New Member in Colorado! '06 Base 304K Miles
Posted: Tue May 12, 2015 2:04 pm
I've been reading this forum a fair bit recently, looking mainly for the high mileage Vibers out there! Good to see a fair amount of people over the 300K Mile mark.
I have an '06 Base, and lucky me that my dad gave it to me when he retired and bought a new car. He worked for the Maine DOT and drove it all around the state for work, and put over 295K on it before he handed it off to me. Manual transmission, nearly all those miles were highway miles so surprisingly it still has the original clutch! I read so much about folks burning through clutches every 100K and I just don't understand those stories! You don't have to rev it up to 3500 when you're getting going from a stop.
I drove it cross country when I moved from Maine to Colorado last August, and somewhere in southern Missouri I crossed the 300K line! The picture in my signature is the one I took when I got to that mileage. But of course the odometer stopped at 299999. I knew that was coming thanks to the GenVibe forums! Currently I have about 304500 on it. Just recently drove the 1600 mile roundtrip from Denver to Vegas, she held up great! Had to get up the Rockies in 3rd gear going 40 with the flashers on, but she made it all the same!
The only significant problem it had was the known recall computer issue. Never been in any accidents. My dad treated it like a baby. He had 3 ford escort wagons before this one each getting over 350K, so I think he knows how to baby the transmission. 95% highway miles probably helped too. 3000 mile oil changes, alignments, and tire rotations have kept the suspension in great shape.
Only recently has the transmission been having a problem. If I downshift into 3rd when I'm going over 35mph I get a slight grind as I'm shifting in. It only happens if I'm not paying attention to my speed. Some of the stuff I've read on the interwebz indicates problems with a synchro? I'm really not car savvy in any way, but I think the reason this is happening is because when I was new to manual shifting, essentially when my dad gave me the car, I would downshift in order to slow down on the highway in an effort to save my brakes. I did this a good bit on the trip from Maine to Colorado. And now, probably 75% of my driving is in the city, so that definitely has an effect.
The last guy who inspected it in Maine said I need to use it or lose it!
Sorry about the tl/dr rambling post, but I just wanted to share my Vibe love in this community! look forward to posting more.
I have an '06 Base, and lucky me that my dad gave it to me when he retired and bought a new car. He worked for the Maine DOT and drove it all around the state for work, and put over 295K on it before he handed it off to me. Manual transmission, nearly all those miles were highway miles so surprisingly it still has the original clutch! I read so much about folks burning through clutches every 100K and I just don't understand those stories! You don't have to rev it up to 3500 when you're getting going from a stop.
I drove it cross country when I moved from Maine to Colorado last August, and somewhere in southern Missouri I crossed the 300K line! The picture in my signature is the one I took when I got to that mileage. But of course the odometer stopped at 299999. I knew that was coming thanks to the GenVibe forums! Currently I have about 304500 on it. Just recently drove the 1600 mile roundtrip from Denver to Vegas, she held up great! Had to get up the Rockies in 3rd gear going 40 with the flashers on, but she made it all the same!
The only significant problem it had was the known recall computer issue. Never been in any accidents. My dad treated it like a baby. He had 3 ford escort wagons before this one each getting over 350K, so I think he knows how to baby the transmission. 95% highway miles probably helped too. 3000 mile oil changes, alignments, and tire rotations have kept the suspension in great shape.
Only recently has the transmission been having a problem. If I downshift into 3rd when I'm going over 35mph I get a slight grind as I'm shifting in. It only happens if I'm not paying attention to my speed. Some of the stuff I've read on the interwebz indicates problems with a synchro? I'm really not car savvy in any way, but I think the reason this is happening is because when I was new to manual shifting, essentially when my dad gave me the car, I would downshift in order to slow down on the highway in an effort to save my brakes. I did this a good bit on the trip from Maine to Colorado. And now, probably 75% of my driving is in the city, so that definitely has an effect.
The last guy who inspected it in Maine said I need to use it or lose it!
Sorry about the tl/dr rambling post, but I just wanted to share my Vibe love in this community! look forward to posting more.
