my girlfriend just bought a 2002 Cavalier LS coupe with the 2.2 ecotec, auto. I was wondering if there's any common issues in this particular model that we can be prepared for (aside from typical maintenance, of course.)
options we got in the Cavy that have been problems for us in previous cars...
-power windows
-power sun/moonroof
-AC

any help would be much appreciated.

BTW: any tips on quick and easy mods that I can make to make it faster/quicker that she wouldn't exactly notice? she's not very car savvy, so just looking wouldn't be a problem, BUT the time I take to work on it would...so quick stuff would be excellent. (cams and pulleys are a good example of she wouldn't notice if she just looks, but it would take me forever to do....so she would notice)

b&m shift plus
I have heard some good things about it and you can have it in stock mode when she drives it, and a sport mode when you do.(I would guess you have a 4 speed)

maybe a drop in K&N air filter(have one in my girls car now, and we are looking for another car now and I will put one in that too.)

sythetic oil,



but why don't you want her to know what you do to it, my girlfriend just asks a few simple questions,
1) what will it do?(quicker, better fuel economy,
2) will it cost me anything later?(gas, tires, oil, etc.)
3) will it make the drive worse?(loud, rough, harder to drive)
4) will it be unreliable?(if it breaks, how easy would it be to fix or how much could it cost to fix/what could it do to the car)
5) do you want a snack in a while?

that is kinda it,

as long as it will not make it worse for her, I don't think she would really care, would she?

I think my girl would like the light weight pullies as it could save some money on gas(in theory), and be a give a little more pep.

hope that helps
cheers

Steve

the main problem with those is the sagging front facia piece. be careful pulling into parking spots, to avoid ripping it off, or worse, half off.

well I blew a seal in the transmission at about 50,000 miles, and my fuel pump went out at about 70,000 miles but was all under warranty, currently have 105,000 miles

why would you do research like this after buying the car? shouldn't you know if there are any major issues before spending thousands of dollars?

cannon fodder wrote:why would you do research like this after buying the car? shouldn't you know if there are any major issues before spending thousands of dollars?

lol


my parent's map sensor died at like 40K but other than that, its been a good car.