Factory Service Manuals----Paper or CD?

[SnowFish]

I'd like to get a Factory Service Manual for our 2010 Vibe. Is the CD version the same as the book?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pontiac-Vibe-20 ... 2a&vxp=mtr

The actual books command a bit higher price.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2010-PONTIAC-VI ... ef&vxp=mtr

Price is not an issue if it's worth it. What version do you use?

[joatmon]

I think it will vary from one to the next, but my preference is the paper manuals.

The listing for the CD version doesn't really show you all that you would be getting, or if it really is the same as the printed version. Hard to put a lot of faith in the professionalism of someone who uses the term "greacy"

Still, for the price difference between the two ebay listings, if I were to buy a 2010 Vibe manual set, I'd probably first buy the CD version to see if it really is a factory manual set or if it is jsut a cheap scan of a Haynes book.. Then if it doesn't work out, forget that $280 ebay listing. You can buy the directly from the company that actually prints them at helminc.com ( http://www.helminc.com/helm/Result.asp? ... ted_media= ) for $200 instead of $280

[vibenvy]

I honestly wouldn't bother with the actual factory manuals, especially for $200.00. There's a couple 2009 owners on here (tpollauf & DressedInBlack) that bought them and were very disappointed to discover a lot of misinformation in them. It seems like they did a lot of "copying and pasting" from the 1st gen manuals. Unfortunately this is a pretty big deal because the 2009-2010 Vibers underwent such a major overhaul and don't have a whole lot in common with the 1st gen Vibes. I was going to order them myself, but after hearing this, I decided the $200.00 would be much better spent somewhere else.

[CharlesinGA]

I prefer the printed manuals. I bought the factory manuals for the '04 and they are OK but not up to what I am used to for factory manuals. I have a number of various Ford manuals and they are much better with much better illustrations. Not sure what to tell you. Don't know if the Matrix manuals are any better or different.

Charles

[Stumped]

I bought the cd on ebay. First off, it installs xp on your machine to run in a virtual environment, which is clumsy.
Second, the manual does not reflect in any way what is in the car at least electrically with the hvac system. Waste of money. They changed the electrical system for 09, and it shows electrical systems for older cars.

[Paramore]

I think it will vary from one to the next, but my preference is the paper manuals.

The listing for the CD version doesn't really show you all that you would be getting, or if it really is the same as the printed version. Hard to put a lot of faith in the professionalism of someone who uses the term "greacy"

Still, for the price difference between the two ebay listings, if I were to buy a 2010 Vibe manual led lights set, I'd probably first buy the CD version to see if it really is a factory manual set or if it is jsut a cheap scan of a Haynes book.. Then if it doesn't work out, forget that $280 ebay listing. You can buy the directly from the company that actually prints them at helminc.com ( http://www.helminc.com/helm/Result.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;? ... ted_media= ) for $200 instead of $280

In terms of this, I must go with your opinion, because all the others does not seems to match.

[ramenboy...]

I guess It depends on whether you like getting the pages all greasy or not. Can't speak to the vibe manual/cd, but I picked up a cd service manual for my bike, and its pretty good. Basically a PDF of the paper manual, but you can search chapters and print out the page(s) you need...