The reviewer's Experience with the Toyota Matrix Hybrid SUV

The reviewer recently purchased a Toyota Matrix hybrid SUV and has been enjoying its smooth ride and excellent fuel economy. The car's electric motor provides a quieter and smoother driving experience, especially in stop-and-go traffic. However, the reviewer notes that the EV mode is primarily used for sneaking up on people or navigating low-speed areas such as school zones, where the speed limit is only 20 miles per hour.

When the reviewer tests the EV mode by accelerating lightly, they find that the battery is actually running the car, even though it's going 33 miles per hour. However, when they floor it and accelerate rapidly, the motor takes over, and the battery is not needed. This suggests that the car uses a combination of electric and gasoline power to achieve optimal fuel efficiency.

The reviewer praises the Matrix's ability to provide extra power for acceleration and its regenerative braking system, which captures kinetic energy and converts it into electrical energy to recharge the battery. This results in improved fuel economy, especially in stop-and-go traffic or hilly terrain.

One potential drawback mentioned by the reviewer is the EV mode screen, which can be distracting at times. Additionally, the car's gas mileage estimates may not accurately reflect real-world performance, and some reviewers have reported issues with the mirrors melting or the plastic components breaking down over time.

However, the reviewer notes that the Matrix itself rides exceptionally well and provides a phenomenal driving experience. They also appreciate the Toyota plug-in hybrid option, which offers the possibility of extending electric-only range to 40-50 miles or more. The reviewer acknowledges that this feature would eliminate concerns about range anxiety, allowing drivers to enjoy the benefits of electric power without worrying about running out of charge.

The reviewer's car is equipped with a high-speed camera system, which provides detailed footage of the vehicle's performance. However, they note that the screen could be improved with additional features or better image quality.

In terms of reliability, the reviewer expresses concern over the steering wheel, which rattles intermittently. They suggest that Toyota would need to fix this issue, as it may indicate a design flaw or manufacturing defect. The reviewer has already encountered issues with other components, such as melting mirrors and plastic parts, but notes that these problems are relatively rare.

Overall, the reviewer's experience with the Toyota Matrix hybrid SUV has been overwhelmingly positive. While there are some minor drawbacks and potential reliability concerns, the car's excellent fuel economy, smooth ride, and regenerative braking system make it an attractive option for eco-conscious drivers. As the reviewer notes, a plug-in hybrid model would offer even greater benefits, including extended electric-only range and reduced dependence on gasoline.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enrev up your engines so here we go 2023 Toyota Venza what are these like they stopped making them they started making them well guy bottom we're gonna go through the whole thing you can see it's a beautiful car they stopped making events and then they started again I mean sometimes Toyota's a little bit on the squirrely side Spectacular One is a hybrid it's the four-cylinder engine with the Hybrid battery system I wonder if this vehicle's a big fan of Money Follows my advice and you might say but Scotty bought a hybrid well he followed my advice I say if you when hybrid Toyota if you're not going to put that many miles on it he said I'm not going to keep this forever he said he'll probably get rid of it before it has a hundred thousand miles now if you want two three four hundred thousand miles hybrid's probably not for you it's going to cost a fortune to fix us at ages but as it stands great gas mileage fun car to drive and yes my favorite thing when you look down here it's a j It's Made in Japan Dr J the VIN number it's made in Japan see here it does have a button for EV mode but as you can see when you look around it's just gasoline there is no charging port this is not a plug-in hybrid there's no charging for it so EV mode is only for sneaking up on people very short ranges all the ones I've driven maybe you can go a couple miles or something on EV mode it's not made for EV mode this isn't a plug-in hybrid where you can plug it in maybe go 20 to 50 miles electricity no it's a much smaller battery it's a boost battery it gets phenomenal gas mileage for an SUV this one's getting 39 miles a gallon combined so yeah you can't complain I guess my floor and SUV that's phenomenal most SUVs this size that I see you're lucky if you're going to get 22 miles a gallon in the real world not what they claim but in the real world like you're playing CS so far is you got a nail that knocked a hole in a tire which you got fixed and that he has a bit of a noise in the back when he's driving snagger up and of course this is a hybrid so it isn't necessarily going to do anything yet we'll turn the fan down and you can say I like the dash the dash is very nice easy to read the gauges you want Eco power gas mileage distance to empty but I mean really thing here it really leaves much to be desired it's sticking up it looks like somebody glued it on come on Toyota you could design something better than this and with a hybrid system the gasoline engine this Baby's got a range of 500 something miles you can go a long way this is not an electric car that you can have range anxiety keep gas in the tank okay this baby can go 500 miles if you push it now he's only got 9181 miles so there's nothing wrong with it and that's per usual the computers being obnoxious as they all are update subscription blah blah blah you can't escape that crap even while you're driving your car me I find that annoying it's bad enough that I'm on a website reading something I got all these pop-up ads but then they start telling you stuff to up update on your car while you're driving down the road I find that stuff totally obnoxious Toyota you need a better system than what you're using try to charge your energy flow while you're driving and stuff you can play around with all that stuff just remember this it's not a plug-in hybrid it doesn't really run on electricity alone even though it has an EV mode it still won't go very far with electric power only because they're small batteries if you wonder how they work they recharge while you're going down the road when you step on the brakes it recharges them you can have modes where while you're driving on a highway it will recharge the Hybrid battery if it's getting low but this is not an electric vehicle that you can drive around in electric mode any length of time we paid 39.5 out the door I see one advertised there in Tennessee and they want 46 837 for the same exact vehicle it's all different areas you're going to pay more money but you know we're starting at 40 000 up in the real world right it's not a super expensive car it's not a cheap car but it's a Toyota and no one knows why they stopped making venzes originally they didn't have any problems the only problems was they didn't sell enough of them well do you want a Camry do you want an Avalon do you want avenzo what do you want you know they made so many different things that the Venza fell out and then they decided to bring it back I don't know Toyota get your hand together either decide to make cars or not don't make them and then stop and make them again to me that's just plain stupidity no it's like all modern cars has a stupid electric parking brakes so we got to turn that off and let's check the backup camera okay it's got the backup camera see it's pretty good pretty good wagon let's see if there's anything we can play with you can make it wider angle pretty good backup camera but I do have to say for a vehicle this price it should have the little Airborne fuel like you had a little drone flying over to see everything around most of the modern cars I have have this is Toyota doesn't to me that's a minus this is just a backup camera it doesn't have side cameras doesn't have a front camera you really need that for a car of this status Toyota kind of went on the cheap if you ask me thank you for drive now so I was running now you can see the tachometers on very quiet only thing I can hear is a low speed fan it's nice and high up in the air it's a nice SUV showing what happens here give it a little gas got good acceleration with the four-cylinder engine with the hybrid boost kind of hard to find noises because he's got a pack of water here from the trip from Florida to Tennessee but we'll take it to our little drag strip see if we can get it to rattle in the back man it's quite a bit Zippy with the hybrid system there's no arguing that you can hear it regenerating electricity as we slow down there's a really nice driving car there's nothing wrong with that average of 39 miles a gallon that's great gas mileage for a vehicle this big that carries all these people there's nobody behind us so we'll wait and then floor decent pickup you notice you don't feel it shifting cause of course this is a Toyota hybrid so it has one of those electronic CVT transmissions it has no gears so it doesn't shift gears because there's no gears yeah seven here we're going 35 with Florida see it picks up Picks Them Up and lets them down pretty good no problem with passing people it's kind of like my wife's Matrix on steroids right much nicer ride a lot more power and since it's a big giant vehicle with the hybrid it does get a little bit better gas mileage than the Matrix but I mean it's mainly because this thing weighs so much if this thing weighed with the Matrix weight it would get much better than 39 miles a gallon because I can get 37 on the highway but this is getting 39 combined realize that it's a hybrid so it will get much much better gas mileage in the city than a conventional gasoline engine one and again you can see when it's blue I got my foot off the gas the electricity is going into the battery but when you floor it it goes the other way and the electricity goes from the battery to the motor that handles the carbs nicely a very comfy riding car I gotta say this thing rides probably 100 percent smoother than otherwise Matrix does it's a nice riding car adjust for giggles see it says the EV mode on available because speed range is exceeded as I said it's more for sneaking up on people it won't go that far we'll turn it on when we get into Suburbia where the speed limit's only 20 and we'll see how long it lasts you can see if we accelerate lightly the battery is actually running the car even though going 33 but as soon as we floor it it turns the motor on you see the Red Energy coming from the motor to run it too so sometimes the electric battery was actually driving the car sometimes it's a combination of them but let's say you want to go EV mode only there's EV mode here we go it's only EV it is going 20 miles an hour on electricity 25 but when you're at a hazardous intersection like this and you got to take off fast hey it takes off pretty fast and going up the hill no problem it takes off as I said you can see it's recharging the hybrid system in this car is mainly for two things extra power for acceleration and the ReUse of energy to recharge the battery so that you get much better fuel economy especially in stop and go so I do have to say if I was going to get a hybrid SUV and not a plug-in I would definitely consider getting this I like the way it rides the phenomenal gas mods but I do have to say if I was going to get a hybrid car I would get a Toyota plug-in hybrid because I'd want one that might go 40 50 miles on electricity and I could play with the idea of what is it like to have an electric car and I say play because then when you ran out of electricity the gasoline motor would turn in because it would be a plug-in hybrid and you could still go hundreds and hundreds of miles and never have to worry about range anxiety I have customers that do that if they live 15 miles from work they only use the electric motor in a plug-in hybrid and they recharge it at work and they recharge it at home that's what I try just to see what it's like but if you want an SUV this would be a very good choice to buy now here's steering wheel Rattle and high speeds you can certainly hear that now he says it's intermittent I mean structurally this is totally sound but I heard that Rattle and the problem with steering wheels are their steering wheel there's bearings there there's more bearings down there there's a universal joint and something in there is definitely rattling but since it doesn't do a lot of time it has no play now he's gonna have a hard time getting Toyota to fix it but really with the video that he has I'm going to tell him take a Toyota show them this video that I'm making say will you please fix the rattling noise and see what happens because they don't want any more bad PR I've already had problems with the mirrors this muscle this mirror hasn't melted and this plastic is fine it has melted then again it's you know only a few months old but let me tell you if I paid 40 grand for a car and it made that rattle I would go to Toyota and I would start rattling them until the noise went away hey there's obviously something in the steering column so I'm bushing bearing something wasn't put together right when they built the car it should never make a noise like that the older ones often when you turn the steering wheel now you hear a room from and that was the plastic being worn and the plastic would rub against the metal and make a little noise it's a brand new car please Toyota fix the noise for them there's something wrong in the steering column and I know you never want to fix anything for free but he's got the video he didn't make that up it's a real rattle and it's coming out of the steering cup the car itself is beautiful rides good runs good sure the screen is kind of annoying you know could have a few more bonuses like a better camera system on them and stuff but it's a Toyota it will probably run a really long time but I do have to say if that thing rattled like that when I was driving and paying 40 Grand I would be infuriated and I'd want that thing fixed because 30 year old Toyota 22 year old lexuses 17 year old Toyota Matrix none of those Rattle and we drive them in Rhode Island which has the worst roads in the nation and if anything would rattle it would be them and they're not rattling so find out what's wrong with that steering column fix it for the man please so if you never want to miss another one of my new car repair videos remember to ring that Bell foreign foreign\n"