2004 Pontiac Vibe GT review from North America

New clutch at 90k miles. Normal wear.

Window apparatus (regulator) repeatedly loosens. There is an outstanding recall to have the front windows fixed, but the problem exists with all 4 windows.

Body trim got knocked off and won't reseat cleanly.

Chipping paint on hood and other areas of the body.

Reviewing this car because I feel like a free-loader reading all the other great reviews.

This is overall a great, though cheap car. My wife drives it hard and takes it everywhere on mountain bike trips. We added a light duty hitch, which mounts a bike rack that gets constant use. The back cargo area is her own personal little bike shop and tool chest.

We bought it used: a GT model with a 6-speed manual and oversized wheels. Sunroof and a 115 volt outlet in the dash. Even so, the "luxuries" only partly make up for the low-rent look of the whole thing.

Good gas mileage; often 27 mpg. Reliable, there's just not much maintenance to do on it. I had it up on jackstands last week to look at the brake pads. Still plenty of wear left on the all-around disc brakes. And my wife drives like a NASCAR novice; hard shifting and hard braking. No real leaks, no worn drive train parts that I know of...

The whole car shows its wear; the interior is scratched and stained. The body is chipping and some dents. Cheap body components but pretty well engineered interior. Not the most comfortable and a lot of road noise.

Overall, we like it. We will drive it until it's too hard to keep running, then junk it.