After wrecking my red Toyota Matrix, I needed to buy a car in a hurry. I wanted another wagon to haul the kids and the dog, and the used-car lots were filled with Chrysler PT Cruisers, Chevy HHRs and Dodge Magnums. I flirted hard with a hemi Magnum, but the only way I could own it was to take on a sizable monthly payment. And then, I came upon this 2003 Matrix XRS. There was great allure in returning to comfortable surroundings and, more importantly, being able to write a check and own this car free and clear.
More power was the only additional thing I ever really wanted from my old base Matrix, and the XRS brought it. My driving style is on the milquetoast end of the Hoon-O-Meter, but my one vice while driving is getting up to speed as fast as I can. Comedian George Carlin, in a routine about driving, once said, “I want to be behind the felon on his way home from work.” That really resonates with me.
The XRS is quick off the line. I felt like Speed Racer the first few months I owned it. But quickly, I had to learn not to just mash the pedal to the floor when the light turns green–the tires chirp, and the car goes slightly sideways. The XRS taught me a little finesse.
For all its initial eagerness, the XRS is otherwise surprisingly tame in day-to-day driving. Motor Trend magazine, for example, recorded a 0-to-60 time of 8.9 seconds with its long-term XRS–not bad, but not fire-breathing , either.
That’s because the XRS’s 180 hp, 1.8-liter 2ZZ-GE engine, shared with the contemporary Toyota Celica GT-S, has a variable valve timing and lift (VVTL-i) system that provides a serious power boost at 6,200 rpm. When it kicks in, it feels like a turbo. The car’s 8,500 rpm redline is correspondingly high–but when that power boost hits, you reach it in a hurry. That makes the XRS enormously entertaining when passing someone at speed on the highway.
Unfortunately, highway passing is the only time I ever get to experience this fun. For a long time, I thought it was because my XRS’s engine is mated to a four-speed automatic. (The standard transmission is a six-speed manual; the automatic was seldom ordered, and was dropped after 2003. I have a fairly rare XRS.) But I follow the Matrix forums; there, six-speed XRS drivers report the soonest they can make that power boost happen is in second gear, north of 40 mph.
You have to wonder what the point is. And this elusive power comes at a cost: The XRS demands premium fuel and returns only 26 mpg. My old base Matrix took regular gas and got up to 35 mpg! It was a much better day-to-day value.
The XRS’s suspension is supposedly tuned for sportier handling, but I couldn’t tell the difference between it and my base Matrix. It probably didn’t help that after the first time I drove the XRS in snow, I swapped the sport tires for all-season tires so I could keep the dang thing on the road. With them the car leans heavily during cornering at speed, and feels uncertain on bumpy pavement and over railroad tracks, as if it were on tippy-toes. The steering is a little numb and vague and leaves me feeling disconnected from the road. Braking is much better, though–the XRS has discs all around, as well as ABS.
Not surprisingly, the XRS is better optioned than the base Matrix. Its seats have extra padding. The stereo has six speakers and a six-CD changer (which was broken when I got it and soon replaced with a single-CD unit from a wrecked Pontiac Vibe). I absolutely love the dash-mounted 115-volt AC outlet, something I think every car should have; I’m constantly using it to charge my phone and my sons’ various hand-held gaming devices. The driver’s seat can be raised and lowered. The XRS also has de rigueur power windows, locks and side mirrors. Outside, it has 16-inch alloy wheels, which are very welcome after having constantly lost hubcaps with my base Matrix. It also has fog lights–a nice thought, but they really don’t light the way very well.
The XRS is just as useful a hauler of people and stuff as my base Matrix was. My boys are teenagers now, and I can bring both of them (and two of their friends) along in the Matrix without anybody worrying about whether someone forgot their deodorant. And I still get a ton of use out of the ginormous way-back, especially with the back seat folded flat.
Unfortunately, time has not been kind to my XRS’s body and finish. I’m pretty sure it was in some sort of front-end accident before I got it, and the repairs were hastily done. The paint on the hood has become rough and dull, and paint has been chipping slowly from the bumper. The ground effects attached to the front bumper quickly became badly scratched and scuffed, but that’s probably due to careless parking on my part.
The previous owner left a LeBra with the car, so I tried to cover the front-end nastiness with it. That lasted only a few months because I couldn’t get over the d-bag, boy-racer image it projected.
Last year was especially unkind to my poor XRS: In March, I broke off the side mirror while backing out of my narrow, one-car garage. I ordered a replacement mirror from a wrecked Matrix on eBay and installed it myself. As a service to the entire Internet, I photographed the whole procedure and wrote how-to instructions. You’ll find them here.
I was rear-ended twice last year–in April, and again in August. The April back-end bashing did almost $3,000 in damage, but I drove my XRS home. The accident totaled the car that hit me, which felt like justice somehow. The August mishap did only minor damage to my bumper, but I also tapped the car in front of me. His car wasn’t damaged, but my fender is dented; I decided not to get it fixed in order to avoid angering the insurance gods.
Then, in late August, I broke off the ground effects from the front. The city had spent most of 2012 laying sewer in my neighborhood, and the project involved removing the surface from the main road outside my subdivision. Rain had washed out the dirt ramp they built at the pavement’s end, but I didn’t know that until I sailed off the edge and hit bottom pretty hard. I got the paving contractor to cut me a check for the damage, but considering how bad the car looked overall, I decided to pocket the money and move on.
I’m just going to leave my XRS looking like hell. It has rolled for more than 150,000 miles, it leaks a little oil, and now when I punch it hard, the “Check Engine” light sometimes comes on (especially when it’s below-freezing outside). My mechanic says the associated code is related to the VVTL-i, and that the repair costs more than the car is worth. “Just drive her like the old lady she is,” he cautioned, “and you’ll get another 50,000 miles out of her, easy.”
When I wrote about my 1989 Chevy Beretta, I mentioned that I brought my newborn first son home from the hospital in it. He turns 16 tomorrow. A beat up, almost used up Toyota Matrix will be a perfect first car for him.
With that in mind, I just bought a 2006 Ford Focus hatchback from my dad. A Focus isn’t the car of my dreams, but I bought it because it’s been reliable, Dad took good care of it, the boys and the dog all fit inside and I could pay cash for it. I haven’t had it long enough to tell its story, except to say that to my shock and surprise, it handles better than my XRS and has more accessible power in everyday driving. And with that, my Cars of a Lifetime series comes to an end.
LOVE the Focus! Especially with the tail lights up high like that! You should get many happy years out it! Lots of luck!
At least the Toyota had room and some umph. got ya from point A to point B. I thought LeBra looked good on it. Gave it style. For some people, cars are just dispensable pieces of iron. Wear the crap out of it and pass the headaches onto someone else. I’m sure you can sell it. It’s not THAT bad looking.
Oh, I’m sure I’d get a few grand for the Matrix if I sold it. But like I said, it’s a perfect first car for the boy. We’ve been out driving in it and so far so good there. And there’s something very appealing to me about buying a car and then keeping it in the family until the wheels fall off.
Keeping it in the family until the wheels fall off is the ONLY way to make money on car ownership. Trading every 2 or 3 years is not. Plus, no collision or comprehensive insurance.
Oh yes. First thing I did after I bought the Focus was drop collision and comprehensive on the Matrix.
I can sort of understand dropping collision, especially with a teenage driver, your rates go way up. But why drop comprehensive?? It costs almost nothing compared to collision and liability, and can really come in handy.
Even collision depends on your situation and insurance company, I literally saved nothing by dropping collision on my “cheap” cars because the rates on the cars I have to have collision on would go up if I don’t carry it on all cars, I would have to have all cars cheap enough to not have collision for it to work.
That says something about a car when a guy buys a second one. I once rented a badge-engineered Pontiac Vibe for a weekend road trip, and was able to stuff a bicycle in the back with no trouble. (I put down an old sleeping bag to prevent the chain grease from getting on the interior. Be good to your rent-a-car company, and they will be good to you.) That picture of your car with furniture stuffed in the back really brought back a fun memory for me.
I’m not surprised that you find the Focus to be better handling, its generally been known as having one of the tightest economy car chassis of the time. My experience with multiple variants of the Vibe has left me underwhelmed in the handling department, always felt vague and tippy. But they’ve generally felt better screwed together than the Focus, and their utility is pretty much second to none for their size. I helped my friend buy an ’04 Vibe back in the spring after many years of living carless overseas. He and his wife just drove it from Michigan to California towing a utility trailer with all their belongings. Never missed a beat!
I helped my mom buy an off-lease ’07 Focus hatch a couple years ago, just like yours but White. She’s put 30,000 miles on it since, with no problems. The thing even has heated leather seats and side airbags, kind of a rarity for the model.
Mine has leather seats, but not heated. It’s also developed a wicked vibration at idle already — apparently, it’s a known problem with a particular motor mount; there’s even a TSB on it. So my mechanic will be hearing from me soon. Let’s hope the car troops along trouble-free otherwise.
Yeah, the mounts in the Focus can wear out early, but at least they’re easy to change. I did all three in my Mom’s a while back but it likely only needed one: the rear lower dog bone mount. I would highly recommend going OE on these, especially that lower mount. I bought an aftermarket one first, Anchor I believe. It was actually much smaller than OE, but with the mounting holes in the same position. Worked great… for about two months before the rubber disintegrated. Under the car twice for the same job, lesson learned.
Ooh, thanks for the tip. I’ll be sure to insist on OE from my mechanic, who’s an independent.
Jim, you already know some of my ’03 Pontiac Vibe story. I’ve probably mentioned that I bought it specifically as a one man camper and, with front and back seats down, it was a much better sleeper than the Bronco II it replaced. I sold it a little more than a year and a half ago with right at 100,000 miles. The new owner is still happily driving it with no problems although it does have a few new body parts and a few new scratches from being both the banger and bangee in a couple of minor collisions. Apparently 2012 was a good year for that with blue/gray Vibes/Matrices.
100k? Man, your Vibe was just beginning to stretch its legs!
This has nothing to do with Mr. Grey, but I’ve always been intrigued by people who don’t like…gasp!!!…car payments.I guess it all depends on your finances (obviously) or what is important in your life (raising children/providing a more comfortable life for them/etc.).
Maybe there are two camps here: Those who spend with practicality, or those who spend with a “live for the moment” attitude. As far as I know, my parents always had car payments; it just seems like a natural part of life to me. Maybe my parents had to “keep up with the Joneses”, I don’t know. I’m just intrigued by people who, even though they can afford it, avoid car paymants as much as possible.
The reason I mention this is because of the part of the article where he talks about wanting the Dodge Magnum but wanting to avoid payments.
I can explain this for me at this time in my life: I am trying to live well below my means. I am working to save 3-6 months of living expenses to hedge against the natural volatility in my line of work. I love what I do, I just want to be okayish if things go sideways and I find myself temporarily unemployed. There is also a feeling of freedom that goes with owing only on my house. And in time I won’t owe on that, either.
I’d love to have a fabulous car, but I want these other things more. If I’m careful and lucky, perhaps I’ll be able to pay cash for a more emotionally satisfying car next time.
I’m in the same frame of mind of living comfortably below ones means. I’ve been car payment free for two years now and love it. Running the Curbside Pickup Classic I don’t worry about layoff too much, but I do worry about having 3-6+ months of limited income if I’m injured.
Nothing available in new to near new cars really excites me. The only things I’d consider taking on payments for would be a Subaru or Jeep Wrangler with their respective Diesels that we don’t get in the US.
I agree. I have never had a car payment, and don’t want one. So, I pick out cars I know I can live with for a long time. I can’t wait for the day I pay off my mortgage–about 12 years to go!
MichaelH, my wife and I live under our means. At first, she used to have that same attitude towards house payments when we purchased our first home in 2001 – that house payments were normal and everyone did it and it was a fact of life. Not me. I’ve always been different anyways and have always marched to a different drummer. OK, so I’m weird :-). And when I studied the amortization chart, I was horrified at the amount of interest we would pay over the life of a traditional fixed rate 30 year loan with 20% down (As a veteran, I could have gotten a VA loan with zero down but chose not to) and over time convinced my wife of the same. So I paid our home off by 2006. Yes, that meant taking lots of extra trips (I flew for a regional airline) and living out of a suitcase for years and my wife working overtime at the hospital, and it sucked at the time. Today, however, my wife and I own our home free and clear. And it feels great! We also own our two vehicles free and clear because we buy used (mostly) and drive appliances. As Jim said, it would be great to drive the car of my dreams, but other priorities exist. I hate owing money and like the feeling of being free from debt.
I think Jim is smart for living within/under his means.
My last car loan payment was in about 1987. I have bought a couple of new cars since then, but paid cash. I keep my cars fifteen years, and during that time “save” more than enough to buy the next one with cash. And my cars keep getting cheaper….once one starts appreciating the advantages of living well below one’s means, it becomes rather addictive.
Paid off the last mortgage many years back. Now I’m building a new rental house with the positive cash flow (and sweat equity). Debt? What’s that?
Yup, that’s exactly where I want to end up. It gives me so many life options.
That’s not to say that I might not borrow again one day to really splurge on myself for that right car. I reserve the right. But I don’t see it happening any time soon. And if I’m frugal enough, heck, even then I might be able to pay cash for that splurgemobile. A buddy of mine did that. He’s in the same line of work I am, makes comparable money, has 10 years on me but no kids. He owns a Jag and a Porsche, free and clear. Both purchased used, cash.
Yea that is a great plan, I hope to be there soon too. But your buddy having 10 yrs on you and no kids makes a HUGE difference in how easy/hard that is to accomplish. Most people don’t realize just how expensive it is raising kids.
I bought a T-shirt at my son’s college bookstore. It was only about $15, but in reality, it was the most expensive T-shirt I have ever bought. I figure that it actually cost me around $125,000. I have driven Ferraris, Porsches, BMWs et all, but that T-shirt was worth more than all of those experiences. I have paid cash for all of my cars since about 1979. Most used. I bought my new 2012 Subaru for cash as well. Leather, heated seats, auto climate control, all-wheel drive, out the door for $22,800. When I read the auto pundits in the car fanzines opining that an all-wheel drive “luxury” SUV was a good value at $55,000, I have to remind myself that the auto scribes don’t have to pay for the cars that they revue.
My dad has a saying I follow to this day:
“A man who pays cash for cars has an early and comfortable retirement.”
I have learned my lesson about car payments; never again. I live substantially below my means. No payments, no debt, no nothing. We eat healthy food at home, and neither smoke nor drink. The financial freedom of this lifestyle is indeed addictive. I have never been in the rat-race and I am not ever planning to, either.
Cars are money pits: you don’t make money on them. In my case, I make it a game to find the coolest car I can for $10k. Especially here on the soggy Wet Coast there are loads of cool cars for cheap. Nobody here wants anything more than five years old so the selection is excellent. For example, a buddy of mine just got a pristine 1987 Acura Vigor, 120,000 km, for $1500.
Few people ever add up their TCO but it cost me $4458 to drive my Acura for the year 2012. There is not a single new car available that can match that figure and even if got a leased Accent I would be driving a four-banger crap-box that would cost me more.
No payments, thanks. I like having a nice pile of “FU” money in case I want to do something different, take a year off, etc. Heck, if I had a car payment I would put my nose to the grindstone and pay it off as soon as I could.
There are three FUs: FU money, FU skills, and FU contacts. I’m working on all three!
Congratulations! After literally a decade of pounding pavement, door-knocking, phone calling and email, I finally have all three too!
I also have a tremendously capable and supportive business partner: my wife!
This has been an enjoyable series. I have a thing for symmetry, so your car-arc that goes from a Ford Pinto to a Ford Focus with a batch of Toyotas in the middle is almost like a perfect bell curve. 🙂
Congratulations on continuing to live car-payment free. I am sorry to say that I succumbed to the pressure and took on a payment for my Sedona. This was my first installment purchase of a car since buying my Club Wagon in 1995.
Thanks man! Yeah, I have kind of come full circle back to Ford. My dad’s a Ford man and is on his seventh or eighth. You may recall my bad experience with my Mercury so I came back to Ford with a little trepidation!
The Matrix was one of the all-around best cars I ever owned…for a few months.
I bought it. In those days (2004) I had to borrow to buy. And immediately upon buying, I stepped into some ka-ka at work. Looked like I was gonna be sacked; and the peculiarities of the railroad industry and the workplace dynamics were such that the union seemed ready to toss me overboard, and once that happened, I’d be blacklisted in the industry.
I was out of work for four months; and to get out from under the payments, I sold at a loss. Basically, someone took it off my hands for what I owed…kiss the down payment bye-bye.
And of course once that was cleared up and I’d hunkered down for a long period of survival jobs…the union suddenly got motivated and got me re-instituted. It was something of a wake-up; that my work situation wasn’t so secure that I could afford to be in so deep on credit purchases.
I’d love to get another…the first-gen Matrix. Primarily the slick styling, for a wagon-type…but the usefulness of the body style, and the high fuel economy I got on the other one (high 30s). No, it’s not a car for the twisties; but I have cycles for those.
Perhaps one day soon I’ll go to Vegas or Phoenix and buy a rust-free example…
Jim, I guess great minds think alike :-). I was also looking at a 2006 Focus at the local dealer, although this one is a station wagon. My ’06 Corolla has been trouble free but leaves me feeling removed and disconnected from the driving experience. We’ll see…
I would rather have the wagon than the hatch. Way more wayback. I test-drove one before I bought the blue Matrix but that example was pretty chewed up and I passed. But oh my, all the room back there.
I had the same problem with the XRS and the Celica GTS when we test drove them… power doesn’t come on until you are going 40mph… in 1st gear. And at that point you sound like a complete DB revving the engine that high. It wasn’t worth the difference in price over the 1ZZ unless you were going to tune it, as I understand it, you can change the point that the VVT kicks in to a more usable RPM range.
I shopped for one of these in 2003 too, my wife loved the Matrix as she already had a Celica, but I couldn’t get used to the tippy handling and upright raised seating. I ended up buying a 2003 Mazda Protege5. That car was one of the best I ever owned and the one I most regret selling. Mazda had insane rebates on it as there were hundreds on the lot not moving, I paid $14500 OTD, yellow stick with a sunroof, drove it 85k miles without a single thing breaking on it, just regular maintenance.
We now have a MR2 Spyder with the 1ZZ. Someday I might get a 2ZZ to swap in, and tune it for the lower VVT point, swap in a 6-speed to replace the 5-speed.
That’s one of the best things about my Xb; I can have fun caning it, and not be going very fast at the same time. The old saw about driving a slow car fast is more fun than driving a fast car slow….
Absolutely true. Driving my Acura around at 1500 rpm seems like a terrible waste to me. I try to console myself by telling myself the car handles safely and is quite solid.
And then there is the Annual British Columbia Road Trip. Then it’s worth it.
“The old saw about driving a slow car fast is more fun than driving a fast car slow….”
Absolutely true; and one reason I loved my various Jeeps. With the doors off, the windshield folded…you didn’t need to be driving hard or fast to FEEL the speed, the rush.
I remember traveling across Nevada in a rental car…a Caprice. No cops, no traffic, and no time to waste…so I set the cruise control at 100. And yes, it was a big yawn.
Compared to the open-car thrills going to the convenience mart for a case of beer on a Saturday afternoon…
+1 on that Paul. Had fast cars when I was young. The cube is more fun than any of them and for obvious reasons the reflexes demand a slower drive when you age.
I always paycash for cars payments suck nice car good trim level similar to my Xsara but I cant stand screaming engines thats why I drive a diesel, max torque@2500rpm and it will pull straight to the redline @5000 and handling in a league of its own.
Are those alloys 16 inch? I have a ’05 XR with optional rims and they’re the same design but 17 inch. And x2 on the flimsy bumpers. That’s one of the few drawbacks of an all around reliable, practical and economical little hatchback.
They’re the smaller of the two rims offered on the XRS. I can’t remember if that means they’re 16s or 17s.
Well written series Jim. Thanks for sharing!
There seems to be a general trend here; Toyota makes good but awkward handling cars while Ford produces vehicles that are more secure in their footing. Everyone hear already knows that I have a bias towards the Blue Oval, but I don’t think I’ve ever driven a Toyota that outhandled a Ford.
Then again, our 86′ Cressida was a great ride. But that CC is gone now, unfortunately.
Anyway, great article Jim.
Jim, I wish you had owned more cars… really enjoyed your writing – and choice of vehicles.
The Toyota Matrix I hated the shit out of for some reason when it was new. I have no idea why, and now I kinda like them. I think it might have been the fact that Pontiac sold an identical version of it. Hardly the first time GM had stuck one of their badges on a Japanese car and changed some of the sheetmetal… but the Vibe in comparison to the rest of the crap they were selling at the time really drove home how worthless they and their parent company had become. I saw it as a Pontiac throwing in the towel, “can’t beat ’em, join ’em!” sort-of moment… and then they were out of business less than a decade later. That was depressing. I liked Pontiac, I didn’t want to see it all end with them selling Toyotas, of all freaking things. I like Toyota too, though.
8,500rpm is neat, wasn’t aware the engine in these had so much oomph.
I know this is a late comment, but I came across your blog while trying to find a way to glue back on parts of our XRS bumbers. One of the ground effects, and the part that hangs down from the back bumper.
Anyway, I just wanted to comment that our 2003 Matrix XRS has also been through so much crap. It’s weird. One side of the car had damage from a deer running into the side. The other side got hit by my neighbor on his motorcycle while it was parked. The back bumper’s already been replaced twice by other people’s insurance. The side mirror got hit off while it was parked. Seems like there’s more I’m just not recalling.
It’s been a great little car other than its propensity for attracting damage. The only thing I don’t like is how low the bumpers are, especially the front ground effects. It was only a matter of time before they fell off. But to be fair, we have put over 200k on the car. My next car will be something higher for sure. I enjoyed reading your experience with the model and look forward to reading about your other cars.
Necro bump……
The 2zz engine is a great technical achievement. Nobody knows high rpm breathing quite like Yamaha. Why Toyota put this engine in the Matrix is beyond me. You can only legally hit the redline in first gear. Second tops out at 68 mph so technically you’re speeding. At anything less than 2000 rpm you mine as well get out and push. The handling of the Matrix is adequate, but not really special, and it just weighs too much. Drop that engine in a Yaris with a good suspension tune and it would be so much fun. And oh, if there was a common rwd transmission that would bolt up to the 2zz… Lotus 7 hooliganism for all. Putting the 2zz in the Matrix is like having Secratariat pull your Conestoga wagon ; he can do it, but why the heck would you want him to. Luckily Lotus gave it the home it deserved. The Matrix is a great car and maybe even better with the 2.4 from the Camry or the 1zz from the Corolla for oodles of cheap parts.
Hi. May i get a front half cut of a Toyota Matrix 2003? It can be either Manuel or Automatic. My email is dnkeramihigo@gmail.com