New Member 2003 Vibe

[2003Vibeyota]

Hi Everyone,
I'm new here. Ive got an 03 Vibe and live in the interior of British Columbia, Canada.
I love this car and am happy to join this community!

Ive got a manual, base model, FWD with over 300000km (not sure exactly as its at 299,999)

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[SeattleJeremy]

This looks amazing! I love it. Thank you for sharing pictures.

[2003Vibeyota]

Thank you!

I'll post some interior pictures soon. I changed quite a bit of it.
I didnt like the seating and steering wheel position. The seat itself is great, but the up and down adjustment is only on the back of the driver seat brackets. The front of the seat cushion felt too high (it doesn't go lower, just pivots) on the lowest setting. I made new front seat brackets that lowered the front of the seat by 1.5inches to match the back.
The steering wheel position felt too high on the lowest setting (even with original seat position), felt like a steering wheel on a bus. I made new brackets for the steering wheel that lets it go about 2 inches lower. Same for the manual shifter, I cut it down about 2 inches and changed the boot and shifter knob while at it, now it feels perfect. The plastic around the shifter was a bit scratched up so I fixed that as well and painted it black.
I also didnt like the shiny silver accents on the gauges and by the stereo, so I painted them gunmetal grey while replacing the stock stereo head unit.

I can write up how to do that if anyone else feels like the original seating position wasn't quite right (I'm 5'9). I'm very happy with the results.

[2003Vibeyota]

Interior:

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My wheels/tires are bigger than stock, gps speedometer app works great. I use google maps on trips so I can have directions right in front of me and it also shows the speed. I added an extra cig lighter plug hidden behind the stereo that runs charging cables above the steering wheel and another one into the storage compartment below the shifter without using up the original cig lighter charger ports.

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The magnet keeps the phone in place and silicone mat under it stops it from rattling on dirt roads

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I used a leather headrest cover I had laying around and glued it to a piece of knee cushion for gardening to cover the empty space where the double din stereo used to be. It was supposed to be temporary and I was going to install a double din touchscreen there, but it worked out quite well and I decided to keep it as is. Its easier to operate than the touchscreen without taking my eyes off the road and I didn't need the navigation screen there as I have it above the steering wheel.

[tpollauf]

Welcome to GenVibe If only every new member took your approach to informing us here about themselves as you did, then this world would be a much better place! Well maybe not, but at least we'd know more about them and that's great! You posted pics right off the bat, and disclosed location. Kudos to you How long have you owned this Vibe? Is it the original 5-speed tranny? Nice modifications too. Keep visiting here and get involved!

[2003Vibeyota]

Ive had it for about a year. I bought it from a mechanic who took pretty good care of it. It had some dents and clear coat issues but mechanically very solid. The problem bearing in the transmission has been replaced according to the guy i bought it from. As far as I know, its the original transmission.

Ive tried to join the GenVibe facebook group but its been pending approval for a while. Not sure why its closed, seems like the more members we have, the better. Do you know if its run by the same people who run this site?

[tpollauf]

Ive tried to join the GenVibe facebook group but its been pending approval for a while. Not sure why its closed, seems like the more members we have, the better. Do you know if its run by the same people who run this site?

Pretty sure it is NOT run by the same Admins that keep this site up & running. About 4 years ago or so the F-book site was open to anyone as I'd occasionally visit it to see what's going on. Totally the opposite of this site and was shocked at a lot of the content back then. Then they locked it out. Must be some insecure members that don't like their "drama" exposed to the rest of the world. I'll stop there as could get myself in trouble Being 40 years older and more mature than the average F-book member are the main reasons that I'm not a part of it. If they don't approve your membership, consider it a blessing (there I go again ....... shuttup Tim)

As far as your transmission goes, its a good thing that the bearing issue was resolved before destroying your transmission. That's one less worry for you to have on your mind!

[2003Vibeyota]

Hahah, fair enough. I'm not much of a facebook user either. I just thought it could be a place to get parts and share maintenance tips.

The car has been great so far. Doesnt burn oil, everything works. The only issue I have at the moment is my airbag light came on a couple of days ago. All the connections under the seats seem fine. I suspect its either due to the airbag recall that I'm waiting for parts to get done or the clockspring in the steering wheel. The light doesnt always stay on, but when i start driving and the steering wheel is dead center, it lights up. If i start it with my steering off center, it goes away. Ive read through some other posts and it seems similar to what someone else described which turned out to be that clockspring. I dont have any previous experience dealing with that so I'll see what it looks like after the recall work is done and go from there.

[SeattleJeremy]

Sounds like you know what you're doing, definitely get that checked out. Don't want the air bag doing something it's not suppose to be doing at a critical moment... or any random moment.

[2003Vibeyota]

I'll get it fixed mostly because I don't like seeing warning lights on the dash. I'm not sure I want to see what a deployed 20 year old air bag looks like even in the best of circumstances, might be better off without it

[2003Vibeyota]

While looking through the 'all about Vibe' section I noticed that 03 had all red instrument cluster while mine is white and red..hmm.. pretty sure it said 03 on the door. Checked the Vin info and what do you know.. its an 04! It was advertised as an 03 when I bought it and that's what I put on all the paperwork and insurance. No one (including me) bothered to check. Well, my username looks a little silly now

[tpollauf]

pretty sure it said 03 on the door. Checked the Vin info and what do you know.. its an 04! It was advertised as an 03 when I bought it and that's what I put on all the paperwork and insurance.

Sticker inside the door only states manufactured month/year, along with other info. As far as when the titled year goes, that's up to the manufacturer and varies all over the place. Couple good examples are when the 2009's came out, it was April of 2008 YET they were titled as 2009 Vibes. Same for the few 2010's built. I believe they too were spring of 2009 up till the end of August when production COMPLETELY stopped!