I needed to transport a cedar chest to my daughter, and was not liking the amount a rental vehicle would cost to get it done. So I wondered if it might fit into the back of my 2008 Vibe, which I bought back in March. The answer was yes, so the next step was to get my mechanic's thoughts on the idea of 1,500-plus miles in four days in a car with 187,000 miles on it. He likes my car, or at least the fact that it has a "Toyota heart," so I had him check everything out. He found nothing, changed the oil and gave it his blessing.
Well, the car ran like a champion. It was comfortable to drive for long stretches, though the ride was a little choppier than I'm used to (for sure, the patchy pavement didn't help). I'm pretty sure I got 30-plus mpg cruising at 70 and 2,800 rpm (is that about right?). On some surfaces, particularly concrete, the road noise was really loud, but that could also be partly due to the tires (Douglas from Walmart, that came on the car). I could not have been more pleased.
1,500 miles of bugs