New to the forums. Love my new 2009 vibe 5-speed, but...

[VibeOnAWhim]

Well, as of Thursday evening, I am the proud new owner of a 2009 with the 5 speed transmission (not too sure on what I actually have) but i'm guessing it's a base 1.8l. A lot of fun to drive, though I still miss my old car that I traded in...

Just moved from a 2003 PT Cruiser GT (2.4l turbo) with a lot of fun stuff but it was an autoTRAGIC.

Put out 227whp/281wtq and a 14.56 1/4 mile time with an inexperienced driver (never did get the hang of it)




And now on to the pictures of what brought me here.

[Mariachi]

nice move and congrats! Was that an eBay HKS SSQV BOV on the PT or the real thing? can't really tell.

nvm. checked on the comp and its a real HKS bov. i love that sound!

[trb]

Nice looking Vibe, and the PT is not bad either. You have the 2.4l Camry motor in your Vibe, with all of it's ~153 HP! But at least you got a manual! The base 1.8l model only came with hubcaps in 09-10. Alloy wheels automatically means the 2.4l due to the different bolt patterns.

Welcome and good luck with your new Vibe!

[VibeOnAWhim]

Good to know. The dealer had no clue on the engine and I just assumed it was a base. Now I just wish I could easily double the HP for cheap. lol.

[star_deceiver]

Very nice, welcome to GenVibe!!!

[trb]

Good to know. The dealer had no clue on the engine and I just assumed it was a base. Now I just wish I could easily double the HP for cheap. lol.

If you figure that out, I'd want to know too! LOL! My Grand Turtle is a slug compared to my Mustang, and even slower than our Exploder I think. But hey, I do get about 9-10mpg better gas mileage on my daily drive than either of them. The 1st gen Vibes have the TRD supercharger option which a few members have. Wish there was something for us.

[tpollauf]

Welcome ... another 09, 2.4L with a manual tranny Although not as fast as many of us would like it to be, it is a lot of fun to drive AND if you're patient on the highways, you can get 35-38 mpg. I've got those numbers a couple of times and it feels REAL good when at the pump

[vibenvy]

Welcome to GenVibe! Very nice looking 2.4L Base you've got there! I love the color! Nice looking PT Cruiser too!

[VibeOnAWhim]

Thanks for the welcome.

As far as mpg, I'd be happy with 25 considering I was getting 12-15mpg HWY! Highest I got in the last year was 16mpg hwy. Lol.

Oh, and that's with Premium required. Does the vibe require premium?

[tpollauf]

I'd be happy with 25 considering I was getting 12-15mpg HWY!

Wow that's terrible You'll easily double those numbers if not more AND Premium gas is not required and I don't even think it is recommended! Good luck

[Houston]

I certainly identify with how you feel about "stepping down" to the Vibe from what you had. For thirteen years I had a 1967 Pontiac Firebird 400 convertible - that I bought new and loved - and several cars later eventually bought a 1997 Pontiac Grand Prix - another great and fast car. Then I moved to a 2003 Pontiac Vibe base with the tiny engine. To my surprise, I loved the car. When it became obvious that Pontiac was about to bite the dust, I bought this 2009 Vibe with the "large" engine. Let's face it, we can't drive fast cars fast very often without getting tickets, so their really "fun-factor" is rarely experienced (although it is nice to know it's there). In the final analysis, for me, this Vibe is the most all-around fun car I've ever had. I gotta admit, though, that I bigtime miss the '67 Firebird. You will enjoy your Vibe, even if you don't soup it up.

[Mariachi]

I can relate the same way. Going from a mid 14 second N/A mitsubishi eclipse and a low 13 seconds eclipse GSX kinda hurts but my vibe has stuck with me longer than both of those eclipse's have without many major problems. My vibe still runs and has been one of the most dependable cars I have had in my entire life, and I have had a lot of different cars. I have to give Toyota props for making this car pretty damn dependable, other than that stupid recall. lol

[thebarber]

lots of turbo kits for the 2azfe...its an ollllld engine

check out scionlife.com for all the gen1 tc's selling their used kits...

[Wingnut]

Welcome to Genvibe!! Nice looking Vibe!!

[nashweaver]

looking good man! welcome to the forum bro

[VibeOnAWhim]

Thanks for the compliments and welcomes.

Hope to have the time, and money, to get the windows tinted soon.

[vibenvy]

Hope to have the time, and money, to get the windows tinted soon.

Great first "mod" for sure! Do you have any other plans for it?

[VibeOnAWhim]

Hope to have the time, and money, to get the windows tinted soon.

Great first "mod" for sure! Do you have any other plans for it?

Well, I'm kind of wishing I would have kept my srt4 rims. Think they may have looked decent.

No real plans for it since I haven't seen too many mods available for the 09.

Did get a new pic of the vibe.

[vibenvy]

Well, I'm kind of wishing I would have kept my srt4 rims. Think they may have looked decent.

Don't SRT4s have a 5x100 bolt pattern? 2009-2010 Vibe 2.4L Bases, AWDs and GTs have a 5x114.3 bolt pattern so they wouldn't fit anyway .

[VibeOnAWhim]

Good to know. I feel like an idiot now. Lol. While they were powering the car and I saw the curb rash on the rims I just did a quick search and came up with the 5x100... Reading/researching >than me. Ooops.

Honestly have been trying to be naive about my car just to keep me from wanting to mod it.

[vibenvy]

Good to know. I feel like an idiot now. Lol. While they were powering the car and I saw the curb rash on the rims I just did a quick search and came up with the 5x100... Reading/researching >than me. Ooops.

Honestly have been trying to be naive about my car just to keep me from wanting to mod it.

No need to feel like an idiot. It's pretty goofy that there are two different bolt patterns for the 2009-2010 Vibes when up until 2009, there was always only one and it was 5x100.

The only reason I knew the bolt pattern was 5x100 for the SRT4 and PT Cruiser is because I used to own a couple Pontiac Sunfires and quite a few owners on the J-Body Organization website put SRT4 wheels on their Cavaliers and Sunfires. Also, one guy had the 17" 5-spoke chrome PT Cruiser wheels on his Cavalier Sedan (looked really sharp!). Just more (typically) useless random vehicle information I have stored in my brain .

As far as remaining naive about your Vibe, if you keep hanging around here, that won't last long ! When I got my Vibe back in 2009 I said I wasn't going to do much to it, but now look at it . The one good (and bad) thing is there isn't much of an aftermarket for the 2009-2010 Vibes, so there's only so much you can do unless you go custom.

[VibeOnAWhim]

Yeah, well, going to be tinting the windows as soon as my diablosport sells.

Stupid question, but would 5x114.5 fit the vibe? Means I could get the srt rims I really wanted (caliber srt4 19")

[vibenvy]

Yeah, well, going to be tinting the windows as soon as my diablosport sells.

Stupid question, but would 5x114.5 fit the vibe? Means I could get the srt rims I really wanted (caliber srt4 19")

Oooh... those are very sexy wheels indeed ! Unfortunately, I'm not sure on whether that bolt pattern would work or not .

[VibeOnAWhim]

Well. Decided to put tinting on the back burner.

Got a overlay on the way for the pontiac arrow head, and depending on how the color turns out, may go a bit further and powdercoat the rims the same color.

Oh, also want to do a nice 2"drop, but the most I can find is a 1.5" drop.

Still no luck finding cheap/affordable mods for the 2.4l.. But not giving up.

[vibenvy]

Well. Decided to put tinting on the back burner.

Got a overlay on the way for the pontiac arrow head, and depending on how the color turns out, may go a bit further and powdercoat the rims the same color.

Oh, also want to do a nice 2"drop, but the most I can find is a 1.5" drop.

Still no luck finding cheap/affordable mods for the 2.4l.. But not giving up.

Be sure to post pictures when you get the overlay installed .

As far as lowering, I would recommend, if you haven't already, checking out Matrix Owners. The members over there do a lot more lowering and other mods so they should be able to give you more advice on those subjects.

[VibeOnAWhim]

J_to_Envy. I'll post pics soon as they are on.

So far I have the overlay and a set of ~2" drop springs on the way.

Since I promised not to start modding the engine, I may just go for looks.

Have been tossing around the idea of powdercoating the rims to match the color of the overlay, Thinking of some neons to match too (Lighting up the grill and possibly underbody neons) not sure if an aftermarket HU will be compatible with the onstar, but will be doing a sound system in the vibe... I miss my BASS and still have the sub and amp sitting in the closet. If I have to keep the Stock radio that's ok too. I'll just hook everything up with the EQ that's been in storage for the past 6 years.

[VibeOnAWhim]

As prommised to j_to_envy, pics of the overlay. (not the best pics, though)

Front (had to cut the star out myself, for some reason it was only cut out on the top layer)



Rear (ignore the reflection of the ugly guy taking the picture)

[vibenvy]

Overlays look good! It's kind of hard to tell, are they blue?

[VibeOnAWhim]

Sorry. They are actually purple. Lol. Going to try getting a better picture.

[VibeOnAWhim]

Closeup of Rear:



Closeup of Front (may need to order a new one. Think I messed it up)

[Houston]

Noboby is going to look at it as closely as shown in the picture. It looks just fine.

Closeup of Rear:



Closeup of Front (may need to order a new one. Think I messed it up)

[vibenvy]

Closeup of Rear:



Closeup of Front (may need to order a new one. Think I messed it up)

Noboby is going to look at it as closely as shown in the picture. It looks just fine.

I agree with Houston. Don't worry about it . They look good!