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Comments
Since you asked :-)
If you read the post before yours carefully, you'll find the Corolla/Matrix starting failure explained. "[..] Vibe does not have the engine imoblizer like the Matrix so the TSB does not apply. "
IOW, worry not. Any car may have problems, but a Vibe is fairly safe. FWIW, I think the car is much better served with a stick shift for performance and gas mileage, and snow tires do fine for winter weather. But that's a matter of personal taste as much as anything.
Good luck,
-Mathias
Thanks in advance!!
Some of the early Matrixes and Vibes had an issue with front interior window gaskets coming loose. A friend of mine had it fixed under warranty on her Matrix, but I don't know if there was a TSB on that problem or not. In ours we haven't had the problem yet. Hopefully it's not because we don't roll down the windows enough!
I will think twice about buying a Toyota again, although the Avalon runs great now, with 73K on it and I expect to get many years out of it. Just to let you know, that the corporate customer guy, took a drive with me, felt the vibration problem and had no idea what it was. After thier enough "good will" they had no more room on the car to give up, although they gave me alloy wheels which did not fix the problem. It was a "out of round", bad front axle/CV joint, a defective part that was not picked up.
If I had to do it over again, which I will not, I would go exactly by the rules in your state, for lemon laws, and then I would go for their throats, unless you like the corporate jerk around. Or else, they will use their delay tactics until the warranty is up. They really do not know their cars, and the corporation is too big to take care of your problem. As important as it is.
Good luck.
abfisch
Anyway, we got through our psychotherapy OK(Just kiddin) and I bought a new mirror and put it on myself. $200 or so for the mirror and about 1.5 hours for my time. Figure $300 for the thing if you do not do it yourself. It is not that hard to do if you have the time and some patience.
abfisch
I don't know the exact answer to your question, but:
- At least until recently, the Corolla 4cyl engines had solid (non-hydraulic) lifters that required checking eveyr 30k.
- On alt.autos.toyota, the question was asked how often the service was needed. The answer from a master mechanic was: "check every 30k; adjust - never." Apparently, Toyota has the material science down pat and the lifters/cam lobes are so hard that they do not wear significantly.
-Mathias
My brother's old Corolla had them checked twice in 120k. I believe a few were out of spec. As far as hardness, BMW cycles using the same design have gone 100k without significant change in the clearances. Same for one of my Yamahas. Hopefully our cams don't need to be yanked out like many motorcycle engines with the same design. I believe our engines have a big timing chain?
no belt drive cams here...?
1) I average over 30 MPG all around, city and highway. In a recent trip from St. Louis to KC, I was doing about 75-80 all the way, but still got about 30 MPG. I think it would probably get the advertised 36MPG at about 60MPH, but haven't had it long enough to know for sure.
2) I haven't had a single problem so far. I bought a 7year/1000 mile bumper to bumper extended warranty which includes road hazard because it only raised my payment about $22/month.
3) The drivetrain is the same as the Corolla, so service life should be over 200K miles, especially if it is well-maintained and the miles are mostly highway.
4) Unless you live where it snows a lot, I would not recommend the AWD. From the reviews I have read, the AWD is considerably more sluggish and gets worse mileage. I also think you can only get the AWD with an automatic trans. I would recommend the front-wheel drive and the manual tranny, but that's just my preference. I like a stick in a small car.
5) It was very comfortable in our recent trip to KC, but we only did about 500 miles round trip. The longest we went at one time without stopping was about 2.5 hours (have small kids). It's as comfortable as you could expect a small car to be. I'm a big guy, and I think it is more comfortable than the wife's PT Cruiser.
6) I haven't driven much in the rain yet, but it seems to do well. I have had to make one panic stop at 30MPH on dry pavement and it did very well. When the tires wear out I will be replacing them with Michelin HydroEdge tires. That made a world of difference in wet weather over the stock Goodyears on the wife's PT Cruiser, and they wear forever. As far as winter weather, I gues I'll probably find out how it does in the next month or two. I am used to driving trucks, and it is a big change for me, but I do feel safe in the car, which is more that I can say for a lot of other small cars I've been in.
Hope this helps.
Love the Vibe, love the great gas mileage!
Othre than that, you might also try posting in the Got a Quick, Technical Question? discussion.
What they told you is not right; normally you do not have that much fluid missing due to adjustments. I've had lots of cars, and have only added brake fluid on two or three of them.
-Mathias
Simon
For all season tires they rated the Good Year Triple Treads as number one followed by the Michelin X.
They might be your best bet. Take a look a the article than decide. They tested for traction, durability, comfort, noise etc. They are usually right. Should help you find what your looking for in tire.
Good Luck.
I have a pontiac vibe 2006 and I had heard the same "knock" sound. I checked the user manual and it states that it is normal to hear a click sound each time in the beginning, it's due to ABS checking itself (I don't know if your car has an ABS).