Question about the Vibe and Pontiac

Hello all, I am seriously considering buying a 2007 Vibe, and have a few questions. is it true that Toyota manufactures the motor/mechanical insides of the car? Or did Toyota simply design it? I read somewhere that the Vibe is the same car as the Toyota matrix but with a different exterior. I like the design of the Vibe better than the Matrix. Could anyone clarify this? Also, how is Pontiac as a car company/manufacturer rated these days? My parents always drove Pontiacs for years, but that was a while ago. How are Pontiac cars as far as reliability and repairs? Any advice will be truly appreicated.

Darren

Reply to
darrenli516
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It's a Toyota Corolla with a Pontiac body, badging and interior.

Reply to
MikeinPA

Gm products are shit nowadays just read car reviews.

Sal

Reply to
sal

The Vibe and Matrix are produced on the same assembly line at the same plants (I think one is in California, and another is in Canada). It's the same car. No different than say a Pontiac Sunfire was from a Chevy Cavalier, or a Pontiac Firebird from a Chevy Camaro.

The only differences are how they are sold and backed. These days I believe GM has a better warranty than Toyota, so that might be the deciding factor here. Toyota and GM have a long-standing joint venture going on various car models. Back in the 80's, the Chevy Nova was just a rebadged version of the Toyota Corolla of its day.

Well, this car should be exactly the same as a Matrix in terms of reliability. I've not had any major issues with my Pontiac GP, and I also own a Subaru Outback. In general, nothing beats a Japanese car for reliability, followed by American and Korean cars, with European cars being dead last by a long-shot.

European cars being unreliable might be a surprise to you, seeing as their owners are rabidly loyal to them. But it's true, European cars are fragile.

Yousuf Khan

Reply to
Yousuf Khan

To clarify the Vibe is a "rebadged" Toyota, not a real Pontiac. Toyota chassis and powertrain. At one time the higher hp engine only came in the Vibe GT and not in a Matrix.

Dont forget the "Love Truck"... I would take the Vibe over the, IMO, rather ugly Matrix. Decent little vehicle I suppose. Has a timing belt to be serviced though. I wouldnt even bother with the automatic trans. (IMHO the manual trans is the only one worth owning. The automatic trans versions HP and mileage doesnt justify itself.)

For "cars" it depends... There are some jap cars out there with worse service records than my bonny. 5 years ago Korean cars would be dead last for sure. For me "mechanic friendly" tends to come above reliability. A intake leak is nothing to me if it can fixed in a couple hours time and no more than a couple hundred bucks in labor. This is where about half of GMs products, to me, have the lead. 3800's for example have plastic intake issues but what I charge for the fix isnt really more than a timing belt service on a Japanese import of the same mileage. The intake is a one time fix, the timing belt is a recurring service...

I can agree with that. They can be awful finicky at times.

Reply to
Bon·ne·vil

I have 2 Vibe's and both have a timing chain. Here's a reviews:

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I test drove the Matrix and the Vibe.....no diff. except the price. Toyota is real proud of the Matrix. I've had my 2004 Vibe since late '03 and it runs like a champ. Both my Vibe's are MT.....no auto. I agree with Khan......manual is the way to go. Need to watch the tail lights....especially the High Center Mount Brake Light.....I've replace the bulb 1/year. Just seems to dim out over time.

Reply to
Dittie McGrittie

FWIW, the Vibe GT used a Honda engine.

Reply to
MikeinPA

Yeah thats right I think they went to a chain on there VVTL-i/VVT-i engines only. I dont keep track of Toyota... All I know they change stuff so often that its difficult to get parts.

I said that :-P

Nah its a Toyota engine with higher compression. You may be thinking of the 3.5L Vue. The Matrix has the same engines offered in the Vibe.

Reply to
Bon·ne·vil

Yep. I was wrong. I knew it was something other than Toyota. It was Yamaha that had a hand in the GT.

Reply to
MikeinPA

I owned a VW once, and from that point on I've had a "hate-affair" with European cars. They are crap. Someone once called them "road jewelery": pretty to look at, but fragile. Why not a hate-affair with just VW's, rather than the whole European category. Well, I found out that pretty much all European cars are built to that same philosophy, so it wouldn't have mattered which European brand I chose, they would've all been just as bad. I've heard from owners of Mercedes and BMW, and it is remarkably similar how they all tell the same stories that I had with a just a VW. If anything, if I had owned one of those upper end European cars I would've been screwed for even more money than I sank into my VW at that time.

With all of the perceived unreliability of American cars, at least parts are cheap. And I've never had an American car spaz out on me like my VW used to. It would just happen at random, something was always bursting and leaking or overheating.

I laugh at people who think BMW's and Mercedes are "good" cars.

Yousuf Khan

Reply to
Yousuf Khan

Yamaha

Reply to
Bruce W. Ellis

If anybody's curious about why the Vibe was cut back to one model with one engine, none of the "new 2007 cars" magazines last month commented on it. The Matrix also comes with only one engine now.

Reply to
Joe

The Vibe still uses 3 variations of the "same" 1.8L engine. For 2007 you have: 118 HP 115 torque 126 HP 122 torque 164 HP 125 torque (Yamaha modified)

Torque is something Toyota still cant make or isnt willing to make at the expence of greater fuel consumption...

The engine list for the Matrix may not be out yet. In Europe Toyota had to drop the VVTL-i because it did not meet their crazy emission standards over there. Though its still perfectly fine and dandy to vent refrigerant over there! I wouldn't be surprised if they are phasing out the VVTL-i and going back to timing belts...

Reply to
Bon·ne·vil

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