We have a 1997 Chevrolet Cavalier, that we bought new. We were expecting our first child and needed to replace the unreliable old clunker we'd been driving. We thought we were getting a very reliable, very safe car....but we were wrong.

Almost from the first day we drove it off the lot, we've had some problem or another with this car. Shortly after we bought it, we took a trip across state, and to this day, I shudder when I think what COULD have happened. Three times on that trip, we needed to use the horn, because someone was about to hit us. Came within inches twice. It was scary enough without the added trouble OUR car gave us. The horn wouldn't work!! A few miles down the road though, and the horn would start blowing all by itself. When we pulled into the Chevy dealership in my sister-in-law's hometown, the horn had been blowing for 5min straight, and nothing we tried was getting it to stop. They fixed the problem that time, but we've had to take the car BACK in 3 more times to fix the same thing...again, and again, and again.

The horn problem, in my opinion, isn't the scariest though. It's the door locks. We have electric doors and windows, and the door locks haven't worked properly for over 2yrs now. First it was the child safety locks on the back doors. We hadn't used them since our baby was still just that...a baby. There was no one she was going to be opening the door at 7mos old. Imagine our surprise, then, when I rode in the back with her one day, and couldn't get out! The child safety lock had locked itself somehow and was stuck. My husband tried for a week to get it to take it off of child safety, but even though the latch SAID it was off, it wasn't. Another trip to the dealership.

It was only about 3mos before the rest of the locks started to malfunction. Sometimes they will lock, most times they will not. Sometimes they will lock, but then not UNlock. That means that we have to open all 4 doors, lock them by hand, and then shut them. Inconvenient, but doable. What scares me though, is when they start unlocking and locking themselves. My husband shut the car door just the other night (NOT locking the door), accidentally leaving the keys in the car, and the electric locks decided to kick in all of a sudden. Ok, so it cost us some $$ to get the door unlocked again...even that's not SCARY. So what is??

The MANUAL locks don't work properly either!! I'm not sure about the driver side rear door, but the other 3 have all had times when they were next to impossible to lock and/or unlock, both from the inside, and from the out. What happens if they decide to stick in a car wreck? Or a car-jacking?? Or when I'm trying to open the door to get my children out, on a hot day? I don't even like to think about it. =(

The horn and the locks aren't the only problems we've had, either. There's been problems with the radio, the glove box, the ashtrays, the seat controls (like not catching when you adjust them, then sliding all around driving down the road), the heater, the air conditioner, and the gas mileage has never been as good as it was supposed to be. Oh, and the darn thing will refuse to start from time to time, for no apparent reason.

If I ever buy another new (or used for that matter) car, you can bet it WON'T be a Chevy Cavalier!!