Introduction: The Toyota Matrix was born as a result of Toyota wanting to return to the hatchback market in North America since the Corolla wagon was discontinued in the mid 90s. The Pontiac Vibe was the result of the partnership between GM and Toyota at the NUMMI plant. Both models are based off the current 10th generation Toyota Corolla platform. Both were introduced in 2003 and the two were made in different factories. Aside from the body styling the two vehicles were essentially identical. Today the Matrix continues to be sold in North America while the Vibe was discontinued after General Motors announced Pontiac would be defunct.
I wasn't expecting a whole lot of difference between the Vibe/Matrix over its Corolla base. I just more surprised GM didn't actually try to make the Vibe seem different.
Performance: Due to most of the development work being done by Toyota, the engine is the same 1.8L engine found in the 10th gen Corolla. One could have a more expensive Matrix/Vibe to get the 2.4L engine found in the Camry but for this review I'll only be looking at the 1.8L. The engine produces the same 132 hp and 128 lb.ft of torque. The acceleration time takes roughly 10.2 seconds to reach 0-100 km/h, not very good as its slower than the Corolla but it could be worse. Given AWD these cars would be even slower as the added weight will further decrease performance. The only nice thing about this engine is its refined and its pretty good on the fuel economy level.
My Score: 6/10 - Slower than the Corolla, overall not all that exciting and not very different from older Matrix and Vibes.
Handling: It would be wishful thinking if Toyota would do something different with the Vibe or Matrix when it comes to handling but neither differ from the Corolla in any way. You still get the extremely light steering wheel. You still get the total lack of feel and have very little confidence in the corners. Due to how uninvolved the driver will feel, to drive these cars is probably more effective than sleeping pills at putting you to sleep. Despite being a bit heavier than the Corolla, its still a dog when it comes to winter driving. Remaining in a straight line is still a task in this car when it shouldn't be, you should be notified by the wheel when you're not exactly straight. I absolutely hated this system in the Corolla, its no different with these cars.
My Score: 0/10 - Same problem as the Corolla, no score changes to report.
Interior: The Matrix/Vibe don't really differ a lot with interior with the Corolla as much I wished either. What the heck was wrong with Toyota in making a proper looking interior not full of cheap plastic? I normally blast Mitsubishi with interiors, but even they have provided with a carpet tailgate area over the nasty plastic tailgate found in the Matrix/Vibe. To make things worse is the center console, it looks nasty before you even touch it where you feel that it wasn't even made of good material. Lots of low quality materials are to be found which is absolutely disappointing in a vehicle that isn't the cheapest. Visibility is not very good with the small rear windscreen and bigger C-pillars. Build quality however seems to be good where it really didn't matter which factory it came from. If you got the Vibe it comes from the now closed NUMMI plant at Fremont, California in the United States. The Matrix comes from Toyota's factory in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.
My Score: 2/10 - Once again terrible materials, terrible center console, worse visibility than before all in despite if pretty good build quality.
Styling: The Matrix was styled a lot more differently than the predecessor. While the Vibe was more conservatively styled over its predecessor. A very different picture from the first generation of both cars where the Toyota was the conservative one while the Vibe was rather different. I can see Toyota tried to make the Matrix a bit different, although the very car that comes into mind that it resembles is the early Honda Insight. The Vibe because it barely changed from last time doesn't really look that different when put beside a bunch of Pontiacs.
My Score: 6/10 - A bit more effort went into the styling, neither however look at that fantastic.
Value for money: Competition is getting fierce in the hatchback market, as these two are newer cars they have to compete against the likes of the Mazda3 hatch, the VW Golf, the Dodge Caliber, the Hyundai Elantra Touring, and the Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback. There is something to like in all those cars over the Matrix/Vibe apart from the terrible Caliber. The Matrix does not position itself well as it doesn't offer very much other than badge, Mazda takes driving dynamics, the Golf especially in GTI form is considered the best hot hatch, Mitsubishi has the best warranty, and the Elantra Touring is a great value for money. Between the two badges, the Pontiac badge has the better warranty and that would be the best one to buy between the two. The giant recall of early 2010 has hurt the resale value for both, add injury to insult as Pontiac is a defunct brand and GM has to deal with bailout backlash.
My Score: 2/10 - Too much competition and doesn't stand out strongly in any area.
Overall: 16/50 - A poor effort by Toyota, I really didn't even take into account the recall that has tarnished the company's reputation. As one who's driven the cars before the recall the quality issues were present and the cost cutting for me was difficult to stomach.
This said I've never experienced sudden acceleration in these cars and in worst case scenario I would have put the vehicle in neutral to prevent the car from continuing to accelerate. Proper education on something as expensive and something that can be lethal like driving a car would have saved some lives. Possibly this could advocate the return of a manual transmission, as a driver of a manual car has to understand the importance of neutral gear to even operate their vehicles. Also in vehicles with manuals should a rare case of sudden acceleration just depressing the clutch effectively disconnects the engine from the transmission meaning it wont' transmit any power to the drive wheels thus ending acceleration.
