I am looking into buying a toyota matrix next year and I am wondering does anyone have any first hand experience with them? What are things to look out for etc also I have been reading and I thought the matrix with the xr and the xrs badge were awd is this not true?

 

Husband has one. 2009 Matrix XRS with 2.4 and 5 speed auto. Overall, a decent car. Been reliable. Has 101k in US miles.

You will find that it's not as refined as other Toyotas like Corolla or Camry. Its got excellent space inside, front passenger seat folds down. Optitron speed gauges.

Reliable it is, however, the 2.4 is not very good on gas. Combination of small tank and 2.4 makes filling up a frequent thing.

Performace wise, excellent acceleration. Kinda sporty.

Problems. One warranty repair was done for a bearing or hub. Can't remember exactly. One out of warranty repair was for rear hatch struts that failed.

Ongoing concern.Our Matrix does have an oil consumption issue.

Would i I get it again? Not really sure.

Do I feel it will last for a long time? Yes

 

Awsome thank you very much exactly what i was looking for is it comfortable to drive? I have an ls430 and my wife drives that but her concern is it's a very big car and difficult to maneuver in tight spots. I want to buy her something very reliable that will not leave her stranded and awd. Is the car good in snow?

 

We have snow tires. No awd. We have two 4WD vehicles. One of them we try not to drive much. Not much because it costs so much in gas.

Overall it is ok for comfort. Like I said, it is on the sport side. Ride is almost as firm or firmer as my 4Runner. Handling is good, and you feel everything. Very easy to move around and drive.

 

Does this mean the Jeep Cherokee has gone to some great big Jeep heaven filled with logs, snow and streams to splash around in?

 

I liked the 1st gen Matrix, good looking car, good shifting manual, and you could get it with the rev to the moon, 8000rpm redline Celica motor with 180hp. Handling/steering feel was great as well IMO, it felt light/tossible.

The 2nd gen car, I feel like Toyota cheaped out and made it worse. The interior isn't as well made, plastics look cheaper, doesn't have as tight of a feel to it. The styling looks worse, its like they took all the creases out of it, it looks like a 1st gen that sat out in the sun too long and melted. They also dropped the fun, revvy hot motor. Top models now had a rather dull Camry engine with 20 less hp. It just feels like Toyota engineered all the style, fun, and to some extent the quality out of this model. Same thing happened when they went from the 9th gen Corolla to the 10th gen Corolla back in the 2000's, Toyota managed to produce a new car that was worse than the one that preceeded it.

 

A co-worker of mine had a FWD version for over 10 years (I helped him shop for it and buy it) with no major problems. He just recently replaced it with a Subaru Crosstrek for better winter traction. The Matrix (also sold as the Pontiac Vibe, if you can find any on the used-car lots) was Corolla-based, so its reliability was generally above average. As with any used vehicle, though, check it out as carefully as you can....timing-belt changes are especially important.

The XRS badge meant that it had the 180 HP 1.8L DOHC in-line four with the VVT-i variable valve timing....similiar to Honda VVT-i engines of the period. It was extremely high-revving, with little torque at low RPM, and most of its power just short of red-line on the tech. I do not recommend that engine for everyday driving....especially as used samples may have been driven hard. Stick to lower-powered versions.

 

No I am just selling it soon as winters over up here in the upstate NY I have it so much, I absolutely hate this stupid jeep it has a 5 inch lift in it I am 5'4 And I have to get a running start to get in it and my wife is 5'2 and she has a hard time getting into it as well.

 

Awesome thank you so much for the info also does that mean you can get a base model with awd then?

 

Thank you for the info I will try to get a first gen but my main goal in to have awd.

 

We had an 09 Vibe AWD that I bought for our son to go to college with

Bulletproof car

Nice driving position, comfortable, roomy and flexible for carrying stuff

The weakest point is the brakes but realistically, this was not meant to be a performance car

Resale was also strong when I sold it

 

My buddy used to have one and he liked it. He was a Toyota fan, and his wife had a Sequoia. Pretty sure it was a 6 speed manual (it was manual). But he graduated to a BMW 550i.

A vendor of ours told me he has two Pontiacs and one Matrix, and they are the same car? He swears by them. The one I saw him in had over 300k and was a salvage title...

 

Yes, same exact car. Who knew GM could put their Pontiac logo on something reliable

 

We had a Pontiac Vibe FWD and it was a good car, problem free during the time we owned it. It was great for local driving, running errands and extra hauling capacity and handled pretty good. The negatives were that it had a noisy harsh ride (Goodyear Eagle tires) and didn't have much power for merging, expressway driving etc. We didn't use it much for road trips but it served us well for around 5+ years.

 

GM has done several re-badges or offshoots of reliable Japanese products. Yes, there's the Pontiac Vibe (Toyota Matrix). But you also had the late 1980s Chevy Nova (Toyota Corolla), Chevy/Geo Prizm (Toyota Corolla), Geo Storm (Isuzu Impulse), Chevy/Geo Tracker (Suzuki Sidekick), ChevroletGeo Sprint/Metro (Suzuki Sprint/Cultus). Then, of course (as we have discussed a number of times)...several Buick re-badges/offshoots of reliable German Opel designs.

And, conversely, don't forget the shoe once being on the other foot.....Toyota selling the (awful) Chevy Cavalier under its own Toyota nameplate in the home Japanese market.