Another Vibe bites the dust...

[ColonelPanic]

Well, just got word that my friend Chris (phantom_operator) just ditched his 2003 Salsa Vibe. He tried looking at the local Toyota dealer, but the people he worked with there were complete jerks! (go figure eh?) "Uh yeah, we called the local auction house and we'll give you $6500 for your Vibe." Bull, his is worth a bit more than that... It's equipped like mine, moon & tunes, alloys, 2-tone, power package. 45,000 miles. So, he's got a new Cobalt LS coupe: Moonroof, power, alarm, MP3, subwoofer, steering wheel audio and cruise controls, trip computer, alloys, ABS, auto... In short, a hell of a lot more stuff than his Vibe had - all for $10 less a month than he was spending on the Vibe. Not sure how good of a deal he got on the Vibe, probably had to finance more than he wanted - had to finance 72 months, but oh well... He couldn't do too well I imagine, he's only had that Vibe for 2 years next month.He got sick of his Vibe... He hasn't had anywhere near the problems I've had with my Vibe, but he has had his fair share, more problems than most. Plus that Vibe's built-in pool, I guess that got to be too much for him. I wish him luck, hopefully it turns out to be a better car for him than the Vibe. His Vibe wasn't quite what he expected in terms of reliability and whatnot...

[Kari]

I definitely hope the Cobalt works out better for him than his Vibe did...and a cheaper payment to boot, can't beat that! Sounds like a nice car...and hopefully it won't decide to develop its own built-in pool...

[joatmon]

hopefully the dealer that resells it will offer a warranty and the new owner will finally be able to get the pool issue resolvedit's interesting to see people buy and sell these cars, I tend to keep them till they die, so I'm not used to the idea of buy a car, buy a new one in a year or two. I wonder if there's any way to find out if people in general keep the Vibe loinger or shorter than other cars.

[ragingfish]

Quote, originally posted by joatmon »hopefully the dealer that resells it will offer a warranty and the new owner will finally be able to get the pool issue resolvedWhen my dad traded in the grand am for his G6, he was at around 98,500 miles. The dealer asked him not to drive any more than necessary until he picked up the new car, since he can offer a warranty at resale if the car falls under 100,000 miles. I'm not sure if that's exclusive to him, or if it's a GM CPO thing in general...

[ColonelPanic]

He did have an extended warranty... Not sure if the extended warranty he bought with the Vibe would transfer to the new owners or not... It didn't cover that much, so if it did, it probably wouldn't be worth squat anyway to the new owner. More than likely, while his car was well maintained and in reasonably good shape (aside from the water leak, tons of rattles, a couple dents, some paint gone off the bumper, the too-frequent check engine light, and was still on the original set of Goodyear RSA's) with that kind of mileage, I'd say that his Vibe is going straight to the auction...Nope, it doesn't look like we have people are keeping their Vibes long. All these people getting rid of 'em, *cry*... I'm jealous, I have to keep driving this pile of crap that I can't keep out of the shop because I can't afford to do otherwise... waaaah! Life isn't fair.

[ragingfish]

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »Nope, it doesn't look like we have people are keeping their Vibes long. All these people getting rid of 'em, *cry*... I'm jealous, I have to keep driving this pile of crap that I can't keep out of the shop because I can't afford to do otherwise... waaaah! Life isn't fair. I keep reminding myself, a lot of the issues I have personally are due to the Toyota side, and not the GM.While I do love the Vibe, my many gripes I attribute to NUMMI and Toyota, and I don't hold it against GM. I've seen how my 'rents G6 and Grand Prix are performing and holding up...and I still am faithfully devoted to Pontiac and it's GM heritage. The Solstice and Sky can't come soon enough.

[ColonelPanic]

Oh yeah, I definitely don't attribute my hellish experience to GM... The only thing I think I can pin GM on for something crapping out was the Delphi CD player that got replaced a couple of times.Other than that, all of the parts that have been breaking have had Toyota stamped on them somewhere, believe it or not. Bad parts from Toyota, plus sometimes questionable assembly-related defects of NUMMI's doing. GM just sold me the turd... They could have done a better job supporting me and the car, but that's another story. I'd probably consider another GM... But absolutely never another Toyota product.

[ragingfish]

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »I'd probably consider another GM...Good man!

[ColonelPanic]

I know I've previously said otherwise, but... Looking at this Cobalt, I'm kinda intrigued by what I see... Plus they have a 5 year/60K powertrain warranty... Hmmm.... Maybe I can use GM's incentives (haven't checked, if there are any) to my advantage to help cover some of the loss I'll be taking...Can't wait to get out there to check out his Cobalt, he said he'd let me drive it.

[ragingfish]

I've yet to check one out up close, but all the reviews I read said it was a more than worthy successor to the dated and (finally) retired Cavalier.Would be curious to check one out myself sometime...

[ColonelPanic]

Definitely not just a warmed-over Cavalier for sure, from what I've read... And looking at a bunch of 'em up close, they're definitely far from the Cavalier. I'm kinda iffy about the looks of the coupe, the sedan is ho-hum, but inside these are very nice cars... That's where I'll be spending most of my time. lol!The Cobalt has been added to my shopping list, it may or may not be removed depending on how the buddy's car does. Insurance is super cheap too - the LS sedan is just $4 more a month than I'm paying on the Vibe right now - not bad for going two years newer.

[joatmon]

most of the time I use the VIbe as any other car, but I use the storage and hatchback option enough that it would be hard for me to go to a basic sedan, and although cars like the solstice and sky might be super cool, odds are that the interior space, expecially headroom, will keep me from owning one. Lots of cool cars I won't buy because of that. Headroom in the cavalier was a stopper, I don't know about the cobalt.I've had a lot of different vehicles, and have bought a couple pickups and and minivan new, but the Vibe was the first actual "car" that I bought new, it still has a lot of cool factor for me. Having it paid off and actually getting EPA mileage ratings also contribute to me having no particular desire to get rid of it. If I had sir knocksalot's reliability problems, or got bad fuel efficiency that a lot of Vibers seem to get, then I might be tempted, but the small sports coupe will likely never be a replacement option for me.

[tnpartsguy]

Who's extended warranty did he have? He might get a partial refund if he didn't use it!!!

[21Rouge]

Quote, originally posted by joatmon »most of the time I use the VIbe as any other car, but I use the storage and hatchback option enough that it would be hard for me to go to a basic sedan, and although cars like the solstice and sky might be super cool, odds are that the interior space, expecially headroom, will keep me from owning one. Lots of cool cars I won't buy because of that. Headroom in the cavalier was a stopper, I don't know about the cobalt.In February we began our research for our new car purchase....(Vibe now expected 2nd week of May). We considered only GM cars to take advantage of a relative's employment with GM and to use our GM Visa points. The new car was to replace our 2nd car. Our crappy van must be still be used to seat all 5 of us. We narrowed it down to the Vibe, the Saturn Ion and the Chevy Cobalt. I really wanted the Ion to 'work' since with GM cash incentives it was so much less money than the other two. However space was terrible for anyone in the back. I really enjoyed test driving the manual Cobalt. The Getrag (sp?) clutch was so smooth. But the sedan style wasnt going to be as flexible for our family and the interior space very similar to the ION as I beieve they are based on the same platform. The Vibe with its very good driver and passenger space coupled with the flexibility of storage in the hatch area was hard to ignore. And the Toyota connection made us feel more comfortable choosing a GM product.

[Jahntassa]

I'd consider trading the Vibe for the Cobalt. But..with the mods i've done to the Vibe, they wouldn't be able to sell it without fixing a lot (say, the hole in my headliner where my EQ is mounted?)It's cool, though. I still love the Vibe, just the payment gets me bummed.

[ragingfish]

Quote, originally posted by Jahntassa »I'd consider trading the Vibe for the Cobalt. But..with the mods i've done to the Vibe, they wouldn't be able to sell it without fixing a lot (say, the hole in my headliner where my EQ is mounted?)It's cool, though. I still love the Vibe, just the payment gets me bummed. If I weren't so die-hard Pontiac, I'd likely consider jumping to a Cobalt too...I have the same problem as you though. When I undo all the crap I've done, there's gonna be holes out the (removed)! Still very seriously considering a Sky or Solstice though...Next time I'm at my dealer for service, I'm gonna sit down with my salesguy and have a straight talk with him on what he would consider giving me for the Vibe, and what I can expect to pay for a properly equipped Solstice (after all, A/C is just ONE of the OPTIONS! )Is a Solstice a practical daily driver? Not really. With only 1.4 cubic feet of trunk space, my assortment of clothes for work would likely fill it to capacity (and that consists of about 5 shirts, a few pairs of paints, and a couple pairs of shoes). BUT...I'm only young once...and since a G6 equipped to my liking would be well over $28000 (I'm guessing), the Solstice is a great car that I think I'd have a lot of fun with.And no -- I'd likely keep all, if any, mods, to an absolute minimum.But you know damn well one of the few would be HID's.

[ColonelPanic]

Quote, originally posted by ragingfish »If I weren't so die-hard Pontiac, I'd likely consider jumping to a Cobalt too...I'd much rather have a Pontiac than a Chevy myself... Pity that they didn't give Pontiac this car as well, I think they've made a bad move by having the Vibe as their only entry model vehicle (whenever they finally kill the Sunfire off, that is.) Hell, I'd be happy with a Pursuit. I want the red lighting dang it! Guess I can go get a Cobalt, and get the cluster (metric eh) and everything else that lights up inside from Canada. The more I look at the Cobalt, the cooler it gets. Many reviews I've read are reasonably favorable... Many others trash the poor thing up and down, yacking about Corollas and Civics and such. heh. Sorry folks, I'd definitely take a Cobalt over a Corolla though, as that's kinda what I have now and it sucks bigtime. So I take those comments with a grain of something or other anyway...

[ragingfish]

I don't anticipate Pontiac leaving the Vibe as the only entry-level model when the Sunfire is finally sent out to pasture (a sad day that will be IMHO). I think they're just unsure WHAT they want to do. Frankly, I find the Pursuit styling ho-hum at best. and I'm glad to see they opted not to bring that blandness down to the states...with the G6, the new GTO, the upcoming Solstice and Torrent, the Pursuit would've seemed out of place in my opinion. It has too many characteristics of older generation Pontiacs. At least from the pictures I've seen. And the same with the Cobalt. I guess I was so blown away by the agressive lines of the G6, and the bold designs of the SKY and Solstice, that the, well, "mediocre" looks of the Cobalt have disappointed me. The interiors look nice, and from what I hear from others, they are leaps-and-bounds farther ahead of previous generation GM cars in terms of quality, fit-and-finish, and losing that cheap-o feel. But I was really disappointed with the exteriors. The Cobalt seems to honda-ish. I think the last generation of Cavaliers had great styling...it was agressive, but sharp. The Cobalt, IMHO is a step backward. And don't even get me started on the Aveos. Those SCREAM Daewoo...wonder why? I think it's great GM is taking advantage of their global resources...but dammit, make a car FIT IN where it's gonna end up...Sorry for ranting...The bottom line. The cobalt is a solid car...and I think it's a winner for GM...but I can't say it's great enough to woo me away from my beloved Pontiac!

[ColonelPanic]

Yep, the styling isn't much that's for sure.... It's either bland, or bland with a riceboy spoiler, check whichever box on the options list you choose. They could have done much better, I'll agree. It isn't bad, but it doesn't stir any emotions, something that may be necessary in this class...

[ragingfish]

Seriosuly, (removed) is with that wing???Talk about a way to kill sales...'Tis a shame you can't make that wing an option...If I were to own a Cobalt SS, I'd likely try to find a non-SS owner with the same color car and see if they'd agree to a trunk lid switch.

[iinan]

I checked out the colbalt as well, and it looks like a car for people who dont love cars (IMHO). I am holding out for the g6 convertible.And I agree with raginfish, that wing on the SS is a joke.

[ragingfish]

Quote, originally posted by iinan »I am holding out for the g6 convertible.THAT is a beautiful machine. I saw it at the NY Auto Show. Wow. All I can say is Wow. If I only had the money for a fully-loaded G6 GTP hardtop. *drooooooooool*

[Psychovibe]

Well sorry to see your friend lose the vibe. Hope he likes the Cobalt better. We have an LS coupe Cobalt and it isn't anywhere near as fun to drive as the Vibe. We drove it to Salt Lake City to get a rear mount turbo created for it, hopefully this will liven it up a bit. We are creating a new body kit for it like we did for the Vibe, though we hopefully won't have the delays we had for it.Hope to see many of you all at the GM Small Car Bash.

[ColonelPanic]

Still haven't gotten around to checking out the Cobalt. I did talk to him today about it though., 6,000 miles on it already. Not a single problem thus far, no squeaks, no rattles... Not bad! A consistent 34 MPG whereas his Vibe would only get upper 20's, maybe 30 for the 80 mi/day commute to work. Not to mention a bit more oomph down low that the Vibe lacked. lolHe said today how glad he is that he no longer has the Vibe. lol