2003 Chevrolet Cavalier: The Oppositelock Review

"thebigbossyboss" (thebigbossyboss) 11/17/2014 at 20:14 • Filed to: Oppo Review

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The 03 Cavalier was presented by: The company that went bankrupt then got taxpayers to pay for it...a company that is replacing so many ignition switches, they made their own "Ignition switch olympics" for dealership techs...a company that didn't seem to care that 13 people died due in part to bad manufacturing..... Government General Motors.

Although none of those events happened while this car was made.

[Full Disclosure: GM wanted me to drive this car so bad they sold it to at least one owner in Quebec who sold it to a dealer in Ontario who sold it to a guy who enriced it 100% who then put his girlfriend on the ownership who then sold it back to the same dealership whom then sold it to me in 2010 with 90,000 kms.]

First a little about the Cavalier:

The 3rd generation Chevrolet Cavalier was made from 1994-2005. By the end of it's run. although a strong seller, the Cavalier was really out of it's league.

Let's read some reviews:

"The entire driveline, from an engine that stands out (in a big crowd) with smooth delivery of power to a shifter that finds gears as if by divine guidance, sends the driver who truly loves the act of driving closer to affordable nirvana than he may yet have come."....oh wait that's a review for a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

I was wondering why it sounded so good.

Here's the Cavalier review:

"Despite the new look, there's no hiding the fact that this car was engineered more than a decade ago, leaving it hopelessly outclassed by nearly every other car on the market."

That's more like it.

"Ancient design inside and out, cheap interior materials, poor build quality, low resale value, poor side-impact and front-offset crash test results.".

Exactly. Thanks Edmunds!

Exterior: 4/10.

I think the styling of this car is actually fairly acceptable. It is the only part that was updated. The 2003's look a lot better than the 2002s.
I'm not a huge fan of the light bar across the trunk lid. My exterior condition is actually *quite* good for this area and the cars age. I just got my first little bits of surface rust this year, and you know I'm gonna tackle that shit before the snow starts.

Interior: 2/10.

For one, even though I clean it fairly regularly, the Cavalier is so base that it doesn't even come with a cabin air filter.

*mic drop*

Yeah. So I clean the dash and then two days later it's dusty as fuck.

My racing seats are pretty much worn out...they have holes in them. The drivers side is especially egregious. The car does have good visibility though so that's something right?

The good news is the car doesn't have one of those ridiculous touch screen/I drive things. Good god I hate touch screens in cars. How the hell am I supposed to adjust the radio with that crap???

Acceleration: 5/10

Actually the reviews of this car while bemoaning literally every other aspect of the car praise the torquey engine. And I agree. Obviously it's not a Veyron, but when I hit the gas the car will accelerate enough to not make me hate merging onto the highway. Only the very shortest ramps make it tough.

Braking: 2/10

Small discs in the front, rear drum brakes in the back, even with my pretty new brakes (about 5,000 kms on them) braking can be a struggle at times. This car amazingly enough didn't come with ABS. ABS used to be standard, but in the final model years they took it off. No doubt hoping owners would die in fiery crashes before they could negatively review the car.

Now this being said, the braking is probably better than that electric car thingy Jason Torch once drove...so I'll give it a 2. Better than an electirc car fro the 50's with top speed of 30 mph...but worse than most other things.

Ride: 6/10

Earlier this year my car had no suspension. (4 worn out struts, 4 broken shock absorbers) It now has a suspension. Having a suspension makes a big difference. I can't believe what I was missing all these years. No more air over rises, no more swerving all over the road...it's amazing.

Handling: 2/10.

The car feels a lot looser now that is has a suspension. Before the wheel was really heavy...it was grounded to the ground. I described the lighter steering to my buddy and he said "That sounds like a normal car man, you're just not used to that".

Ok. It still feels light. Whatever.

Gearbox: 10/10.

MANUAL!!! Driving a manual is awesome.

Toys: 0/10

I got rear defrost. It's broken. Fuck.

Audio: 3/10

Unlike JWT my speakers all work. This is good. My cd player only works once in a while. This is annoying. I wish I had a tape deck so I could plug in an MP3 player through one of those MP3 tape thingys.

The exhaust on my car is so loud that it's pretty much impossible to have a conversation with a back seat passenger. FYI.

Value: 7/10

I paid less than $3K for this car. I have put on 100,000 kms or 60,000 miles. I could still sell it for about $1K. I average about 2 cents a kilometer depreciation. Not bad. I have also put in about $500/year in non oil change maintenance.

No one ever said being a hustler was free.

TOTAL: 41/100. Seems about right.

jkm7680 > thebigbossyboss 11/17/2014 at 20:21

0

Sounds like it's time for an upgrade :)

BrownMiataDieselWagon > thebigbossyboss 11/17/2014 at 20:21

0

Looks like you got A/C, heater, and a radio/CD player. That deserves at least a 3/10 for toys. Nice review.

Also, is that shift knob stock? If so, kudos to GM.

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > thebigbossyboss 11/17/2014 at 20:22

1

about right, indeed.

thebigbossyboss > BrownMiataDieselWagon 11/17/2014 at 20:24

0

A/C???? What you smokin son? I have a heater and a cd player it is true. Thanks for reading.

thebigbossyboss > jkm7680 11/17/2014 at 20:25

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Can't. Broke. Have been on part time work for the past 2 months. Even getting winter tires was hard.

jkm7680 > thebigbossyboss 11/17/2014 at 20:27

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Sorry to hear it man :/

You're in College right now right?

WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe > thebigbossyboss 11/17/2014 at 20:27

1

I had a 2001 Cavalier sedan with an auto, seems like a pretty similar experience. I'm actually going to do an Oppo review on it fairly soon.

CB > thebigbossyboss 11/17/2014 at 20:29

1

I didn't think it was too bad when I rode in it. Then again, I only rode in it for 30 seconds, so my opinion may be skewed.

Also, you wrote an entire review of your Cavalier and didn't once mention the giant tachometer sitting on the dash? That should be a point in the toy category (even if it doesn't work).

thebigbossyboss > jkm7680 11/17/2014 at 20:29

1

Yeah. Only until Dec. Then I am going on deferral (no tuition no classes) and am like 90% sure I'll never be back. I did an undergrad and completed in 2009. I want another semester of Grad School like I want a bullet to the head. Less learning more earning.

jkm7680 > thebigbossyboss 11/17/2014 at 20:31

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Ah, Gotcha. Good luck!

Hope you're making good money before you know it! :)

thebigbossyboss > CB 11/17/2014 at 20:32

1

Hahah the tach is awesome. I miss having it work. It used to have a go fast light. It's not a bad car, and it most definitely was good value for money. I am just tired of it now. However it has always looked pretty good I thought.

Xyl0c41n3 > thebigbossyboss 11/17/2014 at 20:35

1

*tears*

You just made me all nostalgic for my '02. I'm with you on the rear light bar thing. I'm glad my '02 didn't have one. But you've got way nicer wheels on yours than I ever did on mine. By the end, I was driving with only two hubcaps. Lol. Ten years and around 275K miles, all but 19K put on it by me.

Nice write up, Boss! Thanks for sharing.

thebigbossyboss > jkm7680 11/17/2014 at 20:36

1

Going back to work should double my take home to nearly $3K/mo after taxes. That's not mad money but certainly enough.

jkm7680 > thebigbossyboss 11/17/2014 at 20:38

1

Sounds pretty good :)

thebigbossyboss > Xyl0c41n3 11/17/2014 at 20:38

1

Glad you enjoyed. Very very very soon those wheels will go away and the winter steelies will come out. That actually can't happen soon enough. Bald all seasons suck in the snow.

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > thebigbossyboss 11/17/2014 at 20:40

1

that shift knob is the same-style knob my mom has in her 2008* opel astra 1.6!

Xyl0c41n3 > thebigbossyboss 11/17/2014 at 20:46

1

I can tell the seasons are changing, not from the turning of the leaves or the falling of snow, because I get neither where I live, but by all the opponauts talking about putting on their winter tires. ^_^

EL_ULY > thebigbossyboss 11/17/2014 at 21:05

1

Wonderful! I scored it 44. Legend!

Zipppy, Mazdurp builder, Probeski owner and former ricerboy > thebigbossyboss 11/17/2014 at 21:15

1

There has to be a way to get that tach up and running again. would be a fun project.

Dsscats > thebigbossyboss 11/18/2014 at 00:27

1

This looks badass.

thebigbossyboss > EL_ULY 11/18/2014 at 08:55

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In your opinion it was a 44? Is this because I was harsh in the toys section? Someone opined that since I have heat and a cd player that's at least 3/10.

thebigbossyboss > Dsscats 11/18/2014 at 08:55

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Thanks man!

EL_ULY > thebigbossyboss 11/18/2014 at 09:23

1

Having a CD player means you have a radio. A radio means you can get a RF modulator that can be used hardline to your phones head phone jack or via bluetooth. Those devices are cheap on Amazon and ebay. All in all, you can have over the speaker navi with internet radio.

oh and I forgot, you have speakers! I had a car once with only blown front speakers lol.

TheJWT > thebigbossyboss 11/26/2014 at 22:16

1

Awesome review, and I'm honored! I remember seeing your car at the Oppo meet last year, and thinking how tasteful it was compared to literally every other modded Cavy I've seen.

If I may offer a tip though, hit up a junkyard for an '03 Cav spoiler (If Canadian junkyards are anything like the ones around here, there should be billions of them...) They're super easy to install; only 3 or 4 bolts if I remember correctly, and it looks good on the base model cars. My friend has on '04 coupe and we did the same thing this summer.

thebigbossyboss > TheJWT 11/26/2014 at 22:20

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Thanks man!!

I think I need to fix my right ball joint and defrost before any spoilers get added. Good idea though! The lip spoiler is sweet. Glad you remembered me, I don't remember everyone I met down there. I wish I wasn't so late to the meet, but it was really far!

NoneOfYourBiz > thebigbossyboss 07/01/2015 at 10:14

2

Just saw this now. Nice write-up and, in my experience, valid.

A comment by a petrol-head friend of mine in the UK (who owns a hoist in his purpose-built garage and restores cars as a hobby, so, street cred)... these cars were “built to a price” and the cost of union labour and massive pension liabilities meant that they weren’t nearly as good as their competition. The exterior does look good but the “Fisher-Price” plastic interior is egregious.

Something I’ve observed: the people who often buy this category of car new are the same people who never wash their cars, never clean the interiors, rarely/never do preventative maintenance and the result is used cars that are massive piles of crap. You seem to have gotten lucky and previous owners took care of yours.

Calling my own car out: 2006 Elantra. I got lucky and previous owners did a good job maintaining it. The Accent wasn’t any worse of a car but look how shitty most of them are now: the people who bought them were buying for price and maintaining (or rather NOT maintaining) with cost in mind.

My neighbours have a 2003 Cavalier that just rolled over 60,000km (37,000miles). Apparently it was owned by their mother who is now too old to drive. It’s stayed in reasonable shape but it’s very, very clear they abuse it. The interior looks like a recycling truck unloaded into it and there are crumbs and salt stains on everything. They couldn’t work harder to try to destroy a car but with only 60k on it, it’s still ticking.

KCMastaPeace > thebigbossyboss 03/23/2016 at 02:04

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You’re a moron... Cars can not have “no suspension” unless it is completly removed from the vehicle. Suspension is a SYSTEM not a functionality or a single component. Also, you can't have four struts and four shock absorbers those are essentially the same thing.... You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.

thebigbossyboss > KCMastaPeace 03/23/2016 at 11:24

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It had a collapsed suspension and was riding on it’s bump stops. Happy now?