VW City Golf or Toyota Matrix?

I have been driving a 1986 VW GTI for the past 10 years, and since she's starting to show her 20 years of age, I may soon be looking for a replacement. My VW driving and owning experiences have been good, although certainly not flawless. Here in Canada, VW are offering the 2007 City Golf for a very reasonable price. It's basically a 4-door A4 Golf, 2.0L engine, disk brakes on all 4 corners. With options like air conditioning and cruise control, it prices in around $20K CDN. Pretty good warranty. I like the hatchback versatility, and like I said, I have enjoyed driving my GTI.

However, as many of you will know, VW are not necessarily leaders in reliability, at least according to the summaries in Consumer Reports and other sources. Toyotas seem to rank much better in the reliabilty area. (Yes, I know those are statistics, and it is possible to get a trouble-free VW or a lemon Toyota.) Looking at Toyota's lineup, the Matrix is the closest match to the City Golf, in terms of size and configuration. With similar options, the Matrix price is comparable, perhaps a bit higher. From doing some on-line comparisons, here are some pros that I've found for each:

VW City Golf - ========== PROS: better warranty; disk brakes front and rear; anti-lock brakes; torque peak at low rpm; telescopic steering wheel; wipers are variable and speed sensitive; nicer styling (personal opinion);

TOYOTA MATRIX ============== PROS: better fuel economy; higher HP; cargo area has flat floor; better reliability history; 16V engine; more usable cargo space;

Opinions, please!

Reply to
WT
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I am not that familiar with the current generation of VW's, but I recommend that you drive the Matrix and Matrix-based Pontiac Vibe to see if you like them because they probably have a different feel and handle differently from the VW. I've seen very few posts about Matrix problems/issues in alt.autos.toyota, if that an indication of their lack of problems.

Reply to
Ray O

buy whatcha like. personally, i think the toyota will be troublefree the longest, but the golf might be more fun to drive. ive owned a watercooled VW, and it was a fun lil car, but i doubt id ever get another. its all honda and toyota from now on.

Reply to
mike

I faced a similar situation a year ago. I owned a 97 Golf that had been somewhat reliable. When I started looking for a replacement, I wanted another Golf. But too many reviews suggested it was anything but reliable. After owning 3 VWs (and 5 German cars) I decided to pass and look at the cars with the better reviews: Honda, Mazda and Toyota. I bought a Corolla (even though it's not German.)

I know how you feel about the Golf. I was disappointed that the quality of VWs had apparently suffered. But I've been very happy with the Corolla and have some peace of mind knowing in all likelyhood it will be a dependable car.

Reply to
joebob

How about safety? We have a 05 Passat and an 05 Lancer. I know, not the same class of car, but that aside, the VW feels like a tank compared to the Mitsu. Drive them both and see which you are more comfortable with. BTW, who makes the Vibe/Matrix, Toyota or Pontiac?

Cecil

blah, blah, blah.......

Reply to
Detailing Dude

Naturally in any NG for a particular brand you will get opinion that favor that brand. The fact is All manufactures are building good dependable vehicles today. I would suggest one drive all those vehicles that suit their needs then get a 'total drive home price,' not merely a selling price, to determine which best suits your budget. After you get a total drive home price you can determine if you believe any perceived differences between vehicles are worth the cost

mike hunt

Reply to
Mike Hunter

I have had three VW's and two Toyotas:

67 Karman Ghia -- too out of date to compare

86 GTI --Best handling car I have owned, reasonable reliability

90 Passat -- good handling, Lots of Shop time (wiring harness. rings, heater core)

00 Camry -- pretty good handling, excellent reliability (no expenses beyond maintenance and tires in 56k)

02 RAV 4 --decent handling, excellent reliability (maintenance, tires and front brake pads).

YMMV, but Consumer Reports favors reliability of the Toyotas. Good luck with your car hunting,

Tom

Reply to
tak

My mechanic laughs when someone says VW. His intuition is spooky, so when he laughs, I trust him.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

My choice for a new car is the Toyota Prius. It is a FULL hybrid that has very low fuel consumption (the EPA combined city/highway rating is 55 mpg). Toyota could easily double that figure if they would only go to the next logical step and offer a Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) option.

Reply to
Papa

Toyota and NUMMI make the Matrix/Vibe.

Reply to
Ray O

Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?

Reply to
Brian Running

Hard to beat the reliability of a Toyota, hard to beat the feel and fun of a VW. If I were considering the two you mentioned, I'd also be looking at the Scion xB.

Reply to
Brian Running

I've never heard of you, your law practice or your bass playing. You must be thinking of someone else.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

At the risk of repeating myself (and others): do take those EPA figures with a bucket of salt. Since the beginning of Aug '05, I have managed 52mpgUK (winter) to 57mpgUK (summer), with a few excursions to either side in odd circumstances. My dealer says the usual figure is around 56 mpgUK. Multiply mpgUK by 0.8 for mpgUS, IIRC.

BTW the other day someone here said that highway driving speeds limit the Prius' advantage (words to that effect). I find that the inherently greater efficiency of the petrol engine keeps up a good mpg, even over hours of motorway (US:freeway/interstate) driving at speed. No figures to hand, though. While in the US this past summer, I saw plenty of Priuses -- common as rats, at times -- many of which were doing a hearty rate of knots on I-5 (better than the POS Chrysler Sebring [see past discussions] my luck had lumbering me with, at least. )

Reply to
Andrew Stephenson

How did they compare when you test drove them?

Reply to
B A R R Y

Would you believe in Columbia, Missouri, a good-sized city of roughly 100,000 people, there is not a single VW dealership. Everybody's here--Mazda, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Caddy, Hyundai, even Kia--but not Volkswagon.

Reply to
Built_Well

Sounds like you need a lot more flaky women between the ages of 18 and 23. From observing VWs, that seems to be 99% of the target customers.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

Would you believe the nearest Volkswagon dealership is 100 miles away in St. Louis. I can understand Lexus being 100 miles away, but not VW.

Reply to
Built_Well

They'll be the ones passing in the breakdown lane @ 70 MPH, while never missing a word on the cell.

Reply to
B A R R Y

.....while putting on lip gloss.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

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