The Silver Steed Toyota Matrix. Click pics to view larger.

By Christopher Cudworth

Anyone who runs and rides knows it is important to have the right support vehicle to enjoy your activities. A good car has to be reliable, get decent gas mileage, hold a roof rack and have storage space for bikes, running gear, cross country skis or whatever activity fills up the calendar of training and racing.

Since 2004 the trusty vehicle that I have driven is a Silver Steed, the Toyota Matrix. A great “little” car.

The Matrix is not often advertised. It’s almost as if Toyota built a bunch of these vehicles and then forgot they left them on the car lot. Seriously, have you ever heard a commercial dedicated to the Toyota Matrix? Guess this review will have to do so you won’t think I’m nuts. But actually I think this guy’s full of crap on a couple points in his review. And maybe the newer Matrix isn’t as good as the original 2004 editions? It can happen?

A trying buying experience

In fact when I was car shopping the sales guy at the dealer listened patiently to my description of what I wanted in a vehicle and proceeded to show me the Rav4 and other vehicles, but never mentioned the Toyota Matrix. It was not until I began to wander the rows of vehicles on my own, admittedly frustrated, that I approached a Toyota Matrix and said aloud, “What the hell is this?”

Like every new car dealership, the new vehicles are locked. So I had to go inside and ask to be let into the Matrix to have a look for myself. The sales guy trudged out in the heat like it was the worst thing he ever had to do, handed me the key fob and said something like, “Have at it. I’ll be right back. One of my customers is closing a deal.”

Fine, I thought. Get the hell out of here. I’ll check out the car and buy it somewhere else if I like it. And that’s exactly what I did.

Like a hatched caterpillar, this cyclist emerges from a Matrix cocoon.

There are many reasons why the Toyota Matrix is a great vehicle for those who run and ride. It would have been the absolute perfect vehicle in my mind if they made it as a hybrid. Now the Prius comes in models that mimic the Matrix body style, so that would be a nice alternative one day. But the Matrix does get a steady 30 mpg around town and perhaps 35 on longer trips on rural roads. So not bad, but not perfect.

The Matrix has a roof shaped like the back of a dolphin, arching upward right where you need the most headroom. The driver’s seats also sit up a little higher than many similar small to midsize vehicles, so visibility is great while driving, birdwatching or enjoying the scenery on your way to an event.

Built on a regular Corolla chassis, the Matrix rides reasonably smooth. It isn’t the quietest vehicle on earth. But the shifting on my automatic has always been smooth and dependable, and the pickup even with two or three passengers is great. Even loaded down with a road bike, some art I was toting to a gallery out of town and a bike rack with a mountain bike on top, the Matrix zipped in and out of traffic and got 33 mpg on a 250 mile trip through rolling country in Southwestern Wisconsin.

My daughter’s dark grey 2005 Matrix is all-wheel drive. In the snow it puts my front wheel drive silver Matrix to shame. I feel good that she’s got a safe vehicle to handle trips out to college and back. Unfortunately last spring some nutball swerved into the back of her vehicle, slamming the bumper and frame so hard the car was totaled. After

This ended the life of one Matrix. But just like the movie, it came back in another life.

several months of negotiation with the insurance company and an intense car search online with the list of dealers the insurance company provided, we lucked out and found nearly the exact same year and model Matrix on a lot near our home. It was just like the Matrix movie! A Neo Matrix! Born again from some digital universe!

We drove it out to her college town with her apartment stuff and my road bike in the back. Then she drove me back to a Walmart lot in Dixon so I could ride the 70 miles home.

Can you see into the future? Another Arrow in your future.

The Matrix is perfect for such ventures.

Reincarnation

I also realize the Matrix is a reincarnation of the first vehicle I ever owned, a bronzy gold (so 70s-80s) Plymouth Arrow hatchback that was my chariot during primo running years and beyond. That car took my wife and I around the country during our dating years from the East Coast to the Upper Peninsula, from Colorado to the wilds of Iowa (shown here, a canoe trip on the National Wild and Scenic Upper Iowa River). You never lose that feeling of first love…

A stuffed Matrix is a happy Matrix

I have literally stuffed and piled that car with bikes; two in the back and one on the roof when my wife and I went on a riding vacation together with friends. The Matrix looks happy with a bike on its roof. The tailgate hatch opens wide in back, and the hardshell backs on the flop down seats don’t mind when you slide a bike in and out of the car. They’re tough enough to handle a lot of junk like lumber and Christmas trees and dogs when they have muddy feet. You just wipe them down with a wet cloth. Seriously, I cannot imagine a car without these features.

I don’t rep for Toyota and don’t get a damned thing for writing this glowing review of the Matrix. And to be honest, there are a few things wrong with it. The little latch on the front trash bin broke 2 days after warranty on the vehicle ran out, and it fell open so often I just pulled it out.  Also, the center CD & stuff holder lost a bolt somewhere along the way, and it is now loose. And annoying. I should fix it. There’s a resolution.

Will this be how my Matrix looks in another 10 years, when it has 300K on it. We’re at 150K now.

My Matrix has gotten bumped up a couple times. Turning right onto a street from a commercial parking lot, I accidentally raked the right side on a rock the property owner stashed there out of sight from turning drivers. The repaired paint is showing rust bubbles after 5 years. So be it. Marks of experience.

Repairs have been few. That’s why we bought a Toyota. We also own a Chevy Impala because we wanted to “buy American”, but when we got the car home we noticed that it said on the door, “Made in Canada.” So we felt sort of screwed about that. The Chevy has had all kinds of work done on it; steering column replacements, shivs shoved into the engine block to level it out, and the heater fan has been replaced more than once. A yellow light that says Coolant Low has been on for 40,000 miles and the gas gauge hasn’t worked since we don’t know when. We hear the new Chevy Impalas have very few problems. Our car was the guinea pig, apparently.

But the Chevy can hold a bike in its big ass trunk. My wife has rescued me a few times when I ran out of tubes getting flats on a long ride. The Chevy still looks pretty good from a distance when you can’t see its patina of scratches and mild dents. It’s always a welcome sight when my wife shows up on the road to rescue me from a bad ride. It hasn’t happened often, but it reminds me how much we all depend on certain things to participate in our sport. She’s always got the classical music going when I take off the wheels and toss my bike in the back. Then we chat on the way home like nothing’s happened. She knows I can change a flat these days and never call her unless I’m completely busted down.

Cars and spouses hopefully understand about us runners and riders. We need a good meat wagon when the bad days roll around. Flats. Pulled hamstrings. Busted chain.

For now that’s the posse. The Impala and a Matrix or two. A few friends too, have picked me up over the years. Grateful for them all.