Ok, I'm debating if it is time for a new 3rd car......

Have now: 93 Cavalier wagon, 3.1, 135k, needs new-gas tank(maybe line also)

EGR. Rusty, but for the most part, very trusty...

Considering: 98 Mailbu,3.1, 72k good shape for age..newer alt, runs pretty good..

dealership wants $4900...should be ablr to talk them into the low 4s....

Could get 600-700 for the wagon....and put a little cash down too...

I was planning to fix the wagon, but this had me thinking: Fix the wagon, or just get the Bu'?

What do you think?

Its not as easy to do this with a Malibu. I suspect its too round.

Seriously, sounds like something worth considering.

Watch out for the 98s, I've heard that they had a few bugs in them. If you can find a 2000+ specimen, though, I think all of those bugs should be worked out.

I gotta say, in the right color and wheel combinations, the P90 Malibu is a very sharp looking car, with probably the nicest looking GM interior of its time.

If you have the 3100 V6, I think the biggest issue to watch out for is the infamous head gasket issue with the 60 degree V6s (3100 & 3400). I think the issue was corrected in 2002 up models.

It's not so much the head gaskets as the intake gaskets, but the head gaskets are known to blow from time to time. If your Cavalier has structural rust that makes it unsafe to drive I would move up to the Malibu, but otherwise you will be better off in the long run just sticking with the Cavalier. It is usually cheaper to fix what you have instead of buying something new.

If you are dead set on the Malibu, check the maintainence records to see if the head/intake gaskets have been replaced already. The replacement gaskets are a different design than the OEM ones so you wouldn't have to worry about the gaskets blowing anymore.

Look at me recomending a FWD vehicle. I must need a vacation . . .

Hmmm..I gotta take a better look at the engine...noticed it was a bit shiney up front....

Hmmm...the Cav is rusting...so far most of it is at the bottom of the doors, hatch,

though it is starting to eat away at the bottom panel...

THough you do make a great point about fixing the cav....

The rust doesn't worry me as much as the fuel system, as it seems I'm replacing most of that...

One thing is true, if the intake manifold gasket has been replaced, and if it was replaced by a shop other than typically a dealership shop, there's a good chance that you'll get a good car without problems, its the ones that get that particular repair done at a dealership shop (not denouncing their work or parts at bad, but it just seems that way in my neck of the woods) that end up having the same trouble again. The only other problem I've heard with the Malibus is the fact that they eat brakes....and by eat them, I mean three times a day. From what I can tell, its because the car is too heavy for the front brakes that are on the car, but I could be wrong although a set of scales don't lie.

From what I can tell though, if you take any of the N-body cars, Alero, Cutlass, Malibu, or Grand Am and weigh them on scales with the exact same options and packaging, then the Malibu for some odd reason will weigh about 480-520lbs more. And I know what you mean about the pads being made out of silly putty......I sell enough of the 727-series pads fill up an entire junkyard.

It's not so much the weight of the car as it is the fact the pads and rotors GM uses are worthless. I don't know if they make their pads out of silly putty or what, but they wear down way faster than they should. Any car that needs its brakes changed more than twice in under 50,000 miles has got issues.

Amen to that...most of the cars that I know (like my wife's cav), the brakes just don't last...