1994 Vauxhall Cavalier CDX from UK and Ireland - Comments

Cambelt Snapped at 31000 miles. Needed new cylinder head and valves. After the job was done, engine sounded like a diesel.

Water pump started leaking at 32000 miles and needed replacing.

Engine would intermittently stall whilst pulling away - sometimes in dangerous places. Dealer sorted the problem, but it returned later.

Engine would regularly tick over at 3000 rpm and then stall. Again, the dealer fixed this.

A constant gearbox whine developed. The dealer told me to turn the radio up.

This 2.0 16valve engine was one of the first Vectra generation engines just before the cavalier was phased out.

Avoid like the plague!!!

This car was an expensive disaster. It is riddled with design faults, the worst being the cambelt tensioners along with an awful lot of electrical problems.

The cars performance and fuel economy are impressive.

I only kept this car 6 months and have no plans to ever buy another Vauxhall.

I agree the ecotec engine is a dog. I had a head gasket go, camshaft sensor, oil level sensor. In the end it blew up!.Took a major loss on it and sold it for spares. Now run a audi 90 which is 4 years older than the cav, but never gives me any probs.

You guys must have been unfortunate. I have had two 2.0 16V Ecotec engined cars. Both have been incredibly reliable, able to handle the high mileage demands I put on them and have given me a reasonable level of performance. I only had one issue with the 96 model in that the cam belt pretensioners did need replacing, but that was their only fault. I'd recommend them as a good workhorse to anybody.

I agree that the ecotec engine was riddled with faults. I had a 1995 cavalier cdx which was a nice car with all the mod cons and was fast and surprisingly fuel efficient. however, I had serious problems with the engine as the cam belt snapped requiring me to have a new engine fitted, I went through 7-8 camshaft sensors, 2 ecu`s and loads of oil.

The engine finally gave up the ghost the week before I was trading it in for a BMW 3 series (no problems with the bmw which is 2 years older than the cav)

The garage I took the cav to had it in the workshop for over 2 weeks without finding the cause of the problem so I finished up scrapping it.

I have a Cavalier CDX 1995 and am getting a lot of problems with Alternators this is the third one I have bought just wanted to see if any 1 else had the same problem and what the problem was.Its been in for a test the only thing they found wrong was the cam shaft censor that has been replaced, but I still and not getting past the Alternator.Can any 1 help.