First impressions; It's Red and It's Here

[baltimore17]

Got the Vibe this afternoon. I think the paint (lava monotone) is hooked up to a power source. It's very, very red.The suspension seems a little firmer than my 93 Saturn's, but the seats are more compliant. So, at the (removed) interface, it's about the same over rough pavement. The steering ratio feels a little slower, although that may be because I'm driving like a little old lady until it's broken in.Jeeze, I was surprised at how high up I sit. I cranked the driver's seat up to full height, still have about 3" of headroom, and look down on all other non-SUV drivers. Since it's about a foot shorter than full size SUVs, it didn't occur to me that it was particularly taller than regular sedans. It'll take me a while before I'm comfortable taking off ramps at double posted speed.This is my first car with remote keyless entry. I think I'll grow to like it. Ironically, I left the garage door clicker in the Saturn (which is down at the dealer's being inspected prior to private sale) so I don't have remote keyless entry to my garage until I retrieve the Saturn Wednesday.I think the radio has about 3 dB of bass boost dialed into the "flat" setting on the equalizer. I've traditionally reserved bass boosts for moments of guilty pleasure. I felt guilty listening to the Diane Schuur CD on the way home. I'll have to experiment with the settings. The radio should take no more than three or four months to master. It's kind of cool, with the RDS, to see the call letters for the station on the display.The Vibe really is 6" shorter than the Saturn. I parked up to the dangling tennis ball in my garage and had lots of room remaining for walking around the front bumper. Although it's supposed to be a couple of inches wider, it looked like there was more room between the passenger side and the garage wall than with the Saturn.Nearly all the "oh dear, I have a problem" Genvibe threads are not existent. No squeeks, no rattles, and the hatch closes with ease and grace. The only item was that dime-sized cover on the shift console for the transmission interlock override button. The dealer has the part on order. So far, the build quality appears to be perfect, knock on wood. Thank you, Toyota. My only dissapointment was that the green halo glow from the turn signal indicator wasn't quite as dramatic I'd come to expect from the occasional thread comments (LOL).Not sure about the horn. It's possible that it might finally end up being part of the car's character, as opposed to a stylistic faux pas. Anyway, I still have those four horns from a 1971 Cadillac Fleetwood if "character" doesn't win out.No badge overlays. The Pontiac red logos go really well with the lava color, IMHO.Time from order to delivery was 12 weeks and 3 days. The dealer, Fox in Laurel, MD, was great, knocking a little over $1,100 off the sticker and cheerfully handling the rebate and the GM mastercard earnings. No funny charges, no pressure for extra cost dealer "services", and a full tank of gas upon delivery. If it's OK to make a recommendation, try Janel Buckingham at buckinghamj@autonation.com if you live south of Philly and north of Richmond and don't think you're getting a good response from your local dealers.I took about five pictures of it today. First thing tomorrow, if it's sunny, I'm going to drive to several picturesque spots and shoot some more. 'Course, if I had a digital camera, I could show you by the evening, but it'll be a few weeks to develop and scan.And, boy, is it red!

[Sputnik]

Congrats on the Lava! I've only ever seen one and I was amazed at how bright red it is. Knock on wood, the only problem I seem to have with mine is the rear hatch needing force to completely close, and that doesn't even bother me that much. Enjoy the new ride!

[Flip-Side]

It is good that your car shows no signs of problems, but as far a squeeks...give it a few miles. I didn't have any until I had 4000 miles on my Vibe, and now the dash, driver's door, glovebox, and a few other spots squeek. All will be worked out, but they are still annoying.

[LavaTroll]

Baltimore17,As the original claimant of the "turn signal halo effect," I'm sorry you're disappointed - perhaps it was enhanced through my own overactive imagination and probable Star Wars instrumentation wishes. I have a Lava Vibe, too, and for the first time I'm aware of how many red cars are on the road. It seems like, out of 30 cars, 9 are red and 3 are maroon! But, like you say, none come close to the electric redness of Lava.I agree about the stereo, too; the flat setting is hardly that. I'm basing this on my own CDs, which I mixed and mastered, and there are some weird emphases all up and down the frequency spectrum. Still, the system (I have Moon & Tunes) sounds fine; it's a bit generic sounding (plenty of bass, but no real distinct oomph even in the low mids) and at times the stereo separation (helped no doubt by the post mounted tweeters) seems super, super wide for a little car, almost to the point where cohesion is lost.But these items become irrelevant as soon as I start moving down the road, and the driving joy of the Vibe kicks in. I have a ball just winding down through the parking garage in first.

[Sputnik]

quote:I have a Lava Vibe, too, and for the first time I'm aware of how many red cars are on the road. It seems like, out of 30 cars, 9 are red and 3 are maroon! But, like you say, none come close to the electric redness of Lava.Actually I think, statistically speaking, there are more silver cars than anything... I notice way more silver than red... but perhaps its because I have silver.

[Chazb]

You are right sputnik silver is the most popular color followed by white.Congrats Baltimore17 on your vibe great car and the vibe looks good in any color now have some fun in it.

[baltimore17]

Hey LavaTroll,It took until this evening, but I finally "get" the halo effect. I was making a left turn, blinker on, looking out the windshield, and the halo really became evident in my peripheral vision. I was so intently staring at everything in the car last night that I missed the forest for the trees. Second impressions: The handbrake is a little too close to the console armrest to make releasing entirely easy. The doors close with a good, authoritative thunk, just like rich people's rides. The placement of the oil filter looks like doing the oil changes will be easier than on any car since my Dad's 1971 Pinto. Hey, this sitting up high thing really is good for seeing past traffic. Imagine that! The relatively high tailgate window seems to be a greater contributor to the blind spot than are the wide D pillars, based on three opportunities to back out of my uphill driveway. And finally, I get nervous everytime I see a police car since the Vibe is so *red*! (LOL)

[NovaResource]

Lava Red was actually my second choice. It's the exact shade of red that my '93 Sunbird was. But with a silver Nova and a silver Voyager, I wanted a silver Vibe:

[LavaTroll]

NovaResource - as I've mentioned before, I am no car expert, but I know what I like - and that Nova looks sweeeeeet. Kudos!

[Stang2Vibe]

I have to agree. That's the first pic of Scott's Nova I've seen on here. I like it!

[NovaResource]

I got lot's of pics:

[baltimore17]

Third impressions:The first tank of gas has been exhausted (no pun intended) and refilled. Came to just under 26 MPG (base vibe, automatic) of relatively gentle driving (no joyous acceleration until 500 miles).I thought I had a rattle, but it turned out to be the front passenger side shoulder belt buckle whapping against the B pillar plastic trim. I turned around the belt and that was that.I thought I had an electrical defect last night when, ever time I'd hit a bump, the dome lights would come on briefly before fading to dark. Turns out that I had missed completely closing the hatch and the little bit of movement made the dome light switch activate. So, no defects so far.I found out how to keep your dash lights from dimming when your autoheadlight robot gets a shadow across the dashboard sensor. Dial the dash dimmer so that the line is even with the line right below the "on/off" markings. The instrumentation will be lit up *very* brightly day and night. Fine for day, maybe a little dramatic for night. But at least the illumination will be the same as your autoheadlights do their dance during the day.I wish the optional carpet for the load floor had slits for the cargo tiedown tracks. I have the whole batch of sliding tiedowns on the back of the rear seat since they otherwise make lumps under the carpet mat.My long hair domestic red cat hasn't been near the interior, but I'm tracking in loads of high contrast cat hair. Oh for a light tan interior color option. But I really like the charcoal interior. On the other hand, he did take a trip across the hood and left skid marks as he found it steeper than the Saturn he was used to. Got a bottle of Zymol to try on the clearcoat now. I'm noticing bumps in the road more than with the Saturn. It's not the suspension stiffness, it's the higher driving position leading to greater lateral movement (at inner ear height) for the same angular displacement about the roll axis. Um, I mean, you fwap around more sitting up high when you drive on crappy roads.Well, tonight is predicted our first snowstorm since I took delivery, so goodbye intense Lava Red, hello salt encrusted pink. (BTW, Canadian friends, hysteria reigns locally as the prediction is for 3-6 inches )

[gmvibe]

Please tell us your driving impressions of the car in the snow. What make of tires came with your vibe ?

[MadBill]

At the risk of digressing from the theme of our subject vehicles:Hmmm... Serious looking Nova! I see Big 'n Littles, cowl induction hood, traction bars, bumper rub strip deletes... I suspect that like an iceberg, many more mods are lurking out of sight!(I think I feel a new topic coming on :"What else do you drive?" Look for it, coming soon to a website nearby!)

[NovaResource]

LOL! Thanks for the comments. Actually, it's not all that serious. It's a mild 327 and runs mid 13's.

[baltimore17]

I just did a reply in some other discussion thread about the snow handling, but, briefly, it feels less stable than my 1993 Saturn SW2, just sold last Friday so I had a few days basis for comparison. Somebody posted the suggestion that the tires may be inflated to 40 PSI at the factory and may have not been bled by the dealer back to the recommended pressure. That could cause less traction in snow. Gonna check the pressure tonight.The tires are the stock 16" version.

[baltimore17]

Hard to believe it's been over 3 years since I got the Vibe. Just passed 30K miles. Only failure under warantee was the stock CD player ate a CD and wouldn't give it back. Other than that, perfect.The interior does rattle in cold weather, mostly around the base of the left A pillar and the DRL light sensor, as well as around the instrument trim in front of the driver.I've noticed that, in the snow, the itty bitty brakes don't scrub snow accumulation from the inside of the big rims and sometimes I'll get an out-of-balance condition. Minor gripe since it doesn't snow too much in Maryland.Loaded in the back so far have been my bicycle, two 52-gallon hot water heaters, lumber up to 8' long, corner bead up to 10' long, a humidifier, a 22-foot extension ladder (folded to 11'), a half dozen shrubs, sheets of plywood ripped to 2x8, and about 20 contractors' bags of demolition debris. And a wetsuit.On long drives, I get a little over 30 MPG but in normal, mixed city/highway commuting, I get a little under 27. I'm on the original tires and the original battery.I wish the vent control had "floor" in the down position and "upper dash" at the top. I wish the wipers went faster as you pushed the stalk upward instead of downward. I wish the air conditioning was more effective, like the GM systems I've had in the past. I wish the DRL sensor didn't sit so close to the shadow of the A-pillar.I like the cargo nets, really like the cargo tie-downs (and carry a box of bungee cords at all time for instant use), don't think much of the cargo cover design and have never used the storage cubbies on either side of the tailgate nor the one right behind the rear seat. And the bin under the shifter has held a pair of sunglasses for about three years, untouched. I like the two levels of bins in the console and use the bin to the left of the steering column all the time.The Lava red still looks great although Toyota paint definitely is more fragile than what Saturn used on my previous car. The Saturn maybe got two paint chips in 10 years, the Vibe's already pretty scarred up on the side strips and the back bumper (note: I'm careful when parallel parking but I finally figured out that others weren't )So that's my impressions after 3.5 years. In another 3.5 when it's time for a new one, I hope GM lets Toyota put a hybrid drivetrain into the Vibe. Everything the Vibe offers and 42 MPG would be sweet.

[BlueCrush]

Only 30,000 miles on 3-1/2 years? Wow, don't drive it much?Glad to hear you have had few problems with it. Good luck the the next 3-1/2!

[joatmon]

nice thread resurrection. I was thinking "What happened to his old Vibe that he just bought a new one" then I saw the dates.The variety of stuff you've hauled in the car would make a good Vibe commercial.

[808 Vibes]

Congratulations!!! Yeah, first time I drove Frosty, (my Mom's Vibe-my Neptune still isn't here yet...it's only been 3 weeks since it was ordered but feels like 3 months!) I looked down on a Mercedes and thought oh this thing is so cool!

[ou.grizzly]

Hope you been well!

[baltimore17]

Hope y'all don't mind a blast-from-the-past update on my Vibe.Tomorrow my Lava Red Vibe will be eight years old; hard to believe. At the rate it's going, with very few unscheduled maintenance actions, it'll likely last another eight years.It has just under 70K miles, kept down somewhat by the 11K miles I've put on the Suzuki SV-650 bike I got three years ago. The original tires were replaced at about 35K miles after hydroplaning the Vibe into a pair of successive 360s. Failures? Left rear wheel bearing replaced around 40K miles, the inside rearview mirror fell off the windshield at some point (repaired) and half the illumination on the radio display is out (unrepaired). I finally replaced the OEM battery this summer which is as long as I've ever had one last.The buzzes and rattles in the dashboard continue to drive me slightly crazy, but I just keep stuffing folded-up wads of paper into seams to quell the din for a few weeks at a time.I finally used the 110VAC outlet on the console for the first time a few weeks ago, successfully charging an iPhone. The charger wart didn't fit too well; I guess the outlet was only intended for conventional plugs/cords. I never got around to rigging up Christmas lights inside the car for seasonal cheer as some Vibe owners reported early on.I continue to marvel at the swiss-army-knife versatility of the interior, still carrying all manner of oversized furniture, building materials and outgoing junk on weekends. I can't believe that the fold-down front passenger seatback isn't more widely available on new cars.Four years ago, I posted that I hoped for a hybrid version of the Vibe. Too bad that never came about, but about 11 months from now, I'll be buying a Chevy Volt and, given my usage patterns, don't anticipate buying gasoline more than four times a year. But I'll sure miss the Vibe's "fold down and tie up everything" interior.

[06pvibe]

It's ironic... I hadn't seen this thread before but we do have something in common. Not a red Vibe, but my wife who drives our 2006 Vibe came from a '95 Saturn SL1... burgundy of course.

[03VibeOttawa]

great thread bump! I always like hearing peoples' long term ownership experiences.