Hyundai Matrix 1.6 

The Review

A tribute to my Matrix 1.6M which I traded for the C4 Grand Picasso. The C4 had really shown me how far Hyundai had gone on reliability & quality. The Matrix was a car of my dream since I started working. Handsomely styled, practically equipped & solidly built. I bought it 4.5 years ago without even considering any other cars. Since then, it had served me & my family well & without fail, reliably for 4.5 years. From new, the Matrix had went for the 1st 3 free service by Komoco mtor. Since then, the only maintenance done was regular 10,000km oil change. In 4.5 years, it had accompanied me for 170,000km without any major failures in Singapore & Malaysia, which I had spent 50% of time in. Fuel consumption for the 1.6 manual model I had is also not as fuel hungry as a lot of people had known of Matrix. It gives me 12.5km/l with 70% highway & 30% urban. To add to the record, Hyundai engine can use fuel from RON 92 & above. My Matrix was on RON 92 from the day it hits the road. As my family grows, the Matrix is running out of space for us & I had to shop for a 7 seater. A number of cars was considered & test driven, & below is the summary. 1) Citroen C4 Grand Picasso - comfortable, good looking & 6 gear EGS. Drive ok, although not as engaging as my Matrix. (I bought the C4, but now starting to taste like lemon) 2) Opel Zaffira - closest contender: smart & practical, but styling of age now. 3) Kia Caren - good contender, 3rd row seat a bit small, 4 gear only. 4) Honda Odyssey - too low for comfort for big man 5) Honda Stream - too small 6) Renault Grand Espace - good car, but high price 7) Renaukt Grand Scenic - not the best styling available 8) Toyota Estima Aeras - good car, but high price 9) Toyota Picnic - too uncle 10) Toyota Wish - styling had aged 11) Nissan Presage - nice car, but 2.5 liter 12) Nissan Lafesta - boxy & poor finish quality 13) Honda Freed - too small 14) Daihatsu Terio 7 - nice car 15) Mishibitshi Grandis - styling had aged, 2.4 liter 16) Mishibitshi D5 Delica - big & nice car Finally, the Citroen C4 Grand Picasso was chosen. With 1,500km on the odometer already, I took it to Penang for a 1,200km drive which went well at average speed of 120km/h. However, few days after the Penang trip, the over heat lamp starts coming on & other problem start to surface. (see my other review on C4 Grand Picasso). Continental car had been know to produce horror story & looks like I am starting to be able to tell some. After a few weeks of driving & only 4,000 km on the odometer, I start to miss the Matrix that I had such great experience on. Unfortunately, Hyundai had not introduced any new 7 seater model in Singapore which I would had surely consider for my purchase. Complementing the good job done at Hyundai that had produced one of the finer cars in the form of Matrix. I now had just to get on with the lemon that I had bought & try to minimise the C4 sourness. Actually, the shape does look like a lemon & further, it is gold in color (resembles yellow). Hope you enjoy reading this & Happy Chinese New Year to All. :-)

Responded on: 1 Feb 2009 10:33PM

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Responded on: 28 Jan 2009 11:24AM

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Responded on: 28 Jan 2009 8:27AM

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The Review

A very practical family car. Would be ultimate if the engine is using Avante's. Good handling at high speeds and in corners. Family space is very good for a 1.6l car.