Purchased my vibe about a month ago with 235,000 miles for $600 off of Facebook Marketplace. The 1999 Corolla it’s replacing had 225,000 miles before someone drove through a fence and totaled it while it was parked. The Vibe is a manual, like the Corolla before it, but the previous owner swapped the 5 speed for a 6 speed (I suspect because of the issues I’ve read about on this forum). Everything electrical works other than the fog lights and the lights behind the climate and power mirror controls. I’m surprised the power mirrors, door locks, glass hatch and sunroof all work. Previous owner even had two working fobs and keys. The interior was very dirty though, guy was a contractor, so cleaning is taking forever.
There are a couple of dents and scratches, the passenger door handle is busted and the driver side view mirror appears to be cobbled together after being knocked off. Driver side door check is broken as well. The engine seems to run well, though it idles a little rough sometimes. I may need to try cleaning the maf and throttle body, maybe swap out the plugs and PCV. The transmission sometimes shifts rough into 3rd and 4th, but when I double pump and rev match it happens far less.
Tried to get it inspected, but the right inner tie rod boot and left inner C/V boot were broken, so the parts had to be replaced to pass. I swapped out the inner and outer tie rod (MOOG) and boot (Beck Arnley), as well as the C/V axle (Cardone, New). Tried to get it inspected again, they said it needs a new right bearing and hub, so I’m swapping out the entire knuckle (MOOG) and it should pass after that (fingers crossed). Gonna replace the pads, rotors, grease the caliper pins and flush the brake lines while I’m in there. I imagine the previous owner hit something big on the passenger side which messed it up pretty good.
Stripped a mirror, handle, door check and a bunch of internal and external trim and fasteners from an 04 Matrix in a local salvage yard for $60. Got some more interior trim and a new cargo area floor from Facebook Marketplace for $80 (before I found the Matrix). Original cargo area floor was beat up and the hardware was rusting. Hope to finish putting it all together in the next day or two. I enjoy working on cars and bringing them ‘back from the edge’, so this is enjoyable for me. Especially since the undercarriage has almost zero rust, which is new for me haha. I’m still going to be under a grand all in, so I’d say that’s decent. I’ll post pictures later.