My 2002 Cavalier LS 4 Door Coupe

[Slig]

This is more of a general description of my car more than anything to help understand if the issues I have are common or not and maybe get some feedback about it.

It's an 02 Cavalier LS Auto trans, 4 dr coupe and I believe it's the 2.4L. I had purchased it at a dealership last year for $3500 and at the time it had 117,000 miles, now it has 133,500. Since I bought it I've re-done the rear breaks, repaired a coolant leak (crappy clamp and hose connector piece) and repaired an oil leak. I think it was a valve cover gasket or something that was easily visible under the hood while the car was running. Also I recently replaced the serpentine belt. Oh yeah and replaced a burnt out fuse that ran the cigarette lighter, but works fine now. Anyway, besides those minor repairs the car runs fine but there have been a few minor annoyances...

1. The dash has several large cracks in it and it reverbrates quite a bit.
2. The driver's side power window only works about 10% of the time. another weird quirk about it is that the button is inverted, so when I push the button for the window to go up it will go down and vice-versa.
3. The stock cd player is shot and I'm hesitant to get an after-market installed because the wiring costs more than the damn stereo. It has the thing that makes the radio shut off when I open the door.
4. There were a couple of suspicious stains on the drivers seat when I bought it, not a huge deal but would probably hurt resale if I don't decide to run it into the ground.

What are people's experiences with this particular year/model of Cavalier, how long can I expect the powertrain to last? What are some other common problems with this year/model of Cavalier that I should expect to see in the next 30,000 miles?

[J-Ri]

1. That'll happen. Hard plastic+temperature change=cracks. That's my only real complaint about my car... They do make plastic/vinyl repair kits, I've been meaning to get one for my car because the crack on mine reflects in the windshield and bugs me when the sun is just right.
2. Pull the switch. I've seen some power window switches that partially melt, that could potentially cause both your problems. Otherwise, sounds like somebody F'd with the wiring.
3. You don't need the expensive wiring harness unless you want to keep the warnings for headlights, keys in ignition, etc. You can just get a regular adapter pigtail and wire that the the pigtail that comes with the stereo. If you do it yourself, read this. It will save you a trip back here later.
4. Stain remover? What do you mean suspicious?

Some people will argue about the answer to your first unnumbered question. I'm an automotive technician and I drive a Cavalier, and I have worked on almost every car sold in the U.S and know lots about them all. Not saying the Cavalier's the number 1 car in existence, but for MPGs... That's all I'm going to say about that. If you take care of it, easily 200k miles. Flush the transmission and P/S every 30-50k depending on driving, I personally recommend and use BG's products for all flushes. Flush the coolant every 2 years, and put a can of "44K" in the gas tank every 44,000 miles. The only real problem is the wheel bearings (hub assembly) that tend to go bad. Yours were probably replaced around 60-80k, so you'reprobably good there until 150k if quality ones were used when they were replaced. When they do go out, replace them with Timken, they'll usually go 100k. I've seen some of the cheap replacements go out in a matter of months, and the dollar difference is usually less than $20 between Timken and the cheapest.