Hello how are you all doing, my name is Michael and I recently picked up my first Vibe. It's a 2005 Fusion Orange base model with 105k but the body looks like it has 405k lol. I'm rather familiar with 1zz/2zz cars since over the last 10 years I've owned 4 7th gen celicas and 2 corolla XRS's. Originally I was looking for a first gen Vibe GT or Matrix XRS since I'm a huge 2zz/c60 fan but I found this fusion orange vibe on the way to the crusher at a local junkyard and wanted to give it another chance at life. Besides the body being pretty beat up, the subframe and left control arm are definitely bent from some sort of impact since the wheel is pushed back and it is terrifying to drive, the C59 manual trans is also shot, with no 4th gear and a horrible howl coming from it when on the road in any gear. Since I live in California and bought the car from a salvage yard, I had to do a brake and and lamp inspection, smog check, and vin verification before I could legally register it and get plates for it, shockingly I passed all of them without needing to do anything so that was a good sign, my next step is to install a new subframe and control arms and do an xrs/gt c60 swap since I've heard c59s are just time bombs anyways. I'm happy to be here and I hope to keep this car for a very long time and give it a better life than it had in the past.
Welcome to GenVibe Mike. You sound like a young man with a lot of determination and motivation ... I commend you for that. Post pics of all your progress so we can see the resurrection taking place. I too have a fusion orange Vibe and love that color BUT mine is exactly what you were looking for. A 2004 Vibe GT
Wow that sure is a beauty! I'll be sure to update the forum with photos throughout my ownership, I'm honestly surprised with how useful these cars are and how it really is a shame they don't quite make anything like it in this day and age.
The Toyota Corolla iM is a pretty similar option. Still on a Corolla platform, a hatch, 1.8, 6 speed option, just not sure how I feel about the front end styling....the interior is nice though
I have a bad habit of fixing up basket case cars that should’ve just gone to the crusher too. Feels more rewarding to drive them knowing you pulled it from the jaws of certain death