While some may disagree with me, I have always felt that the first generation Toyota Matrix was revolutionary. It was a small vehicle that offered tons of utility in an edgy, sporty package at a time when Toyota wasn’t known for being overly daring. In fact, shortly after Toyota launched the Matrix, I became the service manager of a Toyota store and spent 3 months driving one. Not long after, my step father bought his own dark blue XR model. I have recommended the Matrix to more consumers than I can count. When the 2nd Gen version launched last Spring, I wondered if they could retain all of that goodness that I fell in love with. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to get behind the wheel of one until this past week.

Visually, designers have kept the original’s dna intact. While the curves have softened somewhat, there is no mistaking the current body for anything other than the Matrix except for possibly it’s cousin from Pontiac, the Vibe. Sliding behind the wheel, many similarities from the original car remain. From the functional plastic cargo area with plenty of tie downs to the funky dash, the heritage is definitely evident. They’ve even kept the oh so deep looking nautical Blue Metallic paint that seems to bump the visual up by a few thousand dollars.
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Our “Driven” series highlights the several cars I was able to sample at IMPA’s Spring Brake 2009 event. These short takes are summaries of my driving impressions of the cars on the roads surrounding Bear Mountain State Park in Rockland County, New York. 

Of the two Hyundai’s available to drive (the other was the Genesis Coupe), this is the one I had to get my hands on first. I was pleased Hyundai had supplied the Touring with a 5-speed and the attractive 17″ alloy wheels. First of all, this is a small but handsome car with a more sporting character than we’ve seen from prior Hyundai’s. You see, the Elantra Touring is not a new car, but rather a car built for the European market, that we are now just meeting. The Elantra Touring presents itself as clean, sporty, and even elegant in the dark grey metallic the car wore.

Inside, the styling continues to impress. Clear and simple, no clutter. All gauges and controls are easy to read and simple to use. Features like a power sunroof and heated seats are welcome surprises in a car costs under $20,000USD as equipped. The plastics and materials feel good, if not quite on par to a Honda Civic. Still, much better than I had expected. Another surprise was the rear seat, which had much more legroom than the VW Jetta Sportwagen on hand.

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Regular readers might recognize the name AndreGT6 from his comments here in The Garage. Andre’s post name comes from his mint ‘68 Triumph GT6. His pride and joy. Until now that is. Last summer, Andre made the mistake of going to the annual vintage race at The Glen and fell in love with vintage racing. The search was on for a suitable ride. This past weekend, the new toy came home and the poor GT6 has been relegated to the driveway. I have offered to keep an eye on the little coupe, but for some reason Andre isn’t responding!

Given my past with Fiats of the 124 Coupe and Special variety, I am feeling some pangs of jealousy over this nice Spider. I just commented to Mrs. G that this would be the perfect car for us. It is far from being a show winner, but looks perfect from a distance. Not overly fast, so moments of brilliance stupidity behind the wheel aren’t likely to prove too damaging. Reliable. Mrs G just rolled her eyes. She is used to me coveting every car I come across.

Along with the new car, comes a new web site. 124racer.com may not be fully up and running yet, but Mr. Rousseau has already loaded up tons of pictures of the wee beastie. He has even posted a quick video from the driveway, which you can find after the break.

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Today caps off an action packed week full of car show goodness. Earlier in the week the boys and I visited the Wednesday cruise in Oshawa. Today, Tom Williams is at the Greenwich Concours while the Grant guys headed to Toronto’s Centennial College for their annual Show & Shine.

Centennial College is the one of a very small number of schools in Ontario with a true automotive apprentice program and has been around for so long that just about every tech in the Toronto area did their schooling at Centennial. This annual Show and Shine is an opportunity for students, staff and the public to bring out their rides to support students who have been struck by a long term illness and require support to continue their schooling.

While many shows and cruises focus on one genre of cars, the Centennial show offers something for everyone. Old Skool rods sat next to new school airbag equipped low riders. A Lamborghini shared space with an RX-7 road racer and of course there were street machines and early muscle cars galore.

We’ve got a huge gallery after the break
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Gary and I’ll be your new host in the Armor All Owner Center.

Through my work here in The Garage, the good folks at Armor All tracked me down and asked if I would spend some time interacting with the denizens of their Owner Center. It struck me as a pretty cool idea and I agreed to spend some time there each week. Of course it won’t affect my time here in The Garage. On the contrary, it might actually help as I may be invited to even more fun events and have more cool stuff to share with our readers here. You never know, I might even have the opportunity to spend some time with Smoke along the way.

Feel free to head on over and join the Armor All Owner Center and tell us some of your car care stories!

Sometimes cruise night isn’t all about the big toys. Sometimes, the big boys toys are a tiny bit tiny but their owners still want to show them off. At cruise night earlier this week, one fellow brought out his collection of diecasts for all to see. Pretty cool stuff.

Gallery after the break
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GM has been busy ridding itself of what many call the “Bad GM”-namely, Pontiac, Hummer, Saturn, and Saab, brands that won’t be a part of the “new” GM. Pontiac is being phased out, earlier this week Tengzhong announced plans to purchase Hummer, and today, Penske Auto Group announced that it will buy the Saturn brand and its dealer network from GM. Price was not disclosed, but the deal is expected to close in the third quarter. 

Penske gains 350 dealers and other assets attached to Saturn. GM hails the purchase a victory in that the move will preserve 13,000 jobs. When Saturn changes hands, there will still be vehicles to buy: the Aura, Outlook and Vue will be provided on a contract basis from GM. It should be noted that in Penske Auto Group’s press release that this arrangement would only be for “an interim period.”

It is too early to know for sure what cars Saturn will sell in the future, or if Penske will use the existing dealer network to expand the availability of the Smart car (In the US, Penske operates Smart USA). Penske is rumored to be in talks with several manufacturers who are interested in having their cars sold in North America.

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Volkswagen is planning to bring to their new pickup truck to dealerships in Spring 2010.  Originally called the Robust, the Amarok is named after the giant wolf of Inuit mythology.

Reports say that the first  Amarok will be a four dour model powered by one of several VW diesel engines mated to a six speed gearbox with four wheel drive.  A two door model will be debut later.  The bed is around 5 feet in length which is comprable to a Honda Ridgeline. VW’s prime markets for the Amarok are Africa, Australia, South America and Russia. There is no word on the Amarok coming to North America, but some believe that VW will bring a bluemotion version to highlight their clean diesel technology.

VW has not given the North American market a pickup since the old VW Rabbit pickup. America has given the Germans David Hasselhoff and Baywatch. He stars in one of their Max and Bus ads, and they made a  Baywatch inspired commercial with the previously named Robust.

The Amarok will initially be built in VW’s Argentine plant. It will debut at dealerships in South America in the Spring of 2010, followed by a European release around summer 2010.

Source auto motor und sport if you speak German!

Check out the the Robust ad after the break
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Now that the weather is finally warming up and the sun sticks around a little longer in the evenings, cruise season has finally begun. Here in Durham region, there are several cruises a week to choose from thanks to the Road Legends Cruisers. Wednesdays are at a pool hall called Le Skratch in Oshawa, just a few kilometers from GM’s Canadian headquarters.

As one might expect, The General’s cars were in abundance this evening and lots of folks were wearing shirts and hats that showed support of the town’s livelihood. There were a few Mopars and Fords and even an older Benz and a MG TD replica to round out the evening.

Gallery after the break
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In today’s busy world, most of us are surrounded by a plethora of electric or electronic devices. Phones, pda’s, laptops and even mobile coolers are often needed to get us through the day. Without them, our productivity (or our lunch) goes to hell in a lunch basket. Of course, when the batteries begin to drain we all scurry to the closest power source. Often that is the 12 volt socket of the car. Didn’t we used to call that a lighter socket? When our stuff won’t charge, we get seriously inconvenienced not to mention more than a little miffed. What do most people do? They run to their car dealership and bitch that their power source doesn’t work.

I have a short personal tale on this topic: My phone charger works in my 2000 Nissan Xterra. It does not work in Mrs. G’s 2002 Mazda. It has not worked in a single media fleet vehicle over the past 2 years, including Nissan products. In other words, my charger is a poorly engineered piece of garbage. There has been nothing wrong with the 30 or so vehicles I’ve tried it in.

Having worked in the repair end of the auto industry since the dawn of cell phone chargers, you would not believe how many times I have tried to convince a consumer that the reason their phone won’t charge has nothing to do with their 40 thousand dollar car and everything to do with their twenty dollar phone charger. People just can’t seem to grasp the concept that their cheap ass, Made in China, phone charger might not have been engineered to work with their specific vehicle. The answer is always the same: “it works in my other car…”

The problem folks is that there are no standards for 12 volt socket insertion devices. Nor I suspect are there set standards for automotive 12 volt sockets. Everyone tries to mimic roughly the same size, but they are all just a tiny bit different. If your car’s 12 volt socket has power & ground, then it works. Case closed. Your phone still won’t charge? Try another brand of charger! Please, don’t freak out on your service department because they say there is nothing wrong with your car.