door lock.
This is the first car that I have clear memories of. Ours was a '92 wagon in teal, with a little red stripe. I remember those brushes, the giant speaker grilles, and the cassette eject button which would sproing off of the mechanism whenever you inserted a tape. I learned some of my first curse words in this car. The engine block cracked on our way home from my first communion and we traded it for a truck shortly after.
Rest in pieces Chevy Cavalier, official car of early 90s lower middle class Americans who refused to buy Japanese imports. You were not a great car, but you'll live rent free in my head forever.
I remember when these still had that new car smell. My mom had one we went everywhere in it now they're none around anymore. Gone just a faded memory of a time long gone. Miss you Mom. These cars will always remind of the time we spent together I'll never ever forget.
Oh man this brings back good memories for me. I owned a 1992 Cavalier which was my first new car. I loved it. It would be my first of two Cavalier, the other a 2002 but this one was special. The only issue I ever had was a recall for an intake manifold gasket. I had the cassette player in mine. I don’t remember a CD player even being an option at that time. Thanks for the review!!
I'm a bit of a Cavalier nerd myself. I hate to nitpick but just a couple factual corrections. So white was the only colored bumper option you could get, all the other colors had black/charcoal unpainted bumpers (even the RS trim). And the white hubcaps are not factory. Those would've been silver new but over time the paint chips/fades off and they look white. Or these have been painted, hard to tell. Your comment about the CD stereo has me very curious to see a window sticker on one of these cars now, if that $1,600 is correct, that is INSANE for an optional radio. Other than that, VERY well informed and researched video as always, I love watching these. I will be reaching out to you if you ever come to Detroit, you're welcome to review my fleet!
Thank you for the corrections! You can submit your fleet to Zackpradel.com/submit and I’ll email you when I head to Detroit!
I think you are incorrect about the white wheel covers not being factory. Just google these cars and there are many of them with the white wheel covers on them and they are not all faded out or road damaged to white. I believe they were a correct factory option and there is a white RS sedan not far from my house that is white with the white wheel covers on it.
@@packard5682 I’ve been into these cars since they were cheap every day transportation, they are not factory. You either got white painted steelies in 1991 or silver painted hubcaps from 92-94
I've got 4 second gen Cavaliers. 3 of them registered, the 4th one is currently under restoration. All 4 are southern cars with no rust. I had 5, but striped a 94 RS convertible to use the drivetrain, dash, console, wiring, etc on my 88 wagon. The RS was a super nice car, but I needed the parts more than the car. I've got some videos of them on my channel. Love these cars. Simple, easy to work on and extremely reliable.
My grandma had one of these when I was little. So many memories in that car. It was the first car I ever "drove" (moved in the driveway lol) Hers was the same color but it had a blue stripe all the way around it. Unfortunately my aunt hit a deer with it and totaled it out. 😔
One important cost cutting point: the bumpers were white molded plastic, not painted so only white RS Cavaliers had “body color” bumpers. Also, door mounted seatbelts were the cheapest possible work around the the passive restraint law...mounted to a less sturdy part of the car structure than the b-post. Utter madness. On the the other hand, GM stereos of the time...even just the basic am/fm sounded great compared to the tinny crap you’d find in a Japanese car base level unit. I think the best thing to be said about these cars is that they got the job done. The V6’s did have a nice burbling exhaust note
I've always been concerned with those seatbelts in a crash. I feel like the door could fold or fly open and you have no protection at all in a crash. There is a latch on the B-pillar to help prevent this, but there could always be an what-if situation
It has the vacuum brushes around the shifter and e brake. I like the dash design. Very modern to me for that time. GM had those futuristic dashes.
Love this set of videos. My grandmother had a green coupe and it was a fun little car.
I had friends with cavaliers (80s, not 90s) and as an escort owner I was surprised by the cheapness of the interiors. A friend had a Z24 version and if you braced your knee on the console around a corner, the whole thing would flex about a half inch with the radio just kind of flopping around in the opening.
I have to say, though, that your review car is a really clean example for almost 30 years old. Also with 120 HP that car would probably be much better off with a 5-speed manual than a 3-speed auto.
I have a 1989 two door with a 2.0 that only makes 90 HP! Luckily it has a 5 speed that makes it a little more fun, but it is miserably slow. Forget about passing anyone.
My '92 RS sedan was such a piece of junk. My '88 Accord was a much better-built car.
If you think a cavalier interior moves around a lot, try riding in a 2nd gen S10. My center console unit has several inches of play and the cassette player just jiggles around until it can recenter itself. It’s almost like it has its own built in suspension, which is actually really convenient because the tapes don’t skip on bumpy dirt roads.
This car always brings back childhood memories..there was a few Cavaliers though out my childhood..all were these 90s 2nd gens and 3rd gens. But the 2nd gens were always a favorite of mine.
My grandma on my dad's side had a white Cavalier sedan very similar to the one in the video. I remember going to countless trips to Kmart in that car. I remember it had a big Chevy bowtie logo on the back window. Lol
2nd childhood memory with the Cavalier was the black coupe my mom had for a short time before trading it in on a Festiva (which she later regretted) the thing I remember most about that one is the headliner sagged and whenever I'd ride in the backseat and the window was down all the old glue would blow into my eyes..I always hated that.
3rd one is exactly a Cavalier..but it's sister car the Pontiac Sunbird..my mom had a Sunbird convertible for a few years and it was fun in the summer..but it sucked in the winter when the thermostat went out and we had to use one of those lil auto zone plug in heaters to defrost the windshield. I remember having to bundle up in my coat every morning when my mom would take me to school.
My mom had allot of different cars over the years..but looking back it's probably why I like so many 90s and 80s cars. And the Cavalier of this generation has become a favorite of mine.
10:26 I like the face of this car. Unibrowed, with a moustache grille above its open mouth. Gives it a loveable, dorky vibe. The 90s was an era of friendly-faced cars.
Great review ! These were very popular back in the 80s and early 90s, between the Chrysler K cars and Ford Tempo's . The Cavaliers had many trim levels and were fairly comfortable and reliable .
Had a '92 version of this car, the RS trim. Decent car, no complaints. In cherry red with the RS trim, it looked pretty good too.
The car of my youth. Feel like I’m 12 years old seeing this car.
My mom had a 1994 Cavalier coupe in that nice teal color GM was using in the mid-90s. That’s still her favorite car to this day and I’ve always been trying to find a clean running example but it’s so difficult. She crashed her Cavalier back in 98 or 97 and we always talk about that car 26 years later.
Great review as always. My 94 Cavalier coupe named Kate was a beast of a car. It was an automatic, teal with black bumpers ( which I spray painted silver), had an aftermarket CD player and wheels from a late 80s Cavalier Z24. Only issue I had was when hard accelerating, the trans would slip. I modded it with a transmission cooler, proper sized Cherry bomb glasspack and high flow catalytic converter which made it sound like a pissed off goose according to a friend of mine. Eventually I sold it for a 94 Probe GT( huge mistake lol) and it had 188,000 miles when I did so. Once raced my buddy after seeing a movie at the theater when at the time had his Sunfire GT.
I had an 02' Cavalier with the same 2.2 motor (last year before ecotech) I used to tell people it was 50s technology designed in the 70s, built in the 80s, updated in the 90's and built into the 2000's
My 97 sunfire coupe has the 2.2L LN2 and the 3 speed. Amazing machine. I still daily drive it. I also own a 1994 Sunbird Coupe.
Wow that is low mileage. It’s also in pretty good condition. My dream car is the 88-90 Cavalier Z24 with 5 speed, 3.1l V6 and the signature GM digital dash! I love that you’re getting to review all these J bodies!
I had 2 of them. An 87 and an 89 convertible. The 87 was better. Both had digital clusters. And I had to repair both of them. They all seemed to have a common issue where the fuel level gauge would stop working. There was always a spot on the back of the cluster where GM used a plastic ribbon with electrical circuits instead of a printed circuit board. There would always be a circuit for the fuel gauge that had peeled away from the plastic and had to be patched. Usually a bit of thin wire and solder would do the trick.
For me, it's the pontiac sunbird that makes me nostalgic. The blue color is the most iconic colour for the sunbird
My parents had a 1992 Cavalier RS 4 door in dark grey that had ABS. It wasn’t too bad of a car. They had it for a couple of years but then sold it because it had the habit of stalling whenever they got off the Atlantic City Expressway exit.
I took drivers ed in one just like this! My instructor was a former rally car driver so he was pretty cool. That is until on I-70 he suddenly says “watch this” and quickly turned the ignition off and then back on. Needless to say I was quite surprised but it was all good.
I went to visit my friend in Gulf Shores Alabama in 1986. Her mother had a new four door Cavalier with a stick. We rode in it. I was surprised how much I liked that little car.
My Father in Law had the same white Cavalier. My Wife had a 1998 Cavalier with a V6. It had alot of safety features too.
My first car was a 92 Cavalier 2 door. That was 21 years ago and it's still running and driving today original motor
How many miles does it have? You've kept that car for so long, congrats!
@@djpollo2474 I wish I still had it and I've got no clue on the milage but I sold it to my mechanic and he sold it to someone else but always tells me that guy still has it
@@prestige_w0rldwide atleast you know the bare minimum of it, I completely lost contact of my first car, a 1988 mk3 supra turbo model targa top manual transmission... needless to say I regret it
@@djpollo2474 Damn that would be an awesome first car. The cavalier was really perfect for me cause I'm not sure very many cars would've held up like it did Im talking about reverse 180s, Neutral slamming, reverse neutral slamming I mean like every other day for 3 years until I finally neutral slammed it one day and the transmission went out which also just got me thinking I could've had a whole channel worth of content just from racing and neutral slamming that car lol good times
Still driving my 94 everyday!
I had a 92 Cavalier 2 door base model with the 5 speed. It seemed plain but was enough, drove it all over the country and even up Pikes Peak..... and yes back down as well. I took that car on any dirt road I could find. Never any problem. Probably got it because my room mate at the time had one, a 91. Another friend had an 89. Would have loved the Z24 for the extra power.
I have a 1994 Chevy cavalier RS convertible coupe and I absolutely love it I’m glad you made this video it made me love my car even more
I was a dealership Tech back in the 90s and I worked at a Chevy dealership and an Oldsmobile dealership. The 2.2 in the car you are testing was also available in the Olds Cutlass Ciera ain its final few years when it replaced the 2.5. It also replaced the 2.5 in the 2nd generation (1994 up) Chevy S-10. The key to fixing the head gasket problem that the 2.2s have is an issue at the left rear corner of the engine block. At that point, there is a hollow dowel pin that coolant also passes through that the head gasket (especially the OEM GM one) doesn't want to fit over. Unfortunately, the official factory service manuals of the time recommended forcing the gasket over this dowel pin despite the corresponding hole in the gasket being too small to fit over this dowel pin. The factory service manual actually recommended using a 3/8 inch socket and a hammer to "gently" tap the gasket down over the dowel pin. This caused the gasket to stretch, and after compressing the gasket by torquing the cylinder head bolts, the gasket would eventually tear and leak coolant from between the head and the block at the left rear corner of the engine. When I used to repair these engines at the dealership I would take a rat tail file and use it to gently open up the diameter in the hole in the gasket so that it would just fit slightly snug over the dowel pin and then I would put a small bead of RTV around the dowel pin as well. Once that was done, the engine never suffered another head gasket issue. My brother's first car was a 1996 Chevy Cavalier with the same engine and at 30,000 miles the head gasket blew. I changed the head gasket the same way I described it above and that car continue to run on the original head gasket until it had over 300,000 MI. Eventually the engine started to misfire at idle because the valves wouldn't seal anymore and the three-speed automatic transmission started slipping so my brother sold the car for 500 bucks to somebody who was going to fix it up. That is the only flaw with the head gasket and it's a very simple fix when the gasket is being changed. However if you install it the way the factory service manual suggest that you do it you can guarantee you'll be doing it again in another 30 to 40,000 miles. Otherwise it's a fantastic little engine.
I had a 1994 cavilair RS 3.1 V6 bahama Blue in color Absolutely Beautiful and awesome car
My mom had a 91 cavalier with 4 doors, white paint and grey bumpers. It was a real piece of junk but had so many great times with my friends. I had gotten my permit license in 2008 and my mom would let me drive her car so that I could go to the movies with my friends.
Nice video to bring back some memories. I had a 92 RS 4 cylinder Cavalier coupe as my second car in the early 90’s. Was a fairly reliable car, but did have a head gasket replaced under warranty once. Guess those were common on those as you mentioned in the video. The one to have though was the RS Coupe with the 3.1 V6 and 5 speed transmission. It was a sleeper at the time with a lot more torque than the base 2.2 4 cylinder. Sounded better also. Compared to today’s cars though, these things were pretty rough and slow. We have come a long way in the last 30 years.
Most likely that engine lost some power. When I had mine it took off quick from a stop. I replaced the factory speakers myself. The fuel filter is an easy DIY replacement. Slide under the car from behind the rear passenger side tire with a wrench and pliers and you can change the fuel filter. My Cavalier RS had power windows and split fold rear seats. I once bought a 6 foot ladder and fitted it inside my Cavalier and was able to close the trunk. I made several long road trips in that Cavalier. Lafayette Louisiana to Corpus Christi Texas, Corpus Christi to Dallas, and another trip from Lafayette Louisiana to 75 miles north east of Little Rock Arkansas.
Great video, a common car from my 90s and 2000s childhood in thr midwest
Right out of high school i bought a black 92 Cavalier RS coupe to replace my 88 Grand Am coupe. Eventually would end up a 01 Cavalier sedan. An LS. Both had that 2.2 four banger. My daily driver was a Skyhawk wagon. Loved these little J body. Great review.
Never thought I’d consider a turn signal to be adorable but that does have a very cute sound
I had a friend in high school who had a white cavalier, the two things I remember were the turn signal twang and the controls on the sides of the cluster. Surprised there's still one left in WI that hasn't rusted out!
I still have my 94 cavalier and has never let me down. Just passed pa. Inspection a week ago
I had a 94 wagon. You think the sedan was slow. I got it used dirt cheap because the head was cracked. Fixed it myself in the front yard. Drove it for 5 years and sold it for the same price I paid for it. Oh, and it had ICE cold air conditioning.
Growing up, my neighbor had a blue Pontiac Sunbird from the 1990s. I was a teen in the 1990s
Hi very rare to see these with the white wheels, I love the second generation of cavalier, my Grand ma had one when I was a kid, I grew up in that car special memories for me, I had my grandmas friend who had one as well, there was one where I lived be fore a silver one if you look at the picture everytime I saw it it made me happy if I was having a bad day, something about it very sweet car.
The RS was predominantly a sold to rental car fleets while the more base VL oh was the sales leader. I'm 42 years old and I vividly remember a time when when these little little UAW it turns peppered the roadways but how quickly they all started disappearing. Aside from the head gasket issue they also had extremely weak and troublesome 3 speed automatic transmissions that were prune to fail yes as if set to disintegrate exactly at 100 K miles. If he thinks this cavalier is slow slow that he should drive drive one of the larger and and heavier Chevrolet Chevrolet Corsicas Which shared many of it's it's mechanical parts. As for those door mounted seatbelts I had a teacher who was killed when when someone someone hit her at a normally survivable speed will speed. The door flew open during the during the crash and the seat belts literally threw her out of the car onto the road to the road where she was Struck by another car. I'm definitely a Toyota guy but if you ever wanted an example on how lazy lazy and cheap cheap the American car companies were especially GM Use this car as the perfect example. What hes driving right there Is the result of of 14 years of that line's evolution. It's not like that it's a new model model with some eccentric little quirks little quarks but rather that's The end of their 3rd try. Even 10 years later later Chevrolet couldn't seem to work out it's most common reliability bugs. Whether it be the 1981 king 81 or the 2004 they both had head gasket issues, Is weak automatic transmissions, Cheap interior plastics that were prone to cracking, Poor paint Quality, Leaky door and window seals, Crude handling, Harsh Choppy rides and most of all really shitty reliability history. The only reason people people bought a cavalier or or one of the other J Body cousins like the sunbird/Sunfire, Buick skyhawk, Or Olds forenza Was because it was cheap ( in the worst sense of the world). It showed a true a true contempt for the customer To cynically put Plastic body kits with color key'd wheels on a rolling dinosaur Until they could no longer get away with it. It took 24 years befoe The sociopaths At GM to realize that they couldn't keep polishing the same turd bird due to the cavaliers fierce competition.
my first car was a navy blue 2002 chevy cavalier sedan and that thing was awesome!
I like my 93 Z24 with the 3.1. Fun cars.
Fun fact: a 3.1 can gain a considerable bump in hp with a top swap (heads/intake) from a 2000+ Buick Century with the 3100 (3100 shared the same block as the 3.1 but borrowed the heads and intake design from the 3400's).
Hey, Zack. Nicholas here with the Trabant I have been updating you about. I have fond memories of my friend in high school getting a 94 Cavalier as his first car and how much he hated it. He was late to school one time and tried sneaking in. He puts Old Blue in reverse and SCREEEEEEEEEEEEECH goes one of the belts. Talk about a dead give away.
A 1994 cavalier RS was the Last car my great grandma bought. It had over 200000 miles on it when the motor gave out in the early 2 thousands.
I've always considered these a decent refresh of they original.
I can’t believe GM continued on with the identicalJ-body Cavalier for 15 years! Interior space is the same, trunk space, even the doors!
"And it is...SLOW."
When I had mine, I told everyone that RS stood for "Really Slow."
Also, "Right Stripped."
Or, "Real Shitty."
My buddy corrected me once, saying it stood for, "Red Stripe," which seemed to make sense, considering the red stripe in the original body-side moulding that seems to have been updated by 1994 on your featured car.
By the end of my ownership, all the moulding on the passenger side was removed from my 1992 RS.
Just discovered your channel, I'm absolutely loving your videos so far. Perfect pacing & editing, keep up the great work!
We had like five 2nd gen J cars in my group of friends back in the day. Mine was a 94 Sunburd LE 2 door 3.1V6 and 5 speed. Had that car from the time I got out of Highschool in 99 to 2009 when it got totaled with almost 230,000 miles after a Jeep ran into me unfortunately. The other cars my friends had were 89 Cavalier Z24 2.8v6 automatic, 91 Sunbird 2 door base 2.0 5 speed, 93 Sunbird LE 2 door 2.0 automatic, and a 94 Cavalier 4 door base 2.2 automatic. Even the girl I took to prom had a 90 Sunbird convertible with the 2.0 turbo automatic. While Chevy offered the 2.2 and 2.8, Pontiac offered the 2.0 and 2.0 turbo. Then eventually they both shared the 3.1 as the top engine choice. The first place that starts to rust on these cars is the undersides of the doors. You just don't see these on the road anymore.
When I turned 18, I bought I new '93 Honda Civic LX. My best friend had a '92 Cavalier RS 2-door. The Cavalier wasn't an awful car, but it felt at least a decade older than the Civic. The Civic was also quicker and got much better fuel economy.
I had no idea that a CD player was optional (and I'm amazed at any takers for $1600)! My '93 Civic had a CD player but it was only about $800, if I recall correctly.
My cavalier was a 95 5 speed base model 4cyl in blue. 1rst manual Transmission car I owned. My best friend had a 90 auto z24 with ground effects and lowered in white.
Chevy Cavalier was my first car and still my favorite- so much so that I drive a cobalt now lol
These Cavaliers were/are decent little cars: good size, adequate comfort. Really, all most people need for comfortable commuting is an automatic transmission, effective air conditioning, and some type of radio / media player. There are two things I liked about these Cavaliers over their Japanese competition at the time: 1) superior engine torque, especially if it has the V6; 2) robust construction (sort of) so the car didn't feel too light. These Cavaliers fit the bill for thousands of buyers at a very attractive price, and were very "honest" cars that got people from point A to B. Personally, I like the aerodynamic styling of the grill-less front fascia.
Great video! I too have a fondness for old GM cars. But I have to disagree with you on the G6. I had an 06 and I absolutely loved that car!!
I had a 1993 two door 3.1 V6 loved it
underrated chevy car
My aunt has that exact same cavalier. We drove all over the place in that car.
I had an 83 Cavalier and an 90 Sunbird. My parents had a 82 Cavalier and an 89 Cavalier. Lots of J-bodies in our family. lol
Oh nice!!! Drive mine around fir 10 years. Bulletproof 2.2 awesome gas mileage. Parts were cheap!
I had the 1994 V6. The best car I ever had. I wish I kept it. I regret selling it. I loved.my little putt putt car!
I can remember what year the RS trim came out, but I went out and rented one for a couple of days, it was a great little car. It was white just like this one, but I remember the car had that Grey interior and had blue exterior accent trim. I wish I could have one today
My brother's 1st car was 91 black 2-door Cavalier 🤩
Awesome review man I pass my license in moms wagon 94 cavalier lol 😆 I remember japan 🇯🇵 had a Toyota cavalier 😏👌🏽
As a 90s kid I spent a lot of time in 2nd gen Cavaliers but this is the first one I ever saw with a factory CD player. I didn't even think it was an option. $1,600 dollars in 1994 money would be just over $3,000 today. I can't believe someone paid $1,600 extra to get a CD player in their Cavalier with wind-up windows. Were power windows even an option on these?
i had 3 1991's. they were great cars and i used to be able to find clean examples (no rust at all) for a couple grand. one of the cars i had was a 1991 convertible RS 3.1. the car was fairly peppy with a 3.1 but the 3 speed transmission was reliable but kind of sucks for ratios. the car would have been much more fun with the manual.
Would love to see you review a factory supercharged cavalier, that would be a unicorn!
As someone in his late 40s who remembers this era of GM crap, it's cars like this Cavalier that gave the Japanese car makers major inroads in the North American market. The cheapness, poor reliability and overall poor build quality, drove people looking for affordable cars straight into the arms of Civics and Corollas. You realized paying slightly more got you a much better put together car that cost less to maintain, and that any savings you had from buying the slightly cheaper GM product, got eaten up and then some in repair costs in no time, compared to something from Honda or Toyota that was virtually trouble free for at least 5-6 years from new.
i bought one with 286,000 miles on it for $500 ~2002. still had the original AC that was very cold.
My uncle Reggie had one. That thing smelt like farts and cigarettes and had garbage hall over the place.
I had the 91 Cavalier, which I bought in 2000, then drove it for 5 yrs! This beast started every morning. Lots of highway miles. Firewall eventually started leaking and sold it. But for $1500 what can you get for that today? Then I bought a 97 Cavalier, again great car. They were tough little cars....GM is garbage today
$6000 car. $1600 cd player. 😂
Not sure the actual car price, but the cd player price is outrageous. 😂
Hated this generation primarily because they all had black bumpers. On a good note, Gm was know to have some of the best A/C and stereos… including the foreign cars.
It's a Holden Camira body from the side. The front and rear was slightly different as was the interior. They were long gone in Australia by 1994.
cool review!
please review some Corsica and Lumina
"These 2.2 liters are pretty stout other than that they go through head gaskets" LOL.
The two door manual v6 version could be a fun toy...but over here (Québec) they are mostly gone due to corrosion...
The 2.2 is in the Chevy S10 and GMC Sonoma as well
I owned one to same color. Missed that car. I got another one my brother yellow one RS
A well researched work.
The G5 was the later Pontiac version btw, not the G6
My wife learned to drive on a 95 Cavalier and she does like them.
Unfortunately, GM has discontinued the Cobalt in America after they went bankrupt in 2009. As you now, small cars are no longer popular in America and so the American brands have discontinued them. Notice that GM, Chrysler and Ford discontinue their small cars and replace it with a new model instead of improving it like Honda & Toyota do with their cars.
Neat car. I haven't seen one on the road in some time. I think cash for clunkers claimed most of them. One of my friends in high school (back in the 90s) had one, with the monochrome "euro" look it was one of the cooler cars in the parking lot.
74k miles? Nearly mint condition? I'm willing to bet this was a senior citizen's car that was only driven to church on Sunday.
It might be that the turn signal flasher relay is going bad, making that spring sound. Technology Connections made an interesting video about how turn signals work. The turn signal stick is oddly stubby.
In '94, CD players were still a luxury feature. Economy of scale meant that the components cost more for lower production.
I bought a 1994 Cavalier RS sedan in 1996. Very good car until someone in a Ford F-250 ran a yield sign slamming into my driver’s side front fender in 2002.
My dad used to have a 2002 Chevy Malibu and it had a 3100 SFI, i think it made 170 hp
Actually I think yes the RS was a trim decor pkg, but I believe it had the sport suspension. I know that I rented a base trim Cavalier and I had an 84 type 10 coupe (I believe it was an 84, it was a long time ago) ,but this RS I rented had a sporty suspension
Back in the day those were EVERYWHERE
3:15 also available in '90s S10s
g6 was a replacement of the grand am, the g5 was the new sunfire and btw the cobalt is a much better car than a cavalier, i had both a z24 and cobalt 2.4 and theres no comparison, the turbo ss is the only decent sub compact gm ever made
This is like a Monza 1994 in Brazil.
Wow a topped and tailed 1981 GM J body with newer dashboard I. 1994, it looked oh so 80s and dated even for the time but ford still had the Ford tempo/topaz in production at the same time
Good content. Doug demuro #2!
You forgot to mention the Toyota Cavalier!!! In the 1990's with the Toyota GM partnership Austrailia and Japan got a rebadged Chevy Cavalier. (Not to be confused with the corolla/prism)
Japan yes but not Australia, we got Holden badged Toyota Corollas and Camrys from 1989 until 1996/7
The Chevy Crapalier say what you will but the cavalier will run like crap longer than some cars run at all
Does anybody remember that there was a pontiac version of this car called the sunbird later called the Sunfire