You can get quite a good Cavalier for not much money.
I bought a beautiful 2 litre GLS on Ebay some time back for £500. One of the last Cavs with the Ecotech 16 valve engine. (Worthy looking out for one of those rather than the 8 valve. Much better fuel consumption and performance.)
Went like a rocket, I saw 140 on the clock (on private roads obviously ossifer) and got about 35-35 to the gallon.