GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Well, my girlfriend did. She bought a 2003 Vibe. only 70k on the clock, 1ZZ, real nice shape.



Neat little car, I dig it. Pretty much joined up here since I know enthusiasts tend to have a pretty good idea of what to do if/when things go wrong. Though if I have my way, it may become something a little more...

Welcome to Genvibe..... Rohnert Park, CA That's cool. My Sis used to live in Cotati, but just moved to Petaluma closer to her work.

Welcome. That's some low milage.

thebornotaku wrote:Well, my girlfriend did. She bought a 2003 Vibe. only 70k on the clock, 1ZZ, real nice shape.

Smart woman Very clean low mileage Vibe for being 10 years old. Visit here often for ideas & solutions to any problems you may encounter. Hang onto her (girlfriend & Vibe) for a long time

Girlfriend and I went trolling around the dealerships locally to look at cars and get ideas about prices. Loved her old Volvo but it wasn't a properly maintained car before and after 20 years it was starting to show it's age and wear. 294k on the odometer which was broken when she bought it two years ago. After a string of break downs and issues recently we both figured it'd be cheaper to finance a new car than it would be to drop a few hundred on the monthly repairs for her car. Plus breaking down on the side of the highway, out in the boonies, and a few other times...

So like I said, we went trolling the used car lots. I was guiding her towards the reliable, fuel efficient cars and the Vibe caught her eye. Also wanted to keep her in something easy to fix (since I'd have to fix it). She liked the Vibe though, and since it's actually a Toyota (1ZZ what what) I figured why not? Plus like others have said, nice low mileage for it's age, single owner, no accidents, decent looking service history. We ended up jumping on it and she bought it for 7750.

Anywho, she's got a five year loan on it and plans to keep the car for the duration and past it. She really loves the car and truth told, I really like it too. It's not fast but it is a smooth, comfortable little driver. I reckon parts are pretty cheap and there's plenty of room to work under the hood so that's good. Plus I actually went to NUMMI when these cars were being built so that's kinda neat too.

But yeah, she plans on holding on to it and I don't have any intention to get rid of her either. Ultimately it was my decision (since I wasn't gonna let her buy a crap car) but she's still really happy with it so we all win.

Now just to see the mileage numbers, it's gotta be better than the ~20-24mpg that she was getting before...

Nice buy! Very lucky to find a low mileage '03. Doing the math, it's only about 7,000 miles a year. Someone drove it mighty lightly. Now about that color... where have I seen that combination before?

Do all the normal engine fluid checks and changes, filters too, treat it nice and your Vibe will last a long time. Might want to stick some fresh NGK Iridiums, they'll last a long time and the 1.8L seems to smooth out nicely with them. Use a good wax on the paint to keep it shiny, if you really plan on keeping it a while. By the looks of the thing, it must have lived in a climate controlled garage!! Of course, I've heard that California is pretty much climate controlled anyway. Hardly ever hear about nasty weather out there.

Manual or automatic? Your MPG stats should end up quite a bit better than the Volvo's, depending on the type of driving that's done. My manual Vibe, in suburban driving with some highway mixed in, gets 36-38. I've been able to nurse 40 MPG out of it a couple of times during our brief Summer period. Have to say period, because our Maine Summers really don't generally last a full season, so period is a better fit.

vibolista wrote:Nice buy! Very lucky to find a low mileage '03. Doing the math, it's only about 7,000 miles a year. Someone drove it mighty lightly. Now about that color... where have I seen that combination before?

Do all the normal engine fluid checks and changes, filters too, treat it nice and your Vibe will last a long time. Might want to stick some fresh NGK Iridiums, they'll last a long time and the 1.8L seems to smooth out nicely with them. Use a good wax on the paint to keep it shiny, if you really plan on keeping it a while. By the looks of the thing, it must have lived in a climate controlled garage!! Of course, I've heard that California is pretty much climate controlled anyway. Hardly ever hear about nasty weather out there.

Manual or automatic? Your MPG stats should end up quite a bit better than the Volvo's, depending on the type of driving that's done. My manual Vibe, in suburban driving with some highway mixed in, gets 36-38. I've been able to nurse 40 MPG out of it a couple of times during our brief Summer period. Have to say period, because our Maine Summers really don't generally last a full season, so period is a better fit.

Weather in CA is pretty mild where we are. Summers rarely break 100 for more than a few days (if that) and winters, while cold, are just rainy and not that bad. Like usually 50s during the day and low 40s at night.

I do plan on doing some basic checks on it, including changing it back from the K&N filter to a stock one (so expect to see a K&N filter for sale soon), pulling the plugs and looking at them, just general poking around.

This is the first car she's owned with nice paint and I do intent on taking the time to show her how to wash and care for it properly. Probably gonna give it a good wash and wax in the next couple of weeks.

It's an automatic, but she does a lot of highway driving (to/from work and my house) so I reckon MPGs will be pretty decent overall. It's crazy how roomy this little car is, while still being smaller than her last one. Plus there's tons of little compartments and such, which is awesome. Super utilitarian little car.

You'll get pretty good MPG from the Auto. Shouldn't be more than 2 or 3 less than the manual, if you take it easy with the go pedal. Smooth driving will hand you the best mileage from fuel. Keep us informed what you get and how the car performs for you.

Definitely a great buy.

she got like 80mi to the quarter tank. by comparison, i get like 80mi to the half tank. so that's pretty damn impressive. Even more so since I'm sure the Vibe's tank is smaller than the Volvo's 15gal.

Welcome and that is a nice clean Vibe! Sure are a lot of people finding ones in good condition.

That mileage is a bit low based on your quick calculation (~25-26mpg) unless that was mostly city driving. Hopefully it will be a few MPG better on a full tank. I got about 28mpg on my son's 06 Vibe on my 36 mile daily commute the year I drove it (25% city, 75% hwy w/minimal traffic), and about 33-35mpg 100% hwy. It was really nice to almost get two weeks from a single tank, whereas my Mustang only gave me a week of driving, and they both have about the same size 13 gal tank.

Welcome to GenVibe! As others have already said, it sounds like you and your girlfriend found yourselves a very nice little Vibe! Definitely teach her how to wash and wax it so the outside will stay looking great for years to come .