summer time, never had a convertible before...

http://twinfalls.craigslist.org/car/657860703.html

It either has the 2.2 or the 2.4....owner is not sure.

I think I can talk her down to $1000 or so, it has 145,000 miles.

Are these sh**buckets or halfway decent if not abused? I know a lot of people rice these out around here so they cant be that non-reliable.

my friends got one. had it for at least 7 years. he hasnt beat it up, but only does minimal maintenance on it. only has to do minimal maintenance on it.

its a cheap car and drives/feels like it, but itll go from point a to point b. and my friends never complained about his, except that its small. he also has no plans to trade it in.

hope that helps. i can get more info about his if you want to compare.

Someone I work with bought a wrecked one and fixed it up back to new. He had it about 4-5 years and never had a real problem. He traded it in for something nicer not long ago. He was just tired of driving it.

Edit:
I forgot - he drives like a grandma too. lol

I've heard the convertibles usually leak like crazy, but other than that I've never heard about anything big.

if its a vert its prolly a Z24, so its prolly a 2.4 twin cam

Cavaliers of that vintage are kinda odd: They either die within 50k, or live forever. First thing to do is all the obvious stuff, fluids/filters/"where'* that bolt?" check....

The 2.2 is a...god awfully slow engine...and doesn't even move a 2500lb car with anything resembling a quick movement...but...they do tend to last close to forever with proper maintenance.

They are like any other GM of that vintage. The motor doesn't have any real power output to torque the heck out of the frame, so without willfull abuse or collision damage, they last.

Some parts will become hard to come by (trim plastic, interior fiddly-bits) but if you need a cheap ride, it'* as good as any other.

They last forever, which is a good thing because that'* how long it takes to get somewhere. I had a 1986 Z24 4 speed that was a great car and super reliable, even after it was hit twice. The first hit totaled it and paid it off, the second hit was in the same spot as the first and just got me more money, after the third time it got hit it started to have issues related to the body damage.
My Mom has had 2 Cavaliers. The first one she put over 100,000 miles on it then turned it over to my little sister. She just recently traded it in on a new car and it had over 200,000 miles on it, still running strong but beat to death after a few years of college.
Mom'* latest Cavalier has been pretty reliable and she is still racking up the miles on it.

Well, my last experience with a '96 Cavalier (2.2, 5 Speed) was a nasty one, but I've also heard of people having great luck with them. The one I got was a "hand-me-down" that I got from my cousin for $150. I drove it for a year, and in that year I put well over $1000 into it...

-Clutch
-Clutch master cylinder
-Timing chain
-Valves
-Head
-2 Pwr Steering Pumps
-Power steering line
-3 Thermostats
-Alternator

And a few more small things, then the routine brakes, tires, muffler, blah blah.

I'm pretty sure I just had a bad experience

The good thing is, they're a breeze to work on!