New member, first Vibe

[tinknocker105]

Hello. I bought my carbon grey metallic '09 Vibe Labor weekend last year. It is the base model but it has the 2.4 auto. engine with 5-speed shiftable transmission, power windows and locks, the cargo-compartment organizer. It was formerly owned by Hertz rent-a car and the KIA dealer sold it to me for $11,000 with new tires , every single filter was new except for the cabin air filter, new napa battery and all records were in the glovebox. The body is in new car shape.The minor mods I've done to the Vibe are tinted windows, K & N Drop-in air filter, chrome exhaust tip, rear bumper protector, rear cargo shade and Cool Blue Headlamps. My next mod is installing the Vibe GT spoiler next month( thanks star deceiver for the install. pics).Following on my mod list would be the foglights and then some rims( most likely Enkei 16" Falcon gunmetal with the polished lip). I would like to put a cold-air intake but there none that have passed the CARB requirements here in California. And I can't forget the genvibe.com stickers and the engine overlay cover.All of you have given me a wealth of information and I thank you for that. I love my Vibe; it's quick, nimble, 26 mpg when I don't have lead in my foot and 22-23 mpg when I do. It's easy to park compared to my wife's Yukon. I've put 3400 mile in the 4 months that I've owned it(My drive to work is 9.2 miles one-way) and it's a shame that this car couldn't continue in production. Thanks for your time.

[kostby]

Welcome to GenVibe!Sounds like you've been busy already. We love photos, so post some when you get the chance!

[tpollauf]

Welcome That's a lot of stuff that needed changed already for such a young vehicle How HIGH was the mileage when you bought it? Hopefully it wasn't abused too bad and you get MANY years of trouble free driving from it

[808 Vibes]

Welcome

[star_deceiver]

Welcome to GenVibe!!!

[tinknocker105]

It had 36,322 miles on it. I requested that all the filters in the engine bay be changed to complete the purchase. On the inspection report they were between 65-71% of new. About two weeks later I went looking for the cabin air filter and it was filthy. I bought a new one at Auto Zone and went to the dealer to show them the old one that they missed. They were really nice; they refunded me the cost of the filter and washed the Vibe, too. And the reason i'm sticking with 16's when i put new rims on,I don't want to affect the mileage too much. I will giving this car to my son when he reaches high school in several years and he wants 18's. I told him if he wanted a Vibe w/16's or no Vibe. He agreed with me.

[tpollauf]

Quote, originally posted by tinknocker105 »It had 36,322 miles on it. Not too bad of a deal for 11k There's very little that goes wrong with these vehicles so you shouldn't need the 36k warranty anymore and you still have the 100k powertrain warranty I take it you work with in the sheet metal trades? Myself, a union pipefitter doing service work & love it. Enjoy the Vibe

[vibenvy]

Welcome to GenVibe! It sounds like you've already been very busy upgrading your Vibe . As someone already said, we love pictures around here so be sure and post some soon .

[vibolista]

Another great buy. Looks like they treated you well, too, especially the cabin filter refund. Not too bad! I know it has only been a couple of days since your first post, so we'll have to cut you a little slack, but really, you need to put some pictures up! We do like pictures here! You could go with a set of 17 inch wheels and not affect the mileage or the velosometer (uh the speedometer) too much, if any. There are several tire sizes that would keep the circumferences the same. A nice compromise between your 16 inch rims and your son's wish for a set of 18's. 16s are OK, but 17 would fill that wheel well space a bit more. Just watch the offsets. You don't want them sticking out beyond your fenders! I went with a 17 inch alloy, and added a little to the tire size to get a larger diameter. My GPS shows about + 2-3 mph difference from indicated on the speedometer. MPGs have not been affected, but then again, I drive fairly gently. Just so you know it can be done without penalty.

[ponta2147]

I will second the idea for 17s, my '09 Vibe (2.4L base) came with the factory 17s and I think they look good in the space (though in the future I'll be trying to buy the factory 18s, and save my 17s for some winter tires). My speedometer reads +2mph higher than what my GPS says, but that's how I got the car off the lot at the dealer (new).

[tinknocker105]

Sorry for the delayed response. I caught some type of flu bug( i had my flu shot in Oct.) that laid me up for a couple of weeks. I tried getting some pictures of my Vibe on the site but I am having no luck. Maybe my brain hasn't caught up yet. I'll keep trying. Thanks for the advice on the 17's.

[vibedrivermatt]

Hey welcome to Genvibe tinknocker! I guess your a sheet metal worker? my dad did that hes retired tho.

[NascarXprt]

Quote, originally posted by tinknocker105 »Sorry for the delayed response. I caught some type of flu bug( i had my flu shot in Oct.) that laid me up for a couple of weeks. I tried getting some pictures of my Vibe on the site but I am having no luck. Maybe my brain hasn't caught up yet. I'll keep trying. Thanks for the advice on the 17's.Welcome to our family, talk about late responses/welcomes.... the best thing to do with pictures is to create an account at a photo hosting site like photobucket or Imageshack. and from there you can upload your photos to those sites. after you've uploaded your pics there, there are some lines of code under each photo, from which you can copy and paste to any site. Here at GV and Matrixowners, the code to use to show your photo is called the [ IMG ] [ /IMG ] tags (without the spaces in the brackets). so you would put your direct link to your .jpg im inbetween the [IMG] tags. For example a photo named Mycar.jpg would go like [ img ] Mycar. jpg[ /img ] and then it would show as a photo in the board.

[DressedInBlack]

Quote, originally posted by NascarXprt »Welcome to our family, talk about late responses/welcomes.... ill be late with ya.....ahem.Welcome!!!!! glad to see another enthusiastic Vibe owner!

[lovemyraffe]

Welcome to GenVibe!

[ramenboy...]

welcome to the familylike NascarXprt said, photobucket is the easiest to use for posting pics.17s will look nice. get some lowering springs! woot