Just got the car back from the dealers and how lovely it was to get back in the Matrix after 3 hellish days in an i10! As always I took the first few weeks of ownership to identify any issues and get them fixed when teh dealer was at their most willing to help.
Only things I could note was the tracking was out ( despite it being part of the sale to fix it ) and the head unit was totally done for - it would randomly turn off and then on again half an hour later or not at all, sometimes you would press one of the radio pre-sets and that would make it turn off! Anyway it has a shiny new JVC cheapo CD player now so I guess they couldnt fix the Hyundai original - it is shall we say, colourful when turned on, but its FOC and it works so im happy enough.
I was a bit worried after the feedback on my choice that maybe I had missed something when we tested it, but I think it is more a case of what people are used to. is it noisey? No. Is it a standard setter for refinement? No. It is acceptable and the unit is muscular enough that it doesnt need much revving to get up to speed, it is an old tech car and lack of ultimate refinement will always be the case when viewed against the newest cars.
I find the ride perfectly fine, not soft but it isolates enough that on all but the roughest roads it does enough to be comfortable and relaxing.
The brakes are really strong and progessive and the handling is much better than expected, it feels very planted if you fling it around a roundabout. There is certainly less roll than you expect and the steering has a decent amount of feel. One thing the steering alos has is fairly strong self-centering, no dissimilar to a Citroen CX. It feels abit odd at first but you get used to it. It is also very light on the straight ahead, though weights up quickly.
The gearbox is the old fashioned 4spd overdrive set up and it is very smooth, it changes up very early and holds onto the higher gears unless provoked. The overdrive is hard to detect, only the drop in revs at 42mph+ tells you its there.
The seats are firm, but I find that very comfortable with my back and neck issues, the lumbar support is just right and the seat has plenty of adjustment. You do sit very high in the car and unlike newer cars, it feels very airy as the window line is a good 4-5 inches lower.
This means visability for lane-changing and parking is really good, although the relative small size ( it is only a few inches shorter than a Fiesta ) helps alot.
Im not sold on the centre instruments yet, but Im sure I will get used to them and the rear seats dont fold flat, so the load area isnt as good as it could be, but seats up it is a good size, esp with the sliding rear seat.
I think I rather prefer the older style plastics in the Matrix to what they put in the i10 which was horrid looking black plastics that looked like the same stuff you get on the handles of cheap tools.
One minor irritant is the drivers seat armrest which tends to rest too low to be comfortable so Im going to see if I can adjust the mechanism to stop it going so low.
Fuel economy hasnt been too bad so far at 36 mpg. Im not driving it hard but I expect that being a low miles car it will take a while for it to loosen up, so it will be doing a few long runs over the next few weeks to blow the cobwebs out.
Pretty happy with it so far, it certainly feels nice to step out of our other two cars and take this one out, it is pretty indulgent by our standards, but at £3.5k it isnt really a big spend and it feels like a bargin compared to the other cars we looked at which were twice the price.
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Just add one of these and the Bingo card is full ;-)
www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201302075238008
What reg-plate is the Matrix - presumably ~2007 for that money?
1.8 auto isn't it?
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56 plate. Yes 1.8 auto. I think ive cornered the market in cars that old duffers buy.
Multipla over my dead body. Love the design, not keen on the herberts that build it :-)
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Your days of frequently changing your car are over!
You do realise that there is no escape from the matrix? ;-)
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I know, I wanted to call it Neo, but the misses has ruled it is called Matty, so it has been named after a slightly feminine hairdresser, but I guess she is paying for it, womans lib and all that :-p
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Maybe we should all chip in to buy Stu some trousers?
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Im just getting with the program, men are yesterdays news, im off to bake a cake and clean behind the cooker :-) Hopefully if I do a good job ill get pocket money!
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>>im off to bake a cake
Eh, I make one every week, mainly because I don't want any 'super' market junk in my guts.
I'm well known, or should I say my cake is well known (as in in Yum!) so is my bread, brudder.
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Hyundai Matrix - First thoughts - Lygonos
