I was at a dealer today looking at some cars he had several Cavalier's which I think look pretty good and was in my price range. Are these decent cars? If I buy one what should I look at on one? Any pointers while checking the car out for problems?

The dealer offers no warranty unfortunately but thats the thing sometimes when you buy used so I am gonna checkout whatever I get inside and out.

A year, model, mileage, and price would help. If you're looking at a certain one. I've owned a 96 2.2l and I currently own a 98 2.4l Z24 and I love it. The parts are relatively cheap and there are used parts EVERYWHERE. It's a good daily driver, good on gas, easy to fix most of the time. If the ones you are looking at are 2003's 04s or 05s or even 2002's with the Ecotec motor, you won't be dissapointed.

yes, very good daily driver and very easy to find parts for. 03-05 is the way to go IMO.

I don't think these was that new. I honest just looked over what he had quickly because I was in a hurry and he has several that looked the same. I'll get more info on them in a day or so.

What if they was say older models(97-2000)? So the Ecotec motor's are good and are in most(or all) 2002 and newer? How can I tell if they have this motor?

Sorry I am a car knew so take it easy on me.

yea ecotec is the way to go especially if youre lookin for performance, I cant wait to blow the doors off of a civic in muh 03 reliability is good on my ecotec 110000 miles all I changed was the oil, plugs and wires(boots) and front brake pads, all just to be safe, although I am hearing a squeaking noise on the front passenger wheel and I think these are infamous on em

The ecotec was in about half of the 02 cavs and all 03+. If you care about performance, don't get ANY 2.2 or 2200 unless it's the ecotec 2.2...unless you plan on putting a turbo on it. You can tell the difference because 2200's say it on the intake and ecotec's say "ecotec 2.2" on the valve cover. Z24's with the 2.4 engine are good as well, however they're infamous for having bad waterpumps. I bought my z24 at 83k miles, i'm at 94k now and I havn't had a problem with it yet *knock on wood* unless the owner before me replaced it already. They stopped making z24's after 02.

I know pretty much 03 up is 2.2 ecotec they do offer another engine should look something like this t will say 2.2 ecotec if under 6 grand and under 60000 miles get ithttp://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x195/kickboxingfan/100_1228.jpg

v-tec this ( I dont know why i hate civics soo much, my most HATED car is a civic probably cus where i was from they were everywhre with cut springs and a fart pipe) http://www.year2032.com/ecotec.htm

either make sure its a 2.4 or if its a 2.2 make sure its an ecotec (not to piss off 2200 owners)

if performance doesn't matter to me are the 2200's still reliable? If I was guessing all the ones he had is 2000 and under models.

here is my 2002 2.2 ecotec....

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k103/cleanbot/eco1.jpg
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k103/cleanbot/eco2.jpg

Yeah they're still reliable and good on gas just no where near as fun.

http://65.54.174.250/cgi-bin/getmsg/0528071739.jpg?&msg=7BAF4E47-193E-4518-8F1E-6EAFB1EFFA9A&start=0&len=147937&mimepart=3&curmbox=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001&b=5f43099433bbc835b451d6a29fe7a998&disk=10.1.106.200_d1560&login=jason122333&domain=hotmail%2ecom&hm___sig=3265083b01c7a2dc087571e1f405651ed5a8b6ed2 58ad955

(not to piss off 2200 owners)

oh dont worry, we know our engines suck

2200 may be slow, but when things break they are easy to get to and fix. Aka the water pump for you LD9 guys..

and we don't have to worry about screwing up the timing when doing head work. Ah hahahaha

OHV FTW!!!

lol I'll still kick your ass stock for stock tho, fucker :lol:

Hey now i have a 2000 2.2l(2200) engine and i beg to differ it cant be fun or worth tuning.I have forged piston + rods,an 8psi turbo kit on it, a flow master exhaust and stainless steel header. Ive never dyno tested it but its pretty quick.Dont count us littlier engines out so quickly(even though id rather have the ecotec)

Hey now i have a 2000 2.2l(2200) engine and i beg to differ it cant be fun or worth tuning.I have forged piston + rods,an 8psi turbo kit on it, a flow master exhaust and stainless steel header. Ive never dyno tested it but its pretty quick.Dont count us littlier engines out so quickly(even though id rather have the ecotec)

id rather have my old 2.8L Multi-Port V6 :lol: no offense to the ecotechs tho but i like the late 80's cavaliers the most