While parts-hunting at a junkyard in Wisconsin, Paul Baumgart stumbled upon a blue Vibe sitting at the bottom of a heap of junkers. He opened the hatchback’s door to take a look, only to find a love note from the previous owner in the center console. The note was about the car.
Back in 2018 I wrote the article We Are All Underestimating The Pontiac Vibe. It was a piece about how this little unassuming hatchback is secretly one of the best cars anyone can buy per dollar in the U.S. Here’s a quote from that story, in which I talked with friend, Autopian ambassador, and prolific Pontiac Vibe owner Nick Hernandez:
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.
“It’s relatively unknown for how good it is, and how happy the owners are. Especially the GT model, being 2ZZ and 6-speed manual only,” the Vibe enthusiast explained.
And looking online, he appears to be absolutely right. No matter where I look, I continue to find positive owner reviews for the Vibe. I see 4.6 stars for the 2006 model on Edmunds. I see 4.5 stars on Cars.com. On Kelly Blue Book, I see 9.1 out of 10.
Furthermore, JD power’s predicted reliability rating for the 2009 second-gen Vibe—which sits on the same platform as the first, but receives new powertrains and sheetmetal—is five out of five stars, and USNEWS’ reliability for first-gen 2007 models (a rating based on JD Power numbers) is four-stars.
The Vibe’s reputation comes, in part, from the fact that it was essentially a rebadged Toyota Matrix, and built in a plant co-developed by Toyota called New United Motor Manufacturing, NUMMI. Tesla currently own this Fremont, California plant and uses it to build Model 3s and Ys.
Somehow my article about the Pontiac Vibe blew up the internet, garnering over 200,000 views and 200 comments. Everyone seemed to have a story. Here’s one from the comments:
When my sister was looking for a new car before she moved halfway across the country, I told her to try to find a Vibe at a decent price and she ended up getting one. Vastly underrated for what it is and most people have no idea it’s just a rebadged Toyota Matrix, so you can usually find them for pretty cheap because anyone who isn’t familiar with it will just think it’s another ho hum GM Malaise 2.0 car from the early/mid 2000’s.
And another:
As an owner of a Matrix XRS (the 180hp six speed variant), I must say that I believe I do know how good it is. It’s our second (the first was a base Vibe, which unfortunately my wife totaled).
To give an idea of just what kind of tank your dealing with:
– I have run almost 30000 miles without changing the oil (oops!) with no ill effect. This on a 2003 I bought with almost 90000 miles
– I have hauled, fully inside the car: a washer, a dryer (not at the same time), a Christmas tree, three children and my wife.
– I have driven through multiple blizzards with the snow tires. Like a boss.
The five speed is a bit anemic, but the six speed with the 180 hp and 8000 rpm redline definitely make it much more fun.
It’s with this context in mind that I found myself unsurprised to find on Facebook Paul Baumgart’s post about a former Vibe owner leaving a love note in their car before sending it to the great junkyard in the sky:
“First time finding a note from the owner who scrapped their car, in a 2007 Vibe. Left it in the console,” writes Baumgart, the clerk/treasurer for a local Wisconsin village. “She called the wave blue Vibe ”bleu cheese’. I grabbed the leather seats.”
Baumgart posted a photo of the note, which reads:
This is my car. Her name is Bleu Cheese. She’s my first ever vehicle I had on my own; purchased with limited funds from my college student budget freshman year. I saw her to over 300,000+ miles, even though the odometer is broken. Bleu Cheese sustained 300+ mile one way trips across state to see my long-distance partner. We are getting married next year. She’s often been called my “garbage car” always affectionately, because I never really could get…
…myself organized and she took the brunt of it. She’s heard many late nights heart-to-hearts with friends, good and bad cry sessions, and countless memories. I will miss her and the sun rays shining through the sun roof, driving with the windows down. Always brought the good vibes – pun intended. Hopefully parts of her live on in other people’s road trips.
‘It’s a vibe.’
Indeed. I love that the Pontiac Vibe, a grand experiment between GM and Toyota, is getting the love it deserves. Even as it sits at the bottom of a junk pile, awaiting its date with the crusher.
GM has/had joint ventures with all the greats. Toyota. Honda. Isuzu. They saw how to do it right. They had the books. They had the keys to the kingdom. But. still make garbage. >? Why. Because they dont want to do a good job. They want you to buy the wiz bang nice looker. Then promptly sell after 3 years
Jeeeez I’m getting weepy over here
One of the great ones for regular car people.
I remember my co-worker was considering buying a new Matrix circa 2006, and asked if I knew anything about them. I said they were getting good reviews in the press, and owners seemed to love them. I also said she might find a better deal over at Pontiac, but she ignored that part, lol.
Finally, I advised her to save money and get the base engine over the XRS.* She took my advice and got a well-equipped model with the base engine & manual transmission. She LOVED that car. 10 years later it was rear-ended while parked, and written off. She was genuinely sad, because she didn’t feel like any then-current cars brought the same level of value.
*Yeah it had a 6-speed, but the torque in that XRS engine was about the same as the base engine. Do you really want to wring your car to 7K RPM all the time just to hit the same performance as the base car? There’s no point if you’re buying it as a commuter car.
Ahh yes one of the greatest GM cars ever made – a Toyota.
This should be COTD
Also known as a “Reverse Prologue” at Honda
I don’t drive it very often anymore and I recently had one of the front calipers lock up on my ’04 Vibe GT. I did a 4-wheel pads/rotors/calipers brake job for like $300, because Corolla parts are the only thing immune to inflation.
That someone took the used caliper off that quarter million mile junker says the struggle is REAL.
I’m surprised at the apparent lack of rust on an old, junked Wisconsin beater car. Sure there’s some on the rear hatch but it’d normally be covered by the licence plate so I think a bit of rustoleum would be enough to get by. Maybe it’s a different story underneath?
The interior doesn’t look too bad either. Shame it was sent to the crusher.
If it was just a little closer I would go grab the (hopefully heated) leather seats for my GT. Those are not common.
The guy who posted the letter took the leather seats. But that one is not a GT.
-5 to reading comprehension for me
From my experience of 2 friends and 2 family members owning them, in southeast Michigan nonetheless, they just don’t really rust, at least not anywhere near as much as you’d expect them to.
I had a 2004 Matrix that I absolutely loved. It was incredibly versatile and good at everything, and it was very reliable… right up until I unwittingly killed it with neglect.
It was a tough time for us and we were basically broke with not a penny to spare, and the Matrix was giving emissions warnings, which I foolishly choose to ignore until I had the money for a mechanic.
Apparently those warnings were because the catalytic converter was breaking down and clogging up, and eventually that excess back pressure in the exhaust system seized up the engine.
Obviously in retrospect I should’ve just stopped driving it if I couldn’t afford to repair it, and taken busses as needed, but I didn’t realize that at the time. I’ll forever feel heartbroken and guilty about killing that poor car.
As a salvage car buyer in the Southeast, all I ever find in most of the vehicles I buy are dirty (and clean), boxes of band-aids and “insulin” needles… this is kinda sweet.
Loved my 2008 Toyota Matrix. Too bad a school bus loved it too, rear-ending it at 50mph and making it 3′ shorter.
I’ve never found a “love note” in the junkyard. I HAVE found enough info to steal a few identities, though! Utility bills, license renewals, court orders!
I can best that. Actually my son can. He bought a Honda from his roommate. He found a Visa card, a US passport and a SS card. Laughingly, he also found the girlfriend’s ‘monthly’ medication…apparently sporadically taken(!).
Ah yes, the Vibe. A Toyota without the Toyota badge nor iconically great Toyota dealer service. Reminds me of the 85-88 Chevy Nova; everyone who bought one quickly learned to take it to Toyota for service … but had to park it in the street.
I remember when the Fremont plant first started shipping cars. I worked at a GM dealership in Southern Illinois and one of my jobs was checking in new cars as they came off the transport trucks. Most of our cars came on old worn out trucks from the rail head. One day one of my regular drivers pulled in with a brand new truck and I asked him how in the world he rated a brand new truck. He told me that the company had bought a fleet of them to haul those new toilets they were building out in California. I looked at him kind of funny and he said they were a combination of Chevrolets and Toyotas, you know, Toilets!!
I had never heard them called that! Another great automotive portmanteau. I rode to lunch with a customer and I remember thinking this isn’t a bad car. I knew its backstory. But I didn’t know that the bigger engine had an 8,000 rpm redline. I was skeptical, but found proof online:
The Engine Toyota Built That Nobody Talks About Anymore
I was hoping there would be mention of when the car was scrapped. Curious how long it sat there with that note.
The year I graduated high school, one of my friends got a Matrix for his first car, had something like 90k miles on it. That was in 2011. We’re still friends, and he still has the Matrix.
You were right about the Vibe/Matrix being underappreciated. The regular trims are nice enough (I guess), but the GT/XRS engine really
OBIT:
I recently junked my 2003 Matrix XRS with 244K miles. Was hoping to get it to 299,999 miles, which is the max the odometer will show, due to a quirk.
Engine blew and was going to cost bonkers.
The heater core also leaked, so that was another $2K I wasn’t going to fix. Doing it myself was a 150-step process each way, and it involved something with the air bag, and I was NOT going to go near that. Had the coolant rerouted, which meant no heat inside, but also it took a lot longer to defrost on the few days I needed it.
It was also rusting a bit, needed a wrap as the paint was flaking off (cosmetic). Recently the front bumper was hit by a neighbor (cosmetic).
Oh, the safety belt “button” that holds the clasp halfway up on the belt broke off, so I’d often have to reach way down to grab the clasp (a small inconvenience).
I wore down the floor mats. Couldn’t find replacements that didn’t involve buying all four (the others were fine), and they wouldn’t be perfect fits. I would put auto shop paper mats underneath, so I wouldn’t wear out the original carpet flooring.
Also leaked oil when driving it and a little more after I parked it. Would lose a few quarts per year, which is about how often I changed the oil recently.
Loved being able to haul long items (box of 8ft fluorescent tubes) big items (6ft tall wine refrigerator, a boxed Weber grille from Costco)
Loved taking it to 100mph on a lonely stretch. Surprisingly stable!
Loved taking it up and down Grimes Canyon nearby slightly faster than I should (hey, the posted speed is 45!).
Loved taking it to the solar eclipse, inflating a mattress and sleeping overnight in it at a camp.
My (wife’s, actually) new car is 8 inches longer, so long things, large things, and sleeping overnight on an inflatable mattress won’t be a problem. So big, though. And the full 8 inches outside don’t translate to similar space inside. Most if it is in the front, I think. I should put an 8ft box inside see if it fits. As soon as my wife comes home.
I’d buy another 2003-2006 XRS (only the XRS), manual (only the manual), with around 100K miles, for funzies and hauling stuff.
I’m sorry for your loss. Seriously.
Thank you. It was a good run.
Kept this in favorites: a year-long test.
https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/2003-toyota-matrix-xrs-2
David you still go to junkyards over there or just open eBay boxes at your doorstep these days?
What are you wrenching on right now? Would love to hear about it. Postal jeep/moab was great. If any car should have got a letter from you it should have been the postal jeep.
Hope to see some wrenching stuff
He’s restoring a rusty old jeep pedal car right now for Delmar, which is the David Tracyest thing I could possibly think of.
I remember my sister getting a Vibe shortly after breaking up with a guy who turned out to be a very bad boyfriend (part of the car thing was getting her credit back up to snuff). She loved it and it took a little of the sting out of the situation with the nasty ex.
That’s cool, and that Volta Records sticker tells me that owner was cool too. I have a Volta Records coaster on my desk right beside me!
And appropriate, because the Vibe was sold in Japan (with the Pontiac styling) as the Toyota Voltz.
A friend has over 300k on her Vibe. Base auto, drives 80 miles round trip daily. Same stuff, only time it failed was coils, no visible corrosion. She’ll run it to the end of time!
Long may our Vibe reign!
(2009, dark blue, basest base model ever, with manual)