Purchased another "Toyota".

[JustinH]

Happy New Year Everyone.

I had planned on rebuilding the suspension on my 2008 Matrix today, but that will not be happening. All the parts have been returned.

Earlier this week, a piece of lumber fell out of a pickup truck in front of my wife's Matrix, and hit the cars hood/headlights at around 60mph.

Thankfully no one was hurt, and she couldn't get the license plate, so we had no recourse.

We were left with a broken headlamp, and huge dents in the hood, and a crack in the windshield.

The year before the car had $6400 in body work, and it has never been the same since.

We decided to trade it in to a local used car dealer. We actually did pretty good on trade, got nearly $4000 which is right in the middle of trade value.

Purchased a 2011 Scion XB with 40k miles on it. Base model, auto trans, burgundy red paint. 2.4L engine.

One owner car from San Antonio, has a glovebox full of maintenance records, including new firestone tires last year, new battery, alignment, and valvoline instant oil changes at a regular basis. Wife loves the car and feels safe in it. We like to travel and do some camping and it will hold all we need it to hold for a weekend trip.

Car has a few dings and maybe a few hail dings. I can take it to my paintless dent guy and get it fixed up real nice. Then need to take it to my 3m tint lady before the hot weather comes. Other than that, car is very clean.

Went through it completely today, and put in a order for denso oil filter, air filter, cabin filter, wipers, and it will also need a new washer fluid pump, it is dead. That was the only thing I didn't notice on the test drive/inspection. No big deal, 45 dollar part but the bumper will need to come off to get at the pump.

Will run 5w20 synthetic oil and denso filters. Will post some photos when I get it cleaned up a little more.

 

[Andrew1972]

No insurance to claim against instead of taking the loss?

 

[JustinH]

Originally Posted By: madRiver
No insurance to claim against instead of taking the loss?


Rates already went up for her not at fault accident, we did not want a second claim in a single year. Also with the 1000 dollar deductible it may have been not worth making a claim.

 

[SumpChump]

A very fun vehicle to drive and spacious really.

As an owner of a Scion xB 2.4L 2AZ-FE i sincerely reccomend immediately monitoring for any oil consumption. They have a problem with this as the oil drain holes in the pistons come coke up if oil changes arent religious and quality.
My car had 5k conventional oil and it still happened. This is a known issue at Toyota and they do remedy this issue if the consumption is something over a quart every 1200 miles. Mine drinks oil and "does not qualify" for piston replacement. And they don't cover the other stuff one might want done allong the way such as valve seals or water pump and tensioner.

 

[bioburner]

My only gripe about my Xb is why they did not have a 5 speed transmission. It could easily get 34+ mpg. Thinking of having the hood and top painted a grey-silver to reflect some summer heat.
The 2.4 is very adequate and a hitch mount is easy to mount for bike rack or bumper carrier. The extra space will be most welcome over the Matrix as I had a Vibe.

 

[bioburner]

Maybe a dash cam should be put on for the next "incident". Many choices now for under $100

 

[dlayman]

Sounds like a decent enough car. But a washer fluid pump at 5 years and low mileage? Not a major repair but I've never had that happen even on cars 15 years old or with 300k miles. While I've generally liked the Toyota vehicles I've owned they seem to come up with these odd nuisance problems sooner than they should. I had door handle failures as well as switchgear failures prematurely with them.

 

[bioburner]

My pictures show that the pump can be gotten to by removing the wheel well panel. I was about to tackle the project when all it was weak antifreeze. Might well be just a bad connection.

 

[JustinH]

Originally Posted By: dlayman
Sounds like a decent enough car. But a washer fluid pump at 5 years and low mileage? Not a major repair but I've never had that happen even on cars 15 years old or with 300k miles. While I've generally liked the Toyota vehicles I've owned they seem to come up with these odd nuisance problems sooner than they should. I had door handle failures as well as switchgear failures prematurely with them.


Correct very odd problem. The last car I owned that needed a washer fluid pump was a 1988 Jetta GL. I'll mess with it tomorrow and see what I can come up with.

 

[dwcopple]

Isn't the 2.4L engine the Toyota with oil issues? Pretty sure first gen XBs were better.

 

[JustinH]

Originally Posted By: dwcopple
Isn't the 2.4L engine the Toyota with oil issues? Pretty sure first gen XBs were better.


From what I have read it affects the 2008-2009 model year XB. The 2011 was not affected.

 

[avacado11]

Originally Posted By: JustinH
valvoline instant oil changes at a regular basis.


I personally would have walked away. Probably better than no oil changes but I'm picky and I don't trust any of those instant oil change places. They tend to use the cheapest stuff out there, whether or not it was the correct viscosity.

But hey atleast you have service records

 

[JustinH]

Originally Posted By: avacado11
Originally Posted By: JustinH
valvoline instant oil changes at a regular basis.


I personally would have walked away. Probably better than no oil changes but I'm picky and I don't trust any of those instant oil change places. They tend to use the cheapest stuff out there, whether or not it was the correct viscosity.

But hey atleast you have service records


They use valvoline oil at valvoline instant oil change. My dad takes his car to one and has done so for at least 10 years. Says 5w20 all climate on the window sticker and on the bill. Most people who own cars don't do their own oil changes.

 

[JTK]

I always liked the XBs. Should be pretty similar ride/handling wise to the 2008 Matrix I'd think, but with a little more room. Plus I assume it's keeping the missus happy?

 

[SatinSilver]

Originally Posted By: avacado11
I personally would have walked away. Probably better than no oil changes but I'm picky and I don't trust any of those instant oil change places. They tend to use the cheapest stuff out there, whether or not it was the correct viscosity.

But hey atleast you have service records


I haven't heard anything negative about Valvoline Oil change places. Lubestop/Jiffylube is a different matter and they use the cheap stuff. The Valvoline and Castrol places at least use a quality product so I would be fine with it. Good job Justin.

 

[Jim K]

I had an 09 Scion XB that I traded in for my 2014 Corolla. Never used any oil or had zero problems.