Video: 2009 Toyota Matrix

One important model that consumers will get their first look at during the L.A. auto show is the all-new Toyota Matrix. Cars.com managing editor Patrick Olsen gives us a quick run-through of what’s changed for 2009.

Comments

[Six]

It looks like it has a good amount of space, good features, but it's so ugly. I hope it looks better in person.

[Brooke]

It's hard to tell from that video, but I actually like the styling.

[Buckley]

Matrix Styling: F.
At best it's a MINOR restyling of the current Matrix (which is one of the most awkward-looking cars Toyota has ever put out). They should've given us the Auris, exactly as-is (except for moving the steering wheel to the left side, of course). That's a beautiful car for the small hatch market, and would've been an instant success.

(Sadly, as much as I would love for the Matrix to be a total bomb I'm sure it will sell well -- Toyota's target market is not very style-centric, unfortunately.)

Video Editing: C. A grade-schooler with iMovie could do a better job. Stop with the quick edits and panning and let us actually see what this ugly beast looks like!

One last note: it's pronounced toy-OH-ta, not tuh-YUH-duh. I don't know why so few Americans manage to get this right. (Even my local dealer's sales manager screws it up in their TV commercials!)

[LM]

Um DT, not a competitor to the Mazdaspeed 3. Just a regular old Mazda 3. The speed3 has oh, about 100hp more than the top Matrix and costs $4000 more.

To Buckley...get a grip man.

[Buckley]

As you can tell from the bulk of my Matrix/Corolla-related posts, I'm bitterly disappointed by Toyota's decision to not bring the Auris to the US. In fact, bitterly is not a strong enough word to describe my disappointment.

Part selfishness (as I would've been first in line to purchase one!) but also for Toyota as well; their design decisions over the last decade or two have been questionable at best, and utterly appalling at worst.

They say they wish to compete in the Mazda3/Rabbit/GTI/etc. market, but then make no real effort to do so. Which is ashame, because if they put their minds to it I'm certain they could put a product out there that would visually kill those cars, and I'll take Toyota quality over Mazda any day. (The main thing that keeps me away from the 3 is concern over Ford's influence.) And VW's quality is so terrible I simply wouldn't consider a purchase under any circumstances, even though I think the Rabbit/GTI is one of the sharpest cars out there, period.

(I have contacted Toyota directly to voice my disappointment as well, and to their credit they responded to me in as much detail as they could. But sadly they have no current plans to bring the Auris to America. Huge mistake IMO...)

If your remark is about my other comments, well that's how I feel. The video sucked, and people need to learn how to pronounce (and spell) things properly. Last time I checked, there was no car company called Tuhyuhduh.

[Taylor]

I saw some coverage of this car on the SEMA Insider website. I believe it was debuted during the show. I really like the styling of the car though.

[Infosaur]

Buckley sounds like a former VW owner who got burned but will STILL never touch an American car. Now he's saying Toyota needs to sell the cars HE wants, nevermind the fact that the cars they DO build (boring or not) outsell most everything else.

Buckley, where there's a will there's a way, if people can Greymarket Skyline GT-R's over here, best of luck dude, get one of your beloved Auris over here.

[Buckley]

Nope, never owned a VW. Literally everyone I know who does (or has owned one in the last 10 years or so) have had nothing but endless problems with them. I can count on zero fingers the satisfied VW owners I know. You couldn't get me into a VW at any price, at least not until they figure out how to resolve the giant list of problems their cars suffer from. Which is a shame, because as I mentioned earlier from a design perspective there are few better IMO.

Owned one American car, a 1966 Mustang (sold with much regret years ago). Nothing from Detroit since then. Spent the 80s and 90s observing how terrible they were inside and out, and so far in the 00s observing a notable increase in quality (although still not to Japanese standards, even American-made Japanese models) but no similar design improvement. The vast majority of what Detroit turns out is just butt-f'ing-ugly (and the few that aren't are either not something I'm interested in, or out of my price range).

Toyota can do what they want, my opinion is only that. I know for certain that I am not alone in thinking that a.) the Auris would be a very successful car in the US, and b.) the Auris/Blade blows the doors off the so-called "redesigned" Matrix in terms of styling. Even if there were nothing overseas to compare it to, there's only so much polish you can apply to a turd, and nothing changes the fact that it's a turd. The Matrix was awkward and ugly in its first incarnation, and this minor redesign makes very little improvement (and several things are quite worse IMO). And certainly not a car that VW or Mazda needs to be worried about in the least, despite Toyota's expressed desire to be more competitive against them.

Again, just my opinion...