My Cavalier is 20 Today!

[Burnside]

Well sometime exactly 20 years ago today my 1993 L reg Vauxhall Cavalier 1.8i LS Hatchback was registered. Ok so this isn't a massive piece of news to anybody else other than myself and there is more rarer cars on here that have reached this easily.  

 

But I felt after nearly 5 and half years and 65,000 miles of service to me it deserved to be recognised as it keeps battling against the odds to keep going when everything else has let me down. It's been one of the few things I can depend on.

 

It's battled on despite other peoples best attempts at writing it off twice. An took me on various trips to Bracknell to see my best friend over the years. A fair few trips to Wales on days out. Helped my sister move house with furniture brimmed in the back and a plant sticking out the sunroof and my brother pick up various parts such as a gearbox. 

 

I've even lent it to him for a few weekends away with the lads and has been the usual 1st choice for us when a group of us are out for the day / night.

 

I do fuss about it maybe too much sometimes much to some peoples annoyance but as I've said it keeps repaying me. I just wish things were better money wise than they are at the moment so I can give it a proper tidy up an really repay it as it showing it age a little after 185,500 miles.

 

As for what the future holds, who knows what will happen. I had been thinking of selling it last year but with the lack of work etc it seamed more sensible to keep it plus I wasn't sure if I was ready to part with it yet. The Mot is next Feb so hopefully it won't need too much or any welding etheir as the funds are really low still. Be nice to see if I can reach the 200,000 mark in my ownership even though I have no clue if it's genuine. Though the engine isn't original as I had it changed not long after I brought it which wasn't the Cavalier fault. That engine has another 20,000 more than the speedo so that has gone over the 200,000 already. 

 

 

 

Anyway I just want to say thanks Cavalier L547 JBM. An of course a Happy 20th hopefully there another 20 + to look forward too.  

 

 

[Skizzer]

A very happy birthday to it.

 

Christ, that makes me feel old:  I'm still grumpy about a speeding ticket I got in a mate's company 2.0GLS of the same vintage, which was more or less new at the time. (L794GOC or something similar, if anyone cares.)

[Ghosty]

You say you were considering selling this at some point, but it sounds an awful lot like this car means a lot to you, and Ithink you'd regret selling it quite a bit.

Looks like a wonderful car!

[HMC]

Nice cav! You talk about rarer cars, but in my eyes such a tidy well cared for Cavalier Like that IS rare.

 

Hope you decide to keep it, sounds like its been a dependable old thing!

[UmBongo]

A very happy birthday to it.

 

Christ, that makes me feel old:  I'm still grumpy about a speeding ticket I got in a mate's company 2.0GLS of the same vintage, which was more or less new at the time. (L794GOC or something similar, if anyone cares.)

 

I got a speeding ticket in a Maestro when I had a Summer job working for a hire company - 38 in a 30mph zone, ffs.

[barefoot]

Curious,

I was only thinkng about this the other night, (when the wine was all gone)

I thought: Cavalier 2 - kool

Cav 3, just a car.

 

 

But then,it occurred to me that I was wrong, so my questions;

 

Cav2 was brill, is cav3 faster accelerating?

More economical?

Quieter?

 

Etc, etc.

 

How does it compare?

[Burnside]

A very happy birthday to it.

 

Christ, that makes me feel old:  I'm still grumpy about a speeding ticket I got in a mate's company 2.0GLS of the same vintage, which was more or less new at the time. (L794GOC or something similar, if anyone cares.)

 

Thanks Skizzer.

 

Sorry to hear about the speeding ticket. I not sure what I would have been doing back on this day in 93. Was only 10 years old at the time so if it wasn't a school day either riding my BMX or playing with my toy cars!

 

Can't believe this is 20 years old now myself as I class this as a fairly modern car.

 

 

You say you were considering selling this at some point, but it sounds an awful lot like this car means a lot to you, and Ithink you'd regret selling it quite a bit.

Looks like a wonderful car!

 

 

Nice cav! You talk about rarer cars, but in my eyes such a tidy well cared for Cavalier Like that IS rare.

 

Hope you decide to keep it, sounds like its been a dependable old thing!

 

Cheers Ghosty and brookjm.

 

It is in good condition given it age and mileage and I've been surprised how many people have spoke to me about it with how nice it is and stories of Cavaliers they have had.

 

Best one for me was one Friday night last year a guy in Lichfield town centre came up to the passenger window and waved to get my attention. I was wondering if I was being mistaken for a Taxi but he just wanted to tell me how great my Cavalier was.

 

I hope I can keep it a lot longer but that depends on money etc as it will need welding in a few places sooner or later. The engine may need some attention at some point simply because of the millage it's covered now but regular oil changes have helped it along.

 

If anybody is interested here a bit of history about how L547 JBM became mine. 

 

I brought my Cavalier on the 7th July 2008 [ just checked ] for £250 after having gone through some personal family problems over the previous 2 years and also spend some time without a car of my own due to a lack of money. I was determined to get myself a car asap despite at the time was when scrap prices went through the roof so finding a sub £300 car was almost impossible. I had just over Ã‚£300 left of my monthly wages to find a car so after asking around for a few weeks and getting no where I was out making a delivery in the Works Van and on the way back I stopped at a local garage. I went in the office and asked if they had anything in part exchange in my range.

 

The guy told me he had two Metros and a Cavalier. The Metros aren't my cup of tea but having good memories of my best friend dads Cavalier MK2 E reg LXI from high school and my dads mate Cav MK2 D reg GLSi hatch which they use to shove the cement mixer in and bricks without complaining I decided to take a look at the cav.

 

It was filthy inside and out and had clearly been used as somebody's work car. There ariel was half snapped off complete with no stereo. It had the hook missing off the towbar and the rear bumper was cracked. An to finish it off it had only two early MK3 Cav SRI wheel trims cable tied to the rear wheels.

 

Despite all that and some rust to the rear arches and some scabs here and there I was smitten. The Trader wouldn't let me test drive it myself but he took me out in it with trade plates as it had no tax.

An once I got back I had made my mind up. He wouldn't budge on the price as he said that he was going to weigh it in otherwise as he get £250 at the bridge.

 

So I left a £50 deposit and went back the following night to pay the balance. So I left with my new car with 10 months Mot left and a sold as seen agreement and that was about it. 

 

Then barely a mile up the road the oil light came on and stayed on.

[Burnside]

I got a speeding ticket in a Maestro when I had a Summer job working for a hire company - 38 in a 30mph zone, ffs.

 

You must have been the only person ever to get caught speeding in a Maestro.   To be fair though the Maestro wasn't a bad car. My granddad had a F reg 1.6L for years and it was a reliable motor he did try to offload it to me and my brother when we turned 17. We weren't so keen as we both wanted a Fiat Uno. The £2,000 insurance quote my dad got finally put that out of consideration.

 

I had already brought my Talbot Samba Style anyway when I was 16 and my brother brought a Fiat Panda 750L as the Uno we wanted was too dear at the time. Took another 10 years to get another Uno the same which we have now.

[Lord Sterling]

Happy Birthday to your Cavalier Burnside. Is it finally wearing some proper OEM wheel trims then?

[Burnside]

Curious,

I was only thinkng about this the other night, (when the wine was all gone)

I thought: Cavalier 2 - kool

Cav 3, just a car.

 

 

But then,it occurred to me that I was wrong, so my questions;

 

Cav2 was brill, is cav3 faster accelerating?

More economical?

Quieter?

 

Etc, etc.

 

How does it compare?

 

The MK2 Cavalier was the reason I brought this MK3 as my memories of them as a kid was of a quick car that looked smart especially the SRI / LXI models and was spacious inside.

 

I've never driven a MK2 sadly or owned one myself yet so I can't say for sure how they compare head to head. Mine has the 1.8 engine which is pretty much the same as the MK2 Cav engine though and the MK2 and MK3 share a lot of parts underneath. Most of the MK2 engines were carried over into the MK3. The only ones added were the 2.0 Redtop and later MK3 Cavs got the Ecotec engines. An the Derv models got Isuzu engines too during it's run.

 

My 1.8i engine goes well enough though for a 89 BHP engine for it's size maybe it might be a tad slower than the MK2 as the MK3 would be a slightly heavier car I would have thought and the cat does slightly affect performance as well. It still holds it own on the outside lane of the motorway though without feeling like I having to work it hard and can even get the Audis to move aside when needed.

 

The MK3 from memory also seems bigger inside than a MK2 and more sturdily built overall. I think MPG is about the same as the MK2. I get around 35MPG average and I don't hang around.

 

I think style wise the MK2 beats the MK3 but overall there very similar cars to own and drive. I don't think going to a MK3 from a MK2 would be a disappointment and vice versa.

 

Hope this helps barefoot maybe others on AS may know 1st hand and have there own view on if one or neither is better than the other.  

[Burnside]

Happy Birthday to your Cavalier Burnside. Is it finally wearing some proper OEM wheel trims then?

 

Thanks Lord Sterling as the picture shows above it now sports a set of GM trims which are the same as you get fitted to the last of the line pov Cavs. An one of the Ltd editions forget which at the min. Also the Astra MK3 V grille GLS models.

 

The only thing is mine don't have the Vauxhall logos on! What happened was I went to Billing for the Vauxhall / Bedford / Opel show this year at the last min with a mate who had a free pass and saw these brand new for £20 still in there packaging. The guys selling them were from the Neverlands I think so bartering was difficult. In the end I paid the £20 and got two cans of beer which was a result given the heat that day and I wasn't driving.

 

When I got home and opened the packaging I found that the sticker across the front was hiding the badges in the centre which showed them to be Holden badged wheel trims!

 

All GM have done is drilled a hole an placed a Holden badge over the original Vauxhall logo. As the MK3 Cavalier was badged a Holden in Australia so was a bit disappointed at first but after a few days I decided to keep them on as you can hardly notice the difference at a glance and mine is likely to be the only one in the UK with a set on. Just hope I never lose one though.

 

One of my friends does have a set of Vauxhall Astra GSI alloys off the early MK3 models which I would like for the Cav if he sells them. Though if he did there are no tyres on them so would be a while before I could afford to fit them anyway. As my Cav got a SRI interior in it now I though the wheels would go with it?

 

Ment to say well done with your move of the 800 fleet. Keep it up I was really impressed when I got the chance to drive your Sterling auto when you picked up those Rover brochures earlier on in the year. 

[stuboy]

love the cavaliers

 

well done on the 20 year old..

 

mate has one 17td but its going to be scrapped for personnel reasons

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

The guys selling them were from the Neverlands

Aah, The Jackson Bros. They're bad, they're bad, they're really really bad.

 

My 318iS Coupe was 20 this July. My 730i was 20 in 2009 and we took it back to the factory for an oil service and inspection. All cars should last 20 years with proper care - the guvvmint should reduce car tax on anything over 10 years old to promote the idea of keeping decent old cars going.

[mercrocker]

Happy Birthday, Cav.    Although as  more than one person has pointed out, it makes  me feel bloody old.   Especially as when I opened the thread up I expected  to see a Mk1...I was always tooling around in the  company cars when the Mk3 came out - we had a fleet of Mk2s from a 1.6 to an SRi and I always preferred them to the replacement model.   Might have been the shiter in me, though!

[Cavcraft]

I still reckon these are the most reliable and easy to run/maintain cars ever built. They can take masses of abuse but just keep soldiering on and the 8V engines at least are bullet proof. I still recall the Mk3 coming out and thinking the 2.0GLi and SRi models were brilliant, pretty sad I suppose but they were always top of my bucket list.

The Mk2 was a great car but the build never felt quite as solid as the Mk3, by which I mean bits of trim and the whole interior really. The Mk3 was the 'complete' package imho, as good to drive as any car of that 'class' could ever want to be: punchy (1.8i and 2.0) torquey (3rd gear in an SRi is the best gear of any car on the planet) and you just get that feeling when you get in one that you could drive to the moon and back and it wouldn't let you down.

 

I reckon you'd be mad to ever sell it, Burnside.

[ProgRocker]

Many happy returns!

 

Hope it gets up to 200,000 miles!

[eddyramrod]

reduce car tax on anything over 10 years old to promote the idea of keeping decent old cars going.

 

THIS!

 

This needs spreading all over the internet and especially, forcing down the ears of those in power.  It's far too much sense for any of them to understand, alas.  Too simple, you see.  Too much like something the voting public might actually enjoy or approve of.

 

Meanwhile, Happy Birthday Cavalier.  It was the Tacuma's birthday on Thursday but that's a mere six years old.  Long way to go yet!

[mercrocker]

^Not going to get any help from the clump of "thinkers" who dreamt up the scrappage scheme in order to assist massive overseas economies.   I shut the door on modern reality that day....

[CortinaDave]

Love these. A truly great car - the SRi's in particular were fantastic machines, hardy and yet so simple to work on.

 

The vauxhall 8v engine has to be on of the greatest 2 litre motors ever.

 

I was bitterly disappointed in my vectra after years of Cav ownership

[cort16]

The cavalier was a seriously well sorted car by the time they stopped building them. There didn't seem to be that many chinks in it's armour even the intercooler diesel ones where rapid and good on fuel. I guess thats why so many people felt let down by the Vectra. I've never had one but would love an Sri.

[Burnside]

Cheers everyone for all your comments!

 

It's a shame Stuboy your friend having to scrap his Diesel. I saw a Derv in a scrapyard last year with 347,000 on it and a few 1.8 / 2.0 petrol Cavs with 250,000 as well.

 

There a K reg Cavalier 1.6 hatch Expression which is the last of the pre facelift cars a street away from me and through a few people who drink up the road I've been told is due to be scrapped next week as it failed the mot on £300 of welding 18 months ago and the lad is moving house. Wish I had the cash and the space even if it only good for a few parts.

 

I agree with Reverend Blue Jeans idea on the older car tax though doubt we be that lucky !

 

Thanks mercrocker, ProgRocker, eddyramrod. The Best I could offer the Cav yesterday was a wash for its B'day. Though did spend Wednesday underneath it wire brushing a few scabs and repainting it to try and keep the rust back. Hopefully it will reach the 200,000 mark ProgRocker with me. I can't believe it had just 120,000 when I first got it seams like an age ago now.

 

Agree with what you said Cavette about them just feeling like it will take you anyway without worry. It just feels like it wants to keep going no matter what and that's why I think people have a lot of respect for Cavaliers as you said they take a lot of abuse from what I've heard and seen from other peoples Cavs as well as my own experiences. Though I don't like to be too hard on it as it worked hard enough already!   

 

Ideally I'd like to take it out of daily use and keep it as a second car to save it from the winters etc and get the car tidied up where needed. Though that's just a pipe dream at the minute. I'll try and hold on to it for as long as I can though.

 

As cortinadave and cort16 said everyone I've spoke to said the Vectra wasn't as good as the Cavalier. A friend had a nightmare changing the rad on his R reg Vectra SRI last year due to the aircon pipes getting in the way. An the same with the clutch too as you have to drop the box to change it unlike the Cavalier. 

 

Im no mechanic but I've managed all the basic jobs myself with the Cav an most things are within easy reach.

 

I always liked the SRI models myself but the nearest I've got was binning off the remains of the old interior for a better condition late SRI one. Which is fine with me.  

[cms206]

I bloody love Mk3 Cavaliers, really should get another when I stop buying sodding Volvos. Or get the old SRi started. Not done it the past five years but this might be it's year. Or I'll needta go looking for a decent 1.8 8v again. Or a 1.7TD. I miss my 1.8i Classic

 

Sent from my settee using Wigh Figh

 

[ShiteRider]

Cavaliers are brilliant cars, we always had one when i was growing up. My mum bought a brand new Vectra 1.9 sri diesel in 2005 thinking it would be the same as the old cavaliers, it's been nothing but disappointing and has left her stranded at least twice that i know off. Something none of the cars she owned previously ever did.

[fordperv]

I do like a tidy mk3 cav, Mrs fordpervs grandad had a very nice 1.8i which warmed my heart, I hated it when I changed the heater matrix for him well for an afternoon anyway a right pita that job was

[Honey Badger]

Belated happy birthday wishes to your Cav, they were so common at the time I never really took any notice of them, there's something about them that's aged the design well in the same way that Carltons and Senators have.

 

I pottered few doors down to talk to Arthur the 95 year old the other day to check on the old boy, and was rather saddend to hear that his misses had traded in his mint M plate Cav 2.0 CD in for a Corsa as the local poxhall garage had quoted her £1000 for a new head gasket, scrappage scheme and dishonest robbing bastard dealers seem to be the death of quite a few of these

[Pillock]

Sadly that's probably about right for a dealer - £60/hr labour and they'll pay to have someone skim the head means a head gasket is easily four figures.

 

My grandfather bought a Mk3 Cav on launch day, he took me to the open day at the dealers and I encouraged him (I was 9) to sign up for a blue 1.6L. I think that was the last model that Vauxhall did their crazy colour-matched interior, I remember a lot of Mk2 Cavs having green or terracotta velour but this Mk3 had a bright blue dash, blue seats the lot. Pretty basic inside but I remember being chuffed with the C-box tape holder, and it seemed a million miles from the '82 Cortina he chopped in.

 

I would have preferred the Mk2 GLSi they were trying to move on at the dealer- 2.0 injection, all the toys - but they were warned off it by a mechanic friend because it would be harder to sell on being an older model. It did look a bit out of place with all the Mk3s surrounding it.

[Rusty_Rocket]

Cavaliers are flippin' brilliant and I've had good service from plenty of ropey examples.  Happy birthday L547 JBM!

 

In celebration-

 

 

 

 

 

[Shep Shepherd]

Belated happy birthday! Mark 3 Cavaliers are great cars

[John F]

Cav Mk 3s are absolutely solid gold future classics, phact.

 

I had a '94 SRi (16v Ecotec) for five years, I loved owning it every single day of that time and only sold it when I bought a bargainous mint low-mileage Calibra V6 and couldn't justify owning two cars that did pretty much the same thing. That Cav is definitely in the top 3 vehicles I've ever owned.

 

Happy birthday to your Cav, then! (My Calibra will also be 20 in February   )

[oldford]

We need to organise a shite reps car road test, your Cavalier, my Sierra and we'll need some more, a Montego and a Renault 21 maybe?