Toyota Matrix vs Honda Fit

Well we are going to buy one of these for my wife Dianne.

Does anyone own one of these and can provide good or bad experiences?

Any recommendations or comments?

Thanks

I gave my son a Fit when he graduated. It was a great car. Remarkable hauling capacity nd great mileage. After two years, he was hit from behind while stopped at a stoplight by a large SUV in a high speed chase. The other vehicle went on to crash later. Every person in this incident was injured except my son. His biggest complaint was that his coke was spilled. The Fit, another car, and the SUV were all totalled. Insurance covered the loss, but the fit allowed me to hug my son. Cannot speak highly enough of the Fit.

Leased a Matrix 6 years ago for my wife. After three years we decided to buy it rather than turning it in for a new one. We still have it and, with one exception, it has been totally trouble free. The exception is the tires, which lasted only 20,000 miles before replacements were necessary. Knowing nothing about cars, I asked around and found out that the factory tires are soft to improve the ride - at the cost of longevity. The new tires show no sign of wear, so I guess there's something to this theory. Can't make any judgement as to how well the car will hold up over time/mileage because it only has 32,000 miles on it.

My wife wanted either the Matrix or the Mazda3 and she went with the 3. She did not feel safe in the Matrix as the rearward visibility is terrible. Those little side windows get increasingly smaller and it has a small rear window. Stupid design. We have Matrixs for delivery vehicles at work and I've driven them myself and agree, the visibility sucks pretty bad. And I cracked my knee really bad climbing inside and trying to pull out a heavy server. :) Theres a lip or something where the hatch comes down. Otherwise its a Toyota... you might be afraid if you believe all those terrible drivers, oh sorry I meant brake failures... :D Other than that I think either one is a pretty decent car from a good manufacturer. My brother in law has the Fit. He's had it since they first came out and hasn't had any issues with it other than the bike racks being too easy to steal bikes out of. Its ok but I found it a little small. The interior doesn't seem as big as the Matrix or the 3. The Matrix has the biggest interior. Its deceptively big considering how small the car is. The Prius is like that too which is nice but otherwise its a piece of crap (we have many Priuses at work and they all fall apart... quite literally... thats why I'll drive the Matrix instead, even with its visibility issues). The 3 is really nice but the gas milage is pretty poor with the 5 door. We only get about 25 mpg average (city + highway) which is bad for a 4 banger considering my v8 gets over 20. A small car I'd throw out there to look into is the new Hyundais. Laugh if you want but I've spent a fair amount of time in one recently driving around for work and that little thing was great! Definitely nothing like the old Excel my mom used to drive! :) Good warranty and exceptional build quality, at least the one I was in.

I got the Civic over the Fit due to better size and handling vs a tiny difference in gas mileage. That being said, LOML has a honda and a toyota, both have been good vehicles. Bot, that was helpful . . . :o

I bought a 2009 Pontiac Vibe in Nov 2008. It is the Toyota Matrix with different body panels. At the time the Honda Fit was out of stock everywhere. One Honda dealer had one, but it was sold and he wouldn't even let me touch it. I get around 28 to 30 MPG with the 1.8L engine.

The Matrix is a larger car than the Fit. The Matrix is more of a station wagon than a hatchback.

My wife bought a Matrix in '06. We had one computer / transmission issue about a year after purchase; it was fixed by Toyota and the car has been pretty trouble free. At 85K we replaced the struts. Other than that, it's been normal wear and tear maintenance.

My office moved last year. I've now got a 60 mile round-trip commute for work. :( Since the Matrix gets 28ish MPG, I started driving it instead of my 18MPG truck. In general, I like the car. The seats could be a bit more comfortable, but it's not bad. I'll partially agree with Brian about the visibility; it's not the greatest, but it's not the worst I've had.

While I have not owned either car, they both should be as reliable as they come. I have ridden in both. While they may look similar they are really different classes of car. The Matrix is a Corolla hatchback which is a "C" class car. The Fit is a "B" class car-a size smaller. If you live in a city or do a lot of urban driving I would think the Fit would be a better choice. For suburban, rural, and highway trips I'd think the Matrix would be a better choice. It will be quieter and smoother. The MPG difference on the highway will be slim to non existent-you really need to push the Fit motor pretty hard to maintain 65+. The aerodynamics of the Fit also will make it blow around a little. The city MPG of the B class cars like the Fit will be noticeably better than the Matrix/Corolla/Mazda3 types.

That said, the Fit is cooler looking and better packaged. It is arguably the best car in its segment for reliability and fun to drive.

In our experience the Fit didn't have to work that hard to maintain highway speeds. The only time it struggled was when fully loaded (four adults & band equipment) and climbing a 12% grade. Then it was floored to maintain 65. I think that all of the above recomendations are valid. You need to define your criteria and chose accordingly.