gas outlook....vibe really a good idea?

[brother chai]

still thinking about picking up a vibe. but after katrina i have become very hesitant about gas prices. i know they will die down as winter nears, but in some outlooks i've seen, prices will hold near $3.00 or more in the coming years. would a vibe gt that takes premium gas really be that good of an option at this point. anyone know of any other fuel efficient vehicles that can carry a 10 foot kayak or surfboard, and that i can get used for under $12,000? it seems to be a very hard to find vehicle...almost unachievable.

[ragingfish]

only the GT uses premium.base and awd models use regular.if it's the horsepower you're looking at, then you need to pick your battles with the vibe. you can have lower fuel costs, or more horses -- not both.and prices have dropped almost $0.30 since the hurricane here...as of friday, it was down to $2.83...i'm pretty sure by tomorrow it will be lower.

[brother chai]

only reason i've limited myself to the vibe is because my family owns a GM dealership, and if i act soon, i can pick up the only vibe on the lot for a bit cheaper than a normal customer would. problem is, it's a gt. i could always ask to find a vibe at an auction, but i hate to be a pest.but i didn't know if anyone knew of some other options out there?

[Kari]

Well, one thing to take into account is that no matter how expensive regular gas is, premium will probably continue to be just 20 cents more expensive. In a vehicle with a fuel tank the size of the Vibe's, that's about a $2.50 difference per tank over what it would cost to fuel a base or AWD Vibe. Depending on your income, the difference is probably fairly negligible...less than what you might spend on a meal at a fast food restaurant.

[jimincalif]

Figure if you drive 15K miles per year. Assume you'd get 25 mpg in either the GT or the base. That's 600 gallons of fuel per year. @ 20 cents more per gallon, that is $120 per year more. If you keep the car 6 years, that is $720 over the life of the car. If you can get a really good deal on the car, it seems to me it would still be worth it.

[JustinVGT]

I agree with Kari and Jimincalif. I have my GT and when I was deciding whether to buy the GT or base, I figured spending the $2 more on average per tank of fuel for the upgrade is worth it. Like they mentioned, prices have gone up, but the price difference between regular and premium gas has stayed the same usually about 20 cents. When I fill up, it averages about 10 gallons. The GT can be a blast to drive when you want and then if you drive normally you'll get great gas mileage.

[joatmon]

Quote, originally posted by jimincalif »Figure if you drive 15K miles per year. Assume you'd get 25 mpg in either the GT or the base. That's 600 gallons of fuel per year. @ 20 cents more per gallon, that is $120 per year more. If you keep the car 6 years, that is $720 over the life of the car. If you can get a really good deal on the car, it seems to me it would still be worth it.true with those numberrs, but I have averaged 36 mpg in the 89000 miles I have driven. So if a GT only gives me 25 mpg and I drive 33K miles per year, at $3/gallon, gas for my base would cost me $2748 per year, while the GT at 25 mpg and $3.20 per gallon would cost $4224, or an additional $1476 per year in gasline costs. However, some GT owners consistently get better than 25 mpg, and a lot of base owners consistently get worse than 36 mpg, Few here put as many miles on per year as I do, although there are some, and some put on a lot more. Given the number of miles I drive, mpg was more important to me than power. Bottom line is look over all of the fifty or so previous threads about actual gas mileage, see what kinds of real numbers people are getting. Decide how important it is to you have a HP boost when the RPMs are over 6500 compared to the additional fuel and insurance costs of the the GT. To some here the extra cost is well worth it. To some it is notNo matter what the numbers say, you have to go to a dealership somewhere and test drive a base and a GT. Each owner's needs and desires are different, and you may find that the GT is not powerful enough for your tastes, or that the base is powerful enough. Don't take our word on it, it's your money.

[jake75]

Quote, originally posted by brother chai »only reason i've limited myself to the vibe is because my family owns a GM dealership, and if i act soon, i can pick up the only vibe on the lot for a bit cheaper than a normal customer would. problem is, it's a gt. i could always ask to find a vibe at an auction, but i hate to be a pest.but i didn't know if anyone knew of some other options out there?I suspect a Vibe GT "a bit cheaper" than a normal customer is still considerably more than what a Vibe base would. How long to get a 2006 Vibe base? GM has reduced the prices of the 2006's - probably won't cost you much more than a 2005. IMO unless you want a GT for the power/lift whatever, it is a waste of money. A 2006 Vibe base is the best option I can recommend particularly facing what most everyone thinks is permanently high gas prices.I am not in to used cars, but a friend of mine has for years had his dealer buy late model used cars to his general specification at auction. Dealer charges him $500 to do that. It's a win-win situation.

[redlava]

The other cars out there right now besides the Vibe/Matrix with good fuel economy and can hold plenty of stuff that I can think of are:Chrysler PT Cruiser - mid to upper 20'sSuzuki Aerio - upper 20's low 30's Scion Xa - low to mid 30's Scion Xb - upper 20's low 30'sFord Focus Wagon - upper 20's low 30'sMadza 3 - upper 20's low 30'sMazda Protege 5 - mid 20's low 30's Honda Element - low to mid 20'sNot a complete list, but if fuel economy is what you are looking for in a newer used car. A Vibe is one of the better options. The GT makes it a little less frugal because of the premium gas, and you won't be able to keep your foot off the accelerator.

[2001FZ1]

First 5 tanks in my Vibe GT......30-32mpg each time.Big deal if it takes premium......$.20 more per gallon.If I drive 15,000 miles a year that is only about $100 more per year.....that is worth having the extra horsepower.

[goodvibe]

It's not just the .20. It will also get 5-6 mpg less than a base. It will cost about $375 more a year to fuel a GT. It wouldn't stop me from buying one though. That's only $7 a week. BFD. If that's the reason you won't buy a GT than you should be looking at a cheaper car. The purchase price and repair (clutch)difference over a base will cost you more than that over the life of the car.

[JustinVGT]

Quote, originally posted by goodvibe »It's not just the .20. It will also get 5-6 mpg less than a base. Although, it seems the majority of the base Vibes are autos, which from what I've heard get the same and sometimes worse mileage than the GT with our 6 speed manual. I consistantly get 26-28 combination city/highway and on roadtrips cruising on the highways around 75-80 mph I average around 32 mpg. Best I've gotten is 34 mpg, worst was 25 mpg in the winter when I only had a 5 mile commute. If you have a base Vibe with the manual transmission then I'm sure you'll get better mileage than the GT, but if you get a base auto you probably won't get much better than the GT.

[Baltovibe]

The EPA has a website that lets you report your actual MPG figures among a shared database. For example, the actual MPG experienced by users is 24.6MPG for a 2003 Vibe automatic. The website is located at http://www.fueleconomy.gov/mpg...eList

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[goodvibe]

Apples to apples. If stick was an issue than we wouldn't be talking about a GT. Sticks in a base make a big difference. We constantly floor these cars to get going and being able to do so and stay at lower RPM without the parasitic loss is huge. I agree about the auto but then again the worst case scenario shouldn't be enough to sway your decision if your buying a GT for the performance upgrade.

[jake75]

INTERESTING - the EPA sticker from my 2003 Vibe Automatic says 28 mpg city, 33 mpg highway.

[joatmon]

Quote, originally posted by Baltovibe »The EPA has a website that lets you report your actual MPG figures among a shared database. For example, the actual MPG experienced by users is 24.6MPG for a 2003 Vibe automatic. The website is located at http://www.fueleconomy.gov/mpg...eList I think it is important to point out that this represents the input from only one person.

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[goodvibe]

[2001FZ1]

I was thinking the same thing joatmon

[zionzr2]

Well i just registered and now my numbers will be represenative also

[jake75]

I think I may report 100mpg - that ought to up the average .[No - I wouldn't do that!]

[zionzr2]

Quote, originally posted by jake75 »I think I may report 100mpg - that ought to up the average .[No - I wouldn't do that!]actually their logs will show this as an error...they flag excessive values such as: more gallons than tank abnormal high or low mpg numbers.

[VibeosaurusRex]

Ive been getting 28 avg (city / 20 mile commute to work) and alot of that is stop and go here in the Bay area.

[binary]

dang, this thread about getting a GT is only going to cost $x over the life of the car compared to a regular... kind of depresses me.I'll just keep telling myself I enjoy 140HP and 35mpg... Somehow I keep hearing from the garage... "You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody..."

[zionzr2]

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/mpg...=truehere is the page for the AWD... though not clearly marked have to go by the est. mpg that was on the sticker... the only one currently listed is mine..second 2004 auto trans model in the list... the first is the base.

[TheBri]

Don't know how I compair to the MPG but I am lucky to get 425 KM to a tank of 91 or higher on my 04 Vibe GT. Is this good or average or bad compaired to what everyone is also getting on the GT models because to me thats not that good. I was under the imprestion that it was going to be better than that. I wouldn't mind the gas mileage being like that if it wasn't for GM dealer damaging my car in other ways after having for 2 weeks.But got to love the GT model when getting on it! Question? anyone hit their rev. limiter at around 6300 RPM when its supposed to be 8200 RPM?

[drunkenmaxx]

Quote, originally posted by TheBri »Question? anyone hit their rev. limiter at around 6300 RPM when its supposed to be 8200 RPM?your engine must have been cold.

[Stang2Vibe]

Quote, originally posted by drunkenvibe »your engine must have been cold.Yep. Your oil has to warm up to a preset temperature or the oil valve that engages the extended lift mechanism won't open and lift won't engage. It's done to protect the engine from revving high before the oil warms up. This has happened to many of us. We thought we were breaking something in the engine.

[TheBri]

I should have kinda figured that one. I though it had something to do with when its cold, and was in a chock mode. Any how I had to take my car to the dealer for them to do a gas mileage test on it. But I am also going to take it to a Toyota dealer to get them to look it over, since the GM dealers around here have no clue about this car/motor.I will keep you all posted on what they come up with.

[TheBri]

The dealers mileage test conculded 6.8 lilters per 100 km and I am getting as test my self 11-13 liters per 100km. So I realy don't know how they got that number, and so I asked them and they couldn't tell me to much on how they did the testing.