Performance94 Cavalier 3.1 MPFI                        Pictures       My Car     Video

How quick could a Cavalier Be?

With imports all the rage, many people don't realize that the Chevrolet small car is a performer too.  My car is a second generation cavalier.  It is a 94 model which is the last year V6's were included in cavaliers.  The new cavalier lacks a V6 but still has some potent power plant options.  The V6 in my cavalier is not an engine that relies on high rpm horsepower, instead it uses low end torque.  With my five speed and 185 ft/lb's of torque; launching hard is not a problem.  Hooking up can be difficult at times.  There aren't many stock Civics that can keep up.

A few trips down the 1/8^th mile!

The third run listed on this chart I missed third gear.  That is why the time is significantly slower.

How about some Road Kills.

Cavalier vs.  Lexus ES 250:

On the way to dinner I lined up with a friend of mine with the Lexus ES 250, auto.  We had been planning on racing, so I revved up and told him lets go.  We each had a couple of people in our cars.  I was hyped up and when the light turned green I dropped the hammer, but all I did was spin.  Even though I had a terrible launch, I was able to drop it down to second and pull away easily.

Cavalier vs.  Nissan Frontier

I pull up next to an early 90's model Frontier that some guy had pimped out.  He had some serious exhaust from the sound of the truck.  Any way he was revving up at me pretty hard.  I rolled down my window and my girlfriend coincidently knew the guy, she told him we were going to run.  The light dropped green and he got a better take off.  He pulled to about a 1/2 car length lead off the start, but by the end of second gear we were even.  In third gear I steadily pulled away from him.

Cavalier vs.  Prelude

So I am cruising down a 4 lane highway with a speed limit of 45.  Its about 9:00 at night and I hear something coming up on my left revving at me.  It was a 90 or so Honda Prelude with at the very least some exhaust work.  I have a feeling that he had some other mods as well.  We were in some traffic and could not get lined up at a light.  So we both slowed down to about 30 mph and waited for the other guy to take off.  He started the run by nailing the throttle and I did the same, trying my best to react as quick as I could.  We did this twice and ran up to about 80 mph each time.  He pulled on me about 2 car lengths in that time.  I think that if we had lined up at a light I would have faired better, as I would have gotten a fair launch.

Cavalier vs. Civic

This race was not on the street.  I ran against this Civic at the drag strip.  It was a Civic coup, the model just before they introduced the big headlights.  The only mod I could see that the guy had was some Altezza taillights.  On the run I had a terrible reaction time, I was about .5 seconds behind just on reaction time.  By the 60 foot mark I had already made up the time that I had lost on the launch.  I ended up beating the Civic by about 2 second in the 1/8th.  Though the Civic was hindered by an automatic transmission.