I come from owning old Volvos (240's and 940's) so this is a pretty big change for me, but so far I am loving it! Felt that it was time to finally buy a car that was younger then me and had less then 300,000 miles on it when I purchased it. I originally had my eye on an Outback wagon or maybe a CR-V type vehicle, but a coworker mentioned to me how much he had loved having a matrix a few years ago, and then I came across this Vibe the next day for a very attractive price and decided to bite the bullet. Really like the AWD and potential for around 30mpg if I drive mindfully (it could happen...). Snapped a quick picture the other night after finally getting it washed up.
I've had the vehicle about 2 weeks now, slowly been trying to get it cleaned up (had a bit of pine sap on it, and some other black stuff caked on around the racks and spoilers). Planning on changing the oil soon, and starting to make my way through other fluids and basic checks (filters, etc). It seems to be a quite good condition, has very little rust on it even considering that the vehicle has been up in Northern New England for most of it's life.
Issues I've noticed so far:
-Slight dent above the driver side front wheel. Might try to suck that out, we'll see.
-Loose driver side window control panel, saw a good tutorial on here of how to fix it, just need to get to that.
-Missing the Trim from the drivers side rain gutter in front of the factory racks.
-Low humming noise/feeling if I am driving and just barely press on the gas. Usually notice it most around 30-50MPH. Not sure if this is a problem, just not a noise I am used to hearing from a car.
-Slightly rattle/clank that sounds like a loose heat shield or something similar, sounds to be coming from passenger side while driving. Only happens above 45 MPH, is not at all regular, does not seem to correspond to bumps or other suspension engagement. Didn't hear it when I first bought the car, and it has now gone away again after being present for a week.
-Very dirty around and under spoilers, want to remove and reinstall for cleaning at some point.
Planned upgrades:
-New Stereo and Speakers
-Steel Wheels with Snow tires (it can get crazy up here in Maine). Hoping to go a little bigger for those. Currently have 205/55/R16 All seasons, Thinking of maybe trying to get a 205/65/R16 for the snows, fill out the wheel well a little better and get about an inch more clearance (we get big chunks of ice in the roads left from plows often times).
-Thule Racks Installed . Looks like it's a little funky figuring out how to get a full square bar rack setup on to these cars, the weird half rails from the factory don't really help at all. Searched around here a bit and found what looks like a good setup, got all the stuff on order so hopefully have it together in a few days. I'll be sure to post pictures when I do.
That's all for now, looking forward to hopefully driving this car for a long time to come, seems like it should easily have another 150k left in it!
You'll easily get 300k miles out of this beast! Clean it up a bit and DRIVE it !!!
! I look forward to seeing updates from you!