Well, my 2004 Sunfire is in the shop--again. The door had slowly fallen out of hinge, and one morning I opened the door and heard a *skrannk-k-k-k-k". I looked, and somehow the door trim had wedged underneath the fender moulding! Not only did it pry the moulding off of the fender, but it actually bent the fender out of shape by two or three inches! I got it to the dealer right away, but they had to order the new body parts and paint them . . . so, after three weeks, I finally dropped the car off to be fixed yesterday. Thankfully, it's all under warranty, and they gave me a loaner car: a 2005 Vibe.

This car is an interesting study in contradictions. It's a rebaged Toyota Matrix, and just about everything in it SCREAMS Toyota. The steering feel, the funky window controls, the laggy electronic throttle . . . but then there's the exact same stereo unit from my Sunfire wedged in the dash. It's hilarious, the dash is all black with 'polished metal' trim, but then there's that matte grey head unit with the red LED display--doesn't match at all. But the interior overall is quite nice, especially the steering wheel. The gauge cluster is ripped directly off of the RX8, very very deep set circular gauges. The seating position is odd, it's much more upright than I'm used to in a vehicle of this size. These "CUV" wagony-type things are new to me, and it certainly wouldn't be my preference full-time, but it's interesting as a change of pace. The seats are INFINITELY better than my Sunfire: cushy, fairly supportive, nice deep side bolsters.

The performance . . . well, there really isn't any performance, but this is the base Vibe with the 130-hp engine. Further, as a rental, it of course is lame-o-matic. Aggravatingly, the pedals are positioned PERFECTLY for heel-toe antics (as opposed to my Sunfire where heel-toe is impossible). The engine makes a nice sound, but until redline is approached (6250ish) no real power is made. With the 170 hp VVTi engine and the 6-speed stick, this would probably be a VERY fun little grocery getter.

As I was too cheap to spring for the renter's protection, I haven't done any, er, exploration of the handling limits, but I've taken it down a few windy roads and it's acquitted itself fairly well, though of course it's no autocrosser.

All in all, it's a very solid addition to the Pontiac brand; I just hope GM has learned some things by having a QUALITY affordable car roll through its lines.

Peace
policy

 

get the Toyota version......

 

So how can it be a rebadged Toyota? I didn't know there was an affiliation between GM and Toyota...but there's a lot of things I don't know...

 

rebadged Toyota...with new skin....the 05 Vibes look retared with the big rounder shnozz.....the older ones had a beak..it was ugly too, but not as ugly.

 

...still confused...how can GM take a Toyota and modify it? (legally)

 

I don't want to type out the whole explanation.....all the car companies have deals with other car companies to rebadge and sell their cars....

 

Cool, I wasn't aware of that.

 

its just one of those coporate thingies. GM has done it kind of for a while too-
the Geo Prizm was a toyota corolla, as the 'Chevy Nova' in the late 80s early 90s was a corolla (not to be confused with the cool Nova of the late 70s.)

the Honda Passport was an isuzu trooper, the Geo Storm an Isuzu I-mark...

go figure.

 

^freaky

 

Dodge rebaged some Mitsu's, though I don't remember the particular models.

 

^
3000GT and Stealth for example

Even Honda and Saab have this alliance. That Saab yellow green mini SUV they have has a Honda engine.

 

actually it was an Isuzu Impulse.

 

Or you get wacky combinations. The 1990-1999 Eagle Talon/ Plymouth Laser/ Mitsubishi Eclipse cars were offically made by "Diamond Star Motors" which was a company owned by Chrysler and Mitsu, but was a company on its own. They made the bodies here in in the US, bought the engines from Mitsu, and assembled them in Normal, IL.

I hear the doors on a Dodge avenger are the same as on the 95-99 DSM's.

 

You really didn't miss a whole lot with it not being a stick. I test drove both the Vibe and Matrix before finally deciding on a Protege5, and the Mazda stick shift was infinitely better than those transmissions. Even at the time I was no stranger to a stick shift, but I just had a hell of a time driving those things. I was missing shifts, I was having to give gears two or three tries sometimes before the car would go into gear and nothing would get that car into first gear (even with clutch in/rev matching/double clutching) aside from coming to a dead stop. Sure, it could have just been an issue with the particular cars I drove, but in my experience, it's pretty rare for two cars to have identical problems like that unless it's a widespread issue.

 

actually isnt it a 180hp VVTL-i (not VVTi) engine? Last I knew it used the same engine as the Toyota Celica GT-S....which is a 180hp Variable Valve Timing with Lift and Intelligance engine...

 

Easy, they buy a bunch of Toyotas with the agreement that they'll resell them as Pontiacs here. Fills a market niche for Pontiac, puts cash Toyota's bank account. Works well for both parties. This is not really new or strange--the Saab 9-2X wagon is really a Subaru WRX wagon, the Chevy Aveo is really a Daewoo, etc., etc., etc.

Peace
policy

 

No, I was right the first time. It's a 180 hp Toyota engine with Variable Valve Timing and Intelligence. They were going to charge GM extra for the Lift and GM cheaped out.

Peace
policy

 

You can get the Vibe with the 2ZZGE(170 hp VVTLi)....it's called the Vibe GT. Toyota retuned the motor for more midrange power.....and emmissions. That's where the 10 horses went.

 

^^ What he said, the Matrix XRS is the same way.

 

your incorrect...vibe and matrix are identicle under the hood.....they both have lift....the matrix xrs and vibe gt (2zz-ge from toyota but yamaha built) actually only had 180 hp for the models for 2003, in 2004 they added a smog pump and power went down to 172hp but added a little more torque to the cars...in 2005 power went down to 170hp for both models....in the base matrix and xr matrix and base model vibes they have the 130hp motors which are the (1zz-fe) from toyota....they also have a 4wd model for both cars that has 123hp with a 1zz-fe....the 2zz has lift same as the celica gts and the 1zz doesnt like the celica gt....the clutches on those cars are horrible in comparison but the motors are aawesome if you can deal.....i owned a 2k3 matrix xrs which i traded in for the 8.......and you can autocross the hell out of them....both cars mechanically are the same its just the skin and interior thats different :D

 

I was completely kidding. The previous poster went to great legths to point out that I had missed a letter in Toyota's trademarked catch-phrase for variable valve timing. I was running with it to the extreme to point out how silly it was to nitpick to that degree. YES, it's the Celica GTS engine, and YES, it's in a slightly different state of tune, putting more power under the curve and sacrificing a little top end.

Either way, I wasn't driving the GTS engine, I was driving the 130hp variant.

Peace
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The little GM / Chevy trucks are heavily Toyota-fied.

 

The Dodge Colt used a Mitsubishi turbo charged motor. I'm not sure if they body/frame was shared or not though.

 

old ford escorts had mazda motors, and the Ford love was a mazda, or had a mazda motor...something like that.

my favorite team up was the geo storm made by isuzu with a lotus elan motor. but that one was mentioned.

 

Yeah I was aware of the rebadging and part sharing between companies that were *affiliated* or owned by a parent company (ie. Ford and Mazda), but not GM -> Toyota....there's no legal relationship there.

Ya learn something new everyday!