Toronto - New Member - 2010 Vibe 5-Speed

[newt]

Last week I bought a 2010 Pontiac Vibe (5-speed) with 55,000km.

I hadn't owned a car in 4 years and before that I was always a Honda man ('88 Prelude, '01 Civic and '01 Accord).
I looked a bunch of cars (Civic, Fit, Accord, Mazda3, Impreza, TSX and TL) but I decided on the Vibe because it was everything I wanted (reliable, low cost of ownership, good on gas, practical and pretty fun to drive) but it also had the benefit of being the lowest car to insure from all the ones I was considering (by at least $300/year) and I found an awesome deal.

So far I love it, with my only complaints being:

- kinda noisy under hard accelerating
- the cargo/back area seems like it would scuff up really easy under regular use
- my volume knob is not really working (but one of the members on this forum - tpollauf - is sending me a couple of new ones to replace it with so ... HOORAY!)

This seems like a great group to be a part of!

Are there any aftermarket 'requirements' that the car needs?
I have Bluetooth through my GPS for calling, and I was thinking of putting in a K&N air filter and a backup camera, but perhaps people can share some thoughts with me?

Cheers,
Marco

[trb]

Welcome Marco, and that's a nice looking Vibe GT you got! Looks just like my 10 GT that was totaled last year It was a great little car for the 2-1/2 years I had it. I added the whole K&N intake to it, and it certainly made the acceleration a lot louder, but that was the only mod I did to it. Others have done exhaust and other mods to theirs. If you are concerned about the back area getting damaged, look for a rear mat or cut out one from a rubber mat to fit. Several others on here have done that with their cars. The rear mat from the older models is a close fit too. I was planning to get a mat from a Vibe with the Moon & Tunes package that has the rear sub, since it would fit better than the base mat, but didn't get a chance to buy one.

Best of luck with your new Vibe!

[tpollauf]

We officially welcome you to GenVibe Marco I am Sooooooo jealous of your 2nd gen Vibe GT in Ignition Orange and a 5-speed manual A VERY rare package you got there. I almost bought this exact car from a North Carolina dealership new back in May of 2009 (2010's were just in production then) but would have lost over $2500 in rebates so I stuck with my real favorite car color .... RED !

[Dairgo]

1) are you just replacing the filter, or are you putting in a short ram intake from K&N? it will be noisy during acceleration

2) if you are doing the K&N SRI, consider going with an AEM dry flow filter and the filter wrap for that, no need to ever oil it, just wash it out every 50k to 100k miles

3) GM made a mat for the rear area (part#:1917082) http://www.gmpartsdirect.com/results.cf ... r=19170827 Thinking of getting the rear fascia protector myself (GM part 19171162)

4) not sure about your music habits (ie radio, satellite, cd or phone) but I purchased the HTC Car A200, a bluetooth dongle that lets me stream my music and/or gps sound to my stereo via aux port from my phone. It does not have a mic, so it will not work for phone calls.

[newt]

Thanks for all the great pointers - much appreciated.

I just wanted to replace it with an air filter that I could just wash and clean, instead of having to replace it. The K&N one will cause the acceleration to be even louder?!

I can't see the pictures of the GM part#:1917082 - is that a rubber mat for the rear cargo area or is it a mat for the backseat seating area? I'm looking for a cheap solution to not get the back cargo/hatch area all scuffed up

[Dairgo]

Yes, the SRI will cause acceleration to be louder. Sure it doesn't already have something, stock isn't loud at all.

The mat mentioned is just for the back hatch area, though I believe vibenvy bought a second and cut it to put out when the rear seats are down.

The K&N filter that comes with the SRI should be washed and oiled every 50k miles. The AEM dryflow you can just wash with water and put it back on the K&N sri.

I forgot to mention, there is also an engine block heater available. It can be installed without draining the block, there is a hole milled into the block near the air intake for it. Recommend putting this in while you have the air intake off.

[tpollauf]

I can't see the pictures of the GM part#:1917082 - is that a rubber mat for the rear cargo area or is it a mat for the backseat seating area? I'm looking for a cheap solution to not get the back cargo/hatch area all scuffed up

Is this the type of mat you're looking for?



I'm not sure if this is the part number of what you describe or not. It is a rubber mat (weighs about 30 lbs!) and fits perfect in the backs of our 09-10 Vibe GT's! A bit pricey though .... around $80 US.

[Dairgo]

That is the mat.

[vibenvy]

Welcome to GenVibe! As tpollauf already said, that's a very rare color you have there ! My mom and I both have 2009 Vibe GTs (see my signature picture below) and absolutely love them! They both have K&N short ram air intakes with AEM Brute Force Dryflow air filters and AEM air filter wraps as Dairgo mentioned. Mine also has a Magnaflow catback exhaust. IMO, this combination adds a nice growl to the engine without being too loud and / or obnoxious. At cruising speed, it's barely louder than stock. When accelerating it gets pretty loud, but not bad at all IMO. I was worried about the exhaust being too loud, but it's perfect as far as I'm concerned. As Dairgo and tpollauf also mentioned, both our Vibes each have two of the GM Accessories premium all weather cargo mats. They stack nicely on top of each other in the cargo area as shown in the picture tpollauf posted. The second mat is used when the rear seats are folded down to protect the backs of the rear seats from getting all scratched up and all. Dairgo was missing a number on the part number he listed. It's actually #19170827. Check out my Garage thread for pictures of the two cargo mats, along with the intake setup, exhaust system and all the other mods I've done to it. Let me know if you have any questions on anything you see.