Greetings from SoCal

[BrentC]

After an anxious 2 week wait for my account to be approved, I can finally now introduce myself!

After a lot of research looking for the "perfect" used car for our daughter (who just graduated college) I landed on the Pontiac Vibe. The combination of funky good looks, hatchback versatility, and Toyota reliability (along with interior comfort) makes this the ideal car for our daughter and she's THRILLED with it.

I bought it locally after spending about 90 minutes inspecting it from stem-to-stern, including cooling system pressure test and cylinder compression test. All the mechanicals are in fantastic condition (2009 2.4 with 83,000 miles) and compression came in at 195/195/190/195, coolant was clean, engine oil was at the 1/2 way mark and the last oil change was about 4,000 miles ago. All good signs!

The only problem was that this poor old girl had been neglected cosmetically. The previous owner(s) were really good about maintenance, but did not care about washing, waxing, and vacuuming her. .

After bringing her home, I set about polishing this "diamond in the rough" before presenting it to our daughter.



I completely removed the interior to do a deep clean



And found ALL kinds of goodies in there. Including $16.38 in change! lol













Now our college-graduate has reliable, comfortable wheels to get her to her new job every day, and its a car I won't mind doing service on for her because it is SO EASY to work on!

I'll post questions I have in another thread....

Brent

[zbyers]

Welcome to the club. Definitely looks like a nice car there. Beware-- the 2.4L engines have a history of burning some oil. Just keep an eye on it to get a gauge. Yours may not be affected yet; but it is inevitable on those engines. Outside of that, take care of her-- car and daughter-- and they'll take care of you when needed.

[BrentC]

Welcome to the club. Definitely looks like a nice car there. Beware-- the 2.4L engines have a history of burning some oil. Just keep an eye on it to get a gauge. Yours may not be affected yet; but it is inevitable on those engines. Outside of that, take care of her-- car and daughter-- and they'll take care of you when needed.

Thanks - the oil consumption issue was my biggest fear when purchasing this car. I grilled the previous owner about frequency of oil changes and fills in between. They produced records showing regular (~5,000 to 8,000 miles) oil changes and swore up and down that they never needed to add oil between changes.

That being said, when I handed the keys to my daughter I admonished her to check the oil EVERY time she stops for gas. or once a month, whichever occurs more frequently

[Bookworm]

Welcome to the club. Definitely looks like a nice car there. Beware-- the 2.4L engines have a history of burning some oil. Just keep an eye on it to get a gauge. Yours may not be affected yet; but it is inevitable on those engines. Outside of that, take care of her-- car and daughter-- and they'll take care of you when needed.

Thanks - the oil consumption issue was my biggest fear when purchasing this car. I grilled the previous owner about frequency of oil changes and fills in between. They produced records showing regular (~5,000 to 8,000 miles) oil changes and swore up and down that they never needed to add oil between changes.

That being said, when I handed the keys to my daughter I admonished her to check the oil EVERY time she stops for gas. or once a month, whichever occurs more frequently

Hah! I can't get my wife to check her oil once a month, let alone once a week when she gets gas

[tpollauf]

Welcome to GenVibe. Wow does this story sound familiar .... except in my case it was for my son & his first car some EIGHT years ago. Pretty much the same year/car also (except trim ... his is the GT ) Yes, the 2.4l engines "may" have burning issues eventually. My son's burns roughly one quart every 2500 miles. No big deal, we just keep an eye on it and at 125k miles it's still the best car I/we have ever owned. ZERO maintenance issues other than the expected wear items! I also have to laugh because when we got my son's car eight years ago, the odometer was literally at 35995 just below the 36000 mile lease turn in amount and man was it trashed. Sticky gooey stuff under the rear seats along with other surprises Not as lucky as you hitting the jackpot on $$$ She may not realize it you but your daughter just got the BEST gift that she'll ever receive. Congrats to the two of you.

[BrentC]

Thanks for the welcome. I was originally hoping to get the GT because, well.... because its a "GT". Then I realized that this particular "base model" was optioned out to essentially be a GT (except with 17" chrome wheels instead of the 18s)

Looking at the options listed for the 2009 model year, there isn't anything listed for the GT that this particular car doesn't have. What else is different about the GT? (I think I recall something about the suspension - maybe stiffer shocks/struts?)

[tpollauf]

I just verified that you do NOT have an AWD model (thanks for the factory sticker showing options & $$$) If you went by the brochure which was out at the time, it shows the 17" clad wheels & luggage rack being standard on AWD models. Rare to see both of them on a non-AWD Vibe.

[zbyers]

I just verified that you do NOT have an AWD model (thanks for the factory sticker showing options & $$$) If you went by the brochure which was out at the time, it shows the 17" clad wheels & luggage rack being standard on AWD models. Rare to see both of them on a non-AWD Vibe.

I was thinking the same thing when I saw this too. The 2.4L in a non-GT/AWD is pretty uncommon.

I think the only things the OP's base 2.4L is missing compared to the GT version is the wheels and the GT appearance package (spoiler, flared skirts, etc.)