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Trying to decide between a '03 pontiac vibe with 240k miles or mitsubishi eclipse with 114k miles.The plus side for the vibe is it would be easier transporting my two dogs.Any advise out there on whether I should be concerned about the milage?As far as price goes the vibe is $500.00 cheaper and they are the same year.According to edmunds the vibe is also a little better on gas. Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
All I can say for the Vibe is that we own two of them. They are a Toyota Matrix clone, and the first generation has the same drivetrain as a Corolla. I know of people on the genvibe.com website that have many more miles on their cars than the one you are looking at. If it was well maintained, it should be a decent vehicle. It does have quite a few more miles than the Eclipse, but how is the reliability of the Mitsubishi? I don't have any experience with Mitsubishis, but maybe someone else can comment. Certainly have whatever car you are leaning towards checked out by a mechanic to see if it has any problems.
As for gas mileage, my son gets 27-28 in the city and can get up to 35 on the highway with his 06 Vibe. It really is a versatile little car and that is why I bought a second one as my daily driver.
What year is the eclipse? Honestly I would pass on both, that Pontiac(and yes i know its a Toyota under the skin) is very close to the end of its usefull milage. I am not a fan of the 3G eclipse
What year is the eclipse? Honestly I would pass on both, that Pontiac(and yes i know its a Toyota under the skin) is very close to the end of its usefull milage. I am not a fan of the 3G eclipse
I agree. Why on God's green earth would you consider either one?
Isn't that the first model year of the vibe/matrix?
Yes, it is. The only real common problems they had was with the manual transmission that has self destructing bearings and also a problem with the door window glass shattering that was a recall. The later models (05-07) had the PCM recall, which actually failed on my son's car before the recall was issued. I wouldn't pay more than say $2,000-2,500 or so for a car with that mileage, if it is in good mechanical condition. If that is all the OP can spend, there are probably other cars available, but may cost more. FWIW I just read about a Vibe with over 436K miles on it, still running great and all original engine/transmission. But the owner took extremely good care of it.
I have 2 smallish 20 lb dogs and I can transport them easily in my Eclipse. One hangs out with her front feet on my center console and the other sticks his head out the windows from the backseat. They both seem to like it but if I had bigger dogs I wouldn't be happy with the car. The backseat is really small and because they are bucket seats it can be hard for a larger dog to keep their footing. The one that keeps her feet on the console stands on the carpeted portion between the two backseats but the other one is always slipping around. If it has cloth seats it would be easier to drive bigger dogs around but there is still the issue of space back there.
We had 3 Eclipses. Non turboed. They are not really sports cars, but are cool for kids. They BELIEVE they drive a sports car.
Anyhow. Very reliable, but take oil. 94 model we had went well into 260 000 miles before she died on us, and we still sold her for $1600.
Vibe is a boring car, but practical. like any other hatch. It's a Toyota, afterall. I'd rather buy Celica. Cool cars. Or MR-2.
Regardless of who builds it, a car with 200k+ on it is one of two things: a beater, or a money pit. At that age, even if the drivetrain is still good, everything else is wearing out. A friend of a friend bought a late 90's Accord with 270K on it and white it still runs well, it has so many other problems that I don't even want to ride in it. Windows don't work, oil leaks, AC doesn't work, dash lights go on and off, the whole suspension is trashed; it's an endless list of things that should be fixed (money pit) or make the car unpleasant (money pit). A buddy with an older Volvo responded to this by saying "well I've only had to replace the clutch alternator all the fluid pumps a dozen modules half the switches and lights in the interior most of the suspension etc etc etc". Yes, the car is in good shape, but at what cost? He could have replaced the car for what he has spent on it, but he doesn't see the cumulative expense.
I've yet to be in a car that age that doesn't fit one of those two definitions. People think their high mileage cars are great, but without exception they all have many issues or expenses the owner just doesn't see any more, in my experience.
i agree. Why on god's green earth would you consider either one?
+1
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