GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I've owned my Vibe since February. Shortly after I bought it the HVAC controls broke. It needed a new muffler almost off the bat. I needed a whole new unit, finally replaced it this month at a cost of $240(parts + labor). Today my driver side window came off track and wouldn't roll back up. Luckily I was allowed to drive straight down town to go get it taken care of. The regulator/control arm was bent 3/4 of a turn. Turns out it has to be replaced at a cost of $250 (parts + labor). I've absolutely babied this car more than any of my previous cars and it seems to just crap on me in return. However, the clutch still grips extremely well which is contrary to the most common issue on this car. Sorry for ranting I just want these issues to end, at least the car runs reliably.

wow, less than $500 you've had to spend on an otherwise solid investment and you think it's a POS? LOL. here I was thinking you had to sink $2000+ or something for new parts or worn out parts (clutch or battery). Granted, $500 isn't just chump change, but hell, most people I know with cars that crap out spend much more than that to fix it. I can relate when I bought a 92 GMC Jimmy and I had to put $1500 of work into the car after a month or so due to engine gasket leaks and fuel injection issues. Now that was actually a POS vehicle. I still don't consider the Vibe to be in that category. It could be worse! You could have spent a lot more money for the car to begin with!

There have been other expenses but they are wear and tear. If I were to throw in tires, brakes, battery, it would be closer to the $1500 you mentioned. But I can't complain about tires with 35,000 miles on them going bad nor can I complain about the battery that came with the car not performing in sub zero temperatures. The muffler was $300. So make that $800, you can factor in the wear and tear items but it doesn't make any sense. I'm just frustrated with all the "creature comforts" going out. It was just a rant and I apologize if I offended. I'm just irate that I have a car with 37,000 miles on it and things are breaking. The only thing I had to do to my last car which had 225,000 miles on it was replace the throttle body gasket ($15 + a few hours of my time).

I can see your frustration, but I'd say 5 bills on a 6 year old car isn't much of an issue. One of the joys of buying used. The last used car I bought needed $400 in sunroof repairs the weekend I brought it home. Hope the little things come to an end, but hey, the motor's running good and should serve you for at least another 3x the miles that are on it now.I'd say a car with 225k miles on it that only needs a throttle body gasket is somewhat of an anomoly.

YOU may have babied this car, but there is no way to know how the previous owner treated it.Some of these problems could have been developing while under its previous ownership and just all showing up now...

Quote, originally posted by kunkstyle »I'd say a car with 225k miles on it that only needs a throttle body gasket is somewhat of an anomoly.... that truck was a beast. (still is, just isn't mine anymore).

Quote, originally posted by DarkSpork »There have been other expenses but they are wear and tear. If I were to throw in tires, brakes, battery, it would be closer to the $1500 you mentioned. But I can't complain about tires with 35,000 miles on them going bad nor can I complain about the battery that came with the car not performing in sub zero temperatures. The muffler was $300. So make that $800, you can factor in the wear and tear items but it doesn't make any sense. I'm just frustrated with all the "creature comforts" going out. It was just a rant and I apologize if I offended. I'm just irate that I have a car with 37,000 miles on it and things are breaking. The only thing I had to do to my last car which had 225,000 miles on it was replace the throttle body gasket ($15 + a few hours of my time).consider yourself lucky then. I know the person who bought my 03 Vibe GT with 32K miles had a lot more to put into it than $800. New clutch, front bumper, tags, windshield, etc. as for tires, up here, we have 3 sets of tires for each vehicle, so to me, that's just a given. we also have 3 sets of rims with those tires.... and now I have TPMS sensors to deal with on the new car. As I said, you could have it far worse. and remember, you bought a used GT with the higher horsepower rating and 6MT. You can almost bet the person who bought it before you probably didn't dwaddle around in the car. You could have had someone like myself who owned it and beat the bejeebus out of it on a daily basis. I don't envy the person who bought my VGT at all.

Quote, originally posted by AKLGT »consider yourself lucky then. I know the person who bought my 03 Vibe GT with 32K miles had a lot more to put into it than $800. New clutch, front bumper, tags, windshield, etc. as for tires, up here, we have 3 sets of tires for each vehicle, so to me, that's just a given. we also have 3 sets of rims with those tires.... and now I have TPMS sensors to deal with on the new car. As I said, you could have it far worse. and remember, you bought a used GT with the higher horsepower rating and 6MT. You can almost bet the person who bought it before you probably didn't dwaddle around in the car. You could have had someone like myself who owned it and beat the bejeebus out of it on a daily basis. I don't envy the person who bought my VGT at all.I tend to dwaddle around in the car. I find it annoying to need to rev the (removed) out of the engine to get any power out of it so I tend to just drive it for economy. I know that at least half the time it wasn't driven hard because there is snow or ice on the road from October through April. I am just being foolish, I just needed to vent, sorry. Thanks for your input.

Quote, originally posted by DarkSpork »I know that at least half the time it wasn't driven hard because there is snow or ice on the road from October through AprilA little snow never stopped anybody It's much easier to do ringers in 3" of snow.

Quote, originally posted by DarkSpork »I tend to dwaddle around in the car. I find it annoying to need to rev the (removed) out of the engine to get any power out of it so I tend to just drive it for economy. I know that at least half the time it wasn't driven hard because there is snow or ice on the road from October through April. I am just being foolish, I just needed to vent, sorry. Thanks for your input.UM, not to disappoint you in that thinking, but if you look and see where I'm located = ALASKA, it's snow from Oct - Apr/May as well. and I can assure you that it NEVER slowed me down when it came to hitting lift every single morning on my way into work..... I drove the car hard, ran it into a ditch (or two). So, having long winters doesn't mean anything. Yesterday it snowed about 6" here. I can assure you that I enjoyed my drive home and all over town, over 100 miles yesterday in the snow. weeeeee!

Quote, originally posted by AKLGT » I drove the car hard, ran it into a ditch (or two).If there was snow, then it was cold enough for there to be ice. Are you sure you did not slide into the ditch or 2? This what your talking about? http://forums.genvibe.com/zero...age=1

Quote, originally posted by ou.grizzly »If there was snow, then it was cold enough for there to be ice. Not necessarily. Depending on road surface temps snow can fall without roads icing up.

Well it was childish for me to complain. I'm going to try to figure out how to delete this thread.

Quote, originally posted by DarkSpork »I'm going to try to figure out how to delete this thread.Hey - I wouldn't worry about it. Sometimes venting is just needed.

Quote, originally posted by DarkSpork »Well it was childish for me to complain. I'm going to try to figure out how to delete this thread.Nah, don't delete it. I can understand your disappointment. Seeing it was a used car, some expense are guaranteed to pop up. Especially, on a used GT. You just need to take it in stride and set limits on what you are can afford to spend on repairs before it gets to be too out of control. Hopefully, most of the needed repairs are done for a while.

Feel free to rant about the car crapping on you. We're here for you. While it sucks to have stuff keep going wrong with it, look on the bright side, you didn't buy the Vibe from member ColonelPanic. His tales of Vibe woe are extensive. I too have had some issues with mine, and I usually rant fairly well about them when they come up. I keep looking at each as "is the cost to repair less than the cost to replace?" and keep repairing it. So far I've probably spent about $3K in actual repairs, and more in wear and maintenance items, and over $10K just in gasoline. We'd like to think our cars are perfect, but not so in reality. Hope you have a repair free stretch ahead.I wonder if the window issue was related to the exploding window recall. Not many have had to have their muffler replaced, on the exhaust system it's usually the catalytic converter in Vibes

Quote, originally posted by DarkSpork »Well it was childish for me to complain. I'm going to try to figure out how to delete this thread.Don't feel that way man... like the others said, we all need to vent sometimes... I think the points everyone is trying to make is that, it's not that bad... could be worse and all that... As Hope pointed out, you bought used, so you bought someone elses problems.. a few expenses later and the car should be solid for awhile.. let's hope.. On the power thing... smaller the motor, the more it has to rev to MAKE power... hense the higher redlines of smaller motors.. heck the S2000 revs out to 11k IIRC... OTOH, my Subie redlines at 7k, but still doesn't make any power below 3k.. keep ya head up..

yeah like sublime pointed out the smaller the engine the more it need to rev to make the power. I had a 93 Z28 and the power was felt very early, like around 2K, heck it cutoff at 5750! but that's just some of the differences between smaller engine and a bigger ones like the 350

While I am tempted to repeat my sermon on the benefits, even the cost benefits, of buying new vs. used I will refrain as most of you have heard/read that before. In sum, all things considered, it often is better to by a new car on which the dealer makes $300 than a used one on which the dealer makes $2,000.

You're just like me....I have a 03 and there have been lots o lil things that have gone or not worked right on my car..it has 137,000kms on it and I can say that I will never but another Toyota again.Its not worth the extra money they charge to but one.If they survive.......lol.GM all the way.

Quote, originally posted by joatmon »While it sucks to have stuff keep going wrong with it, look on the bright side, you didn't buy the Vibe from member ColonelPanic. His tales of Vibe woe are extensive.hehe! Yes, it is a very good thing. That sucked. Sometimes I miss the ol' bucket of dysfunctional bolts though. You can either have good luck or you don't... those of us with bad luck fortunately are outnumbered by those that are having good luck. It sucks when your car falls apart. Mine sucked but at least I don't have to worry much about crap breaking on my wife's Vibe. DarkSpork, hang in there... you'll hopefully get everything straightened out. You have plenty of support here.

Thanks everyone.Wolfman: in regards to the matter of engine size. I am aware. This car is my first 4 cylinder. I really miss the low wend torque my other vehicles have. This car feels like you have to rev it to 5 before it can even think of getting out of its own way. Overall, I can't complain. Hasn't gotten me stuck (I don't understand how), I've managed 35mpg on a trip to Minneapolis, and it starts every time. In regards to the window, I took it in for the recall, but the control arm was probably already bent prior to me bringing it in for that considering it would rattle if not rolled all the way up or down and the door were to be shut. I'm hoping The control arm will last for another 5 years. I'm going to take it back for the HVAC because the knob still doesn't feel like it should (kind of sticky, doesn't go all the way to vent, but at least it works now). After that I am hoping my only expenses will be periodic maintenance.