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Looking Back: 1985 Chevrolet Cavalier LaserDisc Promo

6K views 23 replies 19 participants last post by  desert-rat 
#1 ·
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#2 ·
I had a 1985 Cavalier Type 10, 5 speed (coupe, not hatch) in 1989. That car had no power at all. Sad to say, but the Ford Escort was a better car. The Escort was solid, the gear shifter was smooth and felt tight, while the Cavalier...well, mushy, clunky, and loose come to mind. The interior rattled, the motor ticked. And it was only 4 years old!

No wonder GM cars from the 80's have such bad quality reputations. It's true!
 
#3 ·
I always liked the look of the hatchback of this era, I still don't think it looks that bad, it has aged better than some other styles over the years.
 
#5 ·
I had an 88 Z-24 in Red. Fun little car with a grunty 2.8 V6. In the higher trim, the interiors were actually decent, strong A/C, and not a bad handler with the larger wheels and tires. While not the most "refined" of vehicles it proved reliable and served me well while living in the mountains of Colorado.
If I had a complaint, the dash mounted cup-holders were easily breakable, the Z-28 Decal on the rocker panel started to peel off in the first year, and the paint on the front fascia did not wear as well as I'd like.
While Cavaliers were much maligned, I really liked mine. Some 125 K miles later I traded it in on a 240 SX.
 
#8 ·
I had an '89 Z24**, I loved it, yet hated it. I loved the looks and the power (at least at the time the 2.8L 125 hp V6 felt powerful) and even the handling. But the quality was poor, the computer fried itself approx. 10 times, taking the engine, power brakes and power steering with it. Nothing like going around a sharp corner and all of a sudden the power breaks and steering were gone. Each time required a flat bed. Numerous badly aligned interior pieces and many other mechanical issues. But to this day they still look great to me!

**89 had the curvier body style vs. the 1985.
 
#14 · (Edited)
Their engines had no power. Neither did anyone elses. This was the era where Ford sold a lot of Mustangs with 88 HP four-bangers.
 
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#9 ·
This is about the 1985, but it brings back memories of a 1986 Cavalier sedan I had for a few yrs. back in the very early 90's. The one thing that sticks out in my mind other than its quality issues was that to me, it always felt larger than it was when driving it.
 
#13 ·
I had a 94 Cavalier - I think the 91-91 Z24's where the best looking ones - and it was cool they got a semi functional cowl induction hood that was fiberglass.

Engines where weak - but very easy to swap in a late model 3400 or 3500 into them.

Some guys have even swapped in Supercharged L67's, LS4's, and even the F40 trans out of the late model G6 GXPs.
 
#15 ·
My first two cars were Cavalier hatchbacks, 1986 and 1987; I fell asleep behind the wheel and totaled the first one. They called then "RS" by then, not "Type 10".

They were actually pretty nice cars. I liked the interior. I thought that the hatchback body style gave them a nice, sporty appearance. I probably have fond memories because they were my first cars. They were slow, but so were most compacts back then; I think the 1986 had 85HP and the '87 had a huge increase: 90 HP. I had no problems with mine; I put 85,000 miles on the '87 in a little over three years.

That hatchback, with the back seats down, could haul an impressive amount of stuff. I moved twice during that time using only that car. I even stuffed a mattress into the back of it.
 
#16 ·
My first car was a 68 Nova project car. My first drivable car was a 1987 cavalier. The car was bulletproof and even with only 90HP and an automatic transmission was capable of burnouts so awesome the car would dissappear into a cloud of tire smoke, seriously lol. Ask me how :)
 
#17 ·
It was such a crappy car - but was the number one seller.

Everyone's always on this "GM 80's cars sucked" but as KSR points out, all cars were being downsized at the time.

GM needs more 'bad times' like the mid '80's when Olds and Buick were selling over a million cars EACH.

Cavalier has pretty sporting proportions for a fwd car. Look at the dash to axle on this one. Almost looks rear drive.

This is when they introduced the V6 which was a big deal at the time.
 
#21 ·
True, but Olds and Buick's best sellers were RWD Cutlasses and Regals if I remember correctly. Sure wish the days when I could buy a RWD Regal would return.
 
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#23 ·
The 2nd generation J bodies were very nice. My sister had a Sunbird in a better trim level that I thought was very sharp.
 
#22 ·
I think the sticker on my '87 was $11,250, something like that. That sounds cheap now, but at that time it wasn't that cheap. They were competitively priced and there were cheaper alternatives. When compacts hit five digits in price, it was kind of a shock at the time.
 
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