Yes...you bet. Mostly it's tires and oil, a few wipers and about 2-3 windshields a year! Of course, when I figure my costs / per mile I also have to add in driver wages and benefits.
I'm also curious about the Hyundai, I will be buying 3 more cars next year and maybe I'll go that route again? Unless, I also hear Honda may do a hatchback on the Civic?
The Hyundai is made a little cheaper, you can feel it and notice it. But that's body integrity, paint, sound deadening, etc...
So far the factory tires are impressive. We've had some real crap on the Matrix's. A few new sets were hamburger at 10K and they aren't covered under warranty, of course. They must've really bought some cheapies at the factory!
UPDATE: the Accent has 30 K on it now. Factory tires were OK (Matrix and Fit tires worse from factory) but had to be replaced at 25K.
NO OTHER ISSUES with this car. Drivers like it, it's slower than the Matrix and getting used to the door config. took some doing for some. Otherwise...Good! AND...VERY CHEAP! This car was almost 5 K cheaper than a Fit or Matrix!
__________________
'04 Tundra SR-5 REGULAR cab, w/Red Barchetta Pkg & a real (8') box!
-MODS = painted flames, high speed lugnuts, dual crome dipsticks, Sirius sat. radio and wheelie bars!
Interestingly...they all seem to get about the same MPG's. Maybe the winter has caused some of that...the range is 29-34 MPG's. Prairie winds can shoot a day's mileage all to hell...drivers will vary it less. I employ no one under 55 and no one is hard on the cars, or has their foot in the radiator, etc...
The Hynudai Accent is a trooper though. Still no issues with it at 70K. Weird tire size on it and we had to get the dealer to install the cruise and our local service guys put a block heater in it for the nasty winters here. We replaced a wiper last week. Big deal, huh?
We are going to take a long hard look at new models available for us this summer. We need to buy three cars and the early and clear leader now is new Matrix. The guys really prefer the Matrix for the job we have to do...only two of the 15 would rather drive the Honda's. Most dislike the lower seating position and stiffer handing and feel. 250-350 miles per work day can really help decide whether you like a car or not!
__________________
'04 Tundra SR-5 REGULAR cab, w/Red Barchetta Pkg & a real (8') box!
-MODS = painted flames, high speed lugnuts, dual crome dipsticks, Sirius sat. radio and wheelie bars!
Sorry but I HATE my 07 Matrix. To much road noise, struts rattle in front in cold weather, shifts into OD to soon. Dealer says they cant duplicate. Hey but the seatbelt dinger was easy enough to turn off. But I should have bought a Hyundai. The wifes 06 Corolla is alot quieter on the road. I bought the Matrix cause of the Toyota name. It may last along time but my wife thinks I'm YELLIN at her every time she rides with me. Should have bought a Hyundai.
oh and gas mileage is about 26 MPG. Thats even what the MPG site for all cars says it gets. Wife has a liter foot than me so hers in the Rolla is about 29-32.
Last edited by robertguero; 04-22-2008 at 03:48 PM.
Sorry but I HATE my 07 Matrix. To much road noise, struts rattle in front in cold weather, shifts into OD to soon. Dealer says they cant duplicate. Hey but the seatbelt dinger was easy enough to turn off. But I should have bought a Hyundai. The wifes 06 Corolla is alot quieter on the road. I bought the Matrix cause of the Toyota name. It may last along time but my wife thinks I'm YELLIN at her every time she rides with me. Should have bought a Hyundai.
oh and gas mileage is about 26 MPG. Thats even what the MPG site for all cars says it gets. Wife has a liter foot than me so hers in the Rolla is about 29-32.
I agree with you on the road noise in the Matrix. However, the noise, fit and finish in the Hyundai is worse. AND...there's no doubt that the Corolla is a nicer car to drive. We took 2 '03's to 250K and loved 'em. My drivers and I all hated to get rid of them and the only reason we did was that we were budgeted for new cars and didn't NOT want to buy 'em. I know, seems silly...welcome to healthcare...
Anyway, the Corolla's just don't cut it for storage space. In fact, no one in this size class can touch the cargo space of the Matrix...that's why we buy them and it's most likely why we'll continue to do so. What I also find interesting is that the Matrix is supposedly the same platform as the Corolla...but goes down the road so different!! Lastly, I can buy a nicely equipped Corolla for 1-2K less than the Matirx (the '09 Matrix isn't being discounted as much)...maybe we could pull trailers w/ new Corolla's...?
Your MPG's sound low though. We only get that bad if we're bucking a treeless, prairie, high-wind day. Otherwise they are good for 32 MPG's even at 80-85 MPG's.
__________________
'04 Tundra SR-5 REGULAR cab, w/Red Barchetta Pkg & a real (8') box!
-MODS = painted flames, high speed lugnuts, dual crome dipsticks, Sirius sat. radio and wheelie bars!
The current Fit is actually a 7 year old design that has been out since 2001. It just made it to the US in 07. I'm planning to pick up the redesigned 09 Fit when they are available this fall.
Jake this has been one of the most informative threads ever. (perhaps because I'm considering both of these cars) Please keep us posted. With distance you guys travel, it's like compressing years into days, for a low term test. Thanks
I registered to this forum in hopes to get more information about the differences with the Matrix, fit, and accent. Just hoping the original poster will continue with the updates.
I guess it has been awhile and I do have updates to write about...I may not get to them all here tonight tho'.
The Accent (2007 GS 3-dr) has been a good car...the drivers and I may have underestimated it! It's not finished as nice as the Toyota's and Honda's and the engine is not as refined, but it was cheaper to buy as well. We have 140K on it now. The 3-door doesn't suit us as well as hoped. I am moving it to another route in the next week of so to try it there. That's all logistical tho' & has nothing to do with the car's performance or reliability.
The big event was that I either forgot, or ignored the fact that this car has a timing belt that was supposed to get replaced at 60K. So, at 120K it broke and left us stranded! Our fault, I guess. I think we made out better though. It is an interference engine and we coulda bent some valves...but didn't. So we only did 1 belt repolacement in the mileage that we were supposed to have done 2! She runs great again and has endured a particularly nasty cold winter up here on the northern prairie already.
I will do an update on one of the '05 Matrix's later. It has 275K on it and is still doing fine...just a small hiccup exacerbated by the sub-zero cold recently...Gotta make it to the summer w/ it. Have 3 more new cars budgeted, most likely Matrix's...
ALSO...already bought 3 - '09 Matrix's this past summer. One is already closing in on 50 K and the other two are close behind. BIG news there...what a car! The redesign is nice!
__________________
'04 Tundra SR-5 REGULAR cab, w/Red Barchetta Pkg & a real (8') box!
-MODS = painted flames, high speed lugnuts, dual crome dipsticks, Sirius sat. radio and wheelie bars!
OK...had an issues w/ an '05 Matrix w/ 275K on it this winter. In the extreme cold we've been having we'd once in a while notice coolant on the ground. Not when it sat, but after it was driven and parked. It was a hairline fracture at the housing where the main coolant enters the engine. In the cold, the coolant takes so long to cycle it was hard to figure out the problem. We ordered the part and replaced all the coolant hoses while we were in there...she's back and running 300 miles a day!
__________________
'04 Tundra SR-5 REGULAR cab, w/Red Barchetta Pkg & a real (8') box!
-MODS = painted flames, high speed lugnuts, dual crome dipsticks, Sirius sat. radio and wheelie bars!
Here's some news on one of the Fits.
Hit by a flatbed tractor-trailer on a rural Nebraska rd. on 12-9-08, this vehicle was rear-ended and spun around and forced into the ditch.
You can see it lost a bumber (took out one of the trailers' rear tires w/it) and took some abuse. The driver was fine and guesses they were doing about 40-45 MPH at the time.
The ins. company insisted on fixing it, although it has 155K on it. It took a new rim and $6200.00 in bodywork to fix! They claim it's worth it and I wasn't in the mood to fight them. The driver drove it away from the scene (bumper in back) and finished the rt. that snowy day! No engine, or drivetrain work was needed!
__________________
'04 Tundra SR-5 REGULAR cab, w/Red Barchetta Pkg & a real (8') box!
-MODS = painted flames, high speed lugnuts, dual crome dipsticks, Sirius sat. radio and wheelie bars!
The check engine light seems to come on intermittently in all three of the '07 Honda Fits, at various times. Not sure if this means O2 sensors, or some other issue. So far, the gas mileage has not dropped in any of them significantly. Of course, in this cold...that'd be hard to tell! Over the last week one of them has combined this with poor idle when cold and will need to see the service garage next week. It's at 155K or so and we're hoping for the best. The plug ends for the engine block heaters were really cheap, they turned brittle and were cracking. That was a dealer add-on and we recently replaced 2 of these ends w/Menard's plugs. In this cold we need block heaters!
The '09 Matrix's have been great, as mentioned earlier. One of them had some molding problems from the start. The plastic molded crap around the driver door was falling out and had to be fixed by the dealer under warranty. They are all between 45-51K at this point. Asked for 3 more this next fiscal year, hope to buy sometime shortly after July 1.
The new Matrix gets about what the old one did 31-32 MPG's. The seats & ride seem to have been upgraded & we were able to get them w/ stock alloy wheels this time. Also did a little window tinting, as seen in the pic a few posts back...
__________________
'04 Tundra SR-5 REGULAR cab, w/Red Barchetta Pkg & a real (8') box!
-MODS = painted flames, high speed lugnuts, dual crome dipsticks, Sirius sat. radio and wheelie bars!
One took out the grill on an '09 Matrix. It cost $63 for the part and that includes the $2 for an extra middle plastic pin. We replaced it.
One hit the side of the front left fender on an '07 Fit. It put a nice dent in the composite fender that we won't be repairing. The Fit has more plastic and composite in the exterior and feels cheaper that the "Trixies".
Last year a turkey cracked the front plastic bumber on the Fit as well. It also remains in that condition, due to cost! All of the foglites have been broken-replaced-and broken again in the Fits. They are too low to the ground and break too easily. We have lots of gravel on our roads here and crack 2-3 windshields a year as well. They make a plastic lens film sold aftermarket for the foglites that is supposed to remedy this, too late now. They will remain broken!
__________________
'04 Tundra SR-5 REGULAR cab, w/Red Barchetta Pkg & a real (8') box!
-MODS = painted flames, high speed lugnuts, dual crome dipsticks, Sirius sat. radio and wheelie bars!
Accent
Linear Mode
