1994 Chevrolet Cavalier Reviews, Pricing & Specs

The car has power, the looks and style are good, low maintenance, the back seats are small for adults, great breaks, handles well in all conditions, front seats are comfortable, extremely reliable, good for a young family with small children, or no children because of the back seats, fuel economy is good, about 30 hwy, price is right, fun, easy and safe to drive, overall great deal!Jan 16, 2013

the overall performance isnt great, but it can squeal tires. braking and handling are decent (could be worse). under the hood is pretty straight forward, and easy to work on, after it gets a headgasket, not much will be expensive. the exterior is a good balance of boxy and rounded. the interior is comfortable and user friendly. fairly good on gas and parts are cheap and plentiful. for a little 4cyl. it can be fun to drive, but also safe.Nov 13, 2010

Really great car. Mine lasted up to 277k before I got t-boned, and it was still running really well. It's 2.2 4 cyl was easy on gas and had enough pep to get the car moving, but it was certainly nothing fast. The 3 speed automatic trans left something to be desired (for example, another gear) and was swapped out at ~250k because first gear was slipping badly. A common problem with these cars is that when at an idle the engine can shake quite a bit, but that's more of an annoyance than a problem. I realize it's far from good-looking, but I gave it 5 stars for appearance just because I loved the ugliness so much. The ugliness is to be embraced! The body on mine was still in decent shape, but it is common for the bottoms of the doors to rust out like crazy, especially on the 4 door. Another great thing about this car: It'll go anywhere. I even took it on ATV trails to get to a campsite. It is also REDICULOUSLY easy to install aftermarket electronics in (eg stereo system)Nov 02, 2010

So I got this car and she was in pretty rough shape. Did a lot of work to get her this far. As far as appearance goes, she is a beaut! Did a custom paint job (do every spring) with red around scoops, in grill, and the ground effects. Pretty nice mirror finish with the occasional orange peel here and there. All around, pretty damn nice considering no booth. I put raised whit Cooper Cobras on her, 215/60's. Added rain guards ad the finished look is AWESOME. Interior is O.K. A little cramped, especially in back. Not a family car. When I got the car the interior was in very good condition. I keep up on it with amoral. Works nice. The seats have a pretty awesome (sarcasm) 90's fabric, so I added seat covers to go a little more modern and protect the seats. I put in a sony explode dec with pioneer speakers. Overall pretty nice. It is not TOO costly to own/drive. Excellent gas mileage 24/30. Since I have had it, I have had to do the usual brakes, bearings, plugs, flushes. Some added stuff was the o2 censor, fuel pressure regulator, exhaust, u-joints. It does have 180000 on it. Overall she has been really good to me. Performance wise, it's awesome! Granted it's only a 3.1 rated at 140hp, it's really REALLY fun to drive. Not so fun to work on under the hood. Definitely cramped. At 2500lbs. she can handle like a dream, the coopers add that much more road grip which is nice! 0-60 was between 7.5-8.3. Have yet to quarter her. The only thing I have done under the hood was add a K&N. Braking is good, tires help there also. Overall I LOVE my car. Definitely not the biggest and baddest (I have yet to add that to my garage) but for what she is, she is a fun, fast, ride! Oct 11, 2010

I bought this car new with 5 Speed Manual Transmission; had After-market AC added, Cruise Control added and a great AM/FM Stereo Added. I drove the car until recently and put approximately 155,900 miles on it. It averaged 25-26 mpg City and about 36-39 mpg highway until just recently. Never had any kind of drive-train problems in 15 1/2 years of use. Only real complaint was that the driver's door panel had rattles and eventually came apart on me. I had to get head-gasket fixed about 7 years ago and have replaced alternator several times. Averaged about $700/year maintainance and repairs over 15 1/2 years. Apr 03, 2009

Only having the automatic version, I can't say anything about the actual manual transmission. But, the automatic is very clunks and slow, and the engine is has NO torque to speak of, but the top end isn't too bad. Gutless, but not too shabby. Build quality starts at poor and degenerates from there. Cheap, chunky interior plastics would feel more at home on some pacifier than in a car. Fun Factor: good starter car; it's surprisingly tough and damn near bulletproof (we tried). Radiator is a gas if you pour some Skittles into it!Dec 17, 2008