A long, long time ago -- 1996 to be exact -- Toyota decided to brand engineer a GM vehicle for the Japanese domestic market. The vehicle they chose: the Chevrolet Cavalier. They even called it the Toyota Cavalier, and wanted to move 20,000 of them per year in Japan. They put them in dealer showrooms next to JDM cars, and, well... people didn't really buy them. By 2000, the Toyota Cavalier was mort.
And while their loss is not exactly your gain, it might mean you can have some fun with rabbits and hats. GM made Toyota Cavalier parts, including Toyota badges, for the car, and has boxes of the stuff at its warehouse in Lansing, Michigan. If you can get a parts manager to fulfill your order -- overseas-only parts are normally red-flagged for U.S. domestic use due to DOT issues -- then you can get a Toyota badge wrapped in official GM packaging. Cue the Ripley's Believe It or Not theme music...
[Source: Automobile]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Pete @ Jul 9th 2008 1:12PM
Why is this news...this has been known since 1996...
Jj @ Jul 9th 2008 1:22PM
This is a blog, not The New York Times.
Ben @ Jul 9th 2008 1:12PM
Worst Car Ever!
geo.stewart @ Jul 9th 2008 1:15PM
boy, you really have led a sheltered life.
not by a long shot.
VP @ Jul 9th 2008 1:26PM
The Cavalier was not revolutionary nor was it class leading, but saying the Cavalier is the worst car ever is plain and simple...stupid. The car did it's job, was cheap to buy and maintain. Tons of people don't need anything more than that from an economy car.
Torrent @ Jul 9th 2008 1:32PM
Yes the Cavalier was a pain, but to say it was the worst is like saying President Bush won a spelling Bee- it's impossible.
Marcus @ Jul 9th 2008 1:38PM
I am currenlty driving a 2003 Cavalier 5 speed with 120,000 kms on it. This car has performed very well with only one minor repair during the warranty period. The 2.2 Ecotec provides decent fuel economy and respectable power. I average 34mpg with about 60% highway/40% city driving. Last week I replaced the front rotors and pads for the first time. I have been very happy with this car.
Alex @ Jul 9th 2008 2:22PM
Not the worst car ever but definitely a really crappy one in comparison to the similarly priced toyotas and hondas at the time. Even its replacement the cobalt isn't that great in comparison either.
BlackCanary @ Jul 9th 2008 3:09PM
Maybe not the worst ever, that is a hard one to quantify. I am 30 and I have to admit that the Cavalier is definitely in my top 3 for worst car I have ever been in or driven.
The interior single handedly has given GM the bad reputation for crappy interiors. That car cut new ground for shoddy plastic, poor design, and just plain horrible execution. Exposed screws, very flimsy plastic, and just ugly ascetics. From the plain flat instrumentation, to the Radio that appeared to be from 1985 even in 2000. The back seats with the weird convex shape, the front seats that offered 0 support and had the strange padding design. The color was that weird not black and not gray - achieving a freshly poured plastic look. Everything warped when exposed to summer heat. The radio sucked, the auto shifter was weird looking with the metal shaft and square head. Every Cavi I have ever been in rattles and feels loose - even when not driving. They feel hollow or something it is weird.
The doors, oh the doors, so flimsy and in the coupe they were so freaking long! GM used to make the worst doors.
Ok now the outside. The last refresh just before the Cobalt came out was the worst. I don't know if you can make a car look worse with a refresh. Always had ugly wheels. The side mirrors were ugly not painted plastic, yuck. The trunk was light it almost closed itself under its own weight. I truly dislike the Cavalier.
On a positive note they seem very reliable and get ok gas mileage. Just ugly, poor in the materials department, and the worst interior I can remember.
The Cobalt is a vast improvement and in the rental I had I was impressed. The interior could step up in the materials but the design is much better and driving it was not that bad. Cobalt still pays the price for how bad the Cavalier was. My big gripe with Cobalt interior is the silver painted plastic. It looks ok when new but quickly scratches and then looks like crap.
Matt @ Jul 9th 2008 3:21PM
FYI: all cars in that time period, in that price range, blew.
I can't think of a mid-90s vehicle WITHOUT exposed screws, the Ford Escort/Taurus, Honda Civic/Accord, and Nissan Altima come to mind especially.
Anything in the price range had hard, nasty plastic. Hell, back then even mid-sized vehicles has hard-touch most of the time.
Honestly, people comparing interior trim quality in the same price range REALLY piss me off. I'm pretty sure that 95% of the time, a vehicle in a given class/price range is ALWAYS going to have a similar interior level of quality.
Get over it.
BlackCanary @ Jul 9th 2008 4:04PM
@ Matt
You are intellectually dishonest and plain lying if you think these two pictures show equal quality interiors.
1996 Honda Civic = http://www.samarins.com/reviews/96_civic_interior.jpg
2001 Chevy Cavalier = http://internetcarselling.com/aws_premiumplus/vused/111111.jpg
Notice how much newer the Chevy picture is yet seems even less modern than the 1996 Civic.
BlackCanary @ Jul 9th 2008 4:19PM
@ Matt again
http://wantsellmycar.com/honda92/images/front_panel.jpg
Even this 1992 Honda interior is better than a 2001 Chevy Cavalier interior.
My poinit is not to say GM produces all crap, they made some really good vehicles but the Cavalier is/was never will be considered one of them.
Dave @ Jul 9th 2008 1:15PM
Let's have some fun with your friends. Make sure you put these emblems on your :
Corvette
Cadillac
Hummer
Who would be the first to send a pohto to Autoblog as a spy photo?
Dave
Drake @ Jul 9th 2008 1:28PM
A Toyota Hummer? Oh yeah, its called an FJ Cruiser. Label states 16/20 mpg, 2mpg more than the H3, with 2 less doors. (real doors, not those half-a** suicide doors)
Matt @ Jul 9th 2008 3:16PM
Drake:
And half the capability.
Are you honestly comparing a Toyota to a Hummer?
The FJ Cruiser is more comparable to a Jeep Wrangler than an H3, and BOTH are non-comparable to the H3, given the TEN THOUSAND DOLLAR price difference, size difference, capability/class differences, etc.
You're a retard.
Drake @ Jul 9th 2008 3:26PM
@Matt
Chill out dude. What I was trying to get across is that Toyota has a Hummer-type of vehicle (i.e. purposeful off-road vehicle). Like you said, it is more comparable to a Wrangler than a H3, but then Hummer doesn't have a vehicle the size of a Wrangler or an FJ. Maybe they would if they come out with the HX concept The point being, the FJ is smaller than the H3, yet only gets 2mpg better in fuel economy. The H3, for what it is and capable of, does not get that bad of fuel economy, 14/18mpg label. Toyota aint as green as people make them out to be. They got their poor fuel economy off-road vehicle just like GM has Hummer, and Chrysler has Jeep.
Dave @ Jul 9th 2008 1:22PM
The big question is:
Did GM send the Cavalier over there to make Toyota look bad, or was Toyota really dumb enough to pick the Cavalier to sell?
The Other Bob @ Jul 9th 2008 1:31PM
Toyota bought the car for two reasons.
1) At the time it wasn't considered a bad car.
2) There was pressure on the Japanese to open their market to American made cars...something that still hasn't happened.
Chris @ Jul 9th 2008 3:37PM
Also remember opening the doors to American cars in Japan isn't nearly as easy as the reverse. The Japanese are very hard to land guilt on.
Here, we could be made guilty for not buying the new India produced Nanto (or whatever its called)
s13hybrid @ Jul 9th 2008 1:23PM
JDM Cavalier. "My Cavalier is more JDM than your camry"
haha