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Canadian Driver Test of AWD Vibe

Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2003 11:23 am
by Frosty
See http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/hl/03vibeawd.htm No mention of sluggish performance in cold weather....Cool pic of the awd components. They show Tires 245/35 ZR 18 front; 295/30 ZR 18 rear . nice setup, must be a typo....

Re: Canadian Driver Test of AWD Vibe (silverawd26)

Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2003 11:40 am
by Frosty
quote:Also, that article talked about when you are going around curbs and hitting the gas at the same time. The vehicle does push a bit, but a 4 wheel drive truck does the same. There was an article describing that trait on a Impreza as fun and entertaining. Doesn't sound like a problem to me...

Re: Canadian Driver Test of AWD Vibe (Frosty)

Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2003 1:05 pm
by NSimkins
Interesting though, they list a Matrix AWD at $20,215 and the Vibe AWD at $26,625... that's a big difference for the same thing, unless the Matrix was stripped down and the Vibe was loaded?

Re: Canadian Driver Test of AWD Vibe (silverawd26)

Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2003 8:37 pm
by coratz
definitly looks like aluminum to me.

Re: Canadian Driver Test of AWD Vibe (Frosty)

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2003 2:44 am
by pmh013
Even if they did have sluggish performance, would they really say that? If they had gotten my car for the test ... wouldn't that be some bad press?

Re: Canadian Driver Test of AWD Vibe (coratz)

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2003 2:45 am
by pmh013
Look at the weld on the left side @ the universal. I've seen better.

Re: Canadian Driver Test of AWD Vibe (Frosty)

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2003 3:16 am
by red
i had pretty good traction in "slick" conditions with my awd (sheet ice, snow, combinations of)...it handled better than any current awd/4wd system i've experienced so far! as far as handling on pure ice, few systems work well unless equipped w/snows and/or studs...thing handles pretty good on curves too, better than some of my previous "sport cars" did. i guess it is what you are comparing the vehicle against: a porche awd; no way, but i've outhandled some on the vaunted subes (not wrx) that these critics rave about, on corners and such. my awd!!!

Re: Canadian Driver Test of AWD Vibe (red)

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2003 3:44 am
by pmh013
Good point Red! My AWD Vibe is way better on the highway than my Explorer was. Many times I'd experience "grabbing" on the highway when my Explorer decided it was slippery, only to have the front tires grab dry pavement. Not once has this happened with my Vibe, and I drove quite a stretch of ice covered highways before Christmas.

Re: Canadian Driver Test of AWD Vibe (NSimkins)

Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2003 4:32 am
by Frosty
quote:Interesting though, they list a Matrix AWD at $20,215 and the Vibe AWD at $26,625... that's a big difference for the same thing, unless the Matrix was stripped down and the Vibe was loaded?From the http://www.Toyota.ca website....Toyota has a base and an XR version of the AWD. The web shows the Base at $20,315 and the XR $24,110.The base will be a strippo, no power anything, no 110VAC outlet, steel wheels,no monotone, no rear window wiper....But it does have ABS, which only the XRS FWD has