Hello! New here, well kinda!

[th3fr4nchi5e]

Hey everyone, Ive been a member for a while now and check on the site from time to time but this is my first post! I have a 2003 AWD Vibe going on 102k miles. We bought the car a few years ago for $200. It was pretty rough looking at the time and the owners believed it needed a new tranny. My dad knew the previous owners and took it off their hands, originally planning to scrap it or part it out. This car was badly abused. The interior was trashed, it has a few tears in the bumpers, the body has a good dents in it, the paint had no shine left to it and the car sounded like it was on the verge of stalling. My daily driver at the time was a Buick Riviera that my dad and I repainted and fixed up and I was nervous about driving it in the snow and salt after all the time we spent on it so I took a look at the Vibe. It started right up but revved really high on startup and held a high idle when cold. Once warm, it had a heavy loping to it and sounded like in was going to stall. When you would put it in gear, nothing happened. So I figured Id take a look. It turned out from the previous owners putting it in gear during the high revs after startup, it had repeatedly slammed into drive and eventually, broke the flywheel. This was certainly promising. Replaced the flywheel and the car drove fairly well other than the revving problem. I pressurewashed the rug and seat, shampooed the headliner and gave the whole car a good detail. Then I buffed and polished the entire car and the paint came out fantastic for the most part. Put new 215/60R16 tires on and it became pretty enjoyable to drive. Recently, we took a closer notice to the revving problem. It was causing caused multiple cylinder misfires when I scanned. It turned out that the problem was that someone unhooked the vacuum lines and did not put them back on correctly. We rerouted them correctly and it now runs beatiful. Its been a year and a half now and this has been a fantastic commuter car that has had never given me an issue getting where I need to go. I am very happy to own this car and we do plan on fixing the body damage and giving it a full repaint in the near future. I will definitely be checking in here more and using this great site as much as possible. Its been great to me so far and am hoping for many more miles with the Vibe!

[vibolista]

Welcome to posting on the site. Great to see you and your dad saving this Vibe. Amazing how poorly some people treat their cars. No mechanical sympathy what so ever. For 200 dollars, some vacuum investigation and a flywheel, you now have a reliable commuter car that will last you a long time. One of the best deals made acquiring a Vibe on the site!

I tell everyone that Vibes are excellent all round cars that happen to drive very well, have a really usable interior, are economical and have proved extremely durable with a minimum of care.

That Riviera you have is quite the car as well. Good job. Pop more pictures into your posts of both cars as you can. Especially before and after pictures of your work if you have them!

[tpollauf]

Welcome to GenVibe. Kudo's on posting pics AND your location right away My wife is from the Jamestown/Olean area, has relatives in N. Tonawanda, and know exactly where you're at! Great find and nice story to go along with it! Visit often .......................

[Rayven01]

Unbelievable deal you got there! Good to see you got it back into shape.

[th3fr4nchi5e]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys! I will definitely check in often and try to contribute where I can. Ill try to get some good pictures of both cars to post in the garage next time I wax them!

[vibenvy]

Welcome to GenVibe! That's an awesome story about the condition your Vibe was in when you got it and how you've fixed it up. It will no doubt be a reliable little vehicle for you for many more years to come.