Vibe is one heck of a road car!!

[QUIKAG]

From Dallas, TX, I drove to Austin then to San Antonio and back this past weekend. Put over 700 miles on her and she just eats up the miles. I'm sure the base Vibe is similar, but my GT in 6th gear and the motor humming along between 3000rpm at 70mph to 95mph at 4000rpm, the TRD springs really keep the car glued to the ground. The factory 17 inch wheel/tire upgrade really help stick the car.The car gets a little bit light above 100mph, but still feels stable, just a bit looser feeling in the steering. Wind noise and road noise are very subdued. Motor feels like it can run forever when you're just cruising along at 3500rpm at 80mph when the redline is way up at 8200rpm.I've driven and owned a lot of nice cars in my 10 years of driving, but bang for the buck, the Vibe GT is WAY up there on the rankings of an overall good car!

[Kissfan79]

Well said

[Shadow Realm]

Sounds like you had a great roadtrip in your Vibe! I love taking mine on trips. I just got back from Fort Walton Beach over the weekend and it only took two tanks of gas round trip (710 miles)Shadow Realm

[millster]

It is a very nice vehicle on the road. I made the 1900 mile trip from Ohio to Montana at the end of March and actually enjoyed driving the whole way. The only annoying part was following the U-Haul that slowed down every time we hit even a slight hill. Cruise was more of a curse than a luxury at that point. I'm looking forward to more roadtrips in the Vibe though. It is, far and away, my favorite of any car I've owned.

[QUIKAG]

quote:Sounds like you had a great roadtrip in your Vibe! I love taking mine on trips. I just got back from Fort Walton Beach over the weekend and it only took two tanks of gas round trip (710 miles)Shadow RealmThat brings up another point, with the moderate to hard driving I did, I still averaged right at 30mpg over the course of the trip. I guess the CAI helps a bit with mileage because I wouldn't think the GT would hit the EPA rating of 30mpg highway driving over 80mph most of the time, but it did!

[NovaResource]

quote:I'm sure the base Vibe is similar, but my GT in 6th gear and the motor humming along between 3000rpm at 70mph to 95mph at 4000rpmThe base is even better! In top gear, the base auto or 5-speed is about 400-rpm less than the GT in 6th. A base at 80-mph is at approx the same RPM as the GT at 70-mph. This is why the base 5-speed gets the best fuel economy. Either way (base or GT) the Vibe is an amazing vehicle.70-mph:Base auto in 4th = 2750-rpmBase man in 5th = 2720-rpmGT man in 6th = 3130-rpm80-mph:Base auto in 4th = 3140-rpmBase man in 5th = 3110-rpmGT man in 6th = 3580-rpm90-mph:Base auto in 4th = 3530-rpmBase man in 5th = 3500-rpmGT man in 6th = 4020-rpm

[QUIKAG]

Man, that base 5-speed is geared pretty high in 5th gear. That's great 3500rpm at 90mph. Wow! I bet you could get well over 30mpg at 90mph. Pretty impressive! So, sales stats are putting the Vibe at over 60,000 units this calendar year, I guess the word is getting out as to how good of a car it is!

[NovaResource]

Actually the base 5-speed does have low gears, it's just that the GT has even LOWER gears. Check it out:Auto (2WD):1st : 4.012nd : 2.213rd : 1.434th : 0.98Reverse : 3.27Final Drive Ratio: 2.96Auto (AWD)1st : 2.852nd : 1.553rd : 1.004th : 0.70Reverse : 2.34Final Drive Ratio: 4.245-speed manual:1st : 3.172nd : 1.903rd : 1.314th : 0.895th : 0.73Reverse : 3.25Final Drive Ratio: 3.946-speed manual:1st : 3.172nd : 2.053rd : 1.484th : 1.175th : 0.926th : 0.73Reverse : 3.25Final Drive Ratio: 4.53

[Geo]

For the newbie that is still learning about stuff like this, is it possible to explain what all those gear rations mean? (Higher number means... ? Lower number means? - stuff like that?)Danke ^_^

[NovaResource]

Yes, gear ratios are opposite of how you would normally think. The higher the number, the lower the gear. So ratio between engine speed (RPM) and vehicle speed (MPH) is larger at low speeds and smaller at high speeds.For example: a GT at 3000-rpm is spinning the motor at 3000 revolutions every minute. In first gear (3.17), the engine is turning 3.17 times faster than the output of the transmission. So if you divide 3000-rpm by 3.17 you get approx 946-rpm for the output shaft of the trans. Next up is the final drive ratio (4.53). This is the ratio between the output shaft of the trans and the wheels so divide again: 946-rpm divided by 4.53 equal about 209-rpm for the wheels. This means when the engine is at 3000-rpm the wheels are at 209-rpm in first gear. To figure out what speed that is you need to multiply that number by 60 to convert from rev per minute to rev per hour: 12,535-rph. Next, multiply by the tire circumference (78.2") to get inches per hour: 980,216-iph. Then divide by 12 to get feet per hour: 81,685-fph. Last divide by 5280 to get miles per hour: 15.5-mph.The same engine at the same 3000-rpm but in second gear (2.05) works out this way:3000 / 2.05 (second gear ratio) = 1,4631,463 / 4.53 (final drive ratio) = 323323 x 60 = 19,383-rph19,383 x 78.2 (tire circumference in inches) = 1,515,749-iph1,515,749 / 12 (inches per foot) = 126,312-fph126,312 / 5280 (feet per mile) = 24-mph.The same engine at the same 3000-rpm but in 6th gear (0.73) works out this way:3000 / 0.73 (second gear ratio) = 4,1104,110 / 4.53 (final drive ratio) = 907907 x 60 = 54,432-rph54,432 x 78.2 (tire circumference in inches) = 4,256,554-iph4,256,554 / 12 (inches per foot) = 354,713-fph354,713 / 5280 (feet per mile) = 67-mph.

[QUIKAG]

quote:Actually the base 5-speed does have low gears, it's just that the GT has even LOWER gears. Check it out: Yeah, I meant numerically high geared for the base Vibe. It appears top gear is the same .73 for both, but the final drive is steeper on the GT. That Auto-AWD has to be a dog with 123 rated horsepower and those gear ratios! Also, it's interesting that the last two gears on both the 5-speed and 6-speed are overdrive gears. How hard is it to maintain speed on the base 5 -speed at highway speeds? I need to be over 65mph or so to hold speed on the highway in 6th gear on any sort of grade. Over 70+mph, it can hold speed pretty easily, though on a steeper grade, I won't be building too much speed even with significant throttle. I guess that's the byproduct of 130/125 lb/ft of torque. That said, I am impressed with the low speed/ low rpm flexibility of the motor. Also, it really does hold speed nicely on the highway considering the gearing and relative lack of grunt of the motor.

[red]

awd is not THAT slow! once you hit the sweet spot in the rpms...this lil' vib scoots....i can pass semi's and motorhomes at 90+mph and she's still climbing....it can run relaxed at 70-80mph all day....and the best part is when the snow and winter comes and the roads are icy, my awd vib can still haul (removed) when others are slipping and sliding...a wrx she is not, but then i dont have to worry about $$$$$$$$ replacements or rebuilds of turbos or engines either! poor person's fun awd