Questions about Vibes

[Juelze]

Hi there,I'm new to this board and am considering purchasing a Vibe. I've always like the look of them and thought of getting one down the road. Well my brother purchased one in October and he told me about this board (Petrucci914). Anyway, I'm looking at getting an 03 Vibe GT. However, all this talk about clutches being burned up is making me leary. I swore I'd never buy an american car again (Own a 96' Grand Am SE 5spd now) but with a Toyota/Yamaha engine in the Vibe I felt comfortable in doing so. However, are the clutches/trannies the same in both the Matrix and Vibe? Are they as unreliable as people on this board make them out to be? Any info would be appreciated!-Juelze

[damronjr]

All I can say is "Welcome to the site and good luck with the purchase if you choose yto get the Vibe!" The engine/tranny/basically everything but the skin of the car is Toyota. I have heard of quite alot of problems with the manual tranny, but it's hard to say what the ratio is of those with problems to those who haven't had any problems. Good luck and keep us posted. There are plenty of guys on here with the manual tranny, so help should be on the way!

[JoeKat]

Welcome to the site Juelze! I have a 2003 Vibe GT. I bought it last May with 31K miles and now have 41k. I have not had any problems with my clutch. It does produce a burned smell very easily when launching if the clutch is not engaged smoothly. Hope this helps. By the way I used to have a base/auto before the GT and I highly recommend the GT. Also the GT's are not selling well because people don't want the 6sp in a wagon-too hard to talk on the cell phone and drink a latte while shifting so many gears so get a good price.

[4X4CHICHI]

Almost 50,000 and no clutch issues as of yet! The burnt smell is pretty standard on the GT's if you launch wrong. Lift rules!

[GMJAP]

> 25,000 mi and no clutch issues at all.

[Toasted7]

Quote, originally posted by 4X4CHICHI »Lift rules!I'll second that!