By accessing this website, you acknowledge that Edmunds and its third party business partners may use cookies, pixels, and similar technologies to collect information about you and your interactions with the website as described in our
Privacy Statement, and you agree that your use of the website is subject to our
Visitor Agreement.
Comments
That is bad luck about the damage though - I feel for you. :-(
I am so paranoid about where I park right now, it is ridiculous!
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
I looked at the Lemon Law but it doesn't cover something like this.
However, I have read that some of you had this problem as well. Do you think Toyota will do a recall on this?
I hope they do because the rattling is annoying the heck out of me, even though it doesn't do it all the time.
Other than that, I am very happy with my car. It gives me great mileage and is cheap in insurance and gas.
They build cars on a statistical basis which controls the quality, fit, finish of parts they buy from suppliers.
They know very well that tighter fit and better finish costs more money.
They also know from experience what's required to get rattle free designs like a Lexus, in terms of components and assembly technology.
Yours rattles because one or more of the parts in the dash was:
a) engineered with enough 'slop' in the design for ease of assembly and in doing so created a bad fit or loose installation or
b) engineered with wide enough variance in the specs on adjacent parts such that too big and too small can cause interference.
Our Avalon had 4 rattles that got fixed. It's their top of the line, right?
I feel that Toyota has been "dropping the bar" on fit/finish in the U.S. to keep prices down, hold profits and gain market share.
And if you haven't noticed the recent JDPower Surveys, believe it or not GM is catching up with them in some categories ( and I am not a GM fan AT ALL ).
So, just keep going to the dealer till yours is fixed and warn your friends about Toyota's drooping interior quality.
Good luck
http://www.jdpa.com/presspass/pr/pressrelease.asp?ID=2002040
Another positive side effect of Toyota's factories in the U.S. is they are driving the suppliers here to be much better in terms of meeting requirements, on time delivery and getting used to Toyota returning not just defective items, but whole lots.
To the extent GM shares suppliers with Toyota, it floats their boat upwards.
I also feel Toyota has to live with the supplier situation here too. It takes a whole generation to change an industry.
Unfortunately for my friends that like German cars, they are getting left in the dust quality wise. They all think that it has to go back to the dealer a lot when its expensive. I like what Lexus does 'striving for perfection'.
Toyota's are fine vehicles, but there is no need to create a different history or sloppily remember the one we have!
"Either Ford or Chevrolet has been the best selling car since 1903" The article was not talking about a car model but the company, so you are correct it has not been 90 years its 99 years. Pardon my lazieness not looking for the link in the first place. I was only passing on the article info and assumed it to be researched. Guess thats two bad for me, will try harder next time.
Actually, no again. From the article, your own link:
***It would be the first time a foreign automaker could lay claim to the title best-selling car brand in the USA. Either Ford or Chevrolet has been the best-selling car brand since 1903.****
and
****"Within a matter of months, Toyota will consistently be selling more cars in this country than any other brand."***
The FIRST time. It isn't talking models or companies, it is talking BRANDS. And it is possible that this year Toyota could become the best selling BRAND of cars in the US, the first time the best selling car BRAND has NOT been GM or Ford since 1903.
Put another way, this time, for the first time since 1903, it is possible that Toyota may sell more cars put together (Camrys, Avalons, etc.) than either Ford (Taurus, Focus, etc.) or Chevrolet (Cavalier, Impala, etc.). GM will still be a far larger company than Toyota. And Ford will still sell the most cars and trucks under one brand name. Still, Toyota's accomplishment here is not to be sneezed at.
The article goes on to say that FORD is by far the best selling brand, and has been for years, but that is because that would include both cars and trucks: ***The Ford brand will likely sell 3 million cars and trucks in the USA this year, Toyota 1.5 million.***
I'm sorry, but you had it exactly backwards. People read things on the net and believe them, so it is important to get them right!
When they say that the domestic manufacturers have abandoned the car market wholesale, they are right big-time.
It is no wonder that a quality large-scale car builder like Toyota has come in to make such a dent.
But if GM's new focus on cars in the next few years bears fruit, Toyota's sales share may slide..especially if they cannot get all these rattles and squeaks out of their new vehicles, and especially if they keep getting more and more truck-heavy, as they have been doing these last few years!
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
MPG -- 27.7 mpg on the way to Indiana over about 1,130 miles of dry conditions with temps in the 30's; 21.8 mpg while driving around the city of Evansville, often in sleet and snow where the 4WD would have come into play; 29.6 mpg on the way back to Massachusetts over 1,130 miles of mostly dry conditions with temps in the upper 20's and low-to-mid 30's. These mpg figures don't come close to the EPA rating, but I did crack the 30 mph mark on one tankful on the return trip.
ODOMETER -- I now have 5,300 miles on the odometer. We bought the car in late August.
HEADLIGHT SENSOR -- Wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. In cloudy weather the sensor did not automatically turn the headlights on. The problem was on bright sunny days, noon or one o'clock p.m., when a shadow was cast over the sensor. Moving the sensor 6 inches toward the center of the car would solve much of this problem.
INABILITY TO OVERRIDE THE SENSOR -- One night we drove through a Christmas light display in a city park sponsored by local businesses. The recommendation was to turn off headlights and drive with only parking lights, which of course is impossible in the Matrix unless you want to restart the engine and drive for a mile or two with the parking brake on. My father's new Buick has a way to override the headlight sensor; Toyota needs to make this available as well.
DRIVING POSITION -- It is a challenge to find a comfortable driving position in the Matrix. It may help if the steering wheel extended an inch further toward the driver and had spokes on each side that were an inch lower. The armrests also are not terribly useful, as the one on the door is too low for a person my height (5'10") and the center console is too far back. When I returned home and drove my '94 Corrola I was struck by how much more comfortable it was, at least for me as a driver.
RIDE -- I found the ride to be very comfortable -- firm but not jarring.
REAR PASSENGER COMFORT -- My teenagers have a lot of legroom and headroom in the back seat, so the Matrix is much more comfortable for them than the '94 Corolla wagon. Even with 3 passengers in the back, there was plenty of room when driving around town.
HANDLING ON SNOW AND SLEET -- Very good. I could spin the tires briefly if I tried, but it basically felt like normal driving conditions.
CARGO SPACE -- Seems to have about as much functional space as the '94 Corolla wagon. A permanent Vibe-like roof rack would be a nice feature. Winter coats and blankets, etc., take up a lot of room but don't weigh much. If my wife herself had been in the car with us (and not just her luggage) a winter trip like this would be a very tight squeeze for a family of four.
CRUISE CONTROL -- The cruise control holds speed nicely on uphill grades by downshifting to 3rd gear and at times also to 2nd gear, but it hangs on a second too long and then lets go suddenly after topping out about 3 mph faster than what it is set for. This is not as good as the factory-installed cruise controls in the '94 Corolla or in an '88 Renault Medallion I used to own, but both of those were 5-speed manuals.
POWER -- The 4WD Matrix with smaller engine did fine at highway speeds and was able to maintain speed on some pretty steep grades, such as the westbound bypass on I-470 at Wheeling, West Virginia. There was less downshifting when the cruise control was not on. I used to live in Colorado, so if anyone could report about how the 4WD handles the Rockies I would be quite interested.
AUDIO SYSTEM -- No complaints. The CD player didn't skip, and the cassette and radio worked properly. With the equalizer you can get a good sound. And once I became familiar with the controls, I found they were easy to find without distracting me from the driving task.
VISIBILITY -- Two complaints. First, the Matrix has a pretty good blind spot if cars are approaching in the left lane, and if you look over your shoulder before changing lanes as you are supposed to do, visibility is hampered by the seatback and the headrest. I'm 5'10, but my wife has noticed this, too, and she is 5'3" Second, visibility out the rear window would be greatly improved if the wiper were in the center of the window or skewed a bit toward the driver's side. As it is, the wiper is skewed toward the passenger side -- where neither my wife nor I need to look.
BURNING RUBBER SMELL -- I experienced this briefly twice, both times when restarting the car at a gas station after having moved it from the pump to a parking space so I could go inside and use the facilities. Keep in mind that the 4WD Matrix has an automatic transmission. (Previous speculation was that it was the manual clutch burning.) Does anyone have an idea about what the cause of this smell might be?
PANIC BUTTON -- Is there any way to deactivate this idiotic feature? Both my wife and I have hit it accidently on occasion, but the worst incident was when I sat down in my niece's family room with the car parked in the driveway about 15 feet away when something in my pocket must have pushed up against the button. Other people have told me horror stories about how theirs went off at 4 a.m. in a motel parking lot, etc.
MOANING BRAKES -- The 4WD Matrix has anti-lock brakes. On the way to Indiana we stayed at a motel in Pennsylvania. It rained all night, and the next morning when I applied the brakes for the first time, everything seemed normal until I was amost stopped. Then there was a loud moaning/groaning sound. Is this just from the brakes being wet? It didn't happen again, though I drove in plenty of freezing rain and sleet while in Indiana.
FLUID LEAK -- Potentially. When I returned home there was a film of some sort on top of a little square box to the left of the air filter, and also a bit on the air filter cover itself. It felt oily to the touch and did not smell like coolant. I didn't notice anything on the inside of the hood itself, where there is insulation. This box has 5 wires coming into it from the rear side of the car and is situated near the brake fluid reservoir. Brake fluid is about 1/4 inch below the max marker. Is this normal after 3,000 miles of driving? All the other fluids are at or near the max marker.
ENGINE OIL QUESTION -- My dealer uses Mobil 10W30 in the new Toyotas, including the Matrix. The owner's manual recommends 5W30. How much of an increase in gas mileage do you normally see if you use 5W30?
In my 2WD I average about 32 mpg in mixed driving, and get about 37 in all-highway driving, but I have a light foot, so with yours being 4WD, that sounds about right.
Groaning sound is OK to hear one time after the car has been parked for a while, from the brakes. It is either because they are wet, or because the rotors have rusted a little, and the brakes are sweeping it off.
I have never seen an oily film on anything in my engine compartment, and I check it regularly, so there may be a problem there...
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Revka
Hatchbacks & Wagons Host
Plus here in New England you can't get ABS unless you buy 4 WD (even less HP than normal) or an XRS (extra horsepower only available at very high RPM), which is really stupid.
This car should be priced more like a Mazda Protege Wagon, not an upper mid-range Camry.
The lights that go on and off all day are the full-on headlights being activated by the twilight sensor, not the daytime running lights, so having a DRL-off switch would not help that little problem. Of course, I sure wouldn't mind having one, because they would be permanently off!
Doors that lock themselves when you start to drive are part and parcel with the Toyota alarm system if you have it. If you do not, you still get power locks, which you can just lock if you are so inclined when you drive off. Mine has the alarm, and those locks do lock themselves when I start to drive, a "feature" which I am going to disable just as soon as I get a spare minute to fool around with the manual.
If you want a base version, then it is not fair to say "price it like a Pro5", because it is cheaper than a Pro5 in that trim, and still has A/C and a CD standard, which is pretty good for a car that sells for under $15K.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
2) I am not sure what you mean by 'built more to individual tastes'. It's my understanding that Toyota doesn't build 'base models' (or anything else) to individual order. You get what they build destined for the part of the country you are in. Even if you "order" one, you just wait until what you want gets built and delivered - and even then it's a standard package with little variance. Or they track down your car that's already been built and is located somewhere else. (This is why some people say, "I ordered a Toyota and bingo it was in production only 3 days later" - guess what? It was already in the build plan and their name got stuck on it.)
For example, there's not a dealer in Boston that has or will order a Matrix XR 5 speed with ABS. They can't get it from the factory because it's not the "regional profile". Yet, you can go buy one off the lot at Seeger Toyota in St. Louis and sometimes at Jerry's Toyota outside Baltimore.
3) If you meant, buying a base unit and putting what you want on it after you take delivery... Well, that's true, but I feel you give up a lot on the base unit that you CAN'T put on it afterwards: power locks and windows, power mirrors, color keyed door handles, driver's seat height adjust, most base ones here don't even have cruise control.
The only time that a base unit is a good "buy" is when it's selling below invoice for $13K - $14K like they are here this week at Boch. (These are base with automatic, no cruise. Dealer cost $14887, for sale at $12998!)
Availability must be much better now for the Matrix though huh? Especially considering dealerships like Boch blowing out base models for more than $1800 under invoice...that is almost unbeleivable...I know our local dealer will barely budge of full retail and he is moving quite a few Matrix...nothing on his lot and 7 on order was what I last heard. He is also out selling the local Pontiac dealer on the Vibe roughly 5 to 1.
I don't think that they 'blow them out'... they do usually offer 2 or 3 at this sub 'invoice' cost to get folks in and then they upsell, since the base Matrix is well, pretty base.
I also think ordering here in the U.S. is generally non-existent at Toyota dealers.
On New Year's Eve day, I got an email from Jerry's Toyota in Baltimore. Any Toyota on the lot, $100 over invoice. Unfortunately, they didn't have the XR 5sp w/ABS I was looking for...
Regards
footie - that is kind of what I meant - #3 in what you wrote.
Toyota is annoying in that it sells its cars in very specific option combos and calls everything an "option". Since there are some "options" you cannot go without on any car they build, pretty soon we will see them make the steering wheel part of an option package, or something like that!
As far as value, I still think Matrix is pretty good compared to a lot of other stuff on the market at $14-18K, which is where most Matrix non-AWDs fall.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
They already have the big brake kit and anti-roll bars available.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
If so, coming before the year is up...
If not, perhaps the Mazda3 will come in a hatch. Anyone know?
I checked Toyota's internet site and they don't show any inventory in the Ohio or Chicago regions. I ordered a car from the Racine dealer a few years ago and he sold it out from under me. I paid $19281. and really didn't think they would deliver the car under the circumstances.
www.herbchambers.com - online inventory shows 35 total with 22 base, 8 XR and 5 XRS. They are New England's largest auto group.
There are others like Toyota Watertown: 25 Matrix of which 16 are XR.
Clair Toyota in Dedham has 13 total, 4 XR.
All of those dealerships are inside or near Route 128, the inner Beltway around Boston and about 15 miles from Logan Airport.
These levels are fairly typical.
Other dealerships include Ira Toyota in North Boston, Wellesley Toyota, Bernardi in Framingham.
Come and gettum!
So far no problem. I am very happy with it.
I have a ? on my 4wd system. Does the system operate fast enough once it detect slippery condition. How does it work? My car manual does not say anything about how the 4wd system work.
Thanks,
dvd9
Hope this helps.
Ken
I have been happy with the performance of our Matrix 4wd in sleet and snow. No spinning going up the hill from our piano teacher's house, and from experience I know I'd have been spinning like crazy in the '94 Corolla. Response to slipping seems very quick. It may not be as good as a full-time system with an even split of power to front and rear, but it is much better than fwd and the gas mileage is a bit better.
It would be a simple thing for Toyota to devote a paragraph or two to the 4wd system in the owner's manual. Why don't they do this? The salesman told me it was the same system as in German cars like the Audi, but it's actually more similar some of the Subaru models.
posts 88 through 95
To everyone- Look for a direct link to our Matrix & Vibe Enthusiasts discussion in the Helpful Links on the left side of the page.
Revka
Hatchbacks & Wagons Host
Earlier in this discussion (posts 1665-1670) I reported finding a shiny black cup made of soft plastic under the driver's side of the car. My dealer said they looked all over, and that the cup didn't fall off of my car.
Well, this week another one fell off on the passenger side. Just inside where the front tire was parked in my garage. Same size, same shape. I think the dealer didn't look particularly carefully. I could believe that one somehow got under the car from another source, but not two!
I'm not particularly worried since I have driven 5,000 miles and 3 months with no ill effects since I found the last one. But I'd like to know what these things are. I wondered before if they were boot covers, and montanafan speculated that they wre plugs inserted into tie-down holes after shipping. But they're smaller than what he thought-- only 5/8 inch in diameter, and 1/2 inch deep or long.
Any other ideas? Or does anyone know for certain?
We use plugs whan we paint product to keep paint out of threads, ground areas, and etc. That could be what the cups are. They usually are removed after item is painted...
This is just a guess.
Roger
Does Toyota have black or matte versions of the rings? Or has anyone out there tried anything that has worked? So many people I talk to who have the Matrix or Vibe say it can be very irritating to deal with.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)