1989 Vauxhall Cavalier SRi 8V review from UK and Ireland

Absolutely nothing stopped working, or fell off in 18 months. My brother bought it of me, and in a further eight months, we have had to replace the headlamp switch as it started playing up. That's the sum total of all the faults to date.

The rear shock absorbers were tired when I got the car so I replaced them after a few months which really made a difference.

There is an occasional, and slightly worrying problem when you encounter it for the first time. A small plume of smoke can appear from the steering column when you start the car now and again! It turns out to be a common fault to do with the ignition switch which occasionally emits a puff of smoke when it gets worn. It does it every six months or so and can be cured by fitting a new switch (cheap).

I bought the Cavalier as a cheap runabout after my previous 1994 Granada Scorpio drove me to the edge of bankruptcy! I needed something fast cheap and not full of pointless engine management sensors that go wrong every week (one of the many Granada problems) and the car turned up at the local garage as an unwanted trade in.

Having taken it round the block, discovered it seemed to work OK and thrown a few hundred pounds at the garage-man, I said a quick prayer and tooled off down the road in the dirty blue SRI hatchback with black on black interior.

After a good clean, and screwing back the trim the previous owner had ripped apart removing the stereo equipment, I drove it every day for the next 18 months. in the end I sold it to my brother and he's still driving it to date.

After driving it round for days I was rather shocked to discover that it was actually far better than the 'dull rep car with some stripes and a spoiler' I had been expecting. It pulled like a train and handled very well and I found I was grinning like an idiot after tackling a few twisties early one morning in it as you can really chuck it about! Best of all I got an average of 36mpg. Not bad for a nigh on 130 mph car. the close ratio box helps it feel very gutsy though it is a bit notchy. Its was no Golf GTI, but its not as far off as some might think. unlike a Golf however, you can get 5 people in it without them having to be on very good terms! As well as a decent load of luggage.

The only thing I think Vauxhall were a bit tight over was the decision not to put a set of alloy wheels on, it's a bit rich to have a sporty car with wheel trims.

It has been almost boringly reliable, it starts first time, every time and has never failed to complete a journey.

As I said above, I have so far replaced the rear shocks which were a bit tired, and that is it other than routine servicing. They are very easy to change at home. the car is very easy to service yourself, parts costing under £30 and can be done in a couple of hours. Nothing is very difficult to do on it, and even main dealer parts prices are pretty cheap.

An absolute thumbs up from one very converted person.

I noticed that people are confused about whether the SRI is 130 bhp or 115 bhp. I think I can clear this one up. The Mk3 SRI came with 130 bhp from launch in 1989 until, it seems, the facelift in late 1993. The 8v model then mysteriously dropped to 115 bhp, the same as all the other 2.0 models. Only the close ratio box was retained which I guess made it feel sportier than the others. My source? The official Cavalier dealer brochure for the 1994 model.

I would venture that as they had developed and introduced the 16V model for this year, maybe the old 8V with 130 bhp was uncomfortably close on pace to the new flagship? Who knows. I do know that the 16V is a lot more complicated to work on (and when it goes wrong) and having driven both, I can't really see that the 16V is any quicker in the real world anyway.

One final thought. I sold it to my brother as I fell in love with a black Mercedes. 6 months later, I've bought another SRI, J registration this time and the Merc is looking like it's going on the transfer list. My mistake.