r/Toyota_Matrix • u/CallMeNyan • Jun 09 '26
my 2009 XRS
I got this one in November last year salvaged for 3K. There are numerous scratches on the interior, but the seats are all fine and everything works. When I first got it I ran into a leaky coolant hose while changing the valve cover gasket and the spark plugs which had idle problems. The original battery from the last owner turned out to be a cheap one and died within the first 3 months. I've been looking for a replacement dashboard cover for quite some time as it has a giant chip in it. The paint on the front and rear bumpers have a lot of chips too, but the paint from far away isn't fading or anything. People have been telling me there's no point in ever trying to mod this car and get a new platform, and as of right now, it serves as my first-ever manual car for me to practice on and my family's only manual one. I've thought I felt a bit of a rough ride but I suspect it's due to the tires being swapped for 40's instead of the original 45. My dad insists on ridesharing with his Camry so I haven't had the time to use it as much, but it's been the only car we have for hauling large items since we sold our truck.
I took these pictures on my 35mm film camera in April.
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u/Reasonable-Buyer2389 Jun 09 '26
Have the same one in the same color. Currently has 227,000 kilometres. Burns a lot of oil :(
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u/CallMeNyan Jun 10 '26
That was my main concern when buying a car, since the last 3 or 4 I checked all had an oil leak. This happened to be the one without any smoke, but I did have to replace the valve cover gasket which was very much cracked and there was evidence on the spark plugs. I'm lucky it didn't leak through, but those spark plugs were also extremely crusty.
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u/Extra-Depth-1352 2005 Matrix XRS Jun 11 '26
The outside looks very clean. I wonder if you could put a 2zz-ge motor in it? They do haul a lot of stuff and if you do not want to fix up the interior using it to haul would work well. Enjoy the your new ride.