I Risked Two Relationships By Driving A 350,000 Mile Pontiac Vibe To A Wedding Instead Of A Rental Car. Here’s How That Went

Pontiac Vibe 600 Dollar Ts
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“My god David, there are somethings you just don’t screw around with,” Autopian contributor Adrian Clarke wrote, scolding me for my decision to use a $600, 350,000 mile shitbox in a high-stakes situation. “Driving a child to hospital= reliable car, going to wedding with paramour = reliable car…I mean a wedding, that’s when you borrow a Bentley press car,” he went on before the rest of the Autopian staff piled on. But, as brilliant as the editorial team is here, it’s clear to me that they don’t truly realize one important thing: The Pontiac Vibe is an incredible, unkillable workhorse and the perfect car for wedding duty. Yes, even a 350,000 mile version. Hear me out.

While folks often poke fun at me for having “gone Hollywood” after an oil-soaked decade in the frigid rust-orchards of metro Detroit, the truth is that even California can’t change everything, and one thing about me that remains intact is the fact that I’m a cheap bastard. A deeply, deeply cheap bastard.

Saving Money By Borrowing High-Mileage Beaters

So when it came time for me to plan my best friend’s bachelor party, I did so frugally, utilizing one of the groomsmen’s lakehouses, partaking in fairly cheap activities (like attending a tractor show), and borrowing my friend Jamie’s 330,000 mile Mazda MPV minivan as the bachelormobile. I wrote about this back in September (the van ruled):
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The groom’s wedding was just a month later, and these flights were starting to add up, so for round two of the LA to Detroit trip, I knew I had to save a bit of coin. Step one was to book flights on Spirit Airlines — this saved me about $400 over a Delta flight, and — for the most part — things went reasonably well.

I mean, I did have to pull some clothes out of my check-in bag to meet the 40 pound weight requirement, and we had to consolidate some of our stuff into one bag when boarding the plane — neither of these are things you can look cool doing, but my girlfriend probably realizes how much of a dork I am at this point. It was fine. Non-reclining seats were basically the only real sacrifice, but in my eyes hardly a $400 one. (Plus, I don’t like reclining seats when I fly anyway; I always feel bad for the person behind).

The next bit of money-saving took place upon my arrival at Detroit Wayne airport: I wasn’t about to rent a car in my hometown (well, sort of “hometown” — basically the closest I have to one given that I grew up in a nomadic army family), so I reached out to my loyal fellow shitbox-appreciator, Jamie. “Any of my 3 rides will be here and available for pickup. I just won’t be around to pick you up,” he offered. That meant the van, an old Pontiac Vibe, or this 4Runner he’d welded into an actual car from a pile of Fe2O3. Here’s an old article I wrote on his 4Runner fabrication:

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“You can also use my wife’s Outback if you wanna be fancy. But I’d have to convince her of that. But the Vibe is better,” he told me.

I passed on the van and 4Runner, since they were wastefully large for my needs. The Outback would have been nice, I suppose, but that’s Jamie’s wife’s car, and also it has a CVT. More importantly, Jamie was right: “The Vibe Is Better.” And to be clear, he’s not just talking about any Vibe, he’s talking about a $600 one with over 350,000 miles on the clock.

It May Be A Junker, But It’s Still A Pontiac Vibe. So It’s Worth Saving

According to Jamie, the car had been listed for cheap because of a leaky radiator. On top of that, the fog lights were broken, the front bumper was a bit battered, there was plenty of rust to go around, the windshield was cracked, the interior looked awful — this thing was a pile. But, as Jamie understood, it was still a Vibe, which meant it was worth saving. 

Let’s have a look at what Jamie was dealing with, starting with some rust on the rear hatch:

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Jamie fixed it with some sandpaper, filler, and paint:
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Jamie also noticed that the front bumper had been bent, so — after replacing the radiator with a junkyard unit — he pulled that out:
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Here’s Jamie replacing the windshield; the surrounding was very rusty:
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Here’s what the interior looked like before:

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Jamie swapped out the radio for an old unit he’d had in his Mazda MPV (but he later replaced it with an Amazon one, which I got to use; it worked well):
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And Jamie snagged some power mirrors and a better lower cushion for his torn seat:
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Check out how good of a job Jamie did sanding those faded headlights until they’re clear:
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And look at how big of an upgrade these new junkyard wheels are over the highly oxidized ones that came on the car:
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Clearly this Vibe had been a junker when Jamie bought it, but after the intrepid wrencher threw about $400 into the machine, the $1000 all-in little hatchback looked great:
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There Was A Lot At Stake

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Despite Jamie’s excellent job getting the Vibe all cleaned up (he replaced both front struts with junkyard ones, too), the reality is that it was still a 350,000 mile car (like with all Vibes, this one’s odometer stopped at a rather pessimistic 299,999 miles, but Jamie reckons the car has driven at least another 50,000). This meant risk, as my colleagues told me in no uncertain terms:
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It seems the “move” was to minimize risk by staying close to the festivities, and by driving a comfortable and dependable car. But to you, Adrian and Thomas I ask: What is more dependable than a Pontiac Vibe?

Here, I’ll even provide the answer: Nothing. The Pontiac Vibe is the bargain workhorse of our time, and — even with 350,000 miles on the clock — possibly an even less risky chariot than some beaten-on rental car with modern electronics that might go haywire. 

Jamie’s Vibe proved my suspicions: upon our arrival into Detroit on our budget airline, my girlfriend and I took an Uber to Ann Arbor, where Jamie had his beloved 2006 Pontiac Vibe sitting weirdly close to his house, with the key stashed in a secret location nearby.

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I hopped in, fired up the vehicle’s trusty 1.8-liter Toyota engine (it’s one of two “ZZ”-line engines available in the first-gen Vibe), pulled away from the wall, let my girlfriend in, and we were off to our hotel and then to the wedding, where I was the best man with important responsibilities.

The Vibe — and I’m not kidding when I say this — drove like a new car. Yes, a 350,000 mile, $600 Pontiac Vibe cruised at 70 mph like an absolute boss. The little 1.8-liter sang a the unkillable Toyota A246E four-speed automatic shifted perfectly. The brakes felt confident, the handling was on-point, the radio switches on the steering wheel — which Jamie had installed from a junkyard Scion TC — worked well, the lights were bright, the ride was comfortable — I’m being effusive because the Vibe deserves it. And I’ve been saying this for years.

Back in 2018 I wrote the article “We’re All Underestimating The Pontiac Vibe.” Here’s what I had to say:

NUMMI, [a] Fremont, California-based plant (part of which is now owned by Tesla), was a way for General Motors to gain insights into Toyota’s “lean manufacturing” methods that promised higher vehicle output and better quality.

The way this relates to the Pontiac Vibe is that this little hatchback was built at NUMMI between 2002 and 2009, and shared not just the same basic Corolla-based platform as the Toyota Matrix, but also the powertrains and the interior. In other words, the Vibe was a Toyota with some Pontiac sheetmetal, offering the same fuel efficiency and reliability as a Toyota, but—and this is just my opinion—in a more aggressive, stylish package.

[…]

It’s not fast, and with a MacPherson strut front suspension and a torsion beam rear-suspension on base models (double wishbone with all-wheel drive), it’s not particularly advanced, either. But reviews that came out shortly after the Vibe’s launch were positive, with Automobile writing in 2002:

“The Pontiac Vibe—a tall sedan/truncated wagon/ mini-SUV—is far and away the best small car from General Motors.”

And it wasn’t just contemporary reviews. People who now own the Toyota-disguised-as-a-GM — that’s 15 years after manufacture — still love the things, largely because they just don’t die. From my old article:

Also, the Vibe just doesn’t die. “They’re hugely reliable. We have members consistently asking about the odometers stopping counting at 299,999 (even though they’re digital). And even though I’ve put the TRD Supercharger kit on mine and more aggressive suspension, nothing has put me on the side of the road, or made me late for school,” he said.

Nick has owned his vibe for over six years and 122,000 miles, and tells me the car is a “secret” in that most people don’t realize just how versatile it is. “And it’s this little secret of a car that seems to do 90% of what anyone needs to do, so I’m always ready for anything,” he says.

Jamie’s Vibe was a beast all weekend. Was it new? No. Did it look amazing? No. But it was comfortable enough, and it was a tank. There was no drama, only great vibes at Brandon’s wedding. Here is the handsome man leaning against his family-heirloom Model A out front of the church he’s about to get married in:

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Look at this amazing moment as Brandon awaits the call to head into the church, where he’d soon be married to a fantastic woman:
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After the wedding, my girlfriend and I tailed him in the Vibe to the reception:
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On our way to the reception, we stopped by Brandon’s new property and helped the photographer take a few images. Look at the lovebirds!
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Sure, there had been a lot at stake: two important relationships. I could have stranded my girlfriend and me on the side of the road and left my best friend high and dry at his wedding, waiting for someone to be by his side to give him the ring and sign his wedding certificate — but was that really much of a concern? 

The answer is “no.” The truth is, the headline of this article is a lie; I risked nothing, as the Pontiac Vibe’s reliability is a sure thing. A loyal and reliable best man needs a loyal and reliable car, and the Vibe is just that.

134 thoughts on “I Risked Two Relationships By Driving A 350,000 Mile Pontiac Vibe To A Wedding Instead Of A Rental Car. Here’s How That Went

    1. I had to look multiple times. I think she is standing on the edge of a steep bank. You can see her right black boot on the ground about knee level crossed over her left leg

  1. My ’99 Corolla with the same engine as this Vibe and less than 1/3 of the mileage, decided to provide an example last night of how this could have gone wrong. I went to go pick up pizza for the family, and it cranks, but will not start. Thankfully I had my trusty ’06 Sierra to the get the pizza and take me to work today. I’ll have to dig in and see what’s up with it after work today.

    I’m glad that didn’t happen on the wedding weekend for you though!

  2. Fun fact: The 1st-gen Matrix & Vibe interior was designed by Pontiac. Supposedly the original plan was for Toyota to design their own interior for the Matrix, but when they saw Pontiac’s design, they liked it so much that they decided to use it as well.

    (This fun fact was from an Automobile magazine article I read decades ago. I think it’s just as likely that the interior was always planned on being shared; but regardless, the design that went to production was Pontiac’s.)

  3. Marry her. If she still with you after this, she is the one. My now wife was with me in several car related distresses. She just complained about one car in all these years. Glad got rid of it, despite loving so much.

    Everybody is right: that are things that you don’t mess with. If a rental leave you stranded you have someone else to blame and replace the car. Make this your no 1 priority in life: whenever you are doing something stupid, have someone else to blame.

    Make relationships last longer. Congrats, hope it is the start of a long life together.

  4. “The intensity of fucking around is directly proportional to the severity of finding out.”

    Thank you Thomas. This is now permanently in my lexicon going forward and will be overused. It may even replace “Hold my beer.”

    1. i liked it too, but my personal old man strategy is: “The intensity of fucking around will be inversely proportional to the severity of finding out.” i guess i’ll never leave a beautiful corpse.

  5. I knew David’s love life was about to take off as soon as he started posting all those pictures and videos of him rescuing his Jeep kittens. Good things happen to people who save stray animals.

      1. And I was just in SoCal last week for a wedding… missed opportunities! I used my non-wedding time seeing big ass ships like the boat nerd I am.

  6. I currently have three NUMMI cars. The OG, ’87 Nova, a ’99 Prizm, and if you REALLY stretch the definition, a ’20 Model Y.

    We’ve had other NUMMI cars over the years. ALL, and I mean ALL of them, have been fantastically reliable and solid. These things are no joke and it’s a shame more people didn’t realize how good they were. The only downside I ever found was the ’98-’02 cars could fall victim to sticking compression rings if the oil was not changed at regular intervals. This was a problem the plagued several automakers and the 1ZZ-FE was no exception as the heavily used oil would clog up the smallish drain holes in the ring lands and lead to build-up and sticking rings. With reasonable maintenance they were perfectly fine though.

  7. “After the wedding, my girlfriend and I tailed him in the Vibe to the reception:”

    Was there a C&C earlier that day? There’s more rubber on that road than the tires of the Model A!

  8. Regarding the Vibe being parked as it was,
    Could it have been because the right side door lock or locks weren’t working…?
    I have to say that fine parking job had me wondering and is there any hope of our finding out the end result?
    Congratulations on your GF / Partner in crime!

    1. Ha. Sadly nothing interesting in my parking story, we just have a skinny driveway and parking close to the house leaves space in the middle for people to walk by.

  9. I’m just thinking of all the money you saved by using a friend’s car rather than asking for a press car — which must be super hard to do in…Detroit.

  10. the 299999 club LOL

    the digits on the board are a88888 instead of 888888. Even worse, there is still no fix for it 20 years later 🙁

    Also, even on less-stupid digital odometers, why the FUCK does it stop at 999999? WTF? They should make it roll over to zero

    The only digital odometer I know of that rolls over to zero every million miles or km is the Australian EL Falcon. I found this on YT:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCogIA2LMdY

  11. I plan on getting my Matrix to hit the odo limit. It’s a nice goal to have. I too have that stupid rust hole on my rear glass (currently sealed up tight with Sugru silicone putty) and why in god’s name does the windshield frame rust like that? I gotta lay another bead of RTV on the side channel because I have zero body work skills and leaks suck.

  12. 1st gen Matrix and vibes were soo much better then the relatively crappy 2nd gen ones with their meh 2.4l engines, crappy rear disc brakes and crumbling rear subframes and viscous units on 4wd ones.

    1. The second gen was certainly a downgrade, as it was decontented and had a much cheaper interior.
      Other than that, it drove as well and was as reliable as the original. The rear brakes did need a yearly service in order to avoid the crippling hundred dollar full replacement.
      The 1.8 was the one to have. The fuel economy was better than my Suzuki Swift and the car was big enough for all the baby stuff. Still a 100% excellent buy for cheap reliable transportation.

      1. Good to know the 1st gen is the one to get. My mom had a 03 she bought new; I remember it as a great little car. I’ve been thinking about getting one as a commuter/beater to keep miles off my 4Runner. I was thinking of the 2nd gen because newer (and the styling has grown on me), but I didn’t realize they were de-contented.

        1. Yeah, my buddies dad was an Exec at toyota at the time and actually advised against the second gen because of this.
          Still, the second gen was a fine car and it’s a great buy if you just want something a bit newer but just as bullet proof.

  13. Those things are a Beast, very underrated!!! Im looking for one!!! If anyone has some leads, let me know…..my 02 4Runner as 430K on the clock!!!

  14. I mean yeah, if you need a dirt cheap car for A to B you can not beat the Vibe. You’ll probably get it cheaper than a Matrix since it’s got a domestic badge after all.

  15. I thought DT had done some risky things over the last few years but this takes it to a new level.

    The risk of failure is one thing, the risk of being reminded of it by multiple upset females for years to come is another bigger risk.

    You are truly a gambler.

    1. Not really That risky. This was for a wedding in metro Detroit not BFE Wyoming or Utah or… (insert incredibly remote US location where it could be +150 miles in-between any signs of civilization even a gas station here…).

      Say he did break down in the Vibe, likely his Girlfriend (congrats btw David), will laugh, she Will likely tease him forever & they’ll call one of the other groomsmen to come pick them up. Or urber/lyft/taxi to where they need to go next.

      Will the new girlfriend be pissed? Hell no if she IS it is a clear sign David unfortunately picked the wrong girl & best for both of them to part ways ambacably bc this isn’t the 1st & won’t be the last time David makes a terrible looking decision with a potentially sketchy car bc it’s an adventure & could provide a good story to tell…
      I’m with David on this one, a +300k mile Vibe likely was the most interesting car he could have picked and I would likely have picked the same assuming of course I couldn’t find anything even more interesting from a press fleet like a Nissan Murano Cross Cabriolet…

  16. It’s been a while since David messaged me on Facebook and allowed me the chance to spread the gospel of Vibe. Quite a time…. An update on my Vibe: now at 247k miles, supercharged for almost 100k now, turned twenty years old, and running better than ever!

    1. Username checks out. I personally enjoy seeing Pontiac Vibes because it gives me an opportunity to say “yeah, that’s a vibe” to whatever annoyed friend I’m with.

  17. That is really weird about the odometer. Some cars are just like that where any reasonable, unfamiliar person would declare it for a local use only, but when you know it, you know you can just count on it. My mk1 Legacy had over 270k miles of abuse on it when rust and mice took it from me while it was sitting way too long awaiting restoration. Looking back, I should have never taken it off the road, but before I did, I would have driven it across country (again) without hesitation, just oil change, check everything, and go. Any other car—new or at least newer and with far less miles—I’ve owned I would have more reservations about doing such a thing (also, all their seats suck in comparison), but I knew that car so well and it was so simple and so communicative, that anything that ever went bad gave plenty of warning and it could be fixed with few tools and easy to find parts (at least at the time).

  18. My wife puts up with me always wanting to drive an old car. They’re clean and mostly reliable but we occasionally get stranded. Last night I took her out for her birthday dinner in a Corvair. I think she had a good time.

    1. Good stuff. I have a 62 Corvette in my collection but it’s been in storage for quite a while now. Otherwise my oldest cars are a trio of 2004’s. I’m not brave enough to go any older, and anything newer than ~2008 gets too fancy and annoying to me. My wife’s 2016 Outback drives me nuts with all the warnings and chimes and stupid key fob / push button start. The 06 Vibe is pretty much as new as I plan to ever own.

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