GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Well. as much as I like the vibe, I miss my pt cruiser.

Thought I'd share a little of what was done to it. Show off a few pics and just think back on the good times I had with my PT.

She was a 2003 pt cruiser gt with the same 2.4l turbo motor that is in the srt4.

Bought her over 4 years ago with ~45k miles bone stock.



first mod I performed was installing the vent visors seen above.

Next I installed the mopar stage 1 pcm and injectors bumping it up from 205hp to 225hp. (that's supposedly at the crank but I dyno'd 180whp)

Installed chrome door pillars, indash dvd (no screen), headrest monitors, punch he2 12"sub in bandpass box with alpine mono block amp around the same time.







After many many many face prints and 2 attempted break insi went back to stock and just added the mopar 8" 80watt sub with the stock head unit.



Was fun to drive, but I needed MORE power, so...

I bought a diablosport predator, installed an aem wideband, autometer boost gauge and started running the canned tune.



but just couldn't stop. I went out and bought a 3" o2 housing and 3" downpipe without a cat with an electric cutout so I could open the exhaust up and dump right near the turbo. Made it a lot of fun.

I even went as far as installing hard pipes to replace the stock rubber pipes that tended to expand under boost and added a HKS bov.



motor mounts kept breaking due to the TQ so I installed solid motor mounts.




When it was time for new tires I found a deal too good to pass up. Black powder coated neon srt4 rims, with tires for under $300 so I replaced the chrome stock rims.

You miss the power! Did you ever throw the PT on a dyno?

How long before you get a turbo or SC for the Vibe?

The last thing I ended up doing to her was new tail lights and backup lights.



Yup threw her on the dyno.

When all was said and done I had her at 227hp and 281tq at the wheels and could have probably pulled a good bit more with a decent tune.

star_deceiver wrote:
How long before you get a turbo or SC for the Vibe?

Got to wait a while. 1. No funds, 2. My partner would kill me. (didn't quite get what the mod bug is)

I knew I was going to buy a PT Cruiser the first time I read an article about it. A Chrysler dealer where I had bought a 1996 and 1998 minivan ordered them at MSRP compared to other dealers who were charging about $2,500 over msrp. I ordered my 2001 in April 2000, got it in August 2000. That was the first time I had ever paid full MSRP ($18,880) for a new car. I was driving my late father's 1986 Buick as a 2nd car (having given my 1998 minivan to my son) when I bought a 2003 Vibe in Jan. 2003 due to an offer I couldn't refuse from GM. So for a while we had a 2001 PT Cruiser and a 2003 Vibe. Then I got an offer I couldn't refuse on a new 2004 SWB T&C so I traded in the PT Cruiser. They gave me what I wanted in trade for the PT Cruiser so I didn't bother trying to sell it myself. The main reason I got rid of the PT Cruiser was it developed a steering wheel shimmy at lower speeds. Aside from that and a city 20 mpg I really really liked the PT Cruiser. I kept the Vibe instead mainly because I had more faith in its long term reliability. IMO the problem with the PT Cruiser was that you really could not evolve the styling year to year. Fine with me - but not with the majority of the public.

I liked the looks of the PT Cruiser(except for the convertible which looked odd with its 2 doors and the trunk lid) I also liked how it drove. I got to drive a 5spd manual for a while) but I did not like how much of a pain it was to work on. Nothing like removing loads of stuff for routine maintenance

I actually liked how the style never changed and how it remained almost the same car over its lifetime. I liked the retro look. I also liked the HHR's looks also. There is something nice about doing a retro themed car and making it actually look good. I like the PT Cruiser, HHR/ 2005+ Mustang because of the tasteful retro looks.

Sorry, I dont get it. Whats the point of this thread! "I made a huge mistake and now I'm stuck with this crummy Vibe"?

OK, You sold your PT Cruiser and now miss it. No biggie, easily rectified......
Easy answer, pass the Vibe long to an owner who will appreciate it and go get yourself another PT Cruiser.

There's currently 96 of them on eBay..... It's Not exactly hard to locate one.

http://motors.shop.ebay.com/sch/Cars-Tr ... Pt+cruiser" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Happy shopping!

Dave

Ok. The point of this thread was just to share my old car, which I would still miss even if I would have bought another pt.

Did I ever say I don't like my vibe? No. On the contrary, I said "As much as I like the vibe, I miss my old pt"

I actually enjoy it a lot, and yes, it is still slower than the pt was, but a lot better ride/comfort (minus me not getting leather in the vibe)

This is a blank slate for me, but I'm going a different route with the vibe.

I miss my PT like I miss "some" of my old girlfriends - fun while it lasted but got to move on. The one car I owned that I don't miss was a 1986 VW Golf.

I get it - I miss old cars from my past (the issues that required moving on fade and get fuzzy and you are left with mostly good memories).

But it is time to move on. Maybe someday you can have another PT as your "hobby car". I certainly wanted one back in the day. I guess the Miata was the first car with retro styling to come out, but IIRC the PT was next. I thought the painted dash and white ball shift knob was so cool.

Thanks for sharing.