2004 Pontiac Vibe Base review from North America

Nothing yet, knock on wood. The only thing that was "wrong" was the plastic backcover on the front-passenger's seat came loose, snapped right back into place with a heavy fisted thump!

I bought this car to use all those GM points I accumulated, and before my grad rebate expired... Together, I got a savings of approximately $2,000 off the MSRP, before negotiating price.

It has been a great car, we have a current production (2003) Corolla in the family, and the two cars are mechanically identical, sharing the same engine and transmission. Both have been reliablable, but...

The Corolla has a lower centre of gravity, and clearly handles better.

The Vibe is heavier, and gets slightly worse mileage... by my count, it consistently gets about 11.5L/100km, that's about 21MPG (Us Gallons). Though this is almost exclusively city driving, I had similar mileage from my 1986 Audi 4000s, with a 2.2L 5-cylinder... As such, I would say that the Vibe is not as efficient as the marketing suggests.

Aside from these quibbles, the car is incredibly versitile. With the backseats folded down, I've used it to transport a 32" TV in its original packaging, ALONG with the TV stand! I've also fitted a single-size matress in the back... no difficulties closing the hatch, with the driver's seat pushed all the way to the front!

The car is a bit slow off the line, but I seriously don't think anyone should be buying this thing to race! :) It has enough pick-up for acceptable passing on the highway, and cruises comfortably and stably at 130km/h.

The interior is nice, with durable black cloth seats, but the pesudo-aluminum plastic on the centre console and radio-surround looks cheap.

Rear passenger room is incredibly roomy! and seats four six-footers in comfort. Would not suggest five-passenger travelling for extended periods of time though..:) Head room is ample.

The engine was a bit loud and harsh when new, but seems to have settled in considerably after 20,000km.

I should also mention that this car is mechanically identical to the Matrix, but they are styled differently. This is such a subjective element, but I would say that the Vibe appears more stylish.

One functional difference between the Vibe and the Matrix though, is that the Vibe has a thicker C-pillar, which increases the blind-spot and hinders over-the-shoulder checking. Not a major thing, but definitely noticeable.

The Vibe also came standard with AC, fog lights, and a roof rack, even on the base model. The Matrix does not. The Vibe is built at the GM/Toyota NUMMI plant in Freemont, California. All North American Matrixes are built at the Cambridge, Ontario plant in Canada.

Another area of complainant is the plastic hubcaps on the base model, which is unnecesarily complicated, and is itself BOLTED down... with plastic nuts no less! Makes it a complete pain to remove. Why anyone would want to bolt-down plastic hubcaps is anyone's guess...:)

In all, I've been pleased with the car, although it is not perfect, it is very practical, and definitely a fail-safe choice.