Last night, I had to drive my friend to the San Jose International Airport from Santa Cruz, CA. Since the Saturn is at home and I'm at school 150 miles away, I rented a 2009 Toyota Matrix 1.8 from ZipCar. This particular car had 20,000 miles on it and according to the window sticker, the oil was changed right before my rental.
For those of you who are familiar with this area, driving to the San Jose International Airport from Santa Cruz requires traveling on Highway 17, which is a windy highway with many sharp turns. The Matrix handled surprisingly well for an economy car, but this may have been because the two front tires were brand new Firestone Firehawk GTs. I really wished that the repair shop had installed the two new tires on the rear axle, because at times, I pushed the car hard enough that I could feel the rear end slip slightly-- new tires in the rear would've prevented this from occuring. Still, body lean was acceptable for a small car and the suspension soaked up the bumps quite nicely. After driving this car and comparing it to my friend's Corolla, I could tell that the Corolla, a 2006 with 55,000 miles, would benefit from new struts.
The interior of the car was OK. There was lots of hard plastic everywhere, but the controls were well-labeled and all of the controls were easily accessible from the driver's seat. The driving position is FANTASTIC. In fact, I think it's better than most midsized cars. I'm 5'10", and my knees did not even come close to rubbing the steering wheel.
I was also quite impressed with the electric power steering on the Matrix. I was expecting the steering to be overboosted and lacking in feel. While the steering was numb at low speeds, it was not overboosted. At higher speeds, there was some feel, but it definitely wasn't a Honda. However, the steering was light enough for easy parallel parking, but firmed up considerably during normal driving. The steering felt very "tight" on turns, and very accurate during spirited driving on the highway. Overall, good job with the steering.
I can't say the same about the drivetrain. My base model Matrix rental contained an all-new, 1.8L "2ZR-FE" engine. It is the same engine that is used in the 2009 Corolla. Despite the addition of VVT-I on both the intake and exhaust side, this engine is still inadequate for the Matrix. With four people in the car, traveling down Hwy 17 required depressing the accelerator pedal 2/3 of the way in order to maintain 50 mph. The 4-speed automatic transmission was constantly hunting, which I think was part of the issue. On the return trip, I used "D3," which helped considerably with the hunting and allowed me to maintain speed much more easily. However, because I kept the engine in 3rd, the engine RPM stayed above 4000 for much of the return trip. Luckily, this new 1.8L sounded quite refined, even at the higher RPMs. The overall fuel economy for the trip was less than 30 mpg (estimated), which is a bit less than the EPA highway estimate of 31. Overall, I'd say skip the 1.8L and opt for the larger 2.4L engine with the 5-speed automatic. According to CR, the 2.4L delivers much better fuel economy than the EPA estimates and the larger engine would be a better match for this application.
Overall the Matrix is a decent car from my experience, but I haven't driven any of its competitors so I don't know if it's really a class leader. Aside from the driving position, it doesn't seem to stand out in any particular way. If you are planning to buy one, I would definitely skip the 1.8L and opt for the larger engine.
For those of you who are familiar with this area, driving to the San Jose International Airport from Santa Cruz requires traveling on Highway 17, which is a windy highway with many sharp turns. The Matrix handled surprisingly well for an economy car, but this may have been because the two front tires were brand new Firestone Firehawk GTs. I really wished that the repair shop had installed the two new tires on the rear axle, because at times, I pushed the car hard enough that I could feel the rear end slip slightly-- new tires in the rear would've prevented this from occuring. Still, body lean was acceptable for a small car and the suspension soaked up the bumps quite nicely. After driving this car and comparing it to my friend's Corolla, I could tell that the Corolla, a 2006 with 55,000 miles, would benefit from new struts.
The interior of the car was OK. There was lots of hard plastic everywhere, but the controls were well-labeled and all of the controls were easily accessible from the driver's seat. The driving position is FANTASTIC. In fact, I think it's better than most midsized cars. I'm 5'10", and my knees did not even come close to rubbing the steering wheel.
I was also quite impressed with the electric power steering on the Matrix. I was expecting the steering to be overboosted and lacking in feel. While the steering was numb at low speeds, it was not overboosted. At higher speeds, there was some feel, but it definitely wasn't a Honda. However, the steering was light enough for easy parallel parking, but firmed up considerably during normal driving. The steering felt very "tight" on turns, and very accurate during spirited driving on the highway. Overall, good job with the steering.
I can't say the same about the drivetrain. My base model Matrix rental contained an all-new, 1.8L "2ZR-FE" engine. It is the same engine that is used in the 2009 Corolla. Despite the addition of VVT-I on both the intake and exhaust side, this engine is still inadequate for the Matrix. With four people in the car, traveling down Hwy 17 required depressing the accelerator pedal 2/3 of the way in order to maintain 50 mph. The 4-speed automatic transmission was constantly hunting, which I think was part of the issue. On the return trip, I used "D3," which helped considerably with the hunting and allowed me to maintain speed much more easily. However, because I kept the engine in 3rd, the engine RPM stayed above 4000 for much of the return trip. Luckily, this new 1.8L sounded quite refined, even at the higher RPMs. The overall fuel economy for the trip was less than 30 mpg (estimated), which is a bit less than the EPA highway estimate of 31. Overall, I'd say skip the 1.8L and opt for the larger 2.4L engine with the 5-speed automatic. According to CR, the 2.4L delivers much better fuel economy than the EPA estimates and the larger engine would be a better match for this application.
Overall the Matrix is a decent car from my experience, but I haven't driven any of its competitors so I don't know if it's really a class leader. Aside from the driving position, it doesn't seem to stand out in any particular way. If you are planning to buy one, I would definitely skip the 1.8L and opt for the larger engine.
