2002 Chevrolet Cavalier VLX review from North America

The button on the shift lever started sticking, especially in cold weather. This wouldn't be much of a problem except that it is impossible to remove the key from the ignition when the button is depressed. Although the dealer couldn't reproduce the problem they still replaced the handle on the shift lever. This seems to have fixed it.

During the winter the engine light came on. The dealer looked at this and found that an air intake was packed with snow. Clearing out the snow solved the problem. This was caused by driving on unplowed roads and probably isn't very common.

Makes a whining sound when started in very cold weather. This only lasts about one minute.

So far this has been a pretty good car for the price.

Starts reliably even in -30C (-15F) temperatures.

The salesman was great and didn't put any pressure on us at all.

The dealership has been great with our two minor problems.

This care is fine for zipping around the city and its top-end is fine for any North American highway (I have driven it comfortably at 150km/h) but it lacks in the acceleration department. I've found myself close to redlining the engine when passing on two lane highways or turning right on red lights.