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New here, have an 09 Vibe

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2013 4:27 pm
by 09SnowyVibe
Hello!
Love the 09, stylish, handles well, and AWD in winter is nice!

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Has the 2.4 Twin cam Toyota 2az-fe motor, and what a nice smooth, refined powertrain!
You can't see it, but it has the 17 inch alloys, which make the car look sharp. Unfortunatly, due to our bad roads, I had to put 16's on it for the winter. The 17's took too much of a beating over the rough roads.
I believe the tranny is a 4 speed auto.

Love everything, but the gas mileage. Getting 300KM a tank. All highway, and keep speeds under 100 kph. Engine revs at 2500 rpms, which seems a bit high for a powerful motor.
Wish it had another gear, the mileage would double. My old Park Ave's tall gearing makes for cruising at 100 kph, at a low 1400 rpms, and that car is better on gas than the Vibe. Am I missing something here?

Re: New here, have an 09 Vibe

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2013 5:41 pm
by vibenvy
Welcome to GenVibe! Very nice looking 2009 AWD you've got there ;)! Props on adding a picture of it to your first post!

Unfortunately, the mileage on the AWD is not that great because of the extra weight of all the AWD goodies. It sounds like you're doing everything right though (keeping RPMs low when accelerating, etc.) so keep it up. Also, make sure you keep your tires inflated to 32 PSI. That is another thing that can hinder gas mileage. Hopefully your MPGs will improve when the temperatures warm up and the gas stations switch back to the regular blend gas from the winter blend which tends to really pull mileage down.

I also commend you for getting a set of winter wheels and tires to save your nice 17s from getting all beat up by the harsh winter weather. We have winter wheels and tires for our Vibes and it's probably some of the best money I've spent on them.

On a bit of a side note, I see you have a 2001 Sunfire GTX listed in your signature... do you have any modifications done to it? If so, what? Just curious as I'm a former Sunfire owner and am still a Sunfire lover.

Re: New here, have an 09 Vibe

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2013 6:00 pm
by vibolista
Good looking Vibe you got hold of. Big engine, automatic trans, cold weather, snow tires, and all wheel drive. All that really helps eat extra fuel, but it will get better as the weather warms and the summer tires go back on your car.

Check your tire pressure and bring it up as much as you can within the limits printed on your tires. Don't want your snow tires too hard when driving on snow, so you can lower pressures to drive in snow, but bring them back up when road conditions dry up. Check the air filter and keep everything you can out of the car to keep it light as possible during the Winter season. Try to accelerate gently as possible and be as steady as you can once up to speed. Speed kills off more fuel than anything else, especially when it's cold outside. Sudden and large go pedal movements will significantly lower your fuel mileage.

Vibe is an excellent all round car with good bones and it even drives well, especially the '09s and '10s... congrats on your find!

Let us know how the MPG story goes. Hopefully up!

Re: New here, have an 09 Vibe

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2013 6:42 pm
by star_deceiver
Welcome to GenVibe!!!

How many litres does it take to fill up after 300kms?

Re: New here, have an 09 Vibe

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2013 9:11 pm
by cq358
Wellcome to the world of Vibes.

It is not unheard of to have 290km-300 km per tank for 2.4L.Mine is 2WD with 5 sp auto.
With last tank fill-up , average ambient temperature of -26C to -33C, with 32psi on the set of snow tires. I could only manged 293km/43.5L all city driving.

Re: New here, have an 09 Vibe

Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2013 9:41 pm
by Rayven01
Welcome! I have the 2WD version of your Vibe. The AWD definitely makes a big difference, my 2.4l RPMs at those speeds are just under 2000. I get 520 km per tank 60/40 city/hwy, though I'm sure part of it is the warmer temps here (+5C avg).

Re: New here, have an 09 Vibe

Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 10:46 am
by 09SnowyVibe
My Dad owned the 01 initially. He sold it to some girl who drove the snot out of it for 3 years, then when it died on her, she called me wanting to know if i was interested in buying it. Gave her 200 dollars, and had it towed home. Found a fuse fell out for the guages so I stuck one in, and it fired up. Best 200 I ever spent! :lol: Body in very good shape. Has a little rust on the hood, and a hole on the right rear quarter, but underneath is very clean, and the fender tubs in excelent shape.

Unfortunatly, in December, I hit some ice with it at low speed, and went into the ditch. Very embarassing, but thats life. Bent the front frame rails over 2-3 inches and wrecked most of the front body parts. Dad and I were working on it most of December getting the frame back over, but it needs a Hood, Fenders, bumper, a headlight, radiator, one rim, and time! I can get parts cheap as the scrapyard has hundreds of them. Its going to wait till middle of summer when I can pick the parts myself and its a little warmer to paint. For now, i have to get the motor running in my old Chevy as that is my summer car.

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No mods on it, I prefer pure stock. Has the OHV 2.2 and a 5 speed.

Re: New here, have an 09 Vibe

Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 2:04 pm
by tpollauf
Welcome another 2009 Vibe owner :D Update your profile with "location" so we know where in Canada you are from. Can't help you much on the mileage issue as I have one of the rare combinations of the 2.4l engine with the manual 5-speed tranny ;) I get very good mileage from my Vibe GT :)