Cons: Reeeally old, and feels like it. dreadful interior, clunky ride, quivery structure, terrible transmission.
The Bottom Line: Why spend new-car money on a vintage-1995 design? It's no fun to drive, and a lousy interior and an overwhelmingly cheap feel make it impossible to recommend.
I test-drove a Chevrolet Cavalier 5-speed sedan at a local dealership. My test drive lasted about half an hour and covered city streets, winding secondary roads, and the freeway.
Performance
The Cavalier's acceleration was quite good for the economy-sedan class, but I didn't have much fun wringing it out on my test drive. The problem was the total lack of underhood refinement. Although the new Ecotec four-cylinder seemed smoother and quieter than those in past Cavaliers, it still sent plenty of ragged, buzzy vibrations up through the dash, seats, and steering wheel. Even at parking-lot speeds, it shook the cabin unpleasantly.
Worse yet, it sounded strained and thrashy when I revved it up through the midrange. The Cavalier accelerated quite eagerly when I revved it over 3500rpm, but by that point, the engine note had escalated to a raucous whine that made me feel like I was abusing the car. The Cavalier pulled itself up to speed quite nicely when I charged up freeway on-ramps, but I certainly didn't find the process rewarding--I couldn't wait to upshift and let the engine wind down.
Thankfully, the Cavalier's engine never developed the boomy, groaning resonance that I noted in the outgoing Kia Spectra--but once that car is out of production, the Cavalier will have the dubious honor of worst-in-class engine refinement. The Cavalier is fairly quick for an economy car, but it never really feels enthusiastic because of the strained sound and feel of the engine.
Transmission/Clutch
The Cavalier's manual transmission felt crude in operation, to the point that this car is actually more enjoyable with an automatic. The biggest problem here was the clutch. It had a very long throw, and although it was very light when I was pushing the pedal in, it felt ultra-springy on the return. This inconsistent weighting made it very difficult to shift smoothly. I'd let the clutch out and it felt like it was springing too far, so I'd push it back in and it would drop too far, and I'd let off again... resulting in a novice-like series of bucks and overrevs. The clutch may or may not have had a gentle take-up--it was impossible to tell due to the total lack of feel. Indeed, this may have been the worst clutch I've ever experienced.
The shifter wasn't as bad, but it wasn't great. It felt firm and notchy going from gear to gear, but it had a tendency to hang up occasionally, giving its action a slightly ragged, inconsistent feel. Also, its pattern was very narrow from side to side, but long from front to rear--much like the Neon's--so while its movements were short and precise enough along the crossbar, most shifts still felt long-winded.
Steering/Handling
The Cavalier's road manners are decent for a car that hasn't had a major redesign since 1995, but far surpassed by newer cars like the Mazda3.
The Cavalier's handling felt confident and nimble around town, with quick, firmly weighted steering that made it easy to maneuver through traffic at a brisk pace. But the Cavalier's composure faded fast when the roads got more challenging.
On winding roads, it steering developed a rubbery, nebulous feeling when I gave it quick inputs, and it wasn't as easy or intuitive to place in curves as it had been in city traffic. The near-total lack of road feel didn't help. The wheel's thick, foamy padding muted any information from the road, so that the only vibrations feeding back to my hands were from the engine or the rattling of the body shell.
The Cavalier's chassis, which had felt quite confident in gentler driving, also lost its cool when pushed. The body leaned quite a bit in curves, and the feeling of inertia encouraged me to back off well before the tires felt challenged. Their grip was actually quite good, even when pressed, but the unsettled feel of the chassis limited cornering speeds. I'm sure the Cavalier could have hung on longer, but I didn't feel comfortable pressing the chassis to its limits.
The Cavalier also fell behind the competition on the freeway. Its steering lost its sense of straight-ahead, allowing the car to wander in its lane, and tracking was further hindered by the body structure, which was loose at best. I could even feel the structure flexing even Botts dots, which is unforgivable in a new car. While the Cavalier feels pretty good shuttling around town, it shows its age when confronted with anything else.
Ride
The Cavalier's ride wasn't awful, but it was far from the best in class. Again, its composure only held up as long as the conditions weren't too challenging. The ride felt quite smooth and controlled on well-maintained roads, but as soon as I hit a bump, the suspension clunked and thwacked crudely.
Also, the body structure quivered and shook over every sharp impact, detracting from the feeling of solidity. The Cavalier really wasn't happy on rough roads, and as a result, neither was I. Also, under any conditions, the Cavalier's noise suppression was below par. I've already mentioned the thrashy engine note, but on the freeway, this was joined by considerable wind and road noise. All of these factors conspired to drain yet more fun from the Cavalier's driving experience.
Interior
The Cavalier's interior is in dire need of an upgrade, and is absolutely awful compared to its rivals--easily the car's worst feature. The quality of the materials was inexcusably poor--almost all the plastics inside were coarse, shiny, and hard. A nice rubbery material covered the dash top, but that was where the attention to detail ended.
There was plastic flashing on the door handles and center console, like you'd expect to see on a model airplane kit, and exposed screw heads were visible on the door panels and roof pillars. The steering-wheel hub was mounted at least a half-inch off-center, the emergency-brake handle felt flimsy enough to come off in my hand, and there were ragged holes around the base of the window cranks. Closing the door resulted in a tinny "clunk"--unless it was a rear door, in which case I got a resonant "claaang." There are plenty of economy cars with price tags this low, and none of them feel this abysmally cheap inside--where is the money going, Chevy?
Well, we know it's not to ergonomics research, anyway. The dash layout was easy enough to learn, but the radio and climate controls were mounted low, where they were hard to use without taking my eyes off the road. Many of their buttons were also small and non-intuitive in operation, adding to the confusion. And even those controls that did work well felt cheap. The HVAC knobs had a heavy, mushy feel to them that made precise adjustments difficult, and the turn-signal stalk snapped from side to side, like I was breaking it every time I used the blinkers.
Some of the cheapness just seems totally unnecessary. Why do the blinker lights on the dashboard glow a sickly yellow, instead of the usual healthy green? And why are the gauges scripted in the same squared-off font as Cavaliers of the 1980s?
This may amount to stylistic quibbling, but the Cavalier's awful seats are something everyone will notice. They are hard and deeply contoured, with huge grooves that read right through the seat of the pants. There's not enough shaping for them to be supportive, so even on my short test-drive, they felt uncomfortably hard and bumpy. Any positive points? One. The rear bench seat had better-than-average space, even if the cushion was just as poor as those up front.
Other than that, the general impression I got was that someone designed this interior on their lunch break and said, "well, that's good enough for people who can't afford better." I disagree. An epically poor performance on Chevrolet's part.
Practicality
The Cavalier doesn't earn particularly high marks in this area, either, mostly because of the somewhat cramped interior. There's plenty of room for front-seat passengers if you move the seats back, but then you won't be able to fit anyone in back. There's also little in the way of cabin storage. There's the usual glove compartment and console bin, but most other economy sedans offer a number of clever little storage areas for CDs, change, sunglasses, etc., and the Cavalier doesn't offer much space for these odds and ends.
The Cavalier's trunk is quite spacious, but the opening is small, so it's hard to fit bulky items like guitars and amplifiers into the cargo area. Also, the trunk opening doesn't extend very low, so you have to lift heavy loads way up over the rear bumper and drop them down into the trunk, which can literally be a pain.
Reliability
The Cavalier has had some reliability issues in the past, but in the last year Consumer Reports has raised its rating to Average. Given its spotty history, I was impressed with this progress--the average amount of problems in brand-new cars is quite low indeed.
Overall
The current Cavalier strikes me as the slacker of the economy-sedan class. It's been hanging around for nine years now, essentially unchanged since its 1995 introduction except for minor facelifts, and an all-new model isn't due until 2005. That wouldn't be so bad if the Cavalier had aged well, but it really feels past its sell-by date at this point. The interior feels crude and cheap, it's too noisy, and its comfort levels lag behind the competition. While the Cavalier makes an acceptable account of itself on the road, it's not enough to offset the nagging lack of refinement.
And hey, how about that price? Either GM knows something we don't, or they're charging a ridiculous amount of money for an old and mostly-outdated vehicle. According to Consumer Guide, the LS model I drove lists at $16,020--that's $660 more than a similarly-equipped Honda Civic--and even the base model, with cloth-and-vinyl upholstery and no floormats, sells for $14,245. Cavaliers are usually deeply discounted on dealer lots, but that's still a pretty high starting point.
While the Cavalier has aged reasonably well for such an ancient design, Chevrolet's lack of product development seems to say, "well, if you want a nicer car, you should pay more." That's enough to turn me off. My advice would be to look at the Cavalier's more-talented competition, like the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Mazda 3, or Hyundai Elantra. Or, if you really have your heart set on a Chevy, wait for the 2005 model to come out. The new car, which has been renamed Cobalt, should be leagues ahead of this fossil. It's based on the same platform as the Saturn Ion, but with a different body, new interior design, and other detail changes.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
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