Going for Vibe #3

[ChrisW]

I had an accident last week with a young driver who ran a stop sign. No injuries, thankfully. Today I learned that my 2003 Vibe is a total loss. This was my second '03 Vibe.

I purchased a new Salsa 2003 Vibe GT and drove it for almost 12 years until it was rear ended in the Fall of 2014. I replaced it with an Abyss 2003 Vibe (auto) and drove that daily for 2½ years until the accident last week.

At this point I'm rather determined to get another Vibe. Also I want another one with a moon-roof so that narrows my choices. A quick check shows these available nearby:

• 2006 Vibe auto, 80K miles
• 2003 Vibe GT, 150+K miles

I'll check out both but I'm leaning toward the '06. Please share your thoughts.

[rmacnamara]

Personally I would go for the 2006 Auto just based upon having far less miles. But it really is personal pref.

What are they asking for the two?
Tires good on both?

What are of the country are you living in?

My daily driver is my 03 Abyss with 161K on it auto with moon and tunes. Also the mono package. I love it.

The GT's are great but coming from looking at around 15 vibes over the past few months and buying them I would say they tend to be beat on more than a Auto.

[ChrisW]

I'm in Pennsylvania and the price difference between the two cars is about $3K.

One has Fuzion tires and the other has Tiger Paws. Neither brand thrills me and I previously had bad experiences with Uniroyal (although that was many years ago). But I'll be sure to check tread wear too. (So far I've only checked them online.)

Another factor is that the '06 appears to have had only one owner. The GT has had multiple owners and was originally from WV. I worry about the GT and with mine I was always careful to fill it with Premium fuel only.

Thanks for your reply and I appreciate your experience from looking at so many Vibes.

[rmacnamara]

I'm in Pennsylvania and the price difference between the two cars is about $3K.

One has Fuzion tires and the other has Tiger Paws. Neither brand thrills me and I previously had bad experiences with Uniroyal (although that was many years ago). But I'll be sure to check tread wear too. (So far I've only checked them online.)

Another factor is that the '06 appears to have had only one owner. The GT has had multiple owners and was originally from WV. I worry about the GT and with mine I was always careful to fill it with Premium fuel only.

Thanks for your reply and I appreciate your experience from looking at so many Vibes.

I used to live in PA, near Harrisburg, lived there for 8 years!!! Now I live in upstate NY.

Your correct with the premium fuel. I've had a few that have required it. It can be scary wondering if the previous owner did the right thing.

I'll give you a little history and pricing of what I paid for mine.

2003 Black Auto Monotone Moon and Tunes, 161k, had a little rust on hood, it was a 2 owner guy I got it from owned it since 2005 and knew everything about it. You could tell he took care of it. It does have a check engine light for emissions cap that I not the least bit concerned with. I paid $1700 for this.

2003 Red 5 Speed, 101k, Moon and Tunes and no other options,one owner, nothing power, got this and it needed window regulator fixed, e brake adjusted and a good cleaning. Overall it was clean has some paint peel on front bumper. Again check engine for emissions, passed a NYS emissions test (pm me questions on how to do this legally) I paid $1000 for this.

2004 Black Auto, 230k, smoked in, dirty, leaking exhaust, damage to hood and fender, leaking windshield at roof from rust. I bought this as a parts unit for my GT paid $750 for this.

2004 White AWD, 102k, power package, one owner a older lady, extra clean, one of the lowest mileage AWD I could find, new tires, no rust. I paid a pretty penny for it in Nov 16 @$ 4800.

2006 Black GT, 101k, power package, when I got this it needed a good cleaning, had a dent on both fenders, front bumper and rear bumpers had various defects to them, worst of damage is on rear quarter. But I did pick this up for $500.

Craigslist can be your best friend when finding a Vibe, seen a lot of good ones go fast lately on there.

[petervivian]

Take into consideration the paint condition and rust.

[ChrisW]

Thanks for all the advice. rmacnamara, you've gotten some nice deals. I browsed through Craig's list and saw that there are much more out there. I believe that the good deals go fast. However I think I've come back around to the first two that I had seen online through Autotrader.

Seeing all of the high mileage cars on Craig's list makes me think that the 150K on the '03 GT isn't that bad, mileage wise. I'm more worried about the 5 owners, although the last two owners each kept it for at least three years.

I also want to pay attention to the brakes, which I should have done when I bought my 2nd Vibe. I thought that the '06 may have disc brakes all around but no, it has the disc/drum setup.

[vibenvy]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your second Vibe, but glad to hear you're already searching for another one! Definitely keep us updated on your search .

Also, if I'm not mistaken, the 2003-2005 (?) GTs were the only ones that had rear disc brakes. 1st gen owners please correct me if I'm wrong...

[Caretaker]

Good gravy, don't buy the one with that many owners. Its like having 5 bosses: no one of them is responsible for anything. As such, you are MUCH LESS likely to have the proper maintenance items done (fluids, etc) than if it was a one owner car. And again, years kills cars; miles don't. Today's cars can run forever if the proper maintenance is done. Go with the 2006. May I ask why you are not looking at a 2009-2013 Vibe (09-10) or Matrix? Again, a much newer car and much better (having owned both gens). As macnamara pointed out, things sell very quickly on craigslist. Why? Because dealers have their trolls searching every day looking for bargains and/or cars like the Vibe that don't break down and bring in a great profit, especially when Consumer Reports has had a picture of the second gen Vibe on their best used autos list for the past couple of years. Dealers take advantage of that. So when you see a car you want, call immediately and establish a repore. Most owners do not want to sell their "baby" to a slimy dealer given they probably have already been insulted with a low ball offer to buy it. People generally want to know that their "baby" will be taken care of by the next person. That's you.

[rmacnamara]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your second Vibe, but glad to hear you're already searching for another one! Definitely keep us updated on your search .

Also, if I'm not mistaken, the 2003-2005 (?) GTs were the only ones that had rear disc brakes. 1st gen owners please correct me if I'm wrong...

I can verify that they did have the rear disc set up in 2006 as it is on mine. Not sure why some have it and some don't. It is strange.

[ColonelPanic]

For the 1st gens, GT's all had 4-wheel discs with ABS standard. Base cars had disc/drums with optional ABS. AWD's were disc/drum with standard ABS.

[ChrisW]

Thanks for the info regarding brakes. Since my recent base Vibe came without ABS, I thought that brakes came in 3 configurations but I was unaware (or had forgotten) what was available with the different versions.

I took the '03 Vibe GT for a short test drive on Saturday. The car ran well and it felt good to be driving a stick again for the first time since 2014. I drove just fast enough to have it in all 6 gears. Brakes stopped very well. Two of the 4 tires were new. There were several cosmetic defects but nothing really unexpected. The parking brake was in need of adjustment which I mentioned to the salesman. But there was also an annoying repetitive ticking noise from the ventilation system that I also mentioned to him. I know that this can be time consuming to repair so I said that I may return after that issue is fixed.

In addition to Autotrader and Craig's list, a friend also told me about Cargurus web site. There were a few more that I found. Here's my list with years, models, and mileage.

• 2006 Vibe auto, 80K
• 2003 Vibe GT, 150K
• 2005 Vibe auto, 130K
• 2005 Vibe 5 speed, 141K
• 2008 Vibe auto, 113K

All are known to have ABS brakes except that 2005 Vibe auto and that one goes to auction tomorrow so I'll inquire about brakes when I ask if it's still available.

The prices range from $3K to $7,900 with the 5 speed manual in the low end and the GT in the middle. I wish that I found a private seller among these but 5 all are at dealers. Private sellers either had higher mileage cars or otherwise not what I'm looking for. I would rather have a first gen since I'm more comfortable with those and don't want to spend more $.

[Caretaker]

Chris, as a car buying expert, I just wanted to mention a few things:

1. buying from a dealer is ALWAYS a huge gamble. Dealers know NOTHING about the used cars they sell. They are there only because the previous owner did not want the hassle of selling their car themselves or in most cases, are easily manipulated by professional con artists who are experts in making a client feel they just got a good deal on their trade in when in fact they took a bath. Only the previous (hopefully one) owner knows what maintenance items have been replaced and whether the required fluid swapouts have been performed at a proper interval. A dealer only knows that it has a "tin box" in its possession that it plans on getting a $3,000 profit and that the car has been vacuumed and washed. Nothing more. No receipts or records history; nothing. As such, it is highly recommended that you buy from an individual owner who likely lies as poorly as the next person and will tell you everything about a car when asked. Normally owners want their car to go to a good home and they don't routinely sell lemons especially when you now know where they live. Owners who try to dump their lemons normally do so at a dealer in hopes the "inspection" will miss the fact that their differential is full of metal shavings, and that they can quietly slip away into the night as their ailing car is now the dealer's problem.

2. a very quick search of 2nd generation Vibes nationwide (under $8,000) revealed at least 500 on cars.com. That number doesn't even include Matrix models which I'm sure is much higher given they were only discontinued in 2013. You gave a wide price variation in your last note, so unless you are sticking with the bottom of that price range, I wouldn't discount the thousands of used cars out there to include first generation Matrix.

3. Using car gurus and cars.com and craigslist are excellent starts. If you belong to a credit union or Costco, Costco, Navy Federal, USAA and the like have auto buying services that have used cars in their inventory. They can be a bit higher given that most are certified used cars and come with warranties. Also, as was the case in the Washington DC area, firms like United Buying Service (ubs4cars.com) may be available in your area to find you a used car. I used UBS many times, even getting them to look WAY far away from my local area to find me the car I wanted.

Good luck with your search and decision. I just don't want you to fall for the flashing lights on "Route 1" while trying to find your next car. And without additional information, sight unseen, I'd choose the 2008 out of the list you presented us should you stick with that list of cars only.

[JerBear]

I would bet the annoying clicking sound is the damper door motor gear. Easy fix but will go away if your push the recirculate button. That is the way to test for the problem. you really can't leave it in recirc forever but that will tell you if thats the problem. I had to replace my sons and It took about an hour or so with youtube help.
viewtopic.php?t=3435#p305922
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUKgs6VIUY0

[ChrisW]

JerBear - That was exactly the problem. The Recirculate button was on when I started the test drive and since I never use it in winter, the first thing I did was to turn it off.

[vibenvy]

I can verify that they did have the rear disc set up in 2006 as it is on mine. Not sure why some have it and some don't. It is strange.

For the 1st gens, GT's all had 4-wheel discs with ABS standard. Base cars had disc/drums with optional ABS. AWD's were disc/drum with standard ABS.

Good to know! Thanks for the verification ! I'm not too familiar with the 1st gens.

[ChrisW]

Thanks for everyone's input. I spent a day shopping around in late Feb. and ended up making an offer for the 2006 Vibe auto with 80K miles. However the dealer and I were too far apart and I walked away. It was the end of a long frustrating day. Two days later I found a private seller on Craig's list with a neptune 2003 GT (146K miles) and a good price. It has some issues including the clicking vent actuator but I made the deal.

My abyss Vibe had that clicking vent actuator as well but I had the dealer fix it and paid the $$$ in labor. This time I'll attempt the repair myself and I ordered the part today.

[vibenvy]

Glad to hear you ended up scoring a Vibe from a private seller! Be sure and post some pictures of the "new" Vibe when you get a chance !

[tpollauf]

Awesome find Chris. Keep us informed of all work done to it. I may be of special interest seeing how the 2003 Vibe GT that I purchased a few months ago will be getting worked on this spring and may neeed to consult with many of you first gen owners for advise and guidance. Congrats