Our Fall Trip and critique of some features

[jdf]

Me and my wife took a 3 day trip through Pennsylvania and New York. Left Friday morning from Philadelphia where we live. (actually Delaware County Suburbs). We drove up to Binghamton cut across to Ithaca and followed Cayuga lake the Thruway. About then the rain started, and we continued for 2 more hours to Niagra Falls in heavy rain. Had dinner in Canada at an Italian-American Eatery. Back to the U.S. side in a hotel. Saturday morning, beautiful weather and walked the Falls area (we¡¯d been there before) and then headed east following lake Ontario and turned North to Watertown then turned south into the Adirondacks. Found a hotel. Sunday left Early and traveled throuth the Catskills, stopped at losts of tourist villages, on to Kingston then South on 9W into New Jersey and down the turnpike to Philly. We saw 8 Vibes and 1 matrix. 3 of the vibes were the same LAVA as ours and we trailed a blue one through Kingston. In one town in the Catskills we parked on a street and later noticed a white Vibe parked behind us. By the time we got back the white vibe was gone.I loved the drive in the VIBE. I am very satisfied with the vehicle on this trip. Don¡¯t misinterpret the negative comments here; I love our VIBE!! Here¡¯s a critique of what I found. Note I have a base vibe with auto transmission. 3 days, 1,100 miles and we had a great time. Average Mileage for the trip: 30 MPG (US).DRIVERS SEAT: Not bad, but I wanted a more comfortable position. Tried every combination of settings multiple times. They were all OK, but none really felt perfect. I¡¯ll look for some kind of back support. My wife has no complaints though.ENGINE NOISE: On acceleration it is really loud. Louder than my 1996 Hyundai Elantra which has about the same acceleration. I am really surprised how load this vehicle is during acceleration.ENGINE ACCELERATION: Great! Especially in the over 40 mph range. Much better than my Elantra. I really liked the performance in passing. Also noticed that there appeared to be some down-shifting when I was coming down hills.HEADLIGHTS: I HATE, HATE that I can¡¯t turn them off when I come to a stop, park, and leave the car running. For example, when you want to run into a store, or check into a hotel, while my wife waits in the car. I really don¡¯t mind the daytime running lights or the Automatic ON. I just hate that I can¡¯t turn them off when I want to!LOW BEAMS: I also got scared some times with the low beams performance. I used high beams a lot more often than I do in my other car.ELECTRIC OUTLET: The only thing I really want to do is use a portable HOT WATER maker for tea or coffee on the road. Couldn¡¯t do it because these devices draw too much power. ANY ONE HAVE A HOT WATER MAKER?FRONT MAP LIGHT: (with moons and tunes) It is TOO DARN bright and not focused. My wife wants to read a book or look in her purse, but this light just fills the whole cabin and makes it hard to see.CUP HOLDER: Still not used to the location down on the side. I want to find a way to get some up a little higher and center.REAR SEAT folded down made a great Pizza Table while we were driving. My wife could easily reach back and get a slice and we weren¡¯t worried about it getting lopsided.HATCH: Loved it. Getting things in and out, a sweater, some fruit, putting some shopping items in, etc¡¦ All without worrying that the suitcases would fall on the ground.WINDSHIELD WIPERS: FRONT: GREAT, rear: average, but necessary, also noisy.RADIO: I¡¯d like a smaller radio and a little storage bin up front. Thinking of relocating the AC outlet and cig lighter to make a storage bin.Used the storage bin under gear shift for sunglasses. Liked it.Storage bin to left of steering wheel is great, kept some bills, gun, and occasionally my wallet there. ONCE I FORGOT TO CLOSE IT, when I got into the car I cut my shin on the open bin door. Really hurt.Visor straps on both driver and passenger, great for toll tickets.Cruise Control worked great.

[NovaResource]

quote:FRONT MAP LIGHT: (with moons and tunes) It is TOO DARN bright and not focused. My wife wants to read a book or look in her purse, but this light just fills the whole cabin and makes it hard to see.One of the reasons I didn't want the moonroof. The map lights for non-moonroof Vibes are located in the rearview mirror. One on each side for the driver and passenger.quote:Storage bin to left of steering wheel is great, kept some bills, gun, and occasionally my wallet there.GUN?!?! Was that a typo that should have read gum?

[jdf]

GUM...GUM...GUM....!!! Sorry!!

[NSimkins]

quote:LOW BEAMS: I also got scared some times with the low beams performance. I used high beams a lot more often than I do in my other car.I had the same problem myself with the low beams. Mine was easily corrected by adjusting the aim a little. See the thread here:http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id ... 6195Thanks for the trip posting. Enjoyed your comments.

[Big_Red]

Well, I drove to Montreal last weekend (6 hours to and from Toronto), and I had a chance to try everything out in my Vibe. Cruise Control has become my new best friend on long trips. Seats were comfortable, and the wipers worked great (as it always seems to rain for a little while on my way to or from Montreal). The only complaint is what has been mentioned too many times already: 1. Auto Headlights (especially when it is sunny except for the spot where the sensor is), and 2. Rear wiper. What is the point of being able to spray water twice if it doesn't come on automatically like the front ones? It isn't the first car I have driven with rear wiper and this is the silliest thing I have seen to date. I hope they can correct it with their next model....since I doubt that they will do it on ours.

[JustinVGT]

I forgot to post about my long road trip I did at the end of August. I drove from Leesburg, VA (northern VA, ~30 mi. west of D.C.) all the way down to Enterprise, AL (very southern end of AL) in one day. It was about 880 miles, and took me about 14 hours to get down there with some stops, and about 12-13 back with better timing of breaks. I went to visit my brother who is stationed at Ft. Rucker, AL. I stayed down there for a week and went to Panama City, FL for the weekend. We had a good time. I found my Vibe very comfortable for the entire trip. I love the seats, I find them perfect. I've gone on some long road trips in many cars, and usually I get sore from sitting for so long. I actually didn't have a problem at all in my Vibe. I drove for 12-14 hours with only 3-4 quick breaks and was comfortable the entire way. I'm 6' tall and I find the seats great. The six-disc in dash cd changer was nice. I loaded it up at breaks and listened to them for hours. I think all the controls are in perfect reach. Cruising at high speeds was very smooth. My gas mileage averaged 32-33 mpg. I love this car, it is so much fun to drive and still gets great gas mileage. My previous car, a '96 Ford Escort, had great mileage, highest I had was 38 mpg, but usually not much more than what I'm getting in my Vibe GT. My Vibe has 180hp vs. the Escort that has 88hp. Such a difference in power but not in gas mileage. I had plenty of room for my gear and I really like the hatch back. When stopping to eat, I open the hatch and sit on the bumper. It provides a seat and shade.I found power to be very good. Just had to get used to down shifting quite a bit to get up the mountains. But it was fun, I love the 6 speed and 8200 rpm redline. I'm not going to complain about there not being enough torque. It's a 1.8L four cylinder, I don't expect it to feel like a V6. I find there to be plenty of power if you rev it up.On my entire trip, I only saw one Matrix and no Vibes at all. I like having such a rare car. I met several people who had never heard of or seen the Vibe. They really liked it and were ooohing and awwing all over it.Well, gotta go.Later

[joatmon]

one year laterQuote, originally posted by jdf »Visor straps on both driver and passenger, great for toll tickets."Discovered" those straps yesterday. Only took me 11 months Still, fun to find some new feature after having the car for a while, even if it is a token thing.

[threekrows]

JDF,why don't you pull your e-brake, then restart your car to turn the lights off until you release the e-brake?Most GM cars are that way,set the e-brake before you start it and it disables the drls or auto lamps until you release the brake

[redlava]

I have very few gripes about the car, but one that has come to light recently is I have no cassette player. I don't own any cassettes, but a MP3 player or XM radio needs to work through it to get the info to the speakers. That kinda pisses me off.

[cobra55]

reguards to the cupholder, i have the same problem i hate iti went to walmart and bought a 2 cup cup holder that fits snugbeween the passenger seat it now i have 2 cup holders and a place to put my ashtray and is at least 10'' higher all for 8 bucks i also boughta ajustable reading light that plugs into the cig.lighter and brightens up the center console just enough to see in the dark that also was about 9 bucks. problem solved in my case ,try it.

[futseal04]

I just recently took mine on a 2.5 day, 1800 mile trip, and i have to say that it is a great car. The only 2 things i didn't like were-Cruise control hunts way too much. No supercharger yet.I averaged 33.6 MPG, drove by all those Iowa tornadoes, had cold AC, and never once worried that it was going to leave me stranded.....Also, if you are going to take a long trip, I highly recommend getting the LeBra front end cover. Makes hosing bugs off much easier and keeps the hood chips away.