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My 1999 used cheapie/beater Cavalier may be the best car I've ever owned.

I look at it this way....

First the cost of replacement over a person getting up under the car fixing things and doing preventative maintenance. What’s the active ingredient in salt.....sodium, what neutralizes salt (sodium)....potassium citrate powder. Ever see those bottles that attach to the garden hose for fertilizer applications....exactly !!! Steam clean the underside then follow through with a rinse of potassium citrate using a bottle mixer for applying potassium to the sodium to neutralize the sodium. Then there is polyurethane sealers that can be sprayed under the car as a primer for rock-shield coating using a spray gun device hooked up to a rental air compressor. Like my uncle said, if your lazy and don’t do nothing....something is going to happen anyway that is beyond your control, then your going to play with hell catching up with the damage that time and the elements have reeked upon your car. In Germany I put my car up on the rack and steam cleaned it weekly. A person doesn’t have to look at the destruction caused by sodium as death of an auto by natural causes. Holes in a car can be patched using rivets and applying Duraglass over the top to strengthen and seal up the area. I’ve smeared Duraglass under the complete bottom and wheel wells of a car, then along with steam cleaning the bottom of the car regularly and then with potassium to kept the rust under control. Because doing that is cheaper than constantly replacing a used car every five years.
 
See this is what happens with car company's, they never break so they discontinue them for "upgraded" models with more sensors, harder to reach replacement parts, and proprietary tools required. Chevy did it with the Chevette, it was bullet proof, Volkswagen with anything after MKIII.
 
Hajidub said:
See this is what happens with car company's, they never break so they discontinue them for "upgraded" models with more sensors, harder to reach replacement parts, and proprietary tools required. Chevy did it with the Chevette, it was bullet proof, Volkswagen with anything after MKIII.
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Seems like it would be a balancing act to pull off. Sell a car that fails soon enough so people will be on the market for more new ones.... vs..... not having it fail too soon and leave the impression of an inferior product.

Based on most of the complaints I see about Cavaliers ( ultimately failing due to body rust) there should be tons of them still running around in the dry Southwestern states.
 
Ohighway said:
Seems like it would be a balancing act to pull off. Sell a car that fails soon enough so people will be on the market for more new ones.... vs..... not having it fail too soon and leave the impression of an inferior product.

Based on most of the complaints I see about Cavaliers ( ultimately failing due to body rust) there should be tons of them still running around in the dry Southwestern states.
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You are correct with that assumption
 
Pops had a cavalier wagon back in the day and it was a pretty reliable vehicle.He now drives a 2003 2.2 ecotec pontiac sunfire thats a great little beater .
 
2011etec said:
Pops had a cavalier wagon back in the day and it was a pretty reliable vehicle.He now drives a 2003 2.2 ecotec pontiac sunfire thats a great little beater .
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funny story...last spring I hit on an auction and the only online lot I got was 3 lincoln grilles, and an 03ish sunfire FENDER. For $5 total.

The one grille was a 75 lincoln and I sold all 20+lbs of it for like $25 at carlisle on the first day (not to a lincoln onwer, oh no, to a person who was in a campground where they snazz up their golf carts to look like expensive cars) I then sold the early 80's grille and even the lincoln connie grille. So I way made my money back....and later on that day a guy stops, goes "no way!" and snaps up the brand new in the cardboard still fender for $5....he had a sunfire he was using to claw his way to work with a caved in fender....
 
We had a 98 Cavalier that we bought from a co-worker of mine who took grandma off the road. Bought it with only 24K on the clock and drove it for six years then handed it down to our youngest daughter with 140K on the clock. She drove it for two years then traded it off, still see it around town.

I agree that the Cavalier is one reliable SOB... seen an article that the Cavalier was one of ten cars the article authors wished would come back. :thumbsup:
 
Not only did my sister's 1991 Cavalier get me through college, it also was very easy and cheap to maintain-- reverse gear went out in it around 1994, I found a good used tranny from the salvage yard for $130 and had a local mechanic install it for me for $160. $300 for a total tranny swap and back on the road!
 
I prefer the 2002 Saturn L 200 4 cylinder sedan I have in the household. I like driving it. More room, nicer interior, less agricultural to drive. And more functional interior. Same Ecotec engine in a Cavalier.
 
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