New Vibe owner here- my pro's & con's

[kng1994]

Hello there! I'm a newbie...been lurking for a few months. Love the site! Had my Vibe 3+ months now...here's my pro's & con's. Lemme' know your thoughts...2003 Silver Vibe GT w/6-speed manual. Future mods limited to a K&N bolt-on air filter, some blue (Xenon?) headlights, maybe some 17" rims, and some carpet in the cargo area.Pro's :- GREAT LOOKING RIDE! Much better than the Matrix, the Vibe's look is much more aggressive. Love the two-tone color scheme.- Super-fun to drive.- Nice big moon roof.- LOUD factory in-dash 6 CD changer w/6 speakers ("Moon & Tunes"???)- Good gas mileage. Anywhere from 26-29 city. (I'll post a detailed report in the mileage thread)- Roomy! The kids don't have to fight for room in the back seat. Plus, I can fit mucho musical gear with the rear seats folded down. - Outside temperature on dash is nice.- Intermitten rear wiper function. Nice!- Roof rack look nice...like it's supposed to be there.- Adjustable rear cargo tie-downs.- In-console power adapter.- Inexpensive to insure.- Here's an odd one...the floor space between the center console & shifter is a perfect place to hide my XM radio! Cons (most are petty or ticky-tack):- Reverse gear beeper!- Requires premium gas!!!- No carpet in rear cargo area.- Lots of outside wind noise above 25 mph.- Lots of wind turbulance in the cabin with the moon roof open by itself. I have to crack another window to alleviate it.- Most of the GT's power is available above 6,000 RPM's.- Useless change holders.- Dash lights hard to see during bright daylight.- I hate the cup holder position. The cups get in the way!

[WaveAction]

well some of the cons i cant relate too..but the others i can-i have never heard of a vibe with the reverse gear beeper- you can easily make a carpet for the rear cargo, just go to a home depot and buy a piece of carpet thats big enough and cut out the shape of the cargo area. cost you under $10-i dont get alot of wind noise or turbulance in mine - i agree, the change "holders" are useless...i use the little cubby to the left of the steering wheel as my change holder.- i sometimes find it hard to see the dash lights during bright sunlight, but rarely.- and i agree with the cup holders, mines 5 speed, if i have a cup in the cup holder and the e brake on, i gotta kinda move the cup abit to release the ebrake.

[MRCN RCE]

welcome to the family, glad to see another GT join. post pics before i light a torch and notify the rest of the mob here's how to disable the reverse beep: http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=21480cargo carpet:http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=15734there's a big list of how-to's in the tech and DIY forum. you're lucky, i had to ADD the console power, they stopped that beginning in the 05 model year

[MRCN RCE]

shayne, the reverse beeps for our GTs because reverse is right next to 1st gear. it does that so people don't put it in reverse but think they're in first and vice versa

[kostby]

Welcome to GenVibe, and congrats on your purchase.There are a few quirks unique to the 2003's and the 6-speed 180 h.p. GT, as you've noted. A few months browsing/lurking/searching the archives of GenVibe and you'd have known about most of them, BEFORE making a buying decision. I bought a used '03 Base Vibe in early '04 (instead of a used silver '03 GT that was actually hundreds of dollars less expensive) after reading the forums. I was fine with the reverse beeper, it was the extra cost for premium gas that killed the deal for me. And this is when regular was $1.50 a gallon!The 'complete blackout' gauges are unique to the '03s. Be sure you've adjusted the brightness to the 'broad daylight' setting, then dim it at night so you don't go blind! Beginning with the '04 model year, the gauges are visible in daylight, even with the ignition off. I guess they removed the tint from the gauge pod cover.The turbulence from the moonroof is minimal if you use the 'tilt open' feature, instead of full-open when the windows are up.I found the two-level armrest more of an annoyance than the cupholders. With the 6-speed, I kept hitting my elbow on it.

[jwalcik]

Welcome aboard!I've had my Vibe for nearly three years now. At some point early in my ownership, I started tuning out the reverse beeper. I still get questions about it from passengers, but it definitely doesn't bother me anymore. I have found that it's nice to have enabled on occasion when someone else is going to drive my car. I like being able to give them the "reverse is all the way to the left and up, it'll start beeping when you've actually found it" line.

[WaveAction]

ah gotcha man, never knew that about the GT's, it's a good safety feature then, but would agree it'd get annoying

[BLAQJAQ]

hmmm another Viber...welcome...GT in 2 tone..that is rare...Well Welcome

[chief100psu]

Stupid question - where is the useless change holder? That one on the left of the steering wheel? Holds just a few quarters?

[Mavrik]

Quote, originally posted by chief100psu »Stupid question - where is the useless change holder? That one on the left of the steering wheel? Holds just a few quarters?I never used it lol

[WaveAction]

theirs that one and the one beside the cup holders, which is also useless

[kng1994]

Quote, originally posted by kostby »Welcome to GenVibe, and congrats on your purchase.There are a few quirks unique to the 2003's and the 6-speed 180 h.p. GT, as you've noted. A few months browsing/lurking/searching the archives of GenVibe and you'd have known about most of them, BEFORE making a buying decision. Yeah, I did research it for 2-3 months before buying it. I didn't really plan on buying the GT, thought, it was kind of a bonus. Even if I fully knew about the quirks, I still woulda' bought it, even with the premium gas.Quote, originally posted by kostby »The 'complete blackout' gauges are unique to the '03s. Be sure you've adjusted the brightness to the 'broad daylight' setting, then dim it at night so you don't go blind! Beginning with the '04 model year, the gauges are visible in daylight, even with the ignition off. I guess they removed the tint from the gauge pod cover.I keep them dim all the time now. I've sorta' got used to the gauges being dim during the day, but the brightness at night was too much.Quote, originally posted by kostby »The turbulence from the moonroof is minimal if you use the 'tilt open' feature, instead of full-open when the windows are up.I realize that, but I'm one of those guys who has the moonroof open all the time unless it's pouring rain or 2 degrees out.Quote, originally posted by kostby »I found the two-level armrest more of an annoyance than the cupholders. With the 6-speed, I kept hitting my elbow on it.I'll whack my elbow once on a while, but I like the two-level armrest. I keep all my pens in the top section.

[808 Vibes]

Quote, originally posted by kng1994 »Cons (most are petty or ticky-tack):- Reverse gear beeper!- Requires premium gas!!!- No carpet in rear cargo area.- Lots of outside wind noise above 25 mph.- Lots of wind turbulance in the cabin with the moon roof open by itself. I have to crack another window to alleviate it.- Most of the GT's power is available above 6,000 RPM's.- Useless change holders.- Dash lights hard to see during bright daylight.- I hate the cup holder position. The cups get in the way!Welcome! Congrats on the ride! all those change holders are in my co-worker's Corolla too LOL

[lovemyraffe]

Welcome to the fam!