Thinking about buying??

[Bocaj77]

I have been looking at a 2003 XRS with 70,000 miles on it. Wondering how they hold up around this mileage & up. Anything major I should know about?

[northvibe]

looking at a matrix! The 2zz engine if taken care of prior should have no issue lasting over 200k. The main issues are the clutch and if the TSB's have all been taken care of. Otherwise just have your mechanic take a quick peak at it, mine charges 100 for this once over. Then they can find any issues and give you a recommendation for a purchase or not.

[jake75]

Did you ever translate miles into time? 70,000 miles @ 45 mph = 1,556 hours = 64.8 days of running. 200,000 miles @465 mph = 4,444 hrs = 185 days of running. So if you drove even the best auto engine for 24 hours a day it would last only 6 months and you'd have to change the oil very 5 days. Doesn't seem like that is very durable. I am guessing a refrigerator compressor runs 12 hours a day and they typically last 15 years. A 36,000 mile engine warranty = 800 hours running time @ 45mph. If a car company expresed their engine warranty as 800 hours running time who would buy?

[prathman]

Quote, originally posted by jake75 »Did you ever translate miles into time? 70,000 miles @ 45 mph = 1,556 hours = 64.8 days of running. 200,000 miles @45 mph = 4,444 hrs = 185 days of running. So if you drove even the best auto engine for 24 hours a day it would last only 6 months and you'd have to change the oil very 5 days.I'd expect a good engine that's kept running at moderate levels to last considerably longer in total running time than typical car use with all the cold starts and varying loads. Oil change intervals could also probably be extended well past 5000 miles when operated that way without contamination of the oil due to condensation when cooling and incomplete combustion at startup. But the figure of 800 hours of operation is pretty consistent with typical small aircraft engines which have TBOs (time before overhaul) of about 1000 hours.I agree with northvibe that the main issue I'd look for would be the clutch which seems to fail prematurely in many VibeGT/MatrixXRS cars.

[Atomic]

Quote, originally posted by jake75 »Did you ever translate miles into time? 70,000 miles @ 45 mph = 1,556 hours = 64.8 days of running. 200,000 miles @465 mph = 4,444 hrs = 185 days of running. Holy crap, what have you got in your Vibe that makes it go 465MPH?!? and I thought I drove fast.

[northvibe]

a 2003 with only 70k is low miles

[jake75]

1. Good catch - typo - I meant to repeat 45 mph2. My 2003 bought 1-27-03 has 27,800 miles -THAT'S low miles! 70,000 in 5 years is 14,000 a year. Not unusual - perhaps typical, but I don't think it is low. I wonder what an average miles per year would be - leases used to be 12,000 miles. Lately I have seen a lot of them advertised at 10,000 miles - probably a sucker bet - keeps the payment low but hits you with a steep over miles fee at end. A lot cheaper to buy the miles up front.

[Anrosphynx]

I have a vibe GT with the same engine. It currently has 118k on it. no problems at all.