The 2009 Pontiac Vibe is a joint venture between General Motors and the Japanese car manufacturer Toyota. As such, it’s based on Toyota’s compact Corolla platform, a basic design used to great effect in the Toyota Matrix that uses a Toyota build engine.

It’s a Matrix in disguise, then? Not exactly, as it turns out though the Vibe is well dressed. The Vibes designers opted for some long and well defined lines to mark this car apart from competing products, including the Matrix. There’s also plenty of interior room, and a well laid out seating arrangement creates the optimum leg room for any passengers.

The base 1.8 model sports a 1.8-liter engine creating 132-hp. Base 2.4, AWD and GT models all use a 158-hp 2.4-liter 4-cylinder. 5-speed manual transmission is standard on the GT, and a 4-speed automatic is optional on the base 1.8 and standard on AWD versions.

Available safety features include ABS, antiskid system, traction control, curtain side airbags, and front side airbags as standard. OnStar assistance is standard with one year subscription to the service included.

The 2009 Pontiac Vibe is an unremarkable creature in almost every aspect, but this very fact makes it almost perfect for its target market. Consistently high safety ratings and a reliability rarely seen nowadays mean that you won’t get any nasty surprises driving it, but don’t expect any nice surprises either.