The Saturn basically blew up on Friday morning. Dave loaned me his car in the meantime (thanks, Dave!), and by Saturday at noon, I had new car.
Thanks to Margie, I was set up to buy through the Costco fleet program, which provides some nice discounts on specific cars, and the one was really looking at was on their list, so… bonus.
Friday night I did a test drive and left most of the information I needed, Saturday morning I went back and finished things up.
End result below…
2006 Toyota Matrix, one of Consumer Guides best buys of the year.
We put about 250 miles on during the weekend. here’s some impressions.
Fuel Economy: I’ve got about 245 miles on the car right now on my first tank of gas, and I’m juuuust a bit below the halfway point on the tank. Good good stuff. 301 miles on the car, total. (the 57 extra miles are from test drives, 14 of which was mine :)
Steering/Handling/Braking: I think it’s got a pretty smooth ride — I’ve been enjoying it. It’s a pretty tall car (I have REALLY good visibility with the notably upright way the seats sit — the driving position is much more upright than in typical cars of this type). The downside of that is that crosswinds push it around some. It corners really nicely and doesn’t lean nearly as much as I’d have expected. A lot of reviews talk about the engine being noisy at highway speeds, but I’m not getting that at all. The controls are all ‘very Toyota,’ as Dave said, and that suits me just fine — I had two Toyotas in college, and I’m used to driving a 4runner — it felt very natural to me.
Inside layout: Dunno how comfortable the backseat would be for a two-day cross-country trip, but as I’m not planning one of those… eh. I like the simple, open layout inside — seems like lots and lots of space. The front assenger seat folds flat for really long stuff, as does the (split) rear seat. Really, lots of space for a car that isn’t very big, and it looks like I’ll have no problem getting the dogs around in the back. There are lots of small-item cubbyholes around the car as well.
It’s a small wagon… laid out like an SUV, kind of. I really like the versatility/utility of it and I’m just generally really happy with it.
So there you go.
