Study extra about why GM’s “J” vehicles, the Chevrolet Cavalier, Pontiac J2000 (later Sunbird), Oldsmobile Firenza, Buick Skyhawk, …
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Troubled From the Begin: The Story of GM's 1982 "J" Automobiles & their 1.8L Engine (incl. Chevy Cavalier)
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These cars were good looking but their mechanicals were awful. Imagine if they had installed Honda drivetrains in these instead. Would've been the perfect car.
Quality Assurance to Front Office: "We have a problem". Front Office to Quality Assurance: We'll catch it in recall".
Now you have many disposable models,with no "personality"
I had a 2.0L model Cavalier station wagon and it sucked in all 3 categories of acceleration, fuel mileage, and handling.
Have u had later 2.0 OHC Brazilian engines? Or only 2.0 OHV were available in north america?
these had a secret horsepower boost button that would immediately double its horsepower and acceleration. it was called the off switch on the air conditioner
Went to the Thousand Oaks Cadillac dealer with my father in 1982. He could not believe the Cimarron was marketed as a Cadillac.
"Sophisticated." I don't think so.
Can you believe the Monza was gonna be on this platform??
I had a friend whose mother won a Chevy Cavalier in a church raffle and the car they awarded to her was as bare bones as possible, it had a manual transmission and NO air conditioning, we lived in South Florida and the no a/c was brutal!
GMB-Brazil,Chevrolet Monza,use the same platform.
I drove a 1982 Chevrolet Cavalier Type 10 hatchback during high school that was nearly new – had the 1.8L and a 4-speed manual, and the unique soft nose front end. The car was surprisingly well optioned – just about every option except power windows. The 1.8 was anemic, even with the 4-spd. And it's odd how the passenger car door had different color trim than the driver's door (was an assembly error). The car wasn't bad – it was a 'new' car to drive during high school, but it was certainly not built to last.
I had a 1984 Cavalier in college; it had the automatic transmission, rear defroster, AM radio, and little else. Basic transportation would be an understatement! But in 1992 it only had 46,000 miles and I drove that car everywhere, including trips from the Midwest to California, Florida, and countless trips to and from college between the Chicago area and Iowa. Rust finally did my car in; the area along the bottoms of the doors, and especially the driver's door by the bottom hinge, rusted like crazy. I had a summer job delivering pizzas in 1995 and one Friday night I went out on my first delivery and couldn't open the driver side door; it had completely rusted shut! So I had to deliver pizzas Duke's of Hazzard style that night! 🙂 I said goodbye to my Cavalier a few days later. Great memories of that car
Absolute trash cars…..like a decade of Yugos
The j-car started in 1981 in Germany as the Opel Ascona C.
The Ascona was a very popular and robust car! Its reputation is still strong today.
Engines were from 1.3 to 2.0 litres, output from 60bhp up to 130bhp.
Alle european build j-cars (Opel and Vauxhall) had completely different engines (all OHC) and transmissions.
The Ascona was build from 1981-1988 and was successed by the Opel Vectra A.
Owned a Holden Camira back in the early nineties and hands down the worst car Ive owned except for one… the Ford Cortina Six.
Hello Adam. hope your doing well. I have been moving so I haven't kept up will your Excellent tech on GM and brands . I rented a gold Cavalier from Hertz in 1982, for one week. I took it with my mother and my two nephews to St. Louis from KC, too the St. Louis Zoo and the arch. That car couldn't keep up with traffic. Top speed was 70 going down hill in central Missouri on I-70. That Monday I took that death trap back to Hertz and demanded a different car, which they did. I got a 6 cylinder Ford 4 door Fairmont. A MUCH better driving car, not by much thou….
Typical GM of the 80's. Accountants at the helm, and they didn't care about producing quality vehicles. They were obsessed with cutting costs. GM lost money in most of those years.
Australian voted 1982 Holden Camira 1.6 as Car of the Year. By 1990, it was Dud of the Decade.
II got mine in 1987, 2.0 mid year, it was great to have. I had it for 15 years,
Just a little GM quirk. At this particular time, Europe had Opel branded cars, and only the U.K. had anything branded as a Vauxhall. It’s stayed the same right up to today.
Thank god in '82 I could still get a Trans Am. These POS's almost ruined GMC.
Bean-counter badge engineering at its finest.
My dad and mom both had 4 door cavalier 1st gens and I had an 87 sedan and my sisters all had wagons all of the 1st Gen cavis and we liked them. My dad and mom and myself all had Cimarrons and loved them . I'm very fond of 1st Gen cavi's I prefer them with 2.2's from the 95-99 cavi's. .
that's the same size displacement my moms 1986 Subaru XT turbo which had 132 HP for that model year while the J cars for that year had 150 HP
These have got to be the ugliest, most plain and unimaginative cars of all time.
This is a damn fine automobile if you want my honest opinion…beats the hell out of the sports wagon…
I'm not totally unfavorable to OHV engines, but it was kinda odd the entry-level American Cavalier had a presumably cheaper engine than the Brazilian Monza
Monza / Brasil
What about the Sunbird star fire engine or as thay were known as the won't fire engine that God holden gm has gone what shit thay built
Good God I Love This Channel 👌
They should have used the OHC engines mounted in the Opel J Cars in Germany and Vauxhall in England. They were ultimate reliable
I had one of these cars on hire when visiting my sister in Canada. With three people and luggage , it struggled up the hills to Banff holding every thing up. In the UK I hired a 1600 manual version of this car, it had the ohc engine it flew and sipped fuel. Chalk and cheese . How did they get it so wrong ?
I came of age in the mid 80’s and every single car I owned was a complete pos