rev up your engines, today I'm gonna talk about why the
Toyota Matrix was such a great car, now I have to say was because they stopped
making them well at least theoretically they're originally made cambridge
ontario canadians make very good cars they ended up being the only place for a
while in the world where they made Lexuses except in japan that's how much
the Japanese trust in the Canadians they let me get their flagship Lexus in
Cambridge, they stopped making a matrixs only look at what's out there now,
and look at this Toyota Corolla hatchback that Toyota makes the 2019
Corolla hatchback it's just a modern version of that just look under the hood
oh this 2007 Toyota Matrix it's got a Toyota Corolla 1.8 engine a Toyota
Corolla automatic transmission Toyota Corolla disc brakes in the front and
Toyota Corolla drum brakes in the back so basically back in 2007 they could
have called this the Toyota Corolla hatchback but they decided to call it
the matrix for some reason, as I said what's in a name, back in the day when
they started making them they called it a sport wagon wasn't as long as a
regular wagon but it was more setup for sport it may not look it but these
things not only are they quick but they handle really well when my wife drove
the saw the time to work before she got her Lexus she said I'm always driving
really fast this thing it just wants you to go fast, and as far as I'm concerned
this sport wagon was the best design one ever made, it's got tons of room inside
you take off the cover and believe me you want the cover so people can't see
inside your trunk and then break your window to steal what's inside, this
didn't come with one the previous owner lost it so I had to buy this online but
it's worth to have it then you pop the seat back and you have tons of cargo
room now they'll go all the way back here because I got the front seats back
if you move the front seat hop it all the whole way flat down brought all
kinds a big-screen TVs home, lumber you name it you could haul a lot of stuff
with one of these things its got tons of hidden compartments look at this all
kinds of room for putting tools and stuff so you can have all your junk down
there when you move those seats floor and have it all flat there's actually
plenty of room for sleeping we took it out lunch we're camping it's pouring
rain while it happens getting soaked at a stupid tent, you just put those down
and slept in the matrix and as I said the very zippy cars are fun to drive
this four-cylinder engine a modified version of it is in the baby Lotus the
English sports car they soup them up to put out more
horsepower but it's the same basic engine they start with, and dependability
is the key I've seen these things for hundred thousand miles original engine a
regional transmission and they're still running good not a lot of them did have
a couple of recalls that stupid Takata airbag system this particular one is
still under recall he keeps sending us letters, I'm not letting those guys at Toyota
touch my car and somebody early ones had a recall for the ECM the main computer
I had one customer who had to get it replaced three but it didn't cost the
thing the car died she towed it over here I saw it was wrong I said ah Toyota
fixes that for free so we called the Toyota dealer they came and picked it up
for free put a computer in and away you went, and that was 11 years ago and
it's still running strong, now truth be told they can be a tad ugly these cool
lenses I bought from some Chinese company on eBay for 65 bucks a piece
they just bolt off and bolt on, you can easily do something like that yourself
same thing with the back the original ones are pretty ugly so I got these
things for like 55 bucks apiece there's many advantages of being pretty
much a Toyota Corolla with a lot of interchangeable parts there's all kinds
of aftermarket parts that you can get really good prices I mean it worked
perfectly fine now being a matrix and not a Toyota Corolla exactly it does
have a sporty or suspension you can see the big rear spring assisted shock in
the back the suspension on easier beefier than the Corolla
being a motorcycle rider myself I can more towards speed and handling than
comfort one must say and these matrixs they do have a
relatively rough ride, every time we go on a trip somewhere
it's the Lexus that we take because it rides like a magic carpet ride, you can
actually corner a lot faster in the matrix than you can in the Lexus you
want a sport wagon far as I'm concerned this is the one to buy, my old 94
Celica with 240,000 miles it's the same basic 4-speed transmission on it's got
240,000 miles still ships like a dream but if you want more zipping this I get
a matrix it's got a standard transmission they are insanely fast then
and if you really want some speed get a standard transmission one and put a
turbocharged kit they make bolt on turbocharged kits for these things, now
the new version the 2019 Toyota Corolla hatchback which is basically just a
modern matrix it's only available with a nine turbocharged engine Toyota decided
they wanted reliability engines that didn't burn oil they didn't want to get
in that same fix that Honda did with their CRVs an oil dilution problem
because of the turbocharged GDI engine Toyota's conservative when it comes to
build on a lot of their vehicles, they didn't want to make a mistake and get their
customers mad at them, they want reliability above all, when you go inside
it's pretty well-designed cockpit nice steering wheel and they have really
comfortable seats with good lumbar support for your lower back you can
drive these things hours and hours with no fatigue, now I do have to say that the
radio was a piece of junk that it came with, I put in one of these Android systems
and hey it works fantastic it just fit right in the hall although it came with
a crappy radio CD player the speakers are excellent
this thing's ten years old and when I put the Android system and I wanted to
see how it worked and I thought okay now change the speakers on but when I put in
that Android system the sound coming out it was so good I didn't even touch the
speaker's the speakers were actually excellent speakers it was just the radio
CD player and it was bad, so now you know why I think the Toyota Matrix is
one of the best vehicles ever made for solid reliable fun transportation
that you can carry a lot of stuff around with too, so if you never want to miss
another one of my new car repair videos, remember to ring that Bell