Vibes on rough terrain?

[Slimer]

So I'm planning a little camping trip down to the Colorado Sand Dunes in a few weeks, and the good camping areas are all on somewhat rough, sandy trails. Anybody taken a Vibe off the beaten path and can tell me how it did? I'm not talking about offroading, but just rough, narrow dirt roads with chancy traction.

[ebslopp]

I took mine through some pretty thick road construction with standing water and pot holes the size of Geo Metros. It handled surprisingly well. Although sand tends to move when you drive on it, so it will probably be totally different than what I did.

[ragingfish]

We have a wildlife reserve by my house. No paved roads. Very VERY uneven dirt roads. Lots of potholes, lots of bumps, lots of FUN!I was forced to cut through there one night because my usual route home from work was closed for police activity.Needless to say, the ride was FUNNNN!!!THough I did find the Vibe tends to slide a lot -- not having AWD, I control it easily by moving down into 2nd or even Low and let the engine keep the speed regulated...Overall, it was awesome. I even hit an unforseen 4" dropoff at the end fo the trail (they really need a sign!!!!) and the Vibe came out without incident.I now find myself "off roading" down these roads every night! Will get pics tomorrow so we can see if my roads are similar to what you're anticipating...

[MadBill]

If there's any deep, soft sand, you might want to take along one of those little air compressors that plugs into the cigarette lighter. My son used to go to the Outer Banks in NC, and the first time, he got thoroughly stuck in his 4WD Tracker. Someone suggested he drop the tire pressures way down, which he did and promptly drove right out of the sand trap. I think they go as low as 12-15 psi, but maybe there's an off-roader in the crowd that can add details.

[Evanshall]

what type of vibe do you have? GT is hopeless on anything sandy, but its good up to 90mph on dirt(hehe) Base vibe i would suppose would be better with noblyer tires taht can cut through the dirt/sand easier, and if you have a AWD, you should be finebut whatever model you have lower the air pressure, it helps a ton off road(like madbill said)

[sloth]

The stock 17" tires may give you some trouble if you have a GT on sand or wet dirt roads better known as gumbo here. I usually dance all over the dirt roads with my GT and stock but my snow tires eat that stuff up without a problem.

[Slimer]

Yeah, it's a base, not a GT. I was thinking it would probably be better than the GT. With the AWD I wouldn't even ask the question, I'd be totally golden. But it sounds like I might actually be OK.

[Evanshall]

skinnier tires on the base should do alright in dirt, just as said a bagilian times, lower the pressure (woops i almost just said "deflate thme")

[Psychobroker]

Before I did a single mod, I took my Vibe camping just north of Valencia, about 15 miles off the beaten road. Plenty of dirt/rocks/boulders/inclines. The road was about as narrow as the Vibe itself, and it performed extremely well.