My 02 Cavalier with the 2.2 Ecotec 4 was delivered with the oil above the fill mark. Adding the 6 quarts the manual says, puts it up there again. Even 5 quarts leave it above the fill mark with the engine cold and time to drain back. I measured the dip stick, it is 18 13/16 '' from the flange at the top where it seals to the tube down to the full mark. After cutting a wire to length and bending it to fit, that seems to reach almost down to the oil sump that doesn't look like it could hold 5 quarts.
I thought about asking my dealer about this, but decided I didn't want to be told that, if I didn't know how to change the oil, I should leave it to those that did. After all, they acted like they didn't think I knew what I was doing when I had to go there to buy one of those hard to find filter cartridges.
I am disappointed not to see a more authoritative answer here on this. Where do the engineers design the oil level to be? I looked at my old truck. It has a much bigger oil pan to hold the 6 quarts for its 4 cylinder engine. Measuring its dipstick, the oil level was an inch or two below the top of the pan. Obviously, the more oil, the cooler it will run in hard use. The oil level definitely needs to stay above the oil pump pickup even on cornering. However, at some point, a higher oil level will start to cause problems.
I have not added any oil to the Cavalier and do not regularly add it to the truck. I am changing oil every three months and have only put about 20K on the car in a little over a year. The truck is driven much less, almost all around town. Even when it sees long highway trips, I don't have to add oil.
I did have to add oil to the 92 HO Quad 4 Grand AM I had. Maybe over a quart in 3000 miles between oil changes. I never checked it as often as I should have, and so always topped it up with what it needed, fearing it might get too low before I thought to check it again. Waiting until a car was a quart low may be a holdover from the sealed quart cans and a spout. With the modern, resealable plastic bottles, topping up as needed makes more sense now.
How many of you remember when service stations had racks of quart glass bottles with screw on metal spouts? How many remember getting service?