2005 GT Potential purchase - couple technical questions

[troyguitar]

Hey folks, just joined the forum as I've been looking into a 2003-2006 Matrix XRS or Vibe GT.

So far I like the 05-06 Vibe GT best for looks and features (the leather seats are WAY better than the cloth IMO), but I am at a bit of a loss on a couple of minor details:

1: Is there a way to tell if a particular car has stability control? I pulled the VIN and RPO codes but don't see any references to ESC or stabilitrak anywhere. Here are the codes:



2: If the car IS equipped with stabilitrak, can it be disabled if desired (i.e. for autox or something)?

3: I understand the 05-06 models have different ECU's and an increased valve lift point of 6800 vs 6200 which makes it impossible to stay in lift after a shift. Is it possible to lower the lift point and/or raise the rev limit with a simple ECU swap/tune/rewire without going to a full aftermarket standalone setup?

This car is going to be a more economical replacement to my cool but totally overkill 2001 Audi allroad bad weather car and hauler. 4200 lb 350 hp twin turbo V6 with AWD, height-adjustable air suspension, and way too many other gadgets to break, gets 20 mpg on the highway and less anywhere else but it is a fun beast:



When it's not snowing and I don't have anything to haul, my main ride is a sweet 04 Z06 street/track car that to be honest is less fun to drive on the street than the Vibe GT. It's soooo fast and has so much grip that you cannot even approach its limits on the street without danger of being arrested, but it is an awesome track car with a great V8 sound.




Lastly, if anyone has a line on an 05-06 GT for sale with leather seats and cruise control at a minimum please let me know! I have not found many with the leather option from which to choose. Thanks!

Cheers

[Salsa Guy]

ON the Lift Point you have a couple of options:
1) Greddy EMU piggyback computer. You need to have it tuned for your lift point I'd suggest 5700 rpms or higher.
2) AEM EMS 4 from MonkeyWrenchRacing for $1400. It's pretty much a stand alone but plug and chug...maybe some dyno time.
3) Swap in a 03 Vibe/Matrix GT/XRS ECU. Requires re-pinning the 03 ECU. There is a guy on MO that has done it and I've heard good results. There's another guy that will build a harness but many have complained about the quality.

[thebarber]

If I were to looking for an 05/06 xrs/GT I'd set aside $1400 for the ems4 from MWR....

[sideshowalan]

Stability Control
-When you turn the key to the first position, all your icons on the dash will light up. This tells you if you have stability/abs/tpms because everything lights up for a few seconds as a test. If you don't have a stability control icon then you don't have the feature. Also the button to disable it would be in the row of buttons above the hood release.

[Salsa Guy]

If I were to looking for an 05/06 xrs/GT I'd set aside $1400 for the ems4 from MWR....

TRUE!

[troyguitar]

Thanks guys, appreciate the info. The Audi sold over the weekend so I'll be looking more seriously at replacements this week. I've really only found 1 Vibe GT with leather at a decent price so far though, is it a super rare option?

[Salsa Guy]

I don't know that it was an option. I'd suggest find a GT/XRS and have someone do custom seat covers.

[trb]

I don't know that it was an option. I'd suggest find a GT/XRS and have someone do custom seat covers.

Yes, leather was an option, but since the Vibe is more of an economy car, most came without leather. I'll bet less than 5% of all Vibes had that option. When I was looking, I only found a very few with it. I just looked nationwide on cars.com, and out of 636 03-06 Vibes, only 35 have leather in the description. But 30 of those are GT models, so maybe it was a higher percentage of GT models that had leather. Edit: I realized it was keying in on the leather steering wheel/shifter on the GTs, not a leather interior. I only found a couple of GTs with leather seats.

Best bet would be to check with an upholstery shop and see how much to install leather covers would be just in case you find a perfect one that does not have the right seats.

Good luck!

[troyguitar]

Yep as far as I can tell leather seats (and stabilitrak) were only an option starting in 05, and the 2ZZ motor and drive by cable throttle only went through 06 so my search is for an 05-06 GT with leather, apparently with plans for an intake and a $1400 computer plus dyno tune to end up with the ultimate cheap+versatile+fun daily driver.

I did test drive one of the 3 cars meeting those criteria that I could find in the country last week and those seats make a big difference. They offer way more lateral support than the standard cloth, kind of like a "sport seat" versus a "comfort seat" if you will. The only issue is that the thing is of course bright red and I'd really prefer to have any other color

Right now I'm leaning toward just buying the red one anyway since it has the best option+price combo outside of exterior color.

[troyguitar]

Well I bought it. 2005 GT in bright red with leather and power options, but no sunroof or stereo or stabilitrak. I did not want the sunroof (just more weight up high and one more thing to break), but the stabilitrak would have been nice for snow. 116k miles for $6058 cash + tax, title, and whatnot = $6500 out the door. I'll take some real pictures one of these days but here's one from the listing:



Can I just pull off the rain guard things? I really don't like them.

Other than that the only problem I noticed driving it last night is the front dome light doesn't work, probably just needs a new bulb.

[Salsa Guy]

Congrats on the new Purchase! I had to replace my dome light bulb after getting the 03. Any mod plans?

[troyguitar]

I got it mainly as a cheap car that's still decently fun so mods will be limited.

First order of business will be to put a new radio unit in with bluetooth, I actually bought one already at Best Buy tonight. Kenwood somethingorother $150, just need to figure out how to install it.

Performance-wise I probably will get that $1400 EMS4 thing and an intake, then get it tuned to lift from ~5800-8500 and maybe make a few more hp but nothing major. I mainly just want to be able to stay in lift after shifting.

Handling I'll wear out the all-season tires and ditch them for some decent summers and buy a cheap 15/16" winter setup next winter.

The most complicated thing I want to look at is modifying the front seats to be like 3" lower and possibly adding heaters to them as well. I really don't care for the "minivan" high up driving position.

[Salsa Guy]

The seats will adjust down.

Good Luck

[troyguitar]

They adjust down a little bit, but they only go from "(removed) I'm driving a schoolbus" to "Toyota Sienna Soccer Mom" height according to my very accurate height gauge! I'd really like it to go about 3" lower than the lowest position.

Here's a decent exterior shot, still need to remove the silly "smoker's pack" rain guards and probably wax the car but that's about it for exterior changes.

[vibenvy]

Welcome to GenVibe! Congratulations on your "new" Vibe! I'm not a fan of red vehicles either, but it's still pretty sharp looking. As far as the window deflectors go, they appear to be the ones that are held on with double sided tape, so a heat gun or hair dryer, some elbow grease and WD40 should get them off and get the residue cleaned up pretty well.

[trb]

Congrats! It looks really nice, but is a bit of a bright red I agree! I do prefer the darker red, but when looking for such a specific vehicle, sometimes the color has to be a compromise. But it should serve you well!

Good luck with it.

[tpollauf]

Congrats on the purchase Unlike some others here, that is an AWESOME color ... one that will definitely get noticed! So you want heated seats?

Get some of these:



To see the complete heated seat installation visit this page
https://driiive.com/tpollauf/2009-Ponti ... !/timeline" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Keep us all posted here as to your future progress

[troyguitar]

Cool seat heater install, I will probably do something very similar but not until perhaps this Fall. I did the stereo install last night with no issues. Ended up buying a Kenwood KDC-BT755HD with bluetooth, hd radio, and a bunch of other stuff.



The bluetooth mic is currently sitting just below the tach and speedo, it seems to work pretty well so I will probably stick it there permanently if nothing else goes wrong over the next week or so:



Here's the whole setup with my trick phone mount:



That's a RAM suction cup mount with a wireless charging pad on the end of it, which has neodymium magnets epoxied to it, which hold the phone in place against the pad. Handsfree use + wireless charging + wireless audio/calls over bluetooth = Awesome!

I also pulled off the rain guards but still have a lot of work left to do to remove the remaining tape and adhesive, sadly.