HOPEFULLY not another P.O.S

G_YamTech_314

XS650 Junkie
Top Contributor
Messages
854
Reaction score
1,794
Points
143
Location
Lancaster Pennsylvania
Really kinda hoping I took a step in the right direction.

Went with Toyota for their good reputation, and because I've been incredibly satisfied with the Corolla we have.

It's a 2003 Toyota (Corolla) Matrix.
130hp, 5speed standard trans. Real alloy wheels, and some character to tie it all together.

I got a reasonable deal on it. Paid in full outright so I'm a proud new OWNER. This is the most I've ever spend on one of my own vehicles. Let's hope I can change my status on here...

Interestingly enough, I bought the XR trim level.

The XRS had a Yamaha-made Cylinder head. If only.
 

Attachments

  • 20191019_141630.jpg
    20191019_141630.jpg
    258 KB · Views: 158
If the (dreaded) PO took reasonable care of it, it should be good for 200-300 K miles. Big "if". Was the timing belt changed? Are there any leaks/drips? Nothing, I'm sure, beyond your expertise (and I'm not just saying that). They are well designed, and engineered to be worked on. A friend of mine has been buying Camrys for years and years. Less than $3K, over 100K miles, over 10 years old? A dime a dozen (sort of). Cheap to buy, cheap to feed, and cheap to fix. Good luck, and happy motoring! :bike:
 
If the (dreaded) PO took reasonable care of it, it should be good for 200-300 K miles. Big "if". Was the timing belt changed? Are there any leaks/drips? Nothing, I'm sure, beyond your expertise (and I'm not just saying that). They are well designed, and engineered to be worked on. A friend of mine has been buying Camrys for years and years. Less than $3K, over 100K miles, over 10 years old? A dime a dozen (sort of). Cheap to buy, cheap to feed, and cheap to fix. Good luck, and happy motoring! :bike:

It's actually timed with a chain, which is supposedly a lifetime part. Unless they overheat and skip a tooth on the sprocket, it's a hydraulic timingtiming tensioner, with a double link chain if I'm not mistaken. My lady's Corolla has 210k on it, never had a chain swapped, and still runs drives, starts perfectly. They're even VVT which makes them a lotta fun!

There's kinks in the Matrix, like some rusty hardware here and there that needs replaced, and some surface rust on the frame that needs knocked off, and undercoated, but other than that, it seems reasonable for the price.

Oil pan was dry. So no leaks there. Virtually a sludge-free engine. So I'm pretty sure it doesn't leak. I'll put some miles on it to verify its oil consumption if there is any.
 
I had a 2003 Matrix, one of my favorite all time cars, I liked it so much we gave it to our daughter to drive and bought another, a 2006 model. Too bad they discontinued them, I might’ve bought another! :D
I want one of these, (first three shots), a 1911 Marmon Speedster, first Indy winner, 6 cyl, average speed of 70 mph for 500 miles in 1911! Saw this one at Hershey, Pa. Classic Car Show, last weekend. Plush horse leather seats and engine straps, fuel tank (right at your back), heavy shackles to keep the wheels on the ground, (for a smooth ride), acetylene tank to your right, to light your lamps, (who needs a luxury interior light when you have five big lamps, one big spot beam right in your face, two lamps mid outboard and two lamps in the rear, long steering shaft right up against your breast bone, with two slider hand controls on the steering wheel with stylish dull spear point handles pointed at your chest, one for the second throttle control (to rev the engine when stopped on a hill, while you clutch and hold the foot brake), one for spark retard, (to aid in crank starting, among other situations) and three pedals with the foot throttle in the middle. Wikipedia says guys liked it because it was more like a motorcycle. Way back when this was THEE STUD CAR.
 

Attachments

  • Hershey, Pa classic car show 009.JPG
    Hershey, Pa classic car show 009.JPG
    278.2 KB · Views: 122
  • Hershey, Pa classic car show 205.JPG
    Hershey, Pa classic car show 205.JPG
    279.9 KB · Views: 132
  • Hershey, Pa classic car show 206.JPG
    Hershey, Pa classic car show 206.JPG
    214.4 KB · Views: 114
  • Hershey, Pa classic car show 097.JPG
    Hershey, Pa classic car show 097.JPG
    255.9 KB · Views: 139
  • Hershey, Pa classic car show 098.JPG
    Hershey, Pa classic car show 098.JPG
    190.8 KB · Views: 131
  • Hershey, Pa classic car show 054.JPG
    Hershey, Pa classic car show 054.JPG
    243 KB · Views: 123
  • Hershey, Pa classic car show 056.JPG
    Hershey, Pa classic car show 056.JPG
    253.6 KB · Views: 131
  • Hershey, Pa classic car show 058.JPG
    Hershey, Pa classic car show 058.JPG
    179.2 KB · Views: 135
  • Hershey, Pa classic car show 059.JPG
    Hershey, Pa classic car show 059.JPG
    183.6 KB · Views: 141
  • Hershey, Pa classic car show 060.JPG
    Hershey, Pa classic car show 060.JPG
    153.4 KB · Views: 135
  • Hershey, Pa classic car show 157.JPG
    Hershey, Pa classic car show 157.JPG
    176.4 KB · Views: 115
You may have to change your tag line to read: "I drive an econo-box, so my bike looks like a "tough-guy". :laugh:
No, seriously, you're good for the next 10+ years. As long as you don't collide with any animals, SUVs, dump trucks, etc... From the sounds of it, you've got a cream puff on your hands. "Dry" and "sludge-free" is good. They made zillions of them, so parts should be available, even if it's an "extinct" model. I once had a '78 Corolla SR5 Lift-back. It was unstoppable, ran like a watch when I sold it, and saw it two years later with a fresh inspection sticker. One of the best cars I ever had. I hope you have as good luck with yours. Cheers :cheers:
Tebo
 
Last edited:
My main concern was rust. I'll be looking into getting a service manual for the car so that I can really clean it up nicely. As of now, it's got a LOT of rusty hardware. I need to change that, and fi, it where I can so that it doesn't get worse. I plan to spray the whole underside with Bed-Liner. That will lock out moisture, and keep the chassis strong for as long as I own the vehicle. Black Bed-Liner looks much better than a rusty, holy frame. It isn't rusted through yet, but if I ignore it, I'll be sorry!
 
My main concern was rust. I'll be looking into getting a service manual for the car so that I can really clean it up nicely. As of now, it's got a LOT of rusty hardware. I need to change that, and fi, it where I can so that it doesn't get worse. I plan to spray the whole underside with Bed-Liner. That will lock out moisture, and keep the chassis strong for as long as I own the vehicle. Black Bed-Liner looks much better than a rusty, holy frame. It isn't rusted through yet, but if I ignore it, I'll be sorry!
We went to the car show last weekend in my brothers "87 Toyota 4-Runner which he bought used and mechanically and cosmetically restored. It looks great. He's dumped a ton of money into it. In our area, they are disappearing due to rust issues with the frame. He had it looked at by a body shop that did some work on it and they repaired a section of the frame, but told him this car won't last and may be dangerous. The under body is also rusty. He keeps it in the garage and doesn't take it out in the rain. If the whole under body is rusty on your car, I would have to consider the integrity of the metal in the frame, whether it's rusted through or not. My brother loves his 4-Runner, but I noticed the stability and braking is not like newer cars, either. I know, that's a lot coming from someone who has a motorcycle with shoe brakes, front and back...
 
Lucky you. They use salt and salt slurry on our roads and highways. And pain old regular sand (way up here in the agricultural areas). Like driving your car through a corrosive media blaster! That's why vehicles around here fall apart after 10-15 years, and the bone yards are full of rotted out carcasses (carcii?) with drive trains full of life... 'Yota has had their problems with 4Runners & Tacomas where rusted frames were an issue, but the Matrix is a uni-body, right? Most of that original hardware was cadmium plated. New hardware should get you another 15-20 years... :smoke:
 
It's not THAT rusty, hopefully able to be fixed up, just gonna tap the bits off with a hammer, wire wheel as much as I can, and undercoat it like I said. Should buy a lotta time, considering it's a commuter car and Winters in PA can be shitty.
We have a great little RAV 4, supposedly the fastest car Toyota made in 2011 due to the HP to WT ratio, having a side mounted V-6 engine and the only 4 wd vehicle made with full time front wheel drive. Now they toned it down a little, having one engine, a 4 cyl with a little more oomph and all wheel drive, because, once again what were they thinking? My brother has a 2017 as his commuter car. The 4 cyl was too slow and the six was too fast for its size. The front wheels came off the ground, during an approaching storm's headwind of about a 60 mph gust. To be on the safe side this little urban SUV stays in the garage, but in 2016 we took it cross country on through the northern tier for 13,000 miles, doing lots of side trips all along the way. Three oil changes, a set of tires and the only problem we had was a small plastic shroud behind the front pan dislodged after an eraser sized piece of truck tire flew up off the road as I went over it at 75 mph. All we needed was a plastic button rivet. No question, Toyota makes great vehicles and service can't be beat. and in your case the car is newer than my brother's 4 Runner. But, I once Googled the first Toyotas be sold in the USA. The article said they were an embarrassment; boxy looking and unreliable rusting in a short time. They were pulled from the market for a few years and Japan started to consider quality control with more scrutiny. I remember some of them from when I was very young. They used recycled metals with impurities. I also remember as a child, having little toy cars made in Japan. If you looked in the wheel wells, you could see a printed image.They would stamp out these cars from beer cans, with slots and bent over tabs to attach the bodies to the pans. And, I think this used to be a running joke in this country. But now, I swear by Toyota, and if they made a full size van, I would want it instead of my Chevy.
 

Attachments

  • Back yard, Packing van for LkGeo, Boatind on Brandt,Loon,Schroon 014.JPG
    Back yard, Packing van for LkGeo, Boatind on Brandt,Loon,Schroon 014.JPG
    184 KB · Views: 131
  • Back yard, Packing van for LkGeo, Boatind on Brandt,Loon,Schroon 016.JPG
    Back yard, Packing van for LkGeo, Boatind on Brandt,Loon,Schroon 016.JPG
    158.3 KB · Views: 126
  • Back yard, Packing van for LkGeo, Boatind on Brandt,Loon,Schroon 015.JPG
    Back yard, Packing van for LkGeo, Boatind on Brandt,Loon,Schroon 015.JPG
    146.5 KB · Views: 132
I had a Pontiac Vibe. The Vibe was designed by Toyota and assembled by GM. The Vibe was exactly the same car as the Matrix except for some exterior body parts and light assemblies. The Vibe was the last Pontiac model that GM kept making after the announcement of dropping the Pontiac line. We put over 300,000 miles on that Vibe with nothing more than tires, oil, and brakes. The odometers go to 299,999 and then stop counting. I always bragged that the wheel bearings never even had problems like other small cars, then we drove through some high water in the spring and started getting wheel bearing noise. It was impossible for me to determine which wheel bearing was bad, no evidence of which one by turning or wiggling the wheels, so I changed one wheel bearing. Big job changing these bearings, gotta bust the bearing to remove the hub and $500 of tools from O'rielly's loan a tool program. Then I still had the bearing noise so I changed the other bearing too. All was well so I gladly bought 4 new tires for it. Happily we kept putting miles on it till my wife hit a deer and totaled the car. We still talk about how many more miles this car could have been capable of.

Guess what car I bought next? Searched and searched for a newer Vibe that we could pay cash for. We ended up buying a 2008 Matrix, Excellent condition with all of the signs of a car that had lived its whole life getting dealer maintenance. Toyota wiper blades, oil filter etc.
 
Looks like I'm resurrecting an old thread, oh well.
I was needing a beater for my youngest to have for a first car. Driving home about a month ago a guy had what I assumed was a Carolla. Stopped and had a look. It's a 2001 Chevy Prizm. Open the hood, all Toyota! It's got a bit of cancer on the driver's rear wheel well, bad clear coat and no headliner. 270k miles and came with records from both of the previous owners.
The first owner was meticulous. Every tank of gas, every oil change, wiper, everything. The second owner had receipts for all the work he's had done over the last 10 years. It runs a bit rough till things warm up then it smoothes right out. I'm assuming it's probably due for plugs and maybe a MAF sensor. I'll get it going and it'll be a great little 1st car for him to rip the mirrors off at Sonic in.
 
I'll throw it out there that I've had good luck doing head stud retorques on old beater cars. Stopped several head gasket oil leaks. Even with the torque to yield bolts just loosen one at a time and retorque. Done.
 
Back
Top