My wife held out as long as she could, but had finally had her fill of cramming two child seats in the back of her beloved but tiny Corolla coupe. We struggled under the payment on our loaded minivan, but she insisted on a brand new car. That limited our options plenty, yet when she learned that three child seats fit across the new Toyota Matrix’s back seat, she went right out and bought one.
The Matrix is a tall wagon built on the Corolla platform. I’ve always thought it was the spiritual descendant of the tall Tercel wagon from the ’80s. She bought the base model, which could be had for an almost entry-level price but still came with some nice features–air conditioning, a CD stereo, automatic headlights and an outside thermometer on the dashboard. You’d think it would have been cost effective for Toyota to throw in the power windows and locks that came standard on the up-level XR and XRS, but no luck.
The base Matrix’s 130 HP, 1.8 -liter 1ZZ engine was tuned for economy, yielding 30 mpg in town and 35 mpg on the highway. That economy came at the cost of acceleration: It took a little patience to bring the Matrix up to highway speed, but once there it cruised happily.
My wife would own only manually-shifted automobiles. You’d think that would have made my love strong enough to overcome any of marriage’s challenges. Alas. After our lawyers worked out who got what, I ended up with her car. While I wasn’t thrilled to be driving around in a car that reminded me of her, the Matrix turned out to be incredibly practical as I moved three times in three years before settling into my final post-divorce home.
The Matrix’s wayback held a prodigious amount of stuff. In those transient years I moved all manner of furniture in it–most notably, a six-foot-long dining table and six chairs in one trip. My recliner threatened not to fit, but I maneuvered it 98% of the way in and tied down the hatch. I even moved a fully assembled gas grill in it.
Four things make the first-generation Matrix a great hauler. First, the hatch opens tall and the opening is wide. (The glass portion of the hatch also opens, which is surprisingly useful.) Second, the load floor is level with the bottom of the hatch opening, thus eliminating lift-over. Third, the back seats fold perfectly flat. The front passenger seat also folds forward flat; I’ve moved long pieces of lumber and pipe, laid front corner to back corner, in my Matrix. Finally, this wagon’s extreme height creates gobs of space. From my driver’s-seat perch, the headliner is a whopping nine inches above my head, and I’m six feet tall.
My manually-shifted Matrix was not all skittles and beer, however. The clutch was balky in first gear. Even after I learned the clutch’s nuances, I still stalled it a few times a year. And then, at 80,000 miles, the transmission failed outright. The Matrix forums are full of stories of this five-speed tranny failing just as mine did. With demand being greater than supply, the new transmission set me back north of $3,000.
When the Matrix was new, reviews routinely panned the driving position, calling it awkward. Maybe it’s because I’m tall and angular, but I thought the Matrix was plenty comfortable. I often drove it all day without fatigue. I just tried to avoid driving into the sun as it rose or set, because the tall roof and correspondingly tall windshield made the normal-size sun visors useless. While I’m complaining, I might as well add that I found the all-red dash lights to be annoyingly bright at night. I kept them turned down low. They were set deep into round recesses of varying sizes, and were visible only when the car was on, which was a cool touch for an economy car.
Despite the limp acceleration and squint-o-matic morning and evening driving, the Matrix really grew on me. It was a great family hauler. I could fit my two large dogs, my two growing sons and a weekend’s worth of luggage into the Matrix, all without anyone’s personal space being invaded. We took plenty of trips together in our little red car.
I like to hit the road just for the heck of it, too. On a weekend road trip with a friend, as we crossed over from Indiana into Illinois on US 40 we noticed an abandoned brick road paralleling the modern highway. It was US 40’s older alignment, and we saw bits and pieces of it for 60 miles. We stopped just west of the state line for a look. As I tried to turn my car around on a narrow access road, I backed it off the edge, lifting the front wheels just enough so that they could get no traction. We got out, and there behind us was the old brick road with grass growing through it.
A woman who lived nearby came out to help, as did a passing motorist. We ended up lifting the front end of the car and pushing it right down the hill onto the old brick road. I backed my car up to get a good running start and then made a break for it up the hill. The bottom of my car scraped as it went over, but no fluids or parts trailed behind me so I figured all was well. I was probably the first person in at least 50 years to drive on those bricks!
I also took my sons on a spring break trip to Washington, DC in the Matrix. We took the long way home, driving along the old National Road, much of which became US 40. It was great to see the countryside out east; we especially enjoyed Maryland. My Matrix struggled through western Maryland, where it gets hilly. Going up Polish Mountain, I could coax no more than 45 mph from it, the engine whining all the way.
My Matrix met its end on that trip. I’d always wanted to drive over the suspension bridge in Wheeling and was excited finally to get my chance. We came off the bridge on Wheeling Island and then crossed a smaller bridge over the Ohio River’s back channel into Bridgeport, Ohio. And then, I ran a red light I didn’t see–and socko!
Remarkably, none of us was injured. My youngest son seemed not to know what had happened and was puzzled that I was checking on him until he tried to open his door, which was stuck shut from the impact. We got out and walked around the debris from the other car, including its entire front bumper, and then sat on the curb as an ambulance and a fire truck came screaming to the scene.
I learned that if you have to have an accident five hours from home, you (obviously) want to walk away from it–but you also want it to total your car, so you don’t have to deal with having it towed home or fixed in a distant town. My insurance company cut me a check and I went car shopping. I ended up with another Matrix, this time the top-of-the-line XRS with a more powerful engine. I’ll tell its story next.
So what was the penalty for running the red light besides a broken car and pride?.
Buddy in North Vancouver is selling his Pontiac Vibe due to high miles…100000kms.. Looking at buying a Chevy Trax ,thats the Buick Encore to you. I wish him luck. ill it be as trouble free as the Vibe?.
A $200 ticket. Bridgeport is such a small town that when I called to see if they received my check, the mayor answered the phone. Your buddy’s Vibe at 100k km is just beginning to stretch its legs!
Lucky man. Here in the UK it would have been fine + lost licence for “driving with out due care “.
Vibe worth $5500can trade in, but with GM car loans at 1.99% north of your border it only going to cost him $340us per month. Here its 5.9%. Rip off Britian!.
Gas is $9.20 per imp gallon!
We also have a Matrix…..almost mirror image of yours…except ours is a 2004 XR All Wheel drive job with auto tranny. Couldn’t be happier with this car. Up here in the northland (Manitoba) it motors thru the snow like a champ. Mind you there is a caveat here…we run true winter tires all way around, not those all season excuses for tires…and trust me they make a world of difference.
I’m 6’3″ and there is plenty of headroom. For all the reasons you mentioned above, this car is a keeper. We are at 225,000 kms and been trouble free since new, other than usual maintenance stuff.
Matter of fact we are looking for another Matrix ( all wheel drive of course) to replace our 09 Honda Fit..which is horrible in snow.
Most readers will also know that the Pontiac Vibe is basically the same car with different badging. I’ve looked at both….I still like the Toyota version better.
A very sweet car. Highly recommended.
Looking forward to your next Matrix write up.
I’ve always wondered if the AWD Matrix was worth it. Neither of my 2WD Matrixes have been worth a damn in the snow. The XRS was the worst car I’ve ever owned in the snow until I jettisoned the sports tires on it and put on all seasons, which robbed me in the handling dept. but made the car non-dangerous in the winter. I recently bought an ’06 Ford Focus and it is a REVELATION in the winter. That thing is planted on non-dry pavement better than a redwood.
I had the Pontiac Vibe version. It wasn’t speedy, comfortable or prestigious in any way, but damn…that thing could haul just about anything, and get over 30 mpg the entire time.
Luggage for two, and dogs for a week at my mother’s, 600 miles away? Show me a real challenge.
16 4x4s and four bags of Quikcrete? Bring it on.
Two eight-foot garage doors? No problem.
My partner at the time borrowed it to cater an event for 200, and managed to fit all of the serving paraphernalia AND the food itself in insulated containers. The plastic cargo area was roundly criticized by the motoring press when it was new, but it was perfect for hauling items that could be messy. My favorite times were pulling up to the loading area at Home Depot, and watching skeptical workers look on in amazement at the things I could fit into that vehicle.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure the second generation of this platform was as good as the original, sort of like the story of the Scion xB.
There are days I regret selling it, but alas, there’s no looking back.
Absolutely! And it was so easy to haul at any time – just pull the pins on the seat backs and lay them down. Done! Perfectly flat load surface — plastic and thus low friction, yes, but if you load it up nothing’s sliding around anyway!
I start a new job on Monday and yesterday I moved out of my old office. My Matrix XRS is in the garage right now filled with a bookcase and a bunch of boxes of files and books waiting for me to move it to my new office. The bookcase would have been a lot harder to get into my Focus hatch — same basic form factor, but the load floor is lower than the hatch bottom and isn’t flat when you fold the seats down. And because it’s not as tall, it doesn’t hold nearly as much.
Another great feature I’m now remembering is how the passenger seatback flips forward to extend the cargo area; I also used it a time or two as a desktop in my “mobile office.” Great for pulling off the road, plugging the laptop into the 110v receptacle and putting the finishing touches on something for my next meeting.
I solved the sliding cargo issue by going to Lowe’s and purchasing four running feet of anti-fatigue floor cushioning in the flooring department for less than $20. I swear the color was identical to that of my gray interior; cut it to fit the cargo area and it looked like it came that way from the factory.
The base Matrix didn’t come with the 110v outlet. My XRS has it, and it is awesome.
Both my ex-Volvo S70 and current V50 have the fold-down front passenger seat. Neat feature!
Your experiences with the Matrix mirror mine with my wifes 2005 Pontiac Vibe. She has the base manual trans model also and 3rd gear became toast at 40,000 miles. Our local GM dealer fixed it for no cost, but yeah the manual transmissions on those cars seem mighty frail for a tiny little 1.8ltr engine.
She tells the story of back in 2005 when she purchased it she had to order it because the dealer couldn’t find ANY manual trans models that were painted the metalic orange color she wanted. The salesman gave her lots of guff about “are you sure you want a manual trans, are you sure you want that color?”
Its a good solid piece of transportation but somedays it rubs me the wrong way that the Vibe was one of the best selling Pontiacs of all time (given that it was compact and really a TOYOTA!)
We had a ’99 Chevy Prizm, the last generation of Chevy- or Geo-branded Corolla twins to come from the GM-Toyota joint venture, the California NUMMI factory. No problems with the 5-speed in 11 years; sold it to a friend.
The Vibe was essentially the Prizm’s successor product at NUMMI, although I understand that the Matrix was made elsewhere while NUMMI concentrated on ordinary Corollas (and pickup trucks).
I am also a fan of small cars that can carry big loads, one of the reasons I bought a Honda Fit. Even I was surprised when I could fit boxed patio furniture consisting of a loveseat, two chairs and three coffee tables into the back, and closing the hatch to boot.
I have never had any firsthand experience with a Matrix, but always considered it a car I could be interested in.
What is it about modern manual transmissions? Your story bookends with a co-worker who owns a Volvo C-70 convertible which also had a failed 5 speed. And when they fail, why on earth do they cost more than a 4 speed automatic for a Chrysler minivan? I thought that manuals were supposed to be 1) simpler thus more durable and 2) simpler, thus less expensive.
And made in much smaller numbers, and when a whole batch of them goes bad as happened with the ’03-’04 Matrix, suddenly hard to come by. Your friends over at Matthews put my new trans in, apologizing for the high cost all the way. “If you had an ’89 Caprice, I’d find you a remanufactured unit for $500!” he said.
Sometimes I wonder if we aren’t reaping the “benefits” of many manufacturers seeming to have an attitude like the manual transmission is going the way of the dodo bird. With the exception of true sports cars which are either rear wheel drive or have 6 speed manuals (in FWD form) manuals are overwhelmingly fitted to base model cars.
Manufacturers COULD make them more durable but the CHOOSE not to thinking that the extra money spend is not worth it given the miniscule nature of the market. They’d rather devote resources to the next dual clutch manumatic thingy.
The only noteable non-sports/muscle car I can think of that allows for manual trans in any trim level is the Ford Focus.
Remember the 80s when manual transmissions were easier to come by because of fuel economy? But that seems to be less the case today as modern automatics and computer controls deliver economy that matches or bests what you can get from a manual. And let’s face it, we ‘Mericans generally hate shifting. (CC readership notably excepted, I’m sure.)
Dan, I see guys on car webboards screaming about manual transmissions all the time. Problem is they don’t ACTUALLY CHOOSE TO GO OUT AND BUY ONE.
Really, if gearheads want manual transmissions, the car companies will supply them it there is PROFIT IN IT. They are going to devote their engineering budget to what will sell and make money. At the moment, I’d wager every manual is a money loser, so there is no incentive.
From the point of view of dealers, ordering in a manual is a sure fire recipe for having said manual car sitting on the back fence for half a year, only to be firesaled at the end of the year.
For a buyer, it means a heck of a struggle at resale time, as I had when I sold my manual Fit.
Because manuals make up like 1% of the sales of a car like a Corolla/Matrix, the unit costs are actually higher.
Finally, modern automatics are so good manuals are hardly with the hassle. With a good manumatic, you get all the advantages of a manual with the convenience of an automatic, with no loss in fuel economy.
All of my future cars will be automatic, provided I can select whatever gear I want when I want it.
I think I was making some of the same points Canucknucklehead… Besides it wouldn’t mater if enthusiasts voted with their dollars or not. Enthusiasts are a tiny % of the market regardless.
This Matrix was manually shifted because my wife ordered the car brand new and checked that box. That’s really what it takes these days.
Even around 1993 when my sister bought a new Jeep Cherokee, she had to go several counties away to find one. She said at the time that for every 100 Cherokees in dealer inventories, there MIGHT be 2 stick shifts. 20 years later, I suspect that the ratio has gotten even more lopsided.
My brother had to get his manually shifted 2008 Civic coupe from a few states away for the same reason. A Civic! What is the world coming to? (smh)
I enjoy a manual (both our Subarus are 5-speeds) because of my ability not only to choose any gear at any time, but to COAST whenever I want to – which is frequently, perhaps because I spent years as an urban bike rider/student/commuter. No automatic I’ve ever heard of can provide that.
Then you haven’t driven one produced in the last 15 years.
On my Acura, when coasting up to a light, the torque converter clutch disengages at 30 km/h.
Manumatic? Do you mean the old Armstrong Siddeley system with electric clutch or the modern fake tiptronic mightmares. My cars are both manual I cant see any point in a slush and my Citroen was not available in automatic not with a turbo. My Hillman OTOH was the first small engined car available with an automatic that did not rob power from the engine( Smiths easidrive trans) no thanks Ill just have the 4speed.
Bryce, I mean like the dual clutch units (Ford Powershift, whatever VW calls its unit, etc…)
Depends on the model.My 2102 Mercedes A160cdi 5sp manual does 63mpg and cost £20 per year Road Tax. The automatic losses 10mpg and costs £15 in tax due to more emissions.
How much is the tax for using roads in your state. In the Uk its £0-1000!
I just ordered a 2013 TDI Beetle convertible with the 6-speed manual. There was *one* like that in Wisconsin which would have cost $1000 to have transfered to the Dealer. No thanks, I’ll wait…
I figure in 10-12 years when I’m ready for a replacement, a manual won’t even be an option for the kind of car I’ll want by then…
The people down the street bought one of these for their daughter, same color and wheels, I swear that car has had every single body panel replaced at one point or another with the possible exception of the roof. I think she recently wiped out the right side, again.
Thanks for writing up a great little car, Jim. We have an early one, too, fortunately with an automatic. And yes, the dash lighting, seating position, and wheel covers are things I would have changed, but that car overall really works well for us. I’d buy another in a heartbeat.
Better get a Matrix while you can, didn’t Toyota just announce that they’re discontinuing it?
the new models seem to have chopped the cargo area and removed the 3rd window = dislike
This car reminds me of the red 2002 Saturn Vue that I bought new and with a stick. The car would hit 30mpg on the highway and 25plus in town. The problem was that it kept breaking. Clutch, transmission, and virtually at least one of every computer that they fit in the stupid thing. Finally, timing chain at 180k+ miles was more than I was willing to deal with. One of my grandsons is driving around in one of these and is real happy with it. I really like this type vehicle. Put it with a trailer and you have better versatility than a truck or a car any day.
The Matrix (AWD) is the car I should have bought instead of the Corolla back in December ’05. I really wanted one of these but it was a little too steep at the time. I settled for the Corolla. My wife drove a RAV, so we could have had a RAV and a mini-RAV. Woulda, coulda, shoulda…
You could work for Toyota’s marketing team. Or be their brochure writer.
I did like this car, and it shows.
I had an 03 Matrix XR 5 speed (the auto was quite gutless) for 5 years that I luckily traded in before the trans went . I really wanted a Celica , but was too cramped inside those . Didn’t care for the seating position (desperately needed a telescopic steering wheel) , dash lights always shining on the windshield , the shoddy hood paint which chipped far too easily , or the buzzy engine . Averaged about 32 mpg only hitting the upper 30s on long highway trips . Not a bad car overall , but at only 10 years old it seems too early to call it a classic .I got one of the first ones in Feb02 and people thought it looked like some futuristic spaceship – now it’s a classic ? Far too soon IMO .
Well, I’m not writing about this car as a classic; I’m writing about it in a series about cars I’ve owned in my lifetime. If I saw one of these by the curb I certainly wouldn’t photograph it and write it up as a full-fledged Curbside Classic.
Yes; to clarify, COAL posts can be anything, including a late-model car. And don’t forget CC’s motto: Every car has a story.
Good read. It certainly reminds me of my Tercel wagon of the bygone 80s, although I, unfortunately, didn’t notice it was an auto until I got to Salem. Damnit!
That generation Matrix – with a stick, preferably in red like yours – is the only Toyota I’d remotely consider owning.
The Wheeling Suspension Bridge, a two-lane metal grate roadway built in 1849, is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the USA.
I used to walk across it every day during the 3 1/2 years I worked in downtown Wheeling at WWVA-AM/WOVK-FM, then located in the Capitol Music Hall. I’d park on Wheeling Island near the bridge and walk across. That metal grate sure got slippery in the rain!
Living north of Wheeling between Weirton, WV and Burgettstown, PA…I could choose WV Route 2 or Ohio Route 7 to get to work. When I took the Ohio route…which was the majority of the time, I came thru that very intersection when your accident took place…and indeed, even for someone who drove it daily, it’s confusing. There are two red lights in immediate succession – one on either side of the Route 7 underpass.
Up past the Sunoco in the left corner of the left photo was a car lot that for years sold some antiques/classics alongside regular pre-owned fare.
I still have some good friends in Bridgeport.
We walked out onto the suspension bridge when we visited it. That was very cool. I kind of wish now we had walked all the way across and driven over the I-70 bridge instead. Ah, hindsight. You do make me feel better by saying that the intersection with OH 7 is confusing.
I visited Bridgeport again in 2011 when I finally explored the National Road across Ohio. I got to see the old abandoned blue iron bridge one last time before it was demolished. Boy, that bridge had become a basket case. No saving it.
PS. I did some time in radio as well, as a disk jockey for some stations in Terre Haute, IN — also on US 40.
I never owned one, but tried several and quite liked these cars. Despite being (unconvincingly) marketed to Gen-Y buyers, the strong point of these was that they were essentially Corolla wagons: simple, honest, versatile, economical.
Two things always bothered me, though:
1) the driving position you mention–it was like the elevated version of the long-arms, short-legs silliness that old Italian cars made you put up with.
2) the plastic ‘hose-it-out’ cargo floor. Anything not wet and sloppy would just slide and crash around back there.
I could also carp about the mismatched hair-trigger 2ZZ engine and don’t-rush-me 6-speed, but I’ll save that for your XRS post!
Hair trigger engine is right. But mine had the 3-speed-with-overdrive automatic.
Kind of a sad memory for me with this car….in 2004 my remaining Grandmother had died, and I flew into Philadelphia and got one of these as a rental car. My mother had flown in the day before, she didn’t have a rental car, but my youngest sister, who flew in from Atlanta did. My sister kept teasing me about the agency renting me the right car, namely a “hatchback” (though I guess you could quibble and say this is more of a wagon than a hatchback, my sister knew my preference for car body styles). I can’t recall what car she rented, which is odd, I usually have a really good memory for cars in specific situations in my life.
Since I knew the roads in the area better than my mother or sister (I never lived in the area, but we visited so often through the years I learned the layout from my father) I did most of the driving.
I remember going out to eat in a diner and somehow we were talking about cancer..my sister said something like “…if you ever get cancer, I’m going to take over your care….” or something to that effect to my mother. Little did we know it, but at that time my sister herself was suffering with undiagnosed ovarian cancer…within 4 more years, she was gone herself, at age 37.
That’s probably why when I think about this car, I think of my sister….kind of wish it was 2004 again likely because of the sad intervening events.
LOL I also moved a fully assembled gas grill in the trunk of my Grand Prix… the sign said “FREE,” I was only 7 miles away from home… I just couldn’t pass it up. So I stuck it in my trunk and drove down the road with the trunk open. Who needs a hatchback, anyway!!
Intriguing – a Japanese car that I don’t think I’ve seen here as a used import! Do you have a dashboard shot? It looks quite funky.
It’s a US/Canada only car, a joint work of Toyota and GM. Well, for a couple years the Pontiac version of it was exported back to Japan, but it didn’t sell well. There is a dashboard shot in my next COAL post, browse forward for it.
Ah, that explains that. We have got it here as a JDM used import, but not with the US Toyota body. The RHD ones we get ex-Japan are the Pontiac body with Toyota badging, as below. Interesting!
Love love love my little red (2003) Matrix! It will be a very sad day indeed when it goes. I plan on driving it until it dies… that is intact what I said the day I drove it off of the lot with only a handful of my test drive km’s on it! It is currently sitting around 218,000km’s. They say It’s got just as many left in it. I will test that theory out. It’s been a fantastic car all around for us, two kids have learnt how to drive on it so far one to go although that won’t be for another 10 years now…. hmm do you think it’ll still be with us when her turn comes around? We may have to hit the logging roads once she’s tall enough to see safely over the steering wheel! haha You know just so that she can say that she too drove it! I have also hauled anything and everything in it, always surprising people when I load lumber into it and then close the hatch. It’s been a wonderful car and It will be sadly missed and warmly remembered when that day comes.
Ps. I’ve included a pic of one of it’s excursions with the kids, we crammed it to the gills with kids & gear and then drove for a couple hours! Once we arrive at our destination the doors opened up and everyone was shocked to see just how much it had held!
Cheers!