New guy, with a few questions!

[IBx1]

Hey everyone. I came across this site while I was looking for pics of the new Vibe to compare with, and destroy, that ugly new Matrix. I, personally, bought a 1995 Buick Riviera in december for my first car, and am a regular over at RivPerformance(I'm only 16, birthday's in August, but don't underestimate my car knowledge!). I have a topic up there right now about the Vibe, in fact!Here's the story, it's coming up on time to buy our next family car, and choices are slim. We don't have a lot of money, but we like to buy new cars. They wind up brushing $19,000 with the few options we need to put in, like A/C, Auto, and the midlevel sound system. We own a 2000 Saturn SL2 with over 155,000 miles on it, and a 2003 Saturn VUE that just hit 127,000. They run fine, but the VUE is my dad's car which he commutes in to the city with almost every day. He drives over 100 miles overall each day in that VUE, and needless to say gas prices are kicking our (removed). We wanted to get an Astra, but those only get 30 mpg. We wanted to save up and hold out for a Volt, but those cost $40,000 now. It looked like our choices were a previous generation Corolla, which gets 41 mpg, or a previous generation Corolla, which gets 41 mpg. Basically, it was the Corolla, since the new ones only get 34. Highway mileage is what we're looking for.Onto the Vibe...I saw 'fuel saver' in a description on the side of my facebook page this morning and decided to look into the Vibe. From what I can see, a first generation Vibe with FWD and an auto (we can't do manual, too much hassle) will easily get 35, 36 miles per gallon highway if the cruise control is set at the right speed. I even saw someone saying 41 mpg on the highway during a road trip, and that the lowest he ever saw was 29 city. I spent all day researching this car, and there are basically no problems to be found! I even saw that topic about the guy hitting 300,000 miles, and I don't doubt that for a second! Toyota may make the car, and bestow it with their reliability records, but GM does quite a number with the design.Problem is, because of all the miles we'd put on it, we can't start with any, so we're looking at one of the new, sexy '09s as well! We're not going with the Matrix because of it's disgusting styling, less comfort, and we can easily get a bunch of money off the Vibe, as it would be our 5th new GM car since 1990. The way we put a Vibe, it should come out to just over $17,000 after tax, which is perfectly in our price range! We buy cars every 5 years and own them for 10 years before something inevitably goes wrong. Our 1990 Malibu had all sorts of problems in 1999, and our 1995 Saturn SW2 wagon forgot about 3rd gear a bit early for our schedule in 2003, otherwise we wouldn't have bought the VUE then.So, does anyone know anything bad about the new ones? Anyone have one and have a good MPG figure? If you all could post your average MPG here for me, that'd be wonderful. We're not going with the 2.4, and we're not going AWD either, because we can't take the fuel loss from the base 1.8 and FWD.Highway miles are what counts for us, and I saw an '09 get 34.1 already! Thanks for all your help!

[IBx1]

Can anyone please help me? I saw someone get 27/33 with the 2.4 and 5MT, and I'm pretty sure the 1.8 will get better, even with the 4AT.Someone, please?

[02csnow]

You picked a bad time to ask that question and wanting to get a quick response. The weekends, especially sundays, is when alot of people are not on here.I can give you info on my 06 base auto but you want it for the 09's.I drive 50/50 city/highway everyday and I get 30 consistently. The best I have done is 42 and the worst is 27.

[IBx1]

Okay, thanks for the info and the tip on the site!I've been thinking about it, and the 2.4 might actually be better. If you think about it, the 2.4 has to work less because it's more torquey, and it has a 5 speed auto standard. The 1.8 has an optional 4 speed auto for $1,000 and has to work even harder because of the fewer gears and smaller size. It's using a lot more gas, and the $500 price difference from the 1.8 to the 2.4 saves you $500 compared to an auto 1.8. Same options and a standard fold-flat passenger seat, much needed by us, the car comes to $500 less and will save us a lot of gas.

[keithvibe]

yea like 02csnow said it's the weekend and most of us are doing family things.What I can tell you about the new 09 1.8's is this granted they have a lower MPG rating but thats because of the newly revamped real world numbers. The new 09's are a tad heavier, I think lol The gas Numbers will vary from driver to driver and state to state because of gas blends, driving habbits and elevation. If you father is driving the amount of miles you say he is on a day to day, he will be able to get mid 30ties to high 30ties with out issue and still have a car that he can take to a home improvement store on the weekend and load up on plants and mulch and still get low 30ties in MPG. He may however need to adjust his driving habits to get the best out of the engine and mpg. I myself with a 2006 with awd have just started adjusting how I drive. I find myself trying to keep the rpm below 3000 and coast a lot more than i have in the past. On the current tank of gas i am running now i have gotten 320miles on this tank of gas just driving local.. no highway miles. I still have a 1/4 of a tank of gas left. I should be able to get 350-390miles out of this tank of gas before i need to fill up and my tank is the smallest of the bunch at just under 12gallon tank. If i wait till the gas light goes on i have 2 gallons left and when i fill up would be about 10gallons of gas and if i make 350miles on this tank.. do the math.. thats 35mpg with AWD. In city/country driving. It all comes down to the driver and how his/she feathers the gas.

[IBx1]

Okay, that's very well put! This is exactly what we need, a highway commuter that we can take to home depot, like you said. I'm very excited about all the 30's I'm hearing! My dad would be more than willing to change driving habits, and since this would be his first car with cruise control I'd expect some good mpg's coming from him. We can't afford to drive carelessly anymore, gas is $4.65 for 93 in our town(no 91 in sight)! Haven't paid attention, but I think it's $4.43 for 87.Do you guys run premium or regular to get these figures? We run regular in our Saturns since premium isn't recommended, and understand the difference with octane and knock and whatnot, but my car needs premium because 87 will cause so much knock in my supercharged engine and will very quickly destroy the injectors and valves.

[jake75]

A lot of us are more consistently seeing 32-33mpg highway for a Vibe 1.8L automatic transmission. I wouldn't count on much more than that. There are other choices with better mileage but with tradeoffs in size and utility. The Honda Fit or the Scion Xa might be examples though I have not followed their specs closely.

[IBx1]

Okay, that's a good figure to work with. We're not going with anything like the Fit or xA, the small engine hurts fuel economy. We're most likely going with the 2.4 5AT 2009 Vibe. I know it's still too new to really rate, but if anyone has one of those please post here about what you've seen so far!

[WaveAction]

welcome to the forums

[Bikerscum]

Carbon grey??? http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=33690 I love mine. Went out to the gun range today with all of the stuff I used to haul in my Durango... only had to fold one seat down. Mileage so far averages 29, but I have a brutal uphill commute through the mountains. You won't regret the purchase.

[IBx1]

Excellent to hear it, Bikerscum! Especially with that 2.4L averaging it's maximum highway rating on that 'brutal' commute! The new EPA tests are a bit too harsh, imo, and make everything look bad. Better than candyland with the ones before, though. Lemme ask you, do you use the tapshift in the auto console thingy to set as high a gear as it'll run? I figure since it's standard with the 2.4L we could tap it into 5th as soon as we enter the highway to really get some good mileage!Speaking of the gun range, we have a bunch of rifles and shotguns which shouldn't be a problem, but I know full well just how utilitarian the interiors of these little cars are! The color looks great, but I'd really like to see that Mystic Blue Metallic in person, or at least some good pics of it.

[joatmon]

Quote, originally posted by IBx1 » It looked like our choices were a previous generation Corolla, which gets 41 mpg, or a previous generation Corolla, which gets 41 mpg. Basically, it was the Corolla, since the new ones only get 34. Highway mileage is what we're looking for.Not too long ago, the EPA revised their test, and that caused every car's "official" mpg ratings to drop. The 09 Vibe 1.8L AT is officially rated at 31 mpg highway.The 09 Corolla 1.8L AT is rated at 35 mpg highwayTHe 03 Vibe 1.8L AT was rated at 33 mpg hwy on the old test, but only 31 under the new test.The 03 Corolla 1.8: AT was rated at 38 hwy, the new test gives it only 34.The Corolla 41 mpg you reference was for the manual, which is not an option for you.THe 2.4 L AT 09 Vibe is rated at 29 hwyThose are all numbers from http://www.fueleconomy.gov. Even if you think the numbers are low overall, one thing they do show is that the EPA thinks the 09 Corolla 1.8 L AT will get 20% better gas mileage than the 09 2.4L vibe.

[IBx1]

Unfortunately, they need to revise their tests again. High gas prices mean people aren't going to be driving like they used to, as in WOT all over the place and 80mph on highways. We're looking at an age of 60-65mph highway speeds that's dawning now that gas is so damn expensive.Theoretically, a 2.4L Vibe should get better mileage than a 1.8L, as long as it's driven conservatively. The engine has to work less and has another extra gear, as well as a manual mode that'll let us get into high gear ASAP. It's a bigger engine, but it's still small.Anyone know if the '09 has a screen that shows you instant fuel economy? I figure we could watch that while we take a test drive.

[joatmon]

You were not being consistent in your comparisons, throwing in old EPA numbers for a manual tranny car, new EPA numbers, and some of the atypical high mileage tanks a few people have had. Makes sense that people will drive a bit slower, more gently, to try to save some gas. Those things should save gas no matter what the car is.My point is that the lower end Corolla should be getting about 20% mpg than the 2.4L Vibe. If you can use techniques to stretch the 2.4L Vibe to get 35 mpg, then you should be able to easily get above 40 doing the same things in the 1.8L Corolla.I'm not tring to talk you out of getting a Vibe, but you dismissed the Corolla because you thought the mpg's were comparable to the Vibe, but it's not, it's better. 20% is not trivial either. I thought about a Corolla when I was looking, but went with the Vibe because I fit better inside (more headroom) and the hatch is a lot more useful, and Pontiac is a US brand. However, the visibility out the back is terrible compared to a Corolla.

[IBx1]

We also have some incentive over the Corolla because we'd fit in the Vibe more comfortably and it's a lot more utilitarian. We're gonna have to weigh the pros and cons of this one a lot.

[joatmon]

Even if the Coroola gets better mpgs than the Vibe, the Vibe will still be getting better than what you are driving now.A new car is a significant amount of money to spend. Was for me. If you are going to spend that much money, then get what you want, and be happy. I plan to keep my 03 vibe till it dies, but if it died today, I'd probably end up picking up another Vibe, but everyone wants something different from their car. Be sure to take a really good test drive.I don't think the 09's have any sort of trip computer that can give you instant mpgs. Would be a nice option. A lot of people here seem to have bought scangauges for that purpose.

[IBx1]

Yeah, about the scangauges, are they a difficult install, or something you could do yourself? We still have a few months before we actually buy the next car, because we just finished paying off the VUE and we're gonna give ourselves some time to catch up on all the other payments.

[IBx1]

Luckily, I haven't heard anything bad about the 2009 Vibes! I'm really excited about this car, it seems perfect. I know, if I had the money, I'd buy one!

[IBx1]

Does anyone know how Pontiac is, as a company, about their customer service? Like, do they have a bad reputation of not taking responsability for repairs or whatever for broken things? Same with Toyota?

[tribalman]

Quote, originally posted by IBx1 »Does anyone know how Pontiac is, as a company, about their customer service? Like, do they have a bad reputation of not taking responsability for repairs or whatever for broken things? Same with Toyota?depends on the dealer. at first i thought my dealer was pretty good, but when i took my car in for the recall i had more problems that i had to fix myself.as for my results, i drive an 04 base auto. i hhhhhaaaaaatttttteeeee hypermilers and people who just accelerate slowly, i have places to go. so i'm pressing the gas and when i'm accelerating i'm hitting 3.5-4k or sometimes more on the tach. most of my driving is highway now, it used to be about 50/50 highway and city. for 2 years i've been basically at 31-32 mpg. there was a brief time the first winter i owned the car where i got 22. only cause it was city driving and i'd wait for the car to warm up before i would drive. doing that 4 times in a day, every day drains the gas fast. stopped doing that after 2 weeks. good luck with the choice

[Blueridge9]

Quote: Does anyone know how Pontiac is, as a company, about their customer service? Like, do they have a bad reputation of not taking responsability for repairs or whatever for broken things? Same with Toyota?[/QUOTE]Welcome, You are asking good questions. I had a good experience with my Dealer who just fixed my window bolts in May for free. This might be a faster way to more answers. How to search for the info. you need about the Vibe. http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=4856

[IBx1]

Alright, tribalman, so you're saying that by driving like a normal person, half and half, you're seeing those low 30's?Believe me, if I had the money I'd be in a new Vibe. I'll be sure to ask my local dealers about their service.

[prathman]

Quote, originally posted by IBx1 »Yeah, about the scangauges, are they a difficult install, or something you could do yourself?Very easy. Just one cable that plugs into a connector below the dash. Some people do fancy installations to integrate the display into the dash or one of the storage spaces, but you can also just velcro it on top of the dash or steering column - that's what I do so I can quickly move it between cars.Good luck on your car buying decision. We bought a Vibe for our daughter and my wife liked it enough so she got one of her own (both are '06s). Mileage on a long highway trip a week ago was 40 mpg while driving about 70 and with a pretty heavily loaded car. I'd expect the '09 to be a little lower due to more weight, especially if you get the 2.4, but it should still be pretty good.

[ToolGuy]

Quote, originally posted by IBx1 »Alright, tribalman, so you're saying that by driving like a normal person, half and half, you're seeing those low 30's?Do not forget, tribalman is talking about his 2004 not an 09. For your 09 to get this MPG you need the 1.8L engine and it sounds like your family is getting this engine. My 2003 will get 34 MPG at times in the city driving like grandma. And of course driving style has a lot to do with MPG as well.

[IBx1]

Yeah, unfortunately I don't know if my parents are as excited about getting a used(I call it "proven") Vibe. The '09 will probably do in the low 30's on the highway with the 1.8. For a sec there, I thought the 2.4 with the 5 speed auto would do better, but I'm starting to reconsider that theory. I'll tell them to rethink used.

[IBx1]

By the way, through some research, the automatic transmission 1.8L Corollas only average in the low 30's as well, under average driving conditions.

[03vibedriver]

I am getting 31 MPG on a 09 2.4 AT Vibe.

[IBx1]

Wow, how are you driving the car? Is it being driven just normally, or are you trying hard to get those figures? Highway, city, combined?

[Bikerscum]

Quote, originally posted by IBx1 ». Lemme ask you, do you use the tapshift in the auto console thingy to set as high a gear as it'll run? I figure since it's standard with the 2.4L we could tap it into 5th as soon as we enter the highway to really get some good mileage! The tap shifter doesn't work that way. You can force a downshift, but not an upshift. If you're in 5th, in tap mode, & pull out to pass someone it will still downshift, all the while reading 5th on the dash display. To put it simply, you can't tap 4 times & start out in 5th.

[03vibedriver]

I am getting 31MPG on the 2009 Vibe with a 2.4 AT combined driving in the foothills of western North Carolina. I traded my 03 1.8L Vibe which did around 33 to 32 MPG with the same type of combined driving.

[IBx1]

Bikerscum: I think I understand, the car's computer won't let you run up through the gears if the shift'll drop the RPM too low, but it'll automatically goes down a gear if you go to pass? My Riviera, and most auto transmissions, will go up one gear from whatever you stick it in if you hit the redline, which is sorta opposite of this I guess...So the tapshift won't really help mileage, but you still get good mpg anyway?03vibedriver: If you're seeing similar results with your 2.4 as you did with your first-production 1.8, then I'll assume that the extra gear with the larger engine gives you similar mileage to the 4-speed 1.8 in the '09s. So they're basically the same car, except the 2.4 has more passing power.Thanks for all your feedback, guys! I'm asking so many questions because this is my main, and most credible, way of researching this car. I figure, why trust biased automag reviews when I can ask the owners themselves?

[fiveoh]

I just bought a 2007 Vibe (base 1.8 auto) and couldn't be happier. I, too, was looking for good fuel mileage. While we didn' tget rid of our Honda Odyssey, we will keep it parked more often. It's too soon to calculate my mileage figure, but I KNOW it wasted very little fuel on the 120+ mile drive home from the dealership in which I purchased it....mostly 65 mph driving with about 20 miles of 'city' driving in the end.So far so good!Oh, by buying used (mine had 8800 miles when purchased), you should save a couple thousand dollars, at least. That should cover your gas for a little while.Good luck,Nelson2007 Vibe