If Chevrolet intended to design a line of vehicles ideal for University of Wisconsin-Platteville students, the Cavalier would win.

UW-Platteville police Chief Scott Marquardt said 105 Cavaliers have been registered with campus police since September 2012.  This is a near 10 percent increase from the number of Cavaliers registered during the 2011-2012 academic year.

Seventy-one Toyota Camrys, 101 Ford Focuses and 44 Pontiac Sunfires have been registered with campus police since September 2012, making the Cavalier dominant among cars in its class.

Marquardt said he had never noticed a lot of Cavaliers on campus.  Cavalier owner Tim Tank said he notices them more often than other similar cars.

Tank, senior industrial technology management major, likes his Cavalier because of its maneuverability.  Tank said the small size of his car makes it easy to parallel park in tight spaces.

Tank’s Cavalier is a 1997, but he said he likes that it’s an older car because cars aren’t as safe as they used to be because they are manufactured with less steel. He said he feels safer in his Cavalier than he does in his parents’ Toyota Prius.

Joe Sigwarth, freshman business administration major with an emphasis in sales and marketing communications, said the Cavalier is ideal for students because it’s cost efficient.  Sigwarth drives a 2002 Cavalier that gets around 30 mpg on the highway and 25 mpg in the city.

Tank is satisfied with the 28 mpg his Cavalier gets on the highway.

“I wouldn’t classify it as a gas guzzler,” Tank said.

Tank has been driving his Cavalier since his senior year in high school.  The car has only needed minor maintenance through the years. Tank said that aside from the horn and air conditioner not working, it is reliable.

“The cruise is kind of finicky, and sometimes my Cavalier gets caught on snow banks because it sits low to the ground,” Sigwarth said.

One time, Sigwarth said he had to give his Cavalier extra acceleration to get up a snow covered hill.  It fishtailed the entire way, but it made it up the hill.

“It’s not like it handles like a dream,” but it does the job, Sigwarth said.

“I have yet to lose control of my car when I hit a patch of ice,” said Tank.

Tank said his car handles well in rain, ice and snow because it is front-wheel drive.  Even when Tank’s car loses traction, he said it’s not hard to regain control.

“I feel safe in no matter what kind of weather I drive in,” Tank said.