Mitsubishi Lancer Forum : “Witch car should I buy? 2005 Chevy Cavalier or 2005 Mitsubishi Lancer?”

lancer best

theres a saying a lot of people use.

mitsubishi, wake up and fix it.

the cavalier can be beat on again and again and it will run till 300k miles with normal maintenance.  the lancer looks cooler but you will have a lot mroe problems with it AND repairs will also cost more

No doubt about it..lancer. you won't have repair problems- unless the car was beaten and abused, its good for 200,000 plus miles. Change timing chain at 150,000 though- $300-$400 incl labor. The cavalier will probably have cylinder head leaks long before then. Cavalier has less expensive brakes, but requires service much more frequently. Lancer tranny and exhaust are good for long after warranty. Sorry to sound like a know it all, I just have plenty of experience with both cars. I had a courier business and had 3 lancers, 4 cavaliers. The lancers held value better, were much more dependable. The struts lasted longer, and they had fewer ball joint and tie rod replacements. The cavaliers were good too- not knocking them. but they had suspension problems when used in heavy service on our rough roads here in newfoundland. they also rusted faster, which was unusual, considering Japanese built cars tend to rust faster (normally). Hondas disintegrate in 5 yrs or less in this climate! lancer parts are more costly, but they rarely give trouble!

I really don't see how this is true. Any car can last as long as you take care of it. You AREN'T suppose to beat up on cars. I never had to wake up and fix my car and it has almost 100k miles on it. My car is also modded so my car would probably have more problems than a stock one. So in other words just don't beat up on the car and it will last longer. The lancer is more fun to drive in my opinion.

Point was the cavalier can take more abuse. I never to beat on the car. Just saying you could. The lancer has a ton of cylinder
head problems. Engine problems and electrical problems are common in Mitsubishi cars. Those problems don exist in the cavalier.

That is true though. The internals are really weak, but I would still take the lancer before the cavalier due to previous stories of other problems that cavaliers also have. I guess it's just more of opinion on the person.