I had the opportunity to spend a day in my mother's 2001 Chevy Cavalier as I offered to drive her car from the Dallas/Ft Worth area to Denver where she is moving.
She doesn't drive much, as she worked blocks away from her apartment, and think she took public transit quite a bit. I'm sure this trip was the first ever extended highway driving the car got.
Anyway, I drove it first from Ft Worth, where she left it parked at the Airporter park and ride lot to Dallas where my brother-in-law lives. She had detailed the car, and had it serviced, so it had fresh oil in the crankcase. When I checked it, it looked clean, so the sticker and the oil seemed to match.
The first thing I noticed was the dome light would come on intermittently, so I fiddled with the dimmer/dome light switch and never had that problem again.
Then there were all the rattles. Good gravy, my Prizm with 210K more miles, and seven years older has fewer rattles.
This car is CHEAP. I know my mom loves it, so I won't share that with her, but it's cheap. The passenger mirror is manual adjust. Not even a knob, so you need someone to move the mirror around for you. The drivers mirror is mechanical, but at least you don't have to roll down the window to adjust it.
So 4AM, Aug 5, I leave Dallas, stopping just east of Arlington, TX to top off the tank as it was at 3/4's, so I can get an MPG rating for the trip.
I plug in all my electronics. This is when I notice the lousy placement of the cigarette lighter outlet. It's high on the dash, next to the ignition switch, and I bump the plug of my 4 outlet box when I start the car. The plug also finds a way to come loose from time to time. I don't have this problem in any other vehicle, so this is a unique trait to the Cavalier. I learn to check the lights frequently on my chargers to ensure my phone and iPod chargers are still working. I brought my radar detector, but don't bother with it on this trip.
I take off, heading to Amarillo via US 287.
This car has hand crank windows and no cruise control, so I'm in charge of the throttle, just like my Prizm, so this is about the same.
I make one stop before Amarillo, to get some road food I can eat while I drive. So I stop on the other side of Wichita Falls at a Wal*Mart and get some fruit, some breakfast bars and a couple of bottles of sweet tea. No gas yet, as I'm above a helf tank, so I'll stop in Amarillo to take care of that.
I get to Amarillo at about 10:30 AM Central and get gas. I've averaged about 29 MPG with the A/C on and driving with in 10 MPH of the posted limit, but not over 80 MPH. The 2.2L engine is adequate, but it seems winded and coarse at higher RPMs. There is no tach on this automatic transmission car, so I can't tell what the engine is turning for any given speed.
The transmission does its job without drama. When a down shift is needed, and I don't recall too many times to this point in the trip where it was, they were reasonably smooth. Likewise for the upshifts. The 4 speed automatic just does it's job without complaint.
Anyway, I check the oil and see no consumption. I do clean out all the organic matter that has likely collected the last 8 years from under the hood, twigs and what not are on the cowl at the base of the windshield. However, the A/C is able to keep up with the West TX heat, and the loaded car (mom filled the trunk and back seat loosely, but left me the passenger seat for my bag, iPod, etc) is easily able to maintain highway speeds in the heat.
As I said, about 29 MPG for this fuel stop. I fill the car with 88 octane as we are at a higher elevation, and regular is 86 here.
So far, I've covered about 370 miles in 6 hours of driving and my one stop in Wichita Falls.
The next leg of the trip is from Amarillo, TX to Raton, NM, again along US 87. This is mostly 4 lane, mostly divided, but more towns, stoplights, etc and a few 2 lane road stretches compared to the first 370 miles.
This 215 mile stretch includes the climb to about 6700 ft above sea level from Amarillo's approx 3600 ft. FWIW, Dallas is approx 500 ft above sea level. So the climb does impact the fuel economy, as I expected mid 30's after hearing others speak about their J-body experiences.
Again, my fuel economy here, with the 88 octane is a shockingly low 28 MPG. While it's hot, and there is the climb, I'm not driving insanely fast, and expected fuel economy in the 30's.
It's about 2pm Mountain time when I fuel again in Raton, NM, having done a drive through in Dalhart, TX, I pitch my trash, check the oil, fill the tank and empty the bladder.
I'm about 3 hours away from my destination in Denver.
The slow climb and high temps do not tax the car much into Raton. I am beginning to notice the Cavalier is not very comfy for long rides. But it does it's job and soldiers on, tiny mirrors and all.
The last leg takes me up I25, I climb the mountain pass north of Raton, and the car wheezes up the mountain, engine churning along.
The final 215 miles goes without much drama. I see some rain, I'm delayed in Walsenburg as the north bound I25 is closed and routed through town on the Business Loop I25 through the town.
I arrive at mom's hotel right at 5PM, so 14 hours, including stops to travel just over 800 miles.
I'm beat, but I live. We go out to dinner, and oddly, I drive as mom's not ready to drive in a strange city. We drive to her apartment complex, and from there to her office.
I didn't get fuel again, since I still had about 1/2 tank when I arrived in Denver. I suspect since this last leg was "down hill" going from 6700 ft to 5200 ft above sea level, that the fuel economy improved a bit. Temperatures were also lower, but that may have been mitigated by the delay due to the interstate construction.
I don't think I'd buy one of these cars, unless it was insanely cheap. It did it's mechanical job just fine. But the interior rattles and cheapness compared to my older and more used Prizm just leave me shaking my head.
One last nit-pick. The digital odometer has only ONE trip setting. Unlike my other cars with a digital odometer with two, this has only one. I like having one trip odometer for the trip, and one for the current tank of fuel. That way, I don't have to do the math either way, either trip mileage, or tank mileage.
So there are little things about this car that make other choices much more appealing.
It's not an awful car, it's just not as good as it could have been
She doesn't drive much, as she worked blocks away from her apartment, and think she took public transit quite a bit. I'm sure this trip was the first ever extended highway driving the car got.
Anyway, I drove it first from Ft Worth, where she left it parked at the Airporter park and ride lot to Dallas where my brother-in-law lives. She had detailed the car, and had it serviced, so it had fresh oil in the crankcase. When I checked it, it looked clean, so the sticker and the oil seemed to match.
The first thing I noticed was the dome light would come on intermittently, so I fiddled with the dimmer/dome light switch and never had that problem again.
Then there were all the rattles. Good gravy, my Prizm with 210K more miles, and seven years older has fewer rattles.
This car is CHEAP. I know my mom loves it, so I won't share that with her, but it's cheap. The passenger mirror is manual adjust. Not even a knob, so you need someone to move the mirror around for you. The drivers mirror is mechanical, but at least you don't have to roll down the window to adjust it.
So 4AM, Aug 5, I leave Dallas, stopping just east of Arlington, TX to top off the tank as it was at 3/4's, so I can get an MPG rating for the trip.
I plug in all my electronics. This is when I notice the lousy placement of the cigarette lighter outlet. It's high on the dash, next to the ignition switch, and I bump the plug of my 4 outlet box when I start the car. The plug also finds a way to come loose from time to time. I don't have this problem in any other vehicle, so this is a unique trait to the Cavalier. I learn to check the lights frequently on my chargers to ensure my phone and iPod chargers are still working. I brought my radar detector, but don't bother with it on this trip.
I take off, heading to Amarillo via US 287.
This car has hand crank windows and no cruise control, so I'm in charge of the throttle, just like my Prizm, so this is about the same.
I make one stop before Amarillo, to get some road food I can eat while I drive. So I stop on the other side of Wichita Falls at a Wal*Mart and get some fruit, some breakfast bars and a couple of bottles of sweet tea. No gas yet, as I'm above a helf tank, so I'll stop in Amarillo to take care of that.
I get to Amarillo at about 10:30 AM Central and get gas. I've averaged about 29 MPG with the A/C on and driving with in 10 MPH of the posted limit, but not over 80 MPH. The 2.2L engine is adequate, but it seems winded and coarse at higher RPMs. There is no tach on this automatic transmission car, so I can't tell what the engine is turning for any given speed.
The transmission does its job without drama. When a down shift is needed, and I don't recall too many times to this point in the trip where it was, they were reasonably smooth. Likewise for the upshifts. The 4 speed automatic just does it's job without complaint.
Anyway, I check the oil and see no consumption. I do clean out all the organic matter that has likely collected the last 8 years from under the hood, twigs and what not are on the cowl at the base of the windshield. However, the A/C is able to keep up with the West TX heat, and the loaded car (mom filled the trunk and back seat loosely, but left me the passenger seat for my bag, iPod, etc) is easily able to maintain highway speeds in the heat.
As I said, about 29 MPG for this fuel stop. I fill the car with 88 octane as we are at a higher elevation, and regular is 86 here.
So far, I've covered about 370 miles in 6 hours of driving and my one stop in Wichita Falls.
The next leg of the trip is from Amarillo, TX to Raton, NM, again along US 87. This is mostly 4 lane, mostly divided, but more towns, stoplights, etc and a few 2 lane road stretches compared to the first 370 miles.
This 215 mile stretch includes the climb to about 6700 ft above sea level from Amarillo's approx 3600 ft. FWIW, Dallas is approx 500 ft above sea level. So the climb does impact the fuel economy, as I expected mid 30's after hearing others speak about their J-body experiences.
Again, my fuel economy here, with the 88 octane is a shockingly low 28 MPG. While it's hot, and there is the climb, I'm not driving insanely fast, and expected fuel economy in the 30's.
It's about 2pm Mountain time when I fuel again in Raton, NM, having done a drive through in Dalhart, TX, I pitch my trash, check the oil, fill the tank and empty the bladder.
I'm about 3 hours away from my destination in Denver.
The slow climb and high temps do not tax the car much into Raton. I am beginning to notice the Cavalier is not very comfy for long rides. But it does it's job and soldiers on, tiny mirrors and all.
The last leg takes me up I25, I climb the mountain pass north of Raton, and the car wheezes up the mountain, engine churning along.
The final 215 miles goes without much drama. I see some rain, I'm delayed in Walsenburg as the north bound I25 is closed and routed through town on the Business Loop I25 through the town.
I arrive at mom's hotel right at 5PM, so 14 hours, including stops to travel just over 800 miles.
I'm beat, but I live. We go out to dinner, and oddly, I drive as mom's not ready to drive in a strange city. We drive to her apartment complex, and from there to her office.
I didn't get fuel again, since I still had about 1/2 tank when I arrived in Denver. I suspect since this last leg was "down hill" going from 6700 ft to 5200 ft above sea level, that the fuel economy improved a bit. Temperatures were also lower, but that may have been mitigated by the delay due to the interstate construction.
I don't think I'd buy one of these cars, unless it was insanely cheap. It did it's mechanical job just fine. But the interior rattles and cheapness compared to my older and more used Prizm just leave me shaking my head.
One last nit-pick. The digital odometer has only ONE trip setting. Unlike my other cars with a digital odometer with two, this has only one. I like having one trip odometer for the trip, and one for the current tank of fuel. That way, I don't have to do the math either way, either trip mileage, or tank mileage.
So there are little things about this car that make other choices much more appealing.
It's not an awful car, it's just not as good as it could have been