[I had a request for this, so here you go:]
The delightful Pontiac Vibe, aka Toyota Matrix with a different body (2007 model purchased new in February, 2008), now has about 17K miles on it. Most of those are from in-town driving, believe it or not. I’ve been using Mobil 1 since about 1,800 miles. I wish I could tell you a funny story about the car, but the history so far is quite boring, thank God. We’re not seeing the 38-39 mpg we were getting for a while, but we haven’t taken many road trips, either. On the other hand, 33-35 mpg just driving up and down the street is awfully good. And we haven’t ever gotten less than 32!
I did experiment with a K&N high-flow air filter for several months. There was a pleasing increase in the induction roar (my wife never noticed), and I thought the throttle was more responsive, but after replacing it with the original air filter, I can’t honestly say the car feels or sounds any different. Damn, how weird is that? Not very, I expect, because one’s expectations have to play a major role in this: if I install a permanent $50 high-performance air filter, I’m likely to notice an improvement, or imagine one. It was impossible to discern a mileage improvement, either, which frustrated me more than a little.
In the end, the reasons I removed it were two-fold: it didn’t fit as well as the original, raising doubts about how well it sealed around the edges, and Web research convinced me that the K&N didn’t do quite as good a job of of filtering the smallest particles of dust as the original equipment filter. What we have here in New Mexico are the smallest particles of dust in great abundance, so I reluctantly removed my hot-rod filter. (This thing has to last…)
We haven’t had a lick of trouble in the first 13 months. Gas mileage varies between 32 and 39 mpg. It’s even more fun to drive, now that I’m not afraid to rev it (we have the 5-speed). I haven’t yet repaired the dent in the rear bumper, and we’ve picked up a few more scrapes and paint chips, but the car still gleams. I love the shape of the nose and think the Toyota version looks awful by comparison. And the dirt roads haven’t killed it: here and there over the rough stuff there’s an odd rattle or two, but hardly anything, really. No rattles from the dash, either (I hate those). Overall, it’s still a solid little car that zips around with confidence. I’m truly very pleased.
Finally, the Vibe handled deep snow much better than I expected over the winter. In fact, our old VW Jetta was mediocre by comparison, and that was front-wheel drive as well. It must have something to do with the weight distribution. To reward the car, I bought a set of fancy all-weather black rubber floor mats with a nifty Vibe logo on the driver-side version. They cost a bunch, and they’re worth it: they trap all the snow, mud, and water, look fabulous, and you can blast them clean at the car wash. What’s more, I think they were actually made in the U.S.A.!
Great car. If someone wants to give you one, don’t say no.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
-yup,prof John, she’s a GLC-grt little car- was gonna get one,but ended up sticking a mickey mouse plow on the ’96 exploder: those electric plows work v.well,even tho’ they cost $4500[cdn] less than a meyers.
-Ok, as a lic.mechanic,i can confirm Yr suspicions that k&n ain’t as good as OEM, plus there are some that say gas mileage is worse using k&n
-if You ever decide to stick an air deflector on the hood-don’t.A racer pal put his astro van on a dyno:with the deflector the gasmileage sucked almost 10%
-Slick 50,engine teflon treatment,has saved me thousands:just substitute it for one quart next LOF
-Nitrogen for the tyres: tried it for a lark.
Wow-ol mr.ed handled so much better that you’d have figured it had $3k suspension work done. Plus checking air pressures is not frequent,cuz temperature fluctuation doesn’t affect them=safety. No wonder fleets use it.
-Floor mats?! throw in teflon wiper blades,pls
What, you don’t like my floor mats?
They make me grin every time I get in the car.
BTW, after one tank (not enough proof, but still) with the original air filter back on, mileage appears to be slightly up. I’m not surprised. It’s always seemed to me that a certain amount of restriction was a good thing for gas mileage — I dunno, something about keeping the oomph in the cylinders a little longer. That’s probably bullshit, but I’ve noticed this with various vehicles all my life: if it sucks more air, it burns more gas, seems like.
I’m sure this is over-simplified to the point of idiocy. With modern engines, probably none of this stuff from the twist-a-screw-on-the-carburetor days applies!
I knew I remembered that license plate # from somewhere (yes, I have that kind of memory). Was driving behind your wife the other day on the main drag and could not figure out where I knew that # from. Weird.
She gets around, she does! Me, I don’t seem to get out very much. My old truck (F-150,’87) isn’t all that pleasant to tool around in. Would like to find a nice Toyota trucklet someday…
I will keep an eye out for the ’87 F-150 next.