Comments: 1-15, 16-18
No problems so far.
The A/C compressor is a bit noisy - will see what develops there.
I needed a reliable car for everyday transportation at a good price. Although this car had a sticker price of $17,500 (fully loaded with the power everything), it only cost me $8,500 after all of the rebates and incentives. That is only a little more than my 1987 S-10 cost new 18 years ago.
I am 6'4" and although the car is not big, I am comfortable driving over long distances. Car has averaged about 31 MPG, about 70% highway, and 50% A/C - just a little better than my old 1986 Cavalier.
I am not passionate about this car, it has a lot of cheap plastic, and does not really inspire me as a driver - but when I look at other new cars, nothing comes close for the money. Will I keep it forever? Probably not. It is doing a fine job of what I bought it for.
That is unbelievable value.
Resale doesn't matter.
Throw it away after 3 years and you've lost less than $3,000/year for a car which was under warranty all that time.
Remarkable.
I still say that if they sell them for $8500. what could the resale value be?
And what about all of those people who didn't get them for $8500.?
I think they must care about resale value.
Yes, I see your point.
Resale value will be poor, obviously, if the discounting is well-known.
I've never heard of such a huge discount on new.
Except maybe for some MG/Rover cars recently after the company collapsed.
This sounds like sale of the Century.
Oh no, that would be a Buick.
The American manufacturer's are killing the resale value of their products with all of these "employee discounts" and rebates.
Not only are the customers who are financing their vehicles "upside down" (owing more than the vehicle's worth), it is also harming the prospects of the dealers and manufacturers ever making a decent profit on their cars. The dealers will feel this first, but the manufacturers will also fall victim to their own marketing ploy.
It may be great for new car buyers right now - but in the long-run, well, we'll see.
That's what happens when you build an inferior product.
The not-so-big three have huge problems which will only get worse as they chase diminishing market share by offering unsustainable discounting and incentives while the foreign competition snap up customers who feel they have been let-down by unreliable cars.
Maybe the foreigners will end up buying out more domestic plants to produce foreign cars.
The big three are not the only ones doing deep discounting; I bought a brand new 2006 Honda Civic that stickered for $15,500 for $9000. After the myriad of problems I have had, I wished I would have bought a domestic vehicle and am currently looking to trade in my Honda on a Chevy Cobalt.
By the way, if you are a savvy negotiator, you can get any rice burner for 40%-50% below retail!
Perhaps it's just me, but there seems to have been a mass-prejudice perpetuated by the automotive press as well as import owners over the past 15 years that relentlessly rips on domestic automakers. If we were still living in the mid 1980's, during the age of the Cadillac Cimarron and Ford Tempo, I would agree with the criticism. I owned a couple of horrendously unreliable abominations that GM produced during this period - an '81 Cadillac Seville (beautiful design, but disastrous electrically), and an '83 Olds Cutlass Sierra (bland design and equally disastrous electronics). I swore off domestics after owning these two vehicles for about a decade until I bought an '03 Cavalier. This car, while perhaps a bit crude in design compared with some of its imported counterparts, has been nothing short of reliable and responsive. It has made me reassess domestics in a way that I did not anticipate, and it also made me realize that contrary to what others may preach, Detroit has caught up with imports, surpassing European manufacturers perhaps not in refinement, but certainly in reliability, and approaching the Japanese in terms of efficiency.
I would not simply disregard Detroit anymore if making a vehicle purchase.
I agree with the last comment. American manufacturers can make a good quality car when they want to. I own a 1998 Ford Escort ZX2. This car has been very reliable. It is approaching 132,000 miles without a single mechanical failure. The interior does not show any wear after all those miles, and the exterior still looks perfect minus the little chips and dings that seem to accumulate over time.
The only thing I have changed is the battery, and of course regular maintenance items. Oil, filters, spark plugs and wires, timing belt, etc. Still using the original clutch.
I could just be really lucky, but I take great care of my vehicle, and I believe this is the key to a reliable, long lasting car.
And of course doing your homework before you buy. All manufacturers including the great Toyota do produce certain products with quality issues.
The reason the reviewer was able to get such a deep discount on his Cavalier is that it is a discontinued model and was replaced by the advanced Chevy Cobalt which is in such a hot seller that it actually sells for more than the MSRP!
I'm a mechanic and have owned cars from all three US auto makers as well as two Japanese cars and one German car. I can assure you the myth of Japanese quality is just that... a MYTH. The two Japanese cars we owned were both total lemons. The last one lost fully HALF of what I paid for it in the one year I owned it. The German car wasn't much better. Out of over 30 American cars we've owned (we have always been a 3 or 4 car family) NOT ONE has EVER had a mechanical problem. We drove one Ford 325,000 miles, one Dodge 240,000 miles and a slew of others well over 100,000 with nary a problem. I now buy ONLY American made cars because I want to know that my family won't be stranded on the road somewhere.
I'm envious of this reviewer!! I looked at a great 2005 Cavalier RS coupe before buying my Ford, and the Chevrolet dealer just refused to even DISCUSS a discount!! I LOVED the car and would gladly have paid $12,000 for it (it listed for $17,500 also), but NO WAY. As for the Cobalt, they are selling really well here, and I am seeing some good discounts. I like the Cobalt, but preferred the tried and true Cavalier to a brand new model that did not have the initial bugs worked out. The drive train of the 2005 Cavalier is exactly the same as the Cobalt, so there's little if any difference in performance. I drove both a Cobalt and the Cavalier RS and the Cavalier felt faster by just a tad. It may be slightly lighter than the Cobalt.
The urban myth about Japanese cars being superior to American cars has been a real boon to American car buyers. Being able to buy a well-built and reliable American car for virtually HALF of what a poorly made Japanese car sells for is a big bonus as for as I'm concerned. If people want to pay over 20 grand for a Honda Civic let them. I'll stick with a comparable GM or Ford and pocket the extra 10 grand. The Cobalt, Cavalier and Ford Focus are all as good as (probably better than) a Civic or Corolla costing twice as much. I have better things to do with 10 grand than being able to boast about paying full list for a car.
Early on the new Cobalt will have its share of "new model boo-boos", like any new model. In time, though, I am sure it will end up being as good as the Cavalier (which had 22 years to work the bugs out and became a world-class car). At this point if I had a choice between a new Cobalt, a new Cavalier (if any are left on lots somewhere), and a new 20-grand Civic, I 'd take the 2005 Cavalier in a heartbeat.
The new Pontiac G-5 Pursuit (same car as the Cobalt) is a great looking car, especially the coupe in bright red. That will most likely be what I replace my 2001 Grand Am with, as I can't stand the G-6. GM has really got it together with their small cars. I do envy this reviewer getting such an awesome deal on his Cavalier. It was a smart buy on a tried and true car. I actually like the styling of the 2005 Cavalier RS coupe better than the Cobalt/G-5. I tried to buy a remaining Cavalier here last year, but the dealers here wouldn't budge off list.
I completely agree that the car has "a lot of cheap plastic". This car (same with the Sunfire) are rental car grade, but these cars are cheap and come with a new car warranty. If you bought it cheap and drive it to the ground with minimal problems (every car has them, yes even Honda and Toyota, my friends Accord has recently caught on fire due to crappy electrical wiring, and it's stock, 2001), then you made a good choice.
I've personally driven these cars as rental (I prefer the Cavalier), and I can expect cheap plastic, some groaning from the plastic, etc. But the car has great pep, strong cooling and heating, good fuel economy, very simple to operate, simple gauges, and you don't have to worry that somebody will steal it. The only thing I didn't like about the car is the uncomfortable driver's seat. Hurts my back after about 10 minutes of driving, but what can you expect from a cheap car? Hey, it gets you from point A to B with a new car warranty.