Toyota Matrix

The Toyota Matrix is a cute little car. The first thing you notice when you get in is the location of the shifter. It is at an angle in the console.

It is still between the driver and passenger seats but the shifter is definitely in a different place. After driving for a couple of days, the placement makes sense. The transmission shifts smoothly and doesn't suffer from too hard downshifting.

This is a very light weight car. It is nice and peppy on the highway. Not so peppy from a dead stop but decent.

The gauges are easy to read. The radio controls are a tad bit too far away from the driver.

The Matrix appears to get good gas mileage.