2007 Toyota Matrix

My red Matrix is my first car. I bought it in late 2006 and I really love it. Not only that the car looks awesome, the gas mileage is also awesome (30-34mpg). The car is very roomy, considering that it is not an SUV. I'm a college student so I often have to move to other states for summer internships. Pretty much every summer, my Matrix is loaded with almost all my stuffs from my apartment. Maintenance costs are very low too. I've put in quite a mileage and haven't experienced any problem with it (except that I had to change a tire because there was a nail stuck in it, but oh well, it wasn't the car's fault. Haha...). What a reliable car!

What I don't like about this car is the quite pricy price. I paid almost $22,000 for mine for the XR model with the sun roof and 6 CD changer. I could have spent $3,000 less on another car in its class such as the Honda Fit, Chevy Aveo, or KIA Sportage. I also don't like that the interior looks pretty bland and old -- everything is still manual. I mean, for a lesser price, you can get a Toyota Yaris with all new automated car seat, iPod compatible CD player, etc. The last thing that I don't like is that the price really drops after Toyota came out with a new model of Toyota Matrix in 2009.

If you ever want to buy this car, I really suggest that you buy a used car. You could spend $2,000 - $4,000 less on a gently used Matrix rather than paying for the $22,000 brand new car only to find out that 2 years later it only worth half the price.

Anyway, I still love my Matrix very much and I'm glad to choose that as a first car!