Post
by Edweird » Mon Jan 02, 2012 11:50 pm
The Cavaliers were great cars, but the sills rust out which, in a monocoque shell, is pretty terminal.
The reason I'm such a Vauxhall geek is that I grew up with 'em and learned from my dad. He has had, in my lifetime alone, 8 Vauxhall Astras (2 litre 8 valve saloon, 2 litre 16 valve saloon, 1.8 8 valve saloon 1.8 8 valve SRi hatchback and two 1.6 Hatchbacks) of which he still has the two 2 litre saloons and the SRi, a Carlton (2 litre 16 valve) which is long dead and gone, an Omega (2.6 V6) which he still has and a Cavalier (2 litre 16 valve) which got scrappaged for a brand new Corsa 1.7 TD because the sills were going.
I have to say that in my opinion, the 2.0 16-valve Ecotech X20XEV is probably the best engine. The higher power ones require a bit more looking after, and the turbo ones, according to my dad, are "more trouble then they're worth." It gets good MPG, has more low end torque than the C20XE. All that and, like most of my favourite engines, while it may have flaws, it's one of those tough engines that will take abuse when you feel like playing.
There's three ways of doing things:
The right way,
The wrong way
And my way, which is like the wrong way but faster.