What the MkI and early MkII Vauxhall Cavaliers lacked in order to truly compete against their Cortina and Sierra rivals was an estate version; but that was put right in late 1983 when the second generation range had an estate added to it. “Extended by popular demand” was how the low-lugging Cavalier was introduced in this early advert.
Interestingly, the rear end of the Cavalier estate was produced from panels imported from Australia, as the newcomer was basically a British-badged version of the Holden Camira. The end result was a square and boxy-looking estate, which contrasted hugely with the more rounded lines of its arch rival, the Sierra estate.
As this advert was happy to point out, however, the Cavalier had a major advantage over its conventionally-engineered competitor from Ford: “Because the Cavalier is front-wheel drive, it doesn’t have a propshaft pinching the inches”. In the estate car space race, every inch counted.
