Buying advice! 2003 or later?

[Dzasta93]

Hey all!!!
I'm GOING to buy a Vibe! I've done my research, I've test driven 4 already, and I'm sold on the model (just not sold on the people selling the ones I've tested).

But I'm finding that not many people have service records for their cars, so I'm having to just trust their word/trust the mechanic I have check it out/trust the model itself.

So...I'm wondering if I should take 2003 and 2004 models out of my consideration altogether since I've heard they had more problems than the 2005s and later. Have y'all found that to be true? Would it be safer to buy a 2005 or newer?

Also, are there are specific major maintenance projects that should have been done on a Vibe before 150,000 miles? New trans, new clutch, etc?
I know on pre-2004 Subarus it's almost universal to have to replace your head gaskets and a bunch of other stuff between 120 and 150,000 miles. Anything like that on the Vibe?

Thanks a bunch!
Looking forward to introducing y'all to my new Vibe (once I find the right one)!
Thanks,
Dylan

[Dzasta93]

Damn, did I break some unwritten Vibe rule?
I knew my question was newb-centric, but I didn't think it was outright untouchable.

I read Everything You Need to Know (viewtopic.php?f=11&t=40003), but it didn't get into specifics about which models, if any, had more issues than others.

Anyway, would love some feedback if you could help me out.
Thanks.

[Caretaker]

welcome to reality on these boards. They have been dead for years except for the midwestern enclave of "high, how are you" still active on here. I rarely get my questions answered and I've been on here nearly since inception; so join the club. As for your question, having owned both the '03 AWD and now the '09 base with Corolla engine, I would strongly steer you away from the first gen and into a second gen Vibe if you can afford it. Side by side, I think it always has been a superior vehicle, especially considering that you can choose between a Corolla and Camry engine to suit your needs. I (obviously) have the Corolla engine and think it is the better choice of those two engines for such a small car. I rarely get under 30 mpg and the extra horsepower that comes with the second gen Vibe is noticeable. The car is not without its flaws however. All Corollas (and I've read some Camry engines) burn oil. I burn about 1.5 quarts in between 5000 mile oil changes (which is perfectly within engine norms). The Vibe still has the same less-than-stellar Toyota crappy brakes and it has had about 6 minor recalls from the less-than-stellar Toyota part suppliers that put in some cheap stuff. The second gen also has a pathetically placed PCV valve buried behind the intake manifold so if you need to replace it, it is NOT a screw off/screw on repair; you'll need to replace the intake manifold gasket and pay the substantial labor charge. But between the two, it is second generation Vibe all the way. If you for some reason cannot afford it, I'd stick with as new a Vibe as possible (ie: 2008 or 2007). Let me (or us if there is still an us on these boards) know how it goes.

[vibenvy]

Welcome to GenVibe! You've definitely come to the right place to research everything Vibe-related. Unfortunately, as Caretaker already mentioned, these forums are not as active as they once were. If you're on Facebook, join the GenVibe group on there as it is much more active nowadays. I'm not very familiar with the 1st gens (2003-2008) as we have 2nd gens (2009-2010), so I'm of no real help. Best of luck with your search. I'll be keeping an eye out for a post showing off your "new" Vibe!

[ColonelPanic]

What model are you looking at - base, AWD, or GT? That would help with suggestions of things to look for.

[Dzasta93]

Thanks for the help, guys!

I'm looking for a base or awd model. I can drive stick, but I guess I just prefer driving automatic.

As for 1st gen vs 2nd gen, my budget is maxed out at $4,000. And frankly, if I use all that budget I'll be eating porridge for a few months. So more realistically my price range tops out at about $3,200.

With that in mind I highly doubt I can snag anything after 2005.

Thanks!

[thebarber]

id get an 03 slushbox

skip awd if you have no $ to fix issues

look for as low a mileage as you can afford....but mileage isnt a big issue as the 1zzfe and the 4 speed auto last a long time if cared for. maintenance records ARE ideal

depending on your local climate, id check for rust underneath

[Dzasta93]

id get an 03 slushbox

skip awd if you have no $ to fix issues

look for as low a mileage as you can afford....but mileage isnt a big issue as the 1zzfe and the 4 speed auto last a long time if cared for. maintenance records ARE ideal

depending on your local climate, id check for rust underneath

Slushbox?

And thanks for the feedback!

[Dzasta93]

Just outed myself as not being a gear head.
I googled slushbox...I got it

[thebarber]

Just outed myself as not being a gear head.
I googled slushbox...I got it

[thatmemphisvibe]

I've had my Vibe for a month. I relied a lot on Consumer Reports, which really likes these cars. I was looking strictly at 2nd gen Vibes, and wound up buying the first one I drove, which happened to be a 2008. The drawback was mileage -- 183K -- but a half-mile into the test drive, I was pretty much sold. It was $4,000, and even if something costly needs fixing, I'll still be ahead (my car budget was up to $10,000). Again, relying on CR, there's a decent chance nothing big will happen.
The CARFAX didn't tell me much beyond the broad stuff -- the car had had 3 owners, not been wrecked, lived its life in the southeast, had been licensed commercially. The first couple of owners were clicking off 30K-plus miles a year.
A colleague is the original owner of a 2003. His has 180K miles, and no big problems. it looks better than mine. All the used car buying advice cites owner maintenance as what makes a big difference in the quality of a used car. I didn't know anything about the maintenance on mine, but it seemed like a good $4,000 bet. I've replaced a head lamp, fixed my high mount brake light, improvised a license plate installation, and rescued a couple of nasty floor mats from a salvage yard. I'll probably get a battery heading into winter, as a precaution. It's still early on this car, but so far, I love it.
I have seen ads for really low-mileage Vibes, but owners are asking premium prices. Most Vibes I saw advertised had mileage north of 150K. I trusted CR and Toyota's reputation. Good luck. Let us know what you get (and do it here; I don't mess with facebook very much).

[thebarber]

i bought my 03 GT with 90k miles for $1000

but vibes have terrible resale in canada after 12 years....

[joatmon]

The only reliability issue more common in the earliest Vibe years was the 5 speed manual transmission. If you avoid those, then any 03 or 04 should still be reliable, of course, unless its been beaten to death or otherwise abused/ neglected. My first Vibe was an 03 with a 5 speed tranny. I got 288K miles out of it, and replaced it 3 years ago with an 03 automatic that had 157K miles, now at 214K miles and fine.

Other than the 5 speed tranny, there shouldn't be any particular critical reliability issue with an 03/04. You'll have standard kinds of issues with any 12 year old car. Tires/brakes, battery, fluids, etc. Don't know if its particular to a vibe, but after 12 years, you may need to replace some gaskets, such as the valve cover, timing chain tensioner, or perhaps intake manifold gaskets. Easy enough to do yourself, even for less than expert mechanics.

A common failure due to bad design is in the motor assembly that switches between fresh air and recirculate. I don't know if thats more common in the earlier years, of just common in the 03-08's

Depending on the mileage and a lot of other factors, the car may need or soon need a replacement catalytic converter. My advice on that one is to buy or borrow a code reader, and hook it up to the candidate car. Depending on the code reader, it may give a not ready status, indicating that the diagnostic codes have been reset recently enough that the car hasn't had time to run all of its self tests. This almost bit me once, I bought a used truck, my code reader gave the not ready status, and the dealer said it was because they had reset the computer by taking the battery out to clean the terminals. 100 miles after I bought the truck the check engine light came on with the code for catalytic converter, and I made them fix it. Can't say for sure they tried to hide the bad cat from buyers, but it sure seemed that way to me.

In the first generation vibes, My vote would be for an 04. The 03's/04s have a minor cosmetic only difference in the front grill from the 05-08s, I prefer the earlier one. The 03-04 Vibes also came with cross bars in the roof rack, which may or may not be important. Also the 05-08s dropped the power outlet in the console between the seats that was standard in the 03-04, and the taller console armrest in the 03-04 seems to be overwhelmingly preferred. The 03-04 also have a wire throttle, 05-08s have electronic throttle. Throttle reliability hasn't been an issue, but perhaps for only nostalgic reasons, I prefer the cable throttle. The 03 had an all red instrument cluster, I think the 04 and up red and white cluster is better, so that's why I say an 04.

Even if your budget is small, the cost of a car is still a major commitment. On my first one, I went for price, and got one that didn't have power windows/locks or cruise control. My current one does have those. I feel those things are worth having, you may or may not, but if you think you will want them, get a car that already has them, its probably not going to be worth adding them later

I rarely get my questions answered and I've been on here nearly since inception; so join the club.

I'm reluctant to answer your questions on the 2nd gen vibes, I only have experience with the 1st gens

If you're on Facebook, join the GenVibe group on there as it is much more active nowadays.

You're right, forum activity here really dropped when the genvibe group formed on facebook. We used to have a hectic off topic forum, and even had a chat server set up with regular chat sessions, but that's now how it is here right now. My brother was an early facebook member, I have his counter example of social media addiction to where I never signed up. Do you talk about Vibe stuff there, or just share pictures of meals?

[Dzasta93]

You guys rock! Thanks for all the help! I'm feeling better and better about my choice to chase a Vibe!

[BenWA]

I know on pre-2004 Subarus it's almost universal to have to replace your head gaskets and a bunch of other stuff between 120 and 150,000 miles. Anything like that on the Vibe?

I was considering the 2000-2002'ish Subaru Outback wagons when I was car shopping, before I found the Matrix/Vibe as an option. From what I read, It's the 4cyls that have the head gasket problems, not the V6s.

[thebarber]

FWIW, the matrix doesnt have the recirc fan issue that the vibe does

[thatmemphisvibe]

Not to hijack the thread, but the comments about air recirculation problems in the previous couple of posts caught my eye.

"A common failure due to bad design is in the motor assembly that switches between fresh air and recirculate. I don't know if thats more common in the earlier years, of just common in the 03-08's"

The AC in my 2008 seems a bit anemic, so I'm wondering if this could be a problem. What is a/the solution, and how difficult is it? Thanks.

[Caretaker]

Dzasta: when you have a severe limit on how much money you can afford, you often have to compensate by putting in some legwork. When I found my Honda Fit, I drove over 4 hours and bought the car sight unseen over the phone after conducting a thorough phone interview with the owner. That was my second attempt; on the first attempt with a different Fit, I took a train down to southern VA only to go home empty handed after I did my thorough inspection of the car. My thoughts on buying a used car are this:

1. stick with Consumer Reports long term surveys when deciding on a car. In addition to the Vibe and Matrix, I'd suggest you throw the bulletproof Fit into your search mix.
2. buy ONLY from an owner, not a used car lot. Dealerships, as stupid as they are, knowing nothing about the new cars they sell, know even less about the used cars that have been dumped on their lot. They simply have NO records on the vehicle unless you are lucky enough to find one that was maintained at that dealer. In that case, you'd pay a lot more for the car. Buying from an owner is much better in that people make very bad liars. If you know enough about cars going in, you can ask them all the A-Z questions about the car and they should be able to come up with the answer and look you in the eye while telling you the answer. Moreover, most smart sellers don't want you coming back to torch their house after they sell you a lemon. It just isn't worth the aggravation of making an enemy. Owners have all the records. Dealers have none.
3. many people, not just me, invest some time in a bus ride or even a plane ride to pick up a value. Here's one that I found on cars.com that I would buy in a second. Since I have no idea where you live, I can only supply it as an example of distance you may need to travel to get that deal:

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/deta ... /overview/

4. finding a deal is the fun part of playing the game. When doing searches on cars.com and other sites, put in $4000 as the top price since you may be able to bargain down a little to get close to your "top price" you can afford. Most of all, don't limit yourself to just the Vibe. I've given you 3 choices which would work well, the Fit being my #1 choice when buying a used car, especially sight unseen.
5. your biggest worry when buying a car from an owner is NOT whether you will get a lemon. It is that if the owner is selling at a very reasonable price, like the car I list above, you will be competing with all the dealership trolls who are searching craigslist, cars.com and the like to find a steal so they can mark it up $3000 and sell it on their lot. I beat out two such trolls. You beat them out by quickly calling the owner and establishing a "connection" with the owner. Most owners would rather sell to a nice family knowing their "baby" is going to be taken care of. Few owners like the idea of selling their car to a rip-off dealership, only to see their car marked up $3000 the next day.

Good luck with your search.

[joatmon]

Not to hijack the thread, but the comments about air recirculation problems in the previous couple of posts caught my eye.

"A common failure due to bad design is in the motor assembly that switches between fresh air and recirculate. I don't know if thats more common in the earlier years, of just common in the 03-08's"

The AC in my 2008 seems a bit anemic, so I'm wondering if this could be a problem. What is a/the solution, and how difficult is it? Thanks.

Doesn't sound like the recirc issue. See viewtopic.php?f=17&t=31055 and some of the other related threads linked there

[BenWA]

3. many people, not just me, invest some time in a bus ride or even a plane ride to pick up a value.

4. finding a deal is the fun part of playing the game.

I don't have the kind of luck where I win good free stuff (ie: door prizes) but I have the kind of "luck" where I find good deals and seem to do well (mostly) in what I buy. I didn't try to haggle any on my $3800, 2003 Vibe even though I had to fly across the country (About a $150 flight) and pay a night's motel stay (about $50) to just LOOK at it. (I had an alternate bus trip plan in case I didn't buy it). Turns out I got a nice clean car that passed emissions in my own state just fine. I paid a good $800-1000 less (party party value, not dealer) than I would have had to pay locally due to a higher demand for smaller, more fuel efficient cars in WA state than in TX.

Sure, they can be had for around $4,000 here, but Vibes priced that way are well beyond 200k miles. Case in point, from a dealer with 223k: https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/deta ... /overview/

Another dealer one (180k) with a good 40k less miles on it than the one above, but still about 40k more than mine when I got it, and it's $1000 more than I paid for mine: https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/deta ... /overview/

I got mine with 143k on it. It should be hitting 148k very soon, if it hasn't already based on the last time I really looked at the odometer.

One reason they were probably selling it was the loud awful clicking sound when the wheel was turned just so at low speed. It turned out to be NOTHING really. The plastic splash guard under the (auto) transmission was hanging loose and rubbing the driver's side tire when the front wheels were was turned. Inside the car it sounded horrible and loud. The kind of sound that most people would think "my transmission or CV joint is failing badly!!"

I noticed it hanging down before I got in and even test drove it since i was looking for leaking pans immediately. The seller apparently wasn't even aware it. He got down and looked for himself when I pointed it out. I bet he feel a little stupid at that point. I drove it 200+ miles that way after I bought it and I didn't hear it any. It was only at low speeds when making a hard turn, such as parking.

Since I didn't get any maintenance records (typical for any used car), I had the transmission serviced a few days later even though the fluid looked ok on the dipstick. The shop zip tied the splash guard back in place where it was missing the original clip.

The A/C recirculating works fine in mine by the way. I've had to use it in rather pungent farm/ranch areas that were along side of highways.

[Dzasta93]

Dzasta: when you have a severe limit on how much money you can afford, you often have to compensate by putting in some legwork. When I found my Honda Fit, I drove over 4 hours and bought the car sight unseen over the phone after conducting a thorough phone interview with the owner. That was my second attempt; on the first attempt with a different Fit, I took a train down to southern VA only to go home empty handed after I did my thorough inspection of the car. My thoughts on buying a used car are this:

1. stick with Consumer Reports long term surveys when deciding on a car. In addition to the Vibe and Matrix, I'd suggest you throw the bulletproof Fit into your search mix.
2. buy ONLY from an owner, not a used car lot. Dealerships, as stupid as they are, knowing nothing about the new cars they sell, know even less about the used cars that have been dumped on their lot. They simply have NO records on the vehicle unless you are lucky enough to find one that was maintained at that dealer. In that case, you'd pay a lot more for the car. Buying from an owner is much better in that people make very bad liars. If you know enough about cars going in, you can ask them all the A-Z questions about the car and they should be able to come up with the answer and look you in the eye while telling you the answer. Moreover, most smart sellers don't want you coming back to torch their house after they sell you a lemon. It just isn't worth the aggravation of making an enemy. Owners have all the records. Dealers have none.
3. many people, not just me, invest some time in a bus ride or even a plane ride to pick up a value. Here's one that I found on cars.com that I would buy in a second. Since I have no idea where you live, I can only supply it as an example of distance you may need to travel to get that deal:

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/deta ... /overview/

4. finding a deal is the fun part of playing the game. When doing searches on cars.com and other sites, put in $4000 as the top price since you may be able to bargain down a little to get close to your "top price" you can afford. Most of all, don't limit yourself to just the Vibe. I've given you 3 choices which would work well, the Fit being my #1 choice when buying a used car, especially sight unseen.
5. your biggest worry when buying a car from an owner is NOT whether you will get a lemon. It is that if the owner is selling at a very reasonable price, like the car I list above, you will be competing with all the dealership trolls who are searching craigslist, cars.com and the like to find a steal so they can mark it up $3000 and sell it on their lot. I beat out two such trolls. You beat them out by quickly calling the owner and establishing a "connection" with the owner. Most owners would rather sell to a nice family knowing their "baby" is going to be taken care of. Few owners like the idea of selling their car to a rip-off dealership, only to see their car marked up $3000 the next day.

Good luck with your search.

Thanks a bunch!

[FeelTheVibe2004]

I've owned my 2004 Vibe since about 2010, with few issues if any. I've had the check engine come on on very cold weather (-18'ish).
Cleaned the MAF and throttle body, but came back after a few days. Some folks have mentioned the intake manifold gaskets being a know issue, but mine doesn't seem to be the issue. However, for 10$ (bought it already) I plan on changing it soon.
I suspect an O2 sensor ,but it's gone now. Will eventually have to adresse it.

Only real issue was with the driver side window knock when lowering or raising the window at about halfway. (Another known issue.) Took inside door panel off and removed the guiding hinge and grinned it down at an angle and no more worries.

So, rest assured about getting a 1st gen Vibe, as long as it's been well taken care of, it will take care of you.
Looking for obvious signes of neglect...general body condition like rust or dents, grimy engine compartment that's never seen a rag, inside condition like cuts, tears, trash all over, lack of maintenance records, are some signes of someone that probably doesn't or hasn't bothered with regular maintenance...just saying.
Being handy with your hands helps, so never be shy about poking around any used car.