How much does the supercharger Help?

[Fredrick_NP]

I don't actually have a Vibe, but my mom does lol. The idea is once shes done with the payments she will sell it to me. (Although im not so sure if thats going to happen, seeing how much she loves it).But anyways. I love the car, and I love driving it, but it seems a bit weak. How much would it help to add the supercharger (to the base Vibe)? If I remember correctly, the vibe gets a 0-60 ~9.0 seconds. How much would that drop with the SC? I mean would it drop off a whole second? Or maybe a 1/2 second? Oh and does anyone have an idea of how the the fuel economy is lowered after the SC is put on? Thats one reason I think I might not want to get one. The vibe gets such great MPG ratings, I dont want to ruin it.

[Raven]

The supercharger boosts the HP from around 130hp to around 170hp. This should give you a second or more. The actual fuel mileage would be close to the same except for the fact that you'll be driving pedal to the metal all the time. Keep in mind that with the supercharger, you have to use premium fuel which is more expensive. Also the supercharger is not available for '05 or '06 Vibes. Hope this helps.

[Fredrick_NP]

Meh... I dont like the look of the newer vibes anyways. And premium... Its only like 10-20 cents more lol. With gas being so expensive it really doesnt matter.Oh I noticed something else.... It says the HP for that supercharger is ~170 @ 6,800 RPMs. I thought the base vine had a Redline of 6,000 RPMs. I mean how does that just change? It seems like it woulf through off the EFI or transmission.

[mcgusto82]

redline 6k?? no, it's much higher. not exactly how high. but it's higher than 6k.

[Fredrick_NP]

For the base? The GT I know has an amizingly hight redline up at 8,200 RPMs. But im pretty sure the base Vibe's redline is down around 6,000... Which seems to be a tiny bit on the high side. (Compared to most cars)

[damronjr]

Didn't want to get into this right now, but I will. My auto 04 base Vibe S/C saved me about 1s or more on the 1/8th mile. MPG has stayed about the same, as I still drive the same (foot to the floor!). Gas is 20c more, but that's really no biggie if you calculate it out, what, like $2 per tank from empty. And as for the redline, the new ECU that comes with the S/C changes alot of the settings on the computer, RPM's being one of them. I give it If you can afford one, get it! I hope you have a manual trans though!

[Fredrick_NP]

Oh man, whats wrong with the auto?I hate manual. I suck at shifting, and it always just ends up faster if I let the car do it for me lol. Does it have trouble dealing with the extra power, or are you just saying that as a performance aspect?

[damronjr]

Quote, originally posted by Fredrick_NP »Oh man, whats wrong with the auto?I hate manual. I suck at shifting, and it always just ends up faster if I let the car do it for me lol. Does it have trouble dealing with the extra power, or are you just saying that as a performance aspect?The auto tranny sucks, it takes forever to shift gears, and you lose a lot of power and time during the shift. Maybe someone will feel different (Lancer?), but I sure feel that it really just sucks.

[Fredrick_NP]

By takes forever do you mean it stays in the gear too long, or it takes too long to switch from one gear to the other?I deffinetly have noticed that it likes to stay in the low gears for a while, but the actual shifting time seems just fine.... (even when you step on it)

[damronjr]

Quote, originally posted by Fredrick_NP »By takes forever do you mean it stays in the gear too long, or it takes too long to switch from one gear to the other?I deffinetly have noticed that it likes to stay in the low gears for a while, but the actual shifting time seems just fine.... (even when you step on it)To me it seems to be both. I stays in each lower gear until redline (when you are say racing with pedal to the floor nonstop) and then drops everything after the shift into the next gear. The boost goes to S, the rpm's, power, and torque go down to nothing, and it's like starting all over again after each shift. I'm looking into trans mods as we speak! I can't drive a stick to save my life (just never learned), so if I am going to be stuck with this auto I am going to do everything I can to make it better!

[russ257]

is it possible to go into the computer and change the shif points i know you can do this on some trucks so i would assume you could by something. some even have different setups so you can do one for towing one for racing and one for fuel econimy ( ok towing wouldnt really apply to the vibe but it is on the trucks)

[damronjr]

Quote, originally posted by russ257 »is it possible to go into the computer and change the shif points i know you can do this on some trucks so i would assume you could by something. some even have different setups so you can do one for towing one for racing and one for fuel econimy ( ok towing wouldnt really apply to the vibe but it is on the trucks)Funny you ask b/c I just asked the same question to someone else today! There is a program that allows you to change this stuff, but from what I was told it won't work on our cars b/c our computers are too smart and will override the programs settings. I had something like you are referring to on my S-10 (Hypertech Programmer) that let me chage the shift points, top speed limiter, and stuff like that. Nothing available for us though!

[Merzbow]

Too bad you don't have a stick or I'd trade you for my auto...ewwww I wish I would have gone with a manual trans I was seriously considering the s/c but I'm just gonna be a cheater and get 25 shot of NO2. It's about $2500 cheaper than the s/c (removed)...I'm trying to save up and buy a house/condo by the time in 24. Spending $3000 on a supercharger wont help unfortunately I'm just gonna keep the Vibe until I get settled in and make money. I'll convert it to rear wheel drive and drop in a 307 or maybe even a 350!!!! WOOOHOOOO!!! Then I'll be running a Weiand blower ...so what if I have complicated goals

[mcgusto82]

lol

[Lancer]

Ya know I was just thinking about suggesting you just go with nitrous until yo can afford a s/c. I would go with a 50 or 75 wet shot of ZEX or Venom w/ a nice red mega purge plume. (that's what I was shopping for when I found out I won the s/c) About the shifting, I actually love my auto. It shifts quicker with the Unichip and ground wires. and I don't have any loss of power or momentum. It's funny racing a car w/ a manual, they normally get a little jump off the line but I always make it up as soon as they shift to 2nd and gain more ground every time they shift.

[damronjr]

Quote, originally posted by Lancer »Ya know I was just thinking about suggesting you just go with nitrous until yo can afford a s/c. I would go with a 50 or 75 wet shot of ZEX or Venom w/ a nice red mega purge plume. (that's what I was shopping for when I found out I won the s/c) About the shifting, I actually love my auto. It shifts quicker with the Unichip and ground wires. and I don't have any loss of power or momentum. It's funny racing a car w/ a manual, they normally get a little jump off the line but I always make it up as soon as they shift to 2nd and gain more ground every time they shift.Maybe the Unichip really helps there. I have ground wires as well, but just the stock ECU that came with the S/C.

[Lancer]

Yeah the Unichip does make a lot of difference in performance and transmission. Unfortunatly I'm having serious issues with their customer service. They seemed to have lost my chip or something. I talked to them last monday and they said they'd ship it out later that day. STILL haven't gotten it back yet! Not to mention other messups that ended up costing me more money.