WTB: Automatic Pontiac Vibe (or Matrix)

[Huxley]

Hey all,

I've been tasked with finding an out-of-country friend and his wife a vehicle for when they arrive back stateside. I've decided on a Pontiac Vibe (or Toyota Matrix, but the Vibe is usually less expensive around these parts). I have cash in hand, about $3000 to spend. I'm an amateur mechanic so I can do most work it may need, I just don't really want to get involved with a transmission or engine swap right now. It needs to be an automatic and generally rust free-otherwise they're both very open to whatever.

I'm driving from NY so I'd like to stick with something around the Northeast. I don't really want to drive farther than 5 hours from my home, give or take. I reside in Syracuse and often drive to LI so somewhere within those parts is ideal.

I did find one Vibe in PA for sale, $2500, with 175K on the clock. It is AWD. I'm unfamiliar with the Pontiac AWD system but know Subaru very well. I don't think AWD is necessary for where they'll be living and I was wondering if anyone had trouble with this system at all. I figure, more moving parts, more issues. I know Subaru often suffers from ripped boots and torque bind so if the Pontiac suffers the same fate, I'll probably stay away from that one.

If you know of anyone selling, please get in touch!

Thanks,
Huxley

[Bad Vibe]

if you are willing to do some reassembly i have some pretty good stuff for you to work with,
chassis and tranny from salvage titled 06 vibe awd w/ 80k, motor from 05 jdm mr2 spyder with around 40k thats in my 03 vibe and the 03 has all the front end parts to reassemble the 06, ittl be a bit of a jigsaw puzzle but could be made pretty nice within your budget and the titling will

located on long island, awd system is not that difficult to deal with
06 (front end was stripped off and is bare atm, had front end professionally straightened)

03