GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Glad I'm not the Guy who bought one of these in the last month or so! According to CarGurus, a kenosha Wisconsin Fiat dealer appears to be having a fire sale on their inventory of 2015 Fiat 500l CUV's! http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/new/search ... =105883389. This vehicle appears to be a pretty close match to a Vibe! I would have trouble passing up a deal like this, if I was in the market for a new car. Can anyone provide first-hand information on this vehicle?

For that price, why not? I checked locally hoping to find a similar deal but there are 0 at the Fiat studio and only 17 if I expand the search out to 100 miles. I looked into these a while back but haven't kept up with them so I have no idea what's going on with the lack of stock.

I like them, quirky looking things but look to be very useful vehicles. Very Vibe-like I think.

I don't know anyone who has one and see very few on the road here. I suspect the 500X is going to steal some of its thunder, what little it had to begin with.

Fix
It
Again
Tony

Great price! But not for me Looks like it needs to be on the other side of the world. Time will tell how dependable these become.

Has Fiat EVER made a good looking car ? Or for that matter any FRENCH automaker ? I know, I know the Bugatti Veyron is a feat of auto engineering but man it is hard to look at

I think our Vibes look more cute than the new Fiats

Has Fiat EVER made a good looking car ?

Hey now!
If you bring it into the context of the time period you will admit that some Fiats looked very nice indeed.
Fiat 500 Topolino
Fiat Nuovo 500
Fiat 850 coupe
Fiat Uno
Fiat Punto

and who could ever forget the Fiat Spyder?

In concept the Fiat Uno is a progenitor of the Vibe. It's a 5 door hatchback without sporty or outdoorsy pretensions. Keep in mind it is smaller than the Vibe. My dad had 2 Uno and one Punto. They fit European, in particular Italian road condition extremely well. They did require their fixes though.

Hard to pass up a brand new car for 12,5. It'd also be hard for me to get in that and drive it everyday, too.

I scored my 2009 Vibe msrp $19,480 for a little over $12,000 plus tax in January 2009 thanks to dealer incentive, rebates and reg + bonus GM Card points. The buy of a lifetime.

Fiat's down at the bottom of the reliability ratings for cars sold in America right now. I wouldn't recommend buying one unless you don't mind the extra cost of upkeep and downtime.

lannvouivre wrote:Fiat's down at the bottom of the reliability ratings for cars sold in America right now. I wouldn't recommend buying one unless you don't mind the extra cost of upkeep and downtime.

Agreed. These things are junk right off the showroom floor.

When they cut the price another $12,000, I might be interested. The car is worth almost that much.

Not a lot of love for the Fiat, but I wouldn't hesitate to buy one if I were in the market for a new car. The Fiat 128SL I owned was dependable and a blast to drive! I'd still like to hear some driving impressions, if anyone has experience with the Fiat 500L.

Chiadog wrote:The Fiat 128SL I owned was dependable and a blast to drive

1970s Fiat was different from modern Fiat, probably.

L=Lounge, almost 24 inches longer than the base 500, but that's still pretty small, 163 inches total length, vs. almost 172 inches for my 2003 Vibe Base.
Also about 6 inches narrower outside.

Friend of mine has a bright red 500 Sport Turbo 1.4L 2-door. At 140 inches length, that's about 80% the length of my Vibe. Feels like it would fit inside the Vibe if I folded the seats down.

According to cars.com/compare the Fiat 500L and Gen1 Vibe are nearly identical! With the Fiat being 5" shorter, 3" taller, and equal width! MPG's are the same and the Fiat's passenger space and luggage space are a little bit larger than the Vibe. Not sure how that translates to utility in the real world, though.
http://www.cars.com/go/compare/trimComp ... 60FIC041A0

chiadog: are you looking to get another car?

vibrologist wrote:chiadog: are you looking to get another car?

Not really, but my 05 Base has seen better days so I can see that the time may be coming! As I get older, I am less and less satisfied with the Vibes harsh ride and alignment and wheel balance "sensitive" front end! It's the Gen1's incredible utility, simplicity and dependability that makes it hard to part with!

It's the Gen1's incredible utility, simplicity and dependability that makes it hard to part with!

You've got that right! And the harsh ride is the one thing that bothers me too.


I would like to try a Hyundai Elantra GT or a Hyundai Elantra Touring.

My sister's Elantra GT is an absolute baaaabe. Love that thing. The ride is confident but not rough, and the manual shifter is very precise.

lannvouivre wrote:My sister's Elantra GT is an absolute baaaabe. Love that thing. The ride is confident but not rough, and the manual shifter is very precise.

Lannvouvre: which exact model and year is it?

vibrologist wrote:

It's the Gen1's incredible utility, simplicity and dependability that makes it hard to part with!

You've got that right! And the harsh ride is the one thing that bothers me too.

Harsh ride in a Vibe? Maybe because my last 2 vehicles were a 93 Geo Metro and a 78 Dodge B300 camper van. The Vibe feels as smooth as can be to me. Maybe you're due for new struts? My 03 has probably original struts (based on the rotten, torn boots) and feels fine.

vibrologist wrote:

It's the Gen1's incredible utility, simplicity and dependability that makes it hard to part with!

You've got that right! And the harsh ride is the one thing that bothers me too.

I would like to try a Hyundai Elantra GT or a Hyundai Elantra Touring.

The Hyundai Elantra Touring is on my short-list! Can anyone write a quick evaluation on this car?

lannvouivre wrote:My sister's Elantra GT is an absolute baaaabe. Love that thing. The ride is confident but not rough, and the manual shifter is very precise.

Can you compare/contrast it to your Vibe for utility, ride,road noise, handling, MPG's, etc?

BenWA wrote:

vibrologist wrote:

It's the Gen1's incredible utility, simplicity and dependability that makes it hard to part with!

You've got that right! And the harsh ride is the one thing that bothers me too.

Harsh ride in a Vibe? Maybe because my last 2 vehicles were a 93 Geo Metro and a 78 Dodge B300 camper van. The Vibe feels as smooth as can be to me. Maybe you're due for new struts? My 03 has probably original struts (based on the rotten, torn boots) and feels fine.

No, Ben, maybe you need to drive a VW Golf for a day on the same roads as you normally do or we need to wear out our struts as bad as yours!

BenWA wrote:

vibrologist wrote:

It's the Gen1's incredible utility, simplicity and dependability that makes it hard to part with!

You've got that right! And the harsh ride is the one thing that bothers me too.

Harsh ride in a Vibe? Maybe because my last 2 vehicles were a 93 Geo Metro and a 78 Dodge B300 camper van. The Vibe feels as smooth as can be to me. Maybe you're due for new struts? My 03 has probably original struts (based on the rotten, torn boots) and feels fine.

Hey BenWA, I'm guessing you're not from northern Wisconsin (Washington state maybe?) If it weren't for frost heaves on the secondary roads caused from frost penetration to 4 or 5 feet, I would be OK with the Vibes ride quality. Probably the original struts are not helping anything!

Chiadog wrote:

lannvouivre wrote:My sister's Elantra GT is an absolute baaaabe. Love that thing. The ride is confident but not rough, and the manual shifter is very precise.

Can you compare/contrast it to your Vibe for utility, ride,road noise, handling, MPG's, etc?

All better except maybe interior space for cargo, but that's to be expected since safety regulations kind of move toward making the structure of the car fatter without making the outside of the car bigger. To be fair, however, you may be better off looking at the KIA Forte5 because KIAs tend to be more reliable and they offer a turbocharged engine that I think puts down more than first gen Vibe GTs while getting better mileage. I can't vouch for interior noise for the KIAs because I have not been in one, though.

EDIT: Also I think her elantra is a 2014 or 2015. It's pre-facelift where they changed the grill.

lannvouivre wrote:

Chiadog wrote:

lannvouivre wrote:My sister's Elantra GT is an absolute baaaabe. Love that thing. The ride is confident but not rough, and the manual shifter is very precise.

Can you compare/contrast it to your Vibe for utility, ride,road noise, handling, MPG's, etc?

All better except maybe interior space for cargo, but that's to be expected since safety regulations kind of move toward making the structure of the car fatter without making the outside of the car bigger. To be fair, however, you may be better off looking at the KIA Forte5 because KIAs tend to be more reliable and they offer a turbocharged engine that I think puts down more than first gen Vibe GTs while getting better mileage. I can't vouch for interior noise for the KIAs because I have not been in one, though.

EDIT: Also I think her elantra is a 2014 or 2015. It's pre-facelift where they changed the grill.

Thanks Lanny, Sounds like a dcecent Compact! Cargo space is important to me, and especially a flat cargo floor! I can't understand the designers who put an 8" lift-over at the hatch.