by "MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig" (MR2_FTW)
Published 11/17/2017 at 15:54
by "MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig" (MR2_FTW)
Published 11/17/2017 at 15:54
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STARS: 5
What makes a car a good daily driver? Is it comfort? Fuel economy? Is it dependent on the amount of stuff and/or passengers it can carry? Is reliability the most important aspect? Everyone has different priorities of course. When I was looking to retire my MR2 from daily driving duties, there were a few key features I was looking for. The car had to have fully functioning AC and heat. I had to have cruise control. The car needed to be mechanically simple to work on, and reliable. It needed to have space for people and things, it had to be manual transmission, and something that at the very least wouldn’t be completely soul-sucking to drive.
One day while looking around on AutoTrader I found a 2005 Matrix XRS 6-speed. It had 113,000 miles, cold AC, cruise control, and everything on the car worked. I immediately called the seller and scheduled an appointment to go and see the car that weekend. After driving the car, I liked it well enough and the things I didn’t like were easily fixable for the most part. The first thing that strikes you with this car is how utterly boring it looks, especially in silver. With it’s grey interior, grey exterior, and grey wheels, this car isn’t turning any heads. On the up-side, this also means vandals and cops alike don’t give it a second look. It’s like the car is camouflaged by its blandness.
Inside, the trunk space is enormous. The floor of the trunk, as well as the backs of the rear seats (which fold flat) are hard plastic, which is great for hauling big heavy things that could otherwise scuff up your interior. For example, this 50 gallon air compressor fit perfectly. The trunk also features tie-down cleats and a rail system in the floor where you can add additional cleats to tie things down so they don’t slide around. Speaking of which.....
If you put groceries, or really anything in the trunk, it’s going to slide around like it’s on ice. The slightest touch of the gas, brakes, or steering will send stuff flying around back there.
It’s hard to see in this picture, but the front passenger seat also folds flat with a plastic table-like surface on the back. The rear glass can also open separately from the hatch, allowing me to transport these 10-foot fence rails. As far as stuff-hauling, this car is pretty great.
The biggest issue I had with the car aesthetically was the tail lights. In 05 models, Toyota put horrible chrome tail lights, so I found a used set of 03-04 red tail lights for cheap, which I think look much better.
One of my biggest gripes with the car right off the bat was how clunky the shifter felt. It was difficult to feel where the gears were and had a generally cheap feeling to it. Swapping out the shift cable bushings with some solid brass parts from Speed Source gave the shifter some much needed tightening up.
Another thing that bothered me was the how quiet the engine was. You could hardly hear the RPMs rising and falling to know when to shift, especially after having driven an MR2 every day for 8 years the quiet was very strange to me. Some Energy Suspension polyurethane engine mount inserts on the front and rear mounts fixed that, raising the decibels inside the car without being too harsh. They also reduced wheel hop which was nice.
The only thing on the car that didn’t work was the horn. I added some Hella Supertones, a must-have on all my cars after being nearly merged into too many times.
Being based on the Corolla platform, many suspension bits are the same. To help reduce the body roll and top-heavy feeling, I added a TRD rear sway bar which was a very easy (two bolts) installation. All of the things I’ve talked about so far apply to all Matrices though. What about the thing that makes the XRS special - the 2ZZ drivetrain?
The 2ZZ-GE engine and 6-speed manual transmission are what sets the XRS apart from the standard plebeian Matrix. Revving over 8,000rpm and making around 180 horsepower, the 2ZZ is shared with the Lotus Elise/Exige, Pontiac Vibe GT, Corolla XRS, and Celica GTS. In the Matrix, it injects an otherwise pedestrian hatch with a spark of personality. Unfortunately there are a few drawbacks. Because the variable lift doesn’t engage until 6,800rpm, you really have to beat on this engine to go anywhere fast - meaning average fuel economy rarely gets above 25mpg. Due to it’s high compression, the 2ZZ also requires 93 octane, so this is not exactly the cheapest car in terms of fuel costs. However, these engines are known to go well over 200k miles, are extremely reliable, and are relatively mechanically simple compared to turbo engines.
I drove the XRS at one rainy autocross event and needless to say it didn’t really excel. However for me I think this era of car is perfect for daily driving. It has modern electronics in terms of engine management, while still being mechanically simple to work on. It has all the creature comforts I need in the form of electric locks, cruise control, a nice JBL stereo, power windows, and most importantly AC, but nothing superfluous that will break and be expensive or difficult to fix. It has amazing throttle response via a cable, rather than an unresponsive, numb, rev-hanging electronic throttle. Unlike the standard Matrix, it has disc brakes all around, so it stops as well as it goes. The hydraulic power steering has decent feel without feeling overboosted and numb.
A boring-looking, practical hatch with a fun drivetrain, that’s unique enough to satisfy my need to be different (they only made 2500 of these), the Matrix XRS is a great fun daily driver.
"Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo" (thetomselleck)
11/17/2017 at 16:16, STARS: 0
Excellent write-up.
I have the totally neutered version of your car (1zz, auto). Everything we need, nothing we don’t. We get 5 better mpg in exchange for merely my soul. But oh how I wish it were an XRS when I have to drive it...
"CompactLuxuryFan" (compactluxury)
11/17/2017 at 16:20, STARS: 1
I love the Matrix (even the looks, which I think are really handsome and aged well). It’s just infinitely better than a Corolla and better looking than the Vibe. But from my experiences (having only driven automatic non-XRS models) they have some of the worst steering out there. It’s like the front wheels are not connected to the steering wheel at all. Possibly the only car I’ve ever driven where the steering has stood out as being absolutely awful. The anemic engine and lack of gears definitely didn’t help matters, but I hope XRSs got different racks on top of the powertrain upgrades.
"MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig" (MR2_FTW)
11/17/2017 at 16:34, STARS: 1
Racks are the same. Have you driven any newer cars with electric steering? The Matrix feels like a damn go-kart compared to those. Example - my MR2 has manual steering with a quick ratio rack and pinion. It quite literally feels like kart steering. On the other end of the spectrum is my wife’s 2015 Honda Fit (6speed). The steering in that thing is SO numb, the Matrix sits very comfortably between them in terms of feel.
"CompactLuxuryFan" (compactluxury)
11/17/2017 at 17:12, STARS: 0
I had a sport package E46 back when I drove the Matrix, so I may have been spoiled. I just remember there not being a clear relationship between how much you turned the wheel and how much the car turned.
"Pich, with Z32 now featuring Civic [Si] / No" (pichz32)
11/17/2017 at 17:29, STARS: 0
I used to like them, now not so much.
oversteer crash may or may have not influenced such feelings.
"interstate366, now In The Industry" (interstate366)
11/17/2017 at 18:43, STARS: 0
I recognize 3 of the brewery stickers (Legend, Wild Wolf, Trapezium). What’s the 4th? Nice write-up, too.
"Butsen Katsun" (butsenkatsun)
11/17/2017 at 20:32, STARS: 1
Great read! I love that you replaced the tail lights. I too have an 05 Matrix XRS, and the tails are terrible. It’s a fun car, and pretty discreet as you said. Mines light blue like an old lady car.
I agree that it’s too quiet, so I slapped on a catback with a resonator and free flow muffler, and an injen intake. It sounds very unruly when you hit the valve lift, but it’s nice and quiet when you’re at freeway cruising speed. I’m envious of the sway bar, would you say it resulted in a noticeable difference? I thought the steering is great, even razor sharp. But I’m coming from a 75 Datsun and an 89 Nissan, not a BMW, hahah
"MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig" (MR2_FTW)
11/18/2017 at 23:50, STARS: 0
It’s not a huge difference, but there is some. I definitely wouldn’t pay full retail for one, but I get an employee discount so it wasn’t too bad.
"MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig" (MR2_FTW)
11/18/2017 at 23:53, STARS: 1
Starting top left - Bell’s Oberon, (not sure, gotta look at the actual car again), Jack Brown’s Burgers and Beer, Strangeways, Brew Ridge Trail, Legend, Wild Wolf, Trapezium, OBX Brewing Station Lemongrass Wheat, Buskey Cider RVA, Bold Rock, Vassen, Kindred Spirit, Ammo Brewing, Lickinghole Creek, and I can’t see the rest.
"interstate366, now In The Industry" (interstate366)
11/19/2017 at 08:12, STARS: 0
Ah, nice, I didn’t see the photo with all of them when I commented that, just the one with a few. I made the trip out to Lickinghole Creek last week. I got a couple bottles and they gave me a free glass and a few stickers. I’ve never thought to get stickers from Ammo or Trapezium even though I work less than a mile from them.
"Butsen Katsun" (butsenkatsun)
11/19/2017 at 13:59, STARS: 0
I have a friend that works at a Toyota parts counter, she can usually hook it up a little. I hear Progress makes one as well.
Meant to ask, the mount inserts don’t create too much vibration? I just replaced all 4 of my mounts, but passed on the inserts for fear that they’d make the dash rattle at idle. Drives me nuts! That said, some more feedback on clutch and shifting actions would be nice, as you said!
"MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig" (MR2_FTW)
11/20/2017 at 08:55, STARS: 0
I daily drove an MR2 with inserts for like 8 years, so I’m used to and actually prefer some noise. If you’re hyper sensitive to vibration maybe you shouldn’t. But definitely do the shifter bushings, it helps so much.
"Matty" (matthewinaz1)
06/08/2019 at 03:14, STARS: 1
I have a 2003 xrs automatic. 240k miles and love it. Never breaks drown
"Matty" (matthewinaz1)
06/08/2019 at 03:17, STARS: 1
"MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig" (MR2_FTW)
06/09/2019 at 17:05, STARS: 0
I won’t say mine “never” breaks down, because it has. But never in a particularly expensive way. The water pump let go after plenty of noisy warning, but that was replaced for $70 and 4 hours. Then last year the starter went out, so 2 hours and $120 later it was mended. And last week the starter relay went bad but $20 later its back up and running. Can’t complain about that on a 14 year old car with over 140k miles.