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KC Hill
Craig Hill
Oracle of DelphiToyota Matrix
March 19th 2008 21:57
The Toyota Corolla Matrix, commonly referred to as the Toyota Matrix, is a compact hatchback manufactured by Toyota Motor Corporation in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada and sold in North America.
The Matrix is the Toyota version of a joint venture between Toyota and General Motors; the GM version is the Pontiac Vibe, made at NUMMI in Fremont, California. A third version, also assembled at NUMMI, was sold in Japan from 2002 to early 2004 as the Toyota Voltz. Although the Voltz was sold under the Toyota brand there, the styling was nearly identical to the Vibe. The Matrix is considered to be the sporty hatchback/wagon counterpart of the Corolla.
The Matrix and the Vibe are identical mechanically and practically identical internally, but they are clothed in different sheetmetal in order to appear somewhat different. Both vehicles are narrow but tall station wagons styled in a trendy, quasi-SUV fashion (called a crossover utility vehicle or "XUV" by Toyota) and marketed to a fairly youthful market segment. This type of car is often referred to as a sport wagon.
The first-generation Matrix introduced in the 2003 model year and based on the Toyota Corolla platform. A facelift for 2005 brought minor revisions to the exterior, mainly revised styling to the front fascia due to complaints of rubbing the ground on the previous incarnation and adding clear lenses to the taillamps. Also, the center instrument panel was slightly redesigned and used a Toyota head unit in place of the previous GM-sourced head unit.
Two 1.8 L engines were offered in the Matrix: the 1ZZ-FE, borrowed from the Corolla, which was claimed to produce 130 hp (97 kW) in 2003 and 2004 models, a claim Toyota reduced to 127 hp (95 kW) in 2005; and the performance-oriented 2ZZ-GE taken from the Toyota Celica GT-S, which produced 164 hp (previously 180 hp (134 kW) in 2003, 173 hp (129 kW) in 2004, and 170 hp (127 kW) in 2005). The Matrix was also available with all-wheel drive until 2007.
In late 2006, Toyota discontinued use of the 2ZZ-GE engine and dropped the XRS from the Matrix lineup to be temporarily replaced by the M-Theory edition. Like the XRS model, the M-Theory was a limited production run of 2500 cars. The all-wheel drive variant was also dropped for the 2007 model year.
The second-generation Matrix was unveiled on October 31, 2007 at the SEMA show in Las Vegas. It will be available in dealerships beginning February 15, 2008 as a 2009 model. 3 trim grades (Standard, S, and XRS) will be offered, as well as two I4 engines: a 1.8L 2ZR-FE for the Standard and a 2.4L 2AZ-FE for the S and XRS grades. The former will be offered with a 5-speed manual or a 4-speed automatic, while the latter will be offered with a manual or automatic 5-speed transmission. In addition, the S grade, when equipped with the 4-speed automatic, can be had with All-Wheel Drive.
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