Cavalier (and others) Question. Help needed.

[cms206]

At 60k that's barely run in, mine has 166k (admittedly on the 20SEH petrol lump) and I know of at least one with double that... comfy, effortless motorway cruising. I'd say if a Cav can be found, go for it...

[CreepingJesus]

I knew a taxi driver who had one of those Cavs. It was over 300,000 when hr part-ex'd it for another one. Good solid motors, but not a barrel of laughs to drive.

I can't think of any Mercs of that era which weren't chain driven, It was one of the good points about them; and of course, you can always hear when a chain's on the way out.

[MK5 Escort]

It’s definitely not the Isusu lump in the Cav. I'm fairly sure they only come in on the post '93 revised models. That'll be one of last non-'Isusued' dizzlers. It's not just that engine which is now getting very hard to find, early mk3 Cavaliers in general are too. I've not seen one for several months. I can't even remember the last one I saw batting down the motorway - one a common sight throughout the 90's. I preffered the 'smooth' rear lights on these than the later ones.

 

There's no need to worry about reliability. There's pretty much nothing in it between that and the Isusu lump. I'm genuinely surprised that thing hasn't even gone over 100k yet, yet alone reached 70k. With reasonable care, you should be able to put a '1' in front of that mileage before it may start showing any signs of grief. As already stated several times already, the only real difference is that the non-Isusu lumps were almost comically slow. I couldn't recommend it if you carry lots of crap around with you, but are acceptable enough (in a 'plodding' way) if you usually travel alone. Once up to speed they're fine, it's just getting them there.

 

Now, that late Audi 80 TDi is a smart, solid old thing. Thoroughly decent diesels for their time. Looks very tidy too. I would expect a much longer ticket on it at that price, though. Good luck at getting much more than £100 off it. Do a 'Mike Brewer' and you'll probably have the dealer laughing in your face. Mike would take it out on a run, say in private it goes/drives well, take it back to the dealer who knows this, then claim it has all sorts of rattles, knocks and minor scuffs leaving out a minor point that it's a 15 year old car...

[Cavcraft]

Absolutely.

 

An early (I think 'F' plate) diesel saloon turned up at a local car dealer's yard last year for £250 that was as rough as arseholes. Tried to bid him down, he wasn't having any of it and it sold a day or so later for the full asking price.

 

Honestly Warren if you're just after cheap, economical reliable motoring you'll have to go a bloody long way to beat that Cavalier.

[warren t claim]

FUCKSTICKS!!!! Cav has been sold!

[trigger]

 

There's this rough old Montego TD Estate now on ebay.

 

Shame about that Chavalier, It looked well worth the pennys.

[Rocket88]

If you can find one, b3/4 diesel Passat, epic fuel economy, nice to driive, and pretty much bomb proof. There are bargains out there, I've just picked a lovely 96 Audi A4 avant 1.9 tdi auto , with working aircon[!] it's done a stack of miles, but it's got about a grands worth of coil overs / 18" BBS split rims, and cost a princely £1300. I love diesel autos, but cheap ones are not easy to find.[/code]

[Milford Cubicle]

Not sure the Cav would be that bad - my BX only has 60 or 65bhp (not quite sure which!) and is brisk enough once wound up. You soon learn not to bother extending the engine and just keep it in the torque zone. In fact, I prefer it to the Pug 306 TD I had as there's no Turbo to try and keep spooled up.

Yeah, but the n/a XUD is a peach. Those old GM lumps are fucking awful, just an enlarged version of the 1.6 found in '80s Cavaliers and Astravans.