GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I recently had to have a courtesy car - vibe got crunched, and i was given a corolla. I was quite surprised to find that it was much more spirited than my vibe - it had much crisper shifting and was definitely faster! I was a little taken aback by this. I had always assumed that these two cars shared the same powertrain. I suspect the corolla might be a little lighter? Does anybody have any thoughts on this? My car is just a bare bones 2005 base auto with DBW and the corolla looked like a 2006 or 2007. This question comes about because i have always been less than impressed by my vibes driveability around town - the engine tends to wind up too much before shifting even in unspirited driving.

the corolla is about 500lbs lighter so yea it's going to feel that way.

What I've seen listed for the base car curb weights are 2530 lbs for the Corolla vs. 2701 lbs for the Vibe. So the difference is 171 lbs. or about the same as having one extra person in the Corolla. Enough to be noticed, but I wouldn't expect it to be as dramatic as described in the OP.

Weight according to Edmunds: 2009 Corolla: 2767 lbs. 2009 Vibe: 2855 lbs (both with manual transmissions). Not even 100 pounds on the 2009 model. Weight is indeed everything, and accounts for pep and MPG. I agree with you though, I wouldn't expect that much of a difference in the Corolla engine performance given these numbers.

thanks for the responses guys, does anybody with a similar car experience the same kind of windup before shifting? Also, does the ecu adjust for the type of driving that you do - spirited vs mileage-conscious? I find that also i've done the DBW reset to mixed results.

I had my 2006 awd vibe weighed it weighed in at 2900lbs

Our '09 'rolla XLE weighs 2811 lbs according to the lit but feels quicker and is much quieter than our '05 Vibe. I'm impressed with the new design 1.8L engine. Six fill-ups so far, 100% stop-n-go city driving (<45mph) and mpg has ranged from 28.1 to 29.2 by the calculator, not the on board computer however it is very close. People over at ToyotaNation.com are claiming 40+ mpg hwy in their 1.8L 10th gen 'rolla's.

I can believe it that the Corollas are topping 40mpg on the highway..... So far, I have gotten 29, 29, and 33 mpg on my 1.8 liter '09 Vibe doing 90% city driving. It seems too good to be true. I can't wait to see what I get on a highway trip someday.

I had a Corolla CE loaner car while mine was at the dealer once. I have an AWD XR '05 Matrix so the difference was totally noticeable. Although I still feel my Matrix handles better than the Corolla and my 02 Civic EX did.

The corolla weighs less.