I always thought the Dodge Magnum was one badass looking wagon. I test-drove several wagons and hatches to replace my little lost red Toyota Matrix, because so many of our trips involved not just the three of us, but also our bags and my large dog. The Magnum was the clear best choice. The one I drove had great power and fantastic brakes, the wayback was huge, and it was a comfortable cruiser. I could just see myself enjoying the highways in that car.
You will notice that the photo above is not of a Dodge Magnum.
This 2003 Toyota Matrix XRS was one of the other cars I test drove. When I told my sons I wanted the Magnum, they made it clear: they hated the Magnum and wanted me to buy the Matrix. “It would feel normal,” my older son said.
I think I understood him. After years of chaos and rebuilding, what my sons needed most was predictability. I was determined to give them that. This Matrix was part of delivering on that need.
Fortunately, I liked this Cosmic Blue Matrix well enough.
Where my red Matrix had been the base model, this XRS was the top trim. It had an upgraded stereo (with a dead head unit that I replaced with a standard unit I found on eBay), better padding in the cloth seats, a 120-volt electrical outlet in the dash, fog lights (that didn’t light very well), 16-inch alloy wheels, four-wheel disc brakes with ABS — and an upgraded engine. Toyota developed the 1.8L 2ZZ-GE engine with Yamaha. It produced 180 horsepower with an unusually high redline of 8,200 RPM. This engine found peak power at a surprisingly high 6,200 RPM. Unfortunately, my Matrix came with an automatic transmission, which prevented the car from reaching its power band in almost all circumstances. Once in a while, while passing on the highway, my XRS found its power sweet spot and it was exhilarating. This car would have been loads more fun with a manual transmission. With the automatic, I seldom got to experience what made the XRS special. I didn’t really understand this until I’d owned the car for a while. It required premium fuel, to boot. But in those days excitement wasn’t my priority — stability was.
It was an adequate daily driver, at least. The Matrix ran on the Corolla platform; the owner’s manual even called the car the Corolla Matrix. Even though the Matrix’s cockpit revealed none of its Corolla roots, this was still clearly an economy car.
One cool feature was that the gauges were dark unless the car was on, at which point they all lit up red. From 2004 the gauges changed to red and white. I think the all-red display was a lot cooler.
The boys and I made one Spring Break trip in this Matrix, touring through the hills of Tennessee with a quick visit to Mammoth Cave on the way home. I made several trips exploring the old roads in this Matrix – US 50 across Indiana, the National Road and US 40 across Ohio, and even a little of the Lincoln Highway in Indiana, which is pictured above. This short brick segment of that road is near Ligonier.
And here the Matrix and I revisited some of old US 40 west of Indianapolis.
Life settled into a rhythm, though not without complications. My ex remarried and moved with her new husband to a suburb 45 minutes away. That threw a real monkey wrench into my parenting time. Even though my ex and I took turns with the driving, the boys and I still spent a lot of time in the Matrix going back and forth. I started putting between 20,000 and 25,000 miles on the Matrix every year. It was just what I had to do to show up for my sons.
As those miles piled on, I had an unexpected opportunity to buy my next car, this pictured Ford Focus. I’ll tell its story next time. The Focus became my daily driver, but I hung onto the Matrix. From here on, the Matrix became the bonus car, and the one my older son learned to drive on, even as the years and miles piled on.
I had mixed feelings about being my son’s driving teacher. I remembered the fights my dad and I had when he taught me. I’d inherited some of his less admirable traits, including his impatience. I worked hard to stay cool in the passenger seat. To my relief, we didn’t fight. He was a careful, steady learner, and I was surprised by how calm I could be. We did a lot of driving around town, such as to church or back to his mom’s house. But we also took a couple longer trips. My favorite was a drive down US 40 to Terre Haute. There’s a terrific barbecue joint on the east side of town right on the highway. We drove out, had a great dinner, and then drove back.
He passed his driving tests no problem. When he needed a car, the Matrix was there for him.
Life was good. My software career was advancing — I’d moved into management, then made Director, leading quality assurance teams. My sons were both in high school and doing reasonably well. After all the turbulence we’d been through, this was a great outcome.
Meanwhile, the Matrix kept running. Time was not kind to its looks, though. I don’t understand what happened to the paint on the hood and roof, but it came to look like this in the last few years I owned it. Some paint also peeled off the front bumper.
A sewer project in my neighborhood led to part of the main road off my subdivision being removed for a couple weeks. The day the crew removed the pavement, they failed to build ramps down into the dirt for those of us who had to get through to go home. I sailed off the edge of the pavement at 35 miles per hour and hit the ground hard, breaking all the ground effects off the front of the car. The contractor cut me a check for the damage, but I never bothered to get it fixed.
I also got rear-ended twice in this Matrix. The first time was serious enough that it destroyed my rear bumper. Four months after getting it fixed, I got hit the second time. Fortunately the damage was limited to some traded paint. I let it be and moved on. The Matrix already looked like a beater; that scrape didn’t make it any worse.
Despite looking like hell, the Matrix kept running. For a second car, reliability mattered far more than appearance.
I took to using the Matrix like a work truck. Anytime I needed to haul something, I fired up the Matrix. With the back seats folded down, the wayback of this car was simply enormous. The floor was flat and there was no liftover. I hauled all sorts of stuff in this car, including a dining table and six chairs.
The sewer project I mentioned earlier led to half of my front yard being torn out as the new sewer line was connected to the house. After the boys and I re-graded the yard, I brought home loads of sod in the Matrix. The sod was always damp and left mud all over the floor. When the project was done and all the dirt was dry, I used my leaf blower to clean it out.
When the car had rolled to 185,000 miles, I hit a pothole hard enough to damage some suspension and steering components. “Jimmy,” my mechanic said — and when he called me Jimmy, it was always bad news — “the repair will cost way more than this car is worth. It’s time to let this one go.”
The Matrix had given me eight steady, reliable years. It had been there for every parenting exchange, every road trip, every time my sons needed it. It had done exactly what I’d needed it to do.
I traded it in on my next car. But I’m getting ahead of myself — I still need to tell the Focus’s story. That’s next time.
I had no idea you could get these with an automatic!? For some reason I thought only the base engine could be paired with an automatic – and they had a reputation for being lethargic.
IIRC that combo was only for the first-year 2003 models.
I think you’re right, on the XRS; in 2004+ it was 6-speed only.
nlpnt is right, I think: the auto was available only in 2003 on the XRS.
The base engine wasn’t a screamer. Mostly adequate.
Steady! That’s both the Matrix and his owner during those years. The decomposing paint on the front sure is weird, maybe the hood was replaced at some point and they used a different (cheap) paint?
With the death of Bob Weir this week I have the Grateful Dead on my mind, when I read that your Matrix came with a dead head unit I thought “Why would you replace the stereo? That would be perfect for long trips with your sons!” but then I read it again.
Good thing you were so steady Jim, you really did your sons right by that. I suspect the Focus will not come in for such high praise.
I was grateful to have built stability for us as quickly as I did, as my ex’s life continued to have some turbulence and at least one of our kids’ parents was boring and predictable.
I get you. After the (acrimonious but not on my part) divorce, I just wanted stability and predictability for my kid for at least the 75% of the time she was with me. For the first time ever in my adulthood, we got a (really nice) artificial, not live, Christmas tree. We just needed something…reliable and predictable. These 8 years later we laugh about it, yet love our still beautiful tree…
It took a long while, but things are better in her relationship with her mom, which I’m very glad about.
I too thought the paint was due to poorly repaired collision damage, but that wouldn’t explain the paint damage on the roof. Most likely the car was stored outside and the decomposing paint was caused by sun damage.
Matrix is a good car to own, basic, highly functional/practicals and very reliable. I owned a 2004 Matrix XR until 2025 Thanksgiving. I got this car from my wife niece who graduated from college with highly paid job and now drives a RX350 SUV. I spent about two thousand dollars part and labor to get it into the shape. The items included new gas tank, new cat converter, ABS module etc ect. It ran very well never got me stranded in the road. Two problems we were never able to fix, occasionally check engine light and radio. Radio had a weak AM reception and no FM reception. Initially we thought it was the antenna. It didn’t resolve the problem. We thought the problem was at the antenna amplifier module, a very expensive unit, or the radio assembly itself, also expensive part. So we left it alone, I used a wireless blue tooth speaker to get some entertainments. Occasionally my 2003 ML350 had the same radio problem, weak AM and no FM receptions, wife drove that car suddenly radio became very loud, then all quiet, I took off the radio , and had a very capable electronic technician to test out and found radio working, so again it was the antenna amplifier module.
Back to Matrix, its driving experience was very basic, even a bit rough in comparison with today highly refined vehicles, it brought me 1980 and 90s era again. Its small size makes it very nimble and its torsion beam rear axel setup is very suited for the vehicle although you can not push it very hard. My 1.6 liter engine is powerful enough to cruise in up to 80 mph if you can withstand the loud noise, you also need to plan well to merge into highway ramp before you get in trouble with those nice New Jersey Drivers .
Nevertheless, we gave the car back to her niece as a spare vehicle for her NYC relatives in November. If we were on the market for used vehicle, we would probably get a 2010 Matrix, a newer model. I don’t understand why Toyota stopped making this true car based utility vehicle.
IIRC I spent like 60 bucks to get that used head unit (radio) on eBay. It was out of a wrecked Pontiac Vibe. The bezel around the head unit pried off easily and it was a clip-out-clip-in job to hook it up.
I found my base Matrix (the car I owned before this) to not be a great accelerator either.
About the catalytic converter, I got for $150 from Amazon, sold the old one to a legitimate buyer for $85 in cash. That is a good deal. Also, 1.6 liter engine of that Matrix is the smallest engine vehicle I ever owned, although it is not the lesser power. I believe the output is 140 horsepowers. Few of my past vehicles, 1983 Caprice with 5.0 liters/140 horsepower, 1987 Accord LX Sedan with 2.0 liters/98 horsepower, 1992 Intrega GS hatchback with 1.8 liters/140 horsepower, and 2003 Accord V6 sedan with 3.0 liters/240 horsepower.
We have a base model 2004 Vibe with over 200,000 miles that we love. We solved our similar radio problems by replacing the antenna with a front fender mount antenna from a GM B body, and immediately the radio worked great.
An XRS automatic; I too did not think that was a thing. But obviously it was. And it gave good service too, like a Toyota is supposed to do, high-revving engine or not.
In my family it would have been the opposite: my boys would have goaded me to get the Magnum and not the Matrix. As if… 🙂
The back seat of the Magnum had a very high sill and my boys couldn’t see out while belted. They said it felt like a cave back there. I wouldn’t have liked that either!
Well, here, the manual would have been the 6 speed. Oh, well. In the meantime it seems you have a tendency to go sailing off and through things.
Can’t tell whether it’s just bad luck or insufficient paying attention.
It’s funny, because if I’d have to guess first about who would want which car, I’d assume that the kids would lobby hard for the Magnum, and the dad for the more “practical” Matrix. But I totally get their yearning for normality, and the Matrix is a great car.
Timely that you’d mention having mixed feelings about being your kids’ driving teacher. Just yesterday, I had one of those “fights” with my daughter as I was teaching her to drive. She did something boneheaded (stopped at a green light), and I yelled at her to keep going, and it just snowballed into a full argument. I’d taught one daughter to drive last year, which went very well since she’s probably similar to your son (a steady, thoughtful learner), and I stayed calm and even enjoyed the process. Daughter #2 is much more challenging, and it’s been slower progress. I have to take a while off to decompress, because another incident like this would be very bad. I’ll be glad when this is all over.
But one thing I can say about teaching kids to drive, is that it’s nice to have an older, lower-value car for that process. Definitely takes some of the stress away.
My kids aren’t car people, at all. Another Matrix just felt like being home to them.
I taught both of my sons to drive. Neither was unusually challenging. I guess I was fortunate.
Yes, if we totaled the Matrix during driving instruction, whatever, we would have just moved on.
Thank goodness for a steady, older car when the kids are in their teens! And for a steady parent too.
I had never understood that your blue Matrix was a high performance version, so I agree it was a shame about the automatic. And the hood paint is a mystery. I wonder if your car had been partially repainted before you got it.
Yeah, what passed for high performance. All these years later, I don’t the XRS’s go-faster bits were well executed. Boost at 6200 RPM? Srsly?
Many folks didn’t realize that a Pontiac Vibe was basically the same so those became a good buy on the used market, my brother had 2 of them, bought quite cheaply.
When our yard got torn up for replacement of the gas main laterals last year the it was required that damage to the lawn and garden be repaired and restored. Odd that yours did not do so.
I don’t know how such things get decided, but in Indianapolis, this project required homeowners to contract separately to dig up the yard and connect the house to the new lateral. None of the companies doing this work would regrade and reseed; that was on me. The whole thing was a charlie foxtrot, really. The most popular company doing this work was run by a charlatan who ended up sued by the attorney general for fraud. What a mess.
Only 185,000 miles? It was just broken-in. Actually, that was a fairly decent amount of mileage on the car. You did indeed get your money’s worth out of the car and it was time for it to go that parking garage in the sky. (To the recycling center where it could melted down and made into something else, maybe a new car.)
I was really hoping for 200,000, maybe even 250,000. I’d heard of Matrixes and Vibes that made it that far! But that pothole really did an expensive number on the car.
Nice unfolding tale. This part is a real case of the car being part of life.
I’m glad the Toyota fulfilled its role, but I cannot like it. I have (essentially) the same car as your previous Matrix now in the form of a gorgeous, low mileage 2004 Corolla, and I detest it.
Not for what it is – beautifully made, totally reliable – but for its clumsy dislike of a driver. Did Toyota make the gearchange and clutch deliberately uncoordinated to encourage the auto? Must it toss my head about over every leaf on the road? And wander always a bit, and ride so unrefined? Why must it twitch and roll if cornered? Why be so damn niggardly on every fitment when it was far from the cheapest small-car option when new (no bloody glovebox light, really?) Why so noisy at speed – to once have made the buyer get the higher, better-insulated model?
I’ve owned rubbish-reliability French cars I loved far above this, even when stranded, and it is quite possible my grumps are magnified by it being a part of MY life – who refuses a dirt-cheap excellent car when you don’t have much? – but my only car-interested son doesn’t like it either, and I take comfort from that.
Your car arrived asked-for (if not by you). Mine was, perhaps, imposed by circumstances, and it’s possible that makes all the difference.
I look forward to the Focus part of the tale, because Ford Europe made very sweet cars then. Doubtless, it won’t be the paragon of quality the Matrix was, but I have not a doubt it was exactly 17.5 times nicer to drive.
Both of my Matrixes were okay drivers. The handling was fine, the acceleration was fine, the fit and finish was fine. “Fine” not meaning “great” – just “acceptable.”
Recall that my first Matrix toasted its transmission. The Focus never did that, but it did have two years where lots of little things kept going wrong, driving me to visit my mechanic a lot. But it did have far more entertaining driving dynamics than either Matrix. Better acceleration, too.
Another great read, Jim. I also had liked the Dodge Magnum when they came out, but I admire the “sacrifice” you had made in selecting this cool Matrix. I had already known that it was going to be a great ownership experience based on its Corolla underpinnings, but to see the paint on the hood do that was surprising. I don’t remember having seen anything like that before. I like that this Matrix turned out to be a great, little workhorse.
Thanks Joseph! I have a sneaking suspicion that the Matrix was a longer-lived car than any Magnum would have been. I just can’t explain the paint issues, though. Whatever – what it lacked in style, it made up for in utility.
My 2006 Matrix work truck.
Base model, 5-speed.
End of life: rear ended by hit-and-run VW wagon.
Eleven years, 67K miles.
YASS. Now that is how you do it with a Matrix!
2017 Tucson work truck: