VW City Golf or Toyota Matrix?

I have been driving a 1986 VW GTI for the past 10 years, and since she's
starting to show her 20 years of age, I may soon be looking for a
replacement. My VW driving and owning experiences have been good, although
certainly not flawless. Here in Canada, VW are offering the 2007 City Golf
for a very reasonable price. It's basically a 4-door A4 Golf, 2.0L engine,
disk brakes on all 4 corners. With options like air conditioning and cruise
control, it prices in around $20K CDN. Pretty good warranty. I like the
hatchback versatility, and like I said, I have enjoyed driving my GTI.

However, as many of you will know, VW are not necessarily leaders in
reliability, at least according to the summaries in Consumer Reports and
other sources. Toyotas seem to rank much better in the reliabilty area.
(Yes, I know those are statistics, and it is possible to get a trouble-free
VW or a lemon Toyota.) Looking at Toyota's lineup, the Matrix is the
closest match to the City Golf, in terms of size and configuration. With
similar options, the Matrix price is comparable, perhaps a bit higher. From
doing some on-line comparisons, here are some pros that I've found for each:

VW City Golf -
==========
PROS: better warranty; disk brakes front and rear; anti-lock brakes; torque
peak at low rpm; telescopic steering wheel; wipers are variable and speed
sensitive; nicer styling (personal opinion);


TOYOTA MATRIX
==============
PROS: better fuel economy; higher HP; cargo area has flat floor; better
reliability history; 16V engine; more usable cargo space;

Opinions, please!

"WT" <waltert.DeleteThis@mts.net> wrote in message
news:Tpx6h.26098$E_2.25171@newsfe18.lga...
>I have been driving a 1986 VW GTI for the past 10 years, and since she's
> starting to show her 20 years of age, I may soon be looking for a
> replacement. My VW driving and owning experiences have been good,
> although
> certainly not flawless. Here in Canada, VW are offering the 2007 City
> Golf
> for a very reasonable price. It's basically a 4-door A4 Golf, 2.0L
> engine,
> disk brakes on all 4 corners. With options like air conditioning and
> cruise
> control, it prices in around $20K CDN. Pretty good warranty. I like the
> hatchback versatility, and like I said, I have enjoyed driving my GTI.
>
> However, as many of you will know, VW are not necessarily leaders in
> reliability, at least according to the summaries in Consumer Reports and
> other sources. Toyotas seem to rank much better in the reliabilty area.
> (Yes, I know those are statistics, and it is possible to get a
> trouble-free
> VW or a lemon Toyota.) Looking at Toyota's lineup, the Matrix is the
> closest match to the City Golf, in terms of size and configuration. With
> similar options, the Matrix price is comparable, perhaps a bit higher.
> From
> doing some on-line comparisons, here are some pros that I've found for
> each:
>
> VW City Golf -
> ==========
> PROS: better warranty; disk brakes front and rear; anti-lock brakes;
> torque
> peak at low rpm; telescopic steering wheel; wipers are variable and speed
> sensitive; nicer styling (personal opinion);
>
>
> TOYOTA MATRIX
> ==============
> PROS: better fuel economy; higher HP; cargo area has flat floor; better
> reliability history; 16V engine; more usable cargo space;
>
> Opinions, please!
>
>

I am not that familiar with the current generation of VW's, but I recommend
that you drive the Matrix and Matrix-based Pontiac Vibe to see if you like
them because they probably have a different feel and handle differently from
the VW. I've seen very few posts about Matrix problems/issues in
alt.autos.toyota, if that an indication of their lack of problems.

--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)