GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Hello,
This is my first post. I just purchased a white 2005 Pontiac Vibe base automatic with 219k miles. The previous owner owned the car for 14 years and told me he always maintained the vehicle but when I asked specific questions he was vague. I bought a carfax and minus a starter installed a few weeks ago, that appeared to be the only repair he did, but he did put synthetic in every 5k miles.

I need this car running great. Right now it runs okay, but I know it needs some work to run great. I’m definitely going to give it a tune up, but I’d like to know from all of you based on your experience what you think I should definitely do first.

Go through the owners manual maintenance schedule and assume nothing else has been done. It's possible the seller did all the work, but why not oil changes too?

Replace all other fluids: engine coolant, transmission fluid (easy enough to replace filter too), and brake fluid.

Replace spark plugs, serpentine belt, engine and cabin air filters, clean the MAF sensor.

Inspect the brakes, replace as needed.

The car may need new struts/shocks.

It didn’t have an owners manual. The oil and transmission fluids look and smell good. I’m definitely going to do everything else you mentioned. Is there a good way to test if struts are bad?

You can download a manual from GM.

Here's a video on signs of strut failure: https://www.1aauto.com/how-to-tell-shoc ... ideo/14312

Wow that's a nice one. Mine is 2006, same white/grey, but it the paint is beat to hell and back again.

What do you mean by "runs ok"? Mine was quite sluggish. I regained a noticeable amount of HP with a couple of oil changes and short road trips, some fuel system cleaner, and new spark plugs. Also cleaned the MAF.