Pontiac Vibe

nippononly

are built in two different places...both are plants that have been given awards for their quality of build, but the Ontario plant (Matrix) recently won the JD Power award for best N.A. plant, or something like that.

There could be differences in build quality between Vibe and Matrix just because of the difference in build location. Since they both use North American engine components, it is plausible that the different plants are getting engine parts from different sources, which may affect reliability in the long run, I guess. Design specs are identical however.

montanafan

J D Power 2002 Initial Quality Study Results (May 02)

Gold GM Oshawa #2 (Ontario, Canada)
Silver GM Bowling Green, KY (Corvette)
Bronze(tie) GM Lansing, MI "C" (Grand Am)
NUMMI Fremont, CA (Corolla, Prizm)

proman

Thanks for your input. I'm assuming that you think the 5 speed is o.k. in the snow (since you're in Canada). I'm debating the importance of getting the AWD.

cfilkins

Well, these past couple of weeks up here in NY have given me the chance to feel out how the car is in the cold and snow.

Snow - car is VERY light and does not seem to maintain traction well at all, especially in the front end. I think the tires are the continental eco-something tires, and I don't feel very safe driving it to be honest, especially next to my Jetta.

Cold - it was 8 degrees out this morning, and the car was NOT happy about having to start at all. Turnover was sluggish, transmission (auto) was very reluctant to go, power steering was very stiff, and the car takes a good while to warm up.

honus

Tomorrow, I will recieve my new Vibe, base model (in satellite silver) with side airbags, power group package, 6-CD changer, cargo mat, organizer box, and 17" wheels for $10,550. The MSRP was around $19,700 but with my GMS discount, my GM credit card rebate earnings ($3,500), the $2000 cash back, and another $1,600 for a vehicle trade-in, I will be making payments of $204/month at 3.9%. Thank you, GM Card!

I have waited a long time to use my rebate earnings, but did not know what to buy, as I am not a GM enthusiast. I decided to either purchase the Prizm or Vibe owing to their Toyota engines, but since the Prizm was recently discontinued (why not retire the Cavalier instead?), that left me with only the Vibe. Another factor for using my rebate earnings now is that come July, they would have been reduced to one percent (the new credit card rebate program goes into effect next summer).

5679

My experience is a similar one to yours (virtually the same car; $3500 GM points) except here (Canada Canada) we aren't offered any incentives at all on this coveted but poorly marketed (from a buyer's standpoint) vehicle—limited availability; no preferred financing; no cashback. That was the [non-permissible content removed].plus we have 15% (provincial/federal) taxes in Ontario!
If it wasn't for the redemption of the GM points I would have looked at the Matrix/a Mazda/ Honda product.
Enjoy your Vibe.

montanafan

Wife's roomate is buying new car through the GMS program. She mentioned a $250 employee bonus for December and a $500 GM Card Employee bonus also. Make sure you get everything you have coming, and enjoy the new car.

honus

Yeah - I didn't mention the $250 employee bonus b/c it only cancelled out the dealer locator charge of $250. Also, I was informed about the $500 GM Card bonus, which gave me a total of $3500 bonus dollars. I just wish that I was a big spender ten years ago when I first acquired the GM credit card. Unfortunately, at the time I was going to school and living on Ramen noodles. By the time that I was using the card rather heavily, GM instituted a $500/year earnings cap (My parents had $7,000 on their card at one time).

By the way, I would strongly recommend any of you who have a fair amount of credit earnings with the GM card to use them by June b/c GM will reduce your earnings to one percent of their current total. My Pontiac salesman told me that he is seeing more and more buyers with $2,000 plus credit card earnings rushing to purchase a vehicle. I can gurantee you that were it not for my $3,000 from the credit card, I would never have considered purchasing a GM vehicle.

Luzer

On the GM Card site, the limit states $1000 for the Vibe.

Kinda moot point as I stopped using the card when I realized (thought) that I would never buy GM.

Just used it and got $800+ from GM Card on my Vibe.

What's the details on the extra $500?
Is there a link?

montanafan

Old original Blue/Gold GM cards can use the full amount of up to $3,500 ($500 per year for 7 years) towards a Vibe (or any new GM car). The newer Cooper/Platinum GM Cards have limits for each car line, ex. $1,000 for the Vibe. For rest of the month a Blue/Gold card holder who may be eligable for the Employee purchase programs (GMS) get an additional $500 added to their balances.

rookie34

I figured it was time I updated the forum on my Vibe experience. I have 8,000 miles under the belt and I am quite happy with the car except for one thing (well, actually 4 separate things) that I call the Check Engine light fiasco. Within three weeks of purchase the check engine light came on. Dealer looked it over, changed a spark plug and said it was fixed. Next time the light came on, the dealer got the light to turn off but told me it would probably come back on again. Sure enough, it did. Now this time the car stays in the shop for a week while they get some people from GM to come by and take a look at it. They tell the dealer to change the Fuel Rail. That fixed it for two months. The most recent visit to the dealer resulted in the #4 injector being replace. I believe I am smelling a lemon here. Will keep you posted on my Vibe experience.

revka

and thanks for your notes. Hopefully things will go smoothly from this point on. Good luck, and thanks for keeping us posted on your Vibe experience.

Revka

Hatchbacks & Wagons Host

5679

You have my sympathy. That is really unfortunate.

elehto

Well, I picked up my new vibe on Tuesday. It's a base, shadow, 5-speed, moon and tunes, power package, alloys, and ABS. I've been driving it for a couple of days and so far I absolutely love it. I do miss the low end torque of my old S-10 with the 4.3 L V-6, but the 5-speed helps me with that. The only complaint I have so far is the occasional buzzing sound coming from somewhere in the dash. I've heard that others have had the same problem....any fixes yet?

turksteritis

Well troops; I have 30,000 km,s since June on my base 5 speed vibe. I am a travelling salesman so I put on a lot of miles. I get 37 mpg. Canadian on the hi-way but window sticker said 47. I get a few small dash rattles but a good fist smash fixes em. The Continental tires are horrible on ice, not bad on snow. I have not had a single fault yet & the car seems like it could potentially go a lot of miles with zero problems.

5679

Good to hear it.

CapeCod

Is your buzzing noise similar to radio static???
If so I think it could be wind noise.
I'm still trying to track down my wind noise.
I moved the front roof rack bar to the back.
No improvement so I eliminated roof rack.
Sliding open the sunroof shield makes no difference, so i eliminated the sunroof.
My strongest suspicion is the open groove around the top of the windshield. Most cars seem to have flush weather stripping. Vibe has open channel ?
The plastic at the bottom of the windshield by the wipers is also a possibility. It recently had icy snow build up on it and it rattled loudly !
I've also thought the noise might be road noise from the rear storage area transmitted to the front because of the high roof. So far cd's have been the best fix. !
Followup for Nippononly:
Are you sure the black mesh on the windshield is sunscreen? If so why is it also on the passenger side of the windshield from roof to hood, but not on the drivers side.

Luzer

Wind Noise may be due to antenna.
It easily screws out - not the base, just the antenna part.

dindak

The stereo is Delco, the entire interior is GM designed and the entire concept is GM. The mechanicals are all Toyota as is the platform. Our last 2 cars have been GM and they have both been great so having GM and Toyota work on something is not a bad idea at all IMO. The Vibe should be very good long term.

nippononly

I was recently intrigued to read the C&D review in which they had both a Vibe and a Matrix, and rated the seats differently. I always thought the interiors were identical, designed by GM as you said (the reason for the seats being so similar to Cavalier seats, the only thing I ever liked about the Cav), but maybe the Matrix has Toyota seats and interior?

I know for sure it has the GM radio. For a lot of people the CD quit working, and if mine ever does that, I will have it replaced with the Toyota radio. They have a high power unit that incorporates a cassette.

vonnyvonce

Vibe with 14000 trouble free miles. Dash rattles fixed with BOTH a trim of the "item" that sticks into dash from trim ring and a spray of silicone spray on entire edge of trim ring before reinstallation. Find car is terrific, perfect? what car is, but very,very nice. Could do without the auto lights, and next version a "regular" gauge cluster, not requiring being lit during the day would be good.

Black mesh behind rear view mirror certainly is sunscreen. Not sure of it's purpose down passenger side of windshield.

revka

Welcome back, and thanks for the update. Glad to hear your Vibe is serving you well.... Happy motoring!

Revka

Hatchbacks & Wagons Host

turksteritis

We just got a huge dumping of snow on the praries(30+ cm,s) & as suspected the stock Continental tires aren,t worth a crap. i was totally paralized. I picked some 15" steel rims & got a set of 195/65/15 Dunlop Graspics at Wallyworld & it allmost seems like they snuk in a 4 wheel drive system in the car. It is an absolute gas to drive in the snow. I now purposely look for the deepest snowbank I can find & slow down to a crawl & just motor thru it. These tires are simply amazing & totally transformed the vehicle in real heavy snow.

zukhov

Hey Turk, I got the same rims and tires as you did. The car feels totally secure in the snow now. Like you said, it's like 4 wheel drive. As a matter of fact, I was lined up at a light the other day with snow and ice, and the Honda CRV next to me with regular all seasons was having a hell of a time launching. Clear sailing for me. No big dumps in Toronto yet..still waiting

vswlaw

After a long wait I finally got my new Vibe in with a bonus of $500 off for the new Ring and Win campaign. Now I have had it for a month and I generally like it especially getting in and out of the car at ease with high seating. At odometer reading of 2000 km, I am not getting good gas mileage, just about 9.5L/100km or 25 mi/US gal., quite disappointing. The liftgate requires a hard push to shut tight as I noticed a few instances of door ajar warning light on. The dash illumination is certainly a complaint by a majority of owners. Not only that, I find the warning lights are shown scattered over the gauges and do not stand out clearly. Once I drove about 10 km before I noticed that the emergency brakes were still engaged. There goes the brake pads. I also noticed a number of times of foul smell coming out of the exhaust. Is the catalytic convertor at fault or too new? I have no problem with low beam light in country roads at night as some people complained, It seams to have a good range. The rear view mirror can be a nuisance for adjusting when you are not used to it as you can easily activate the light switch and without knowing it you can leave it on for hours potentially draining the battery.

turksteritis

You must really give the rear hatch a solid push to close properly.I have 30,000k on my Vibe & at 110 kmh on the hi-way my best mileage was 37 mpg. I don,t even come close to the 47 mpg on the window sticker. I have also left the lite on accidently on the mirror but the Vibe has an auto shutdown battery protector that will kill any lights left on after 5-10 minutes.

samsvr6

Are you sure that the Vibe has the auto shutdown battery protector?
I accidentaly left the key in the ignition "ON" position for a day. The battery died and car won't crank. Ended up jump starting it with another car's battery.

turksteritis

Key must be out of the ignition for auto-rundown to work.

steine13

Learned Friends,
I'm thinking of pulling the trigger on a Vibe shortly -- was planning to order, but by luck they have what I want on the local lot: base 5sp roof pwr abs, color is shadow. Also has Al wheels and monotone, both of which I don't care for. But it's close.
So my question is: What kind of deals are y'all getting on these? TMV is about $500 behind MSRP (or $700 over invoice) which seems fairly steep for a Pontiac. On the other hand, with the $2k rebate, these are good deals, they're well made, and the local dealership really seems to go through them quickly.
At the end of the day, I'll have to find out for myself, but I'd appreciate any experience you could share.

Thanks in advance
-Mathias
East Lansing, MI

skitty

Just picked up a Pontiac Vibe 2 days ago and found that instead of the Continental tires, it had Goodyear Eagles as standard tires. Has anyone had any experience with these tires in the snow?

pandboy

In upstate NY, local dealer is selling the Vibes at the invoices in addition to newly announced $3K cashback on these vehicles. I am very attempting to replace my 4 yr old car now.

steine13

If you got the $3k cash back from Edmunds (where I saw it this morning), rest assured it's a typo. I went to the GM corporate site and found $2k, just like last month. Press release dated yesterday, with a list of all GM consumer rebates.
I also found last months rebates; nothing on the Vibe, $3k on the Aztec. Sounds about right.

If you find info that the $3k is right (at leastin your area), I'd love to know!!! That would make a super deal on these cars... even at $2k it's good.

Thanks for the info on invoice pricing... don't mind paying a little over, but would like to know what the market is.

-Mathias

clyde2000

Specs: base Vibe, shadow, power pkg, abs, aluminum wheels

For those who did factory orders, how long did it take to get your Vibe? Thanks!

jmcknight2

My Vibe AWD came in the end of October - 8 weeks after I ordered it. I lucked out and got 0% for 60 months. Except for replacing a driveshaft, it's been a good, solid vehicle.

rogertc1

What is it new owners??

johnclineii

What difference does it make? It is what you think it is, and that makes all the difference.

nippononly

...sloping roof at the rear makes the difference for me.

revka

You'll now find a direct link to our Vibe and Matrix Maintenance & Repair discussion in the Helpful Links on the left side of the page. If you're experiencing a problem with your Pontiac Vibe, or have insights to offer those with problems..., please join us there. Thanks for your participation!

Revka

Hatchbacks & Wagons Host

Luzer

Please call it a Wagon - cheaper insurance.

Paid - about invoice - $2000 (cash rebate) - GM Card savings.

I worked the deal as "out the door" because the dealership I was at wanted $299 for doc, processing + ripoff.

Invoice is basically Edmunds + 1% advertising.

Also noted that the sticker prices kept creeping up - go to the gm website - they list models at your local dealer and has the sticker prices. You'll probably see differing MSRP's in base price and options.

I look in early Nov when the rebate got to $2000. Three weeks later, the cars coming in we about $150 to $200 more MSRP. The base prices + the options went up - ie Moons and Tunes went from $800 to $825, power pkg up $25, Alloy wheels increased from $400 to $440. Airbags, i think were $25 or $50 more.

I guess that's how they bumped up the $1500 to $2000. They get a few hundred back, and you thinking that you'll get $500 more than the guy who bought in Oct - guess again....where is the love?

If it wasn't for the cash back, the Matrix is a better deal.

nippononly

that with such different exterior looks on these two, folks would have a preference for one or the other that was too strong to be swayed by a small price difference.

To me, Vibe looks almost like an entirely different car than my matrix...

rufustjones

let me get this straight, I hate the Vibe because they charged me too much BUT I would buy it cuz it's cheaper that a Matrix. Where's the love...? check your bong water.

5679

Broke down and had 16" winter tires installed on my existing rims this week after three snowfalls this week alone.
I definitely feel more secure with these and I think my family will too.

Luzer

You almost got it straight.
I just don't like the marketing folks -

Compare the Matrix pricing to the Vibe pricing - like destination charges, side airbags etc.

oh what's the use - you don't work for GM do you?

johnclineii

and Toyota offers HUGE incentives, including a credit card with thousands off the price? You don't work for Toyota, do you?

magnetophone

Is the most people have gotten off on the Vibe jus the $2000 rebate? I have noticed there's a higher-specced Vibe on the lot that hasn't moved in probably a month. It has satellite navigation, maybe that's why. In any event, I was thinking of asking for $2500 off. Do you think that's possible?

davy1

I have a GM card to get rebate points, but am not aware of one for Toyota. Any idea on how I can get into that program?

stillageek

I live in Dallas and was in the market for a vibe back in November. Dealers throughout DFW were advertising $3300 off MSRP for all Vibes in stock. Buz Post Pontiac in Arlington had one I liked, but the salesman as so horrible I left and ended up buying a Matrix for $2000 off MSRP. The Matrix didn't have the Nav system I wanted, but the buying experience was nicer and will definetly get more on trade in/resale. Take a look at Identical Corollas/ Prizms and you will see a huge difference in value.

magnetophone

Well, then I should be able to expect the same for Vibes in Austin...that's a fantastic deal

johnclineii

Davy1, my point was that although the Vibe LISTS for more, with the incentives GM offers AND the GM credit card rebate, the average Pontiac customer pays FAR less for a Vibe than the average Toyota customer does for a Matrix. There is NO Toyota credit card in the US, to my knowledge.

montanafan

The November/December Vibe ad prices were enhanced by a dealer cash program that ended Jan 2nd. You will most likely have to pay $750 more now.