Welcome to GenVibe! Great choice on getting a 2nd gen (2009-2010) Vibe GT! My mom and I have had ours (pictured in my signature below) for about 5 1/2 years now and absolutely love them! As others have said, the gas pedal being extra sensitive is something you will get used to with time. Also, as others have mentioned, I would check with your local GM dealer to see what, if any, recalls have been done on it. We had the pedals in both our Vibes "circumsized" as tpollauf said
and then turned around and had them replaced with brand new pedal assemblies (the recall said if you weren't satisfied with the "modified" pedal assembly, they would replace it with a brand new one, so that's what we chose to do). The difference with the "modified" pedal was negligible, but the difference with the brand new pedal was night and day. Not nearly as touchy as before.
As far as mods go, I recommend a
K&N Typhoon intake (#69-8613TS). It gives the engine a nice growl and adds just enough get up and go to have a little fun
! Both our Vibes have one and we have seen a consistent 1-2 MPG increase in our gas mileage with them installed. The installation is very easy.
I personally would remove the aftermarket side moldings because I prefer the clean, sleek look, but that's just me. They're held on with double sided tape and could be easily removed by using fishing line to "saw" back and forth behind them until they come off. A hair dryer, some WD-40, a microfiber towel and some elbow grease will remove any leftover adhesive residue without harming the paint. Speaking of removing things, I removed the "PONTIAC VIBE GT" badges from the hatches of both our Vibes and really like how it looks (again, with the clean, sleek look). You would use the same method as above to remove the badges if you so desired.
I have done quite a few little things to our Vibes to customize them and make them more our own. Check out our Garage Threads, in my signature below, to see what else I've done and let me know if you have any questions.
*EDIT: Since you mentioned blind spots and such, I highly recommend some of those little 2" round blind spot mirrors that you can find at Auto Zone, Walmart, etc. We have them on both our Vibes and they help tremendously with reducing the blind spots.*