DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND STEER CLEAR OF 03-05 TOYOTA MATRIX 5 SPEEDS! This car literally put our lives at risk several times in it's failures. I had a '05 Corolla and a Vibe I put well over 240k miles on both and sold them running just fine. They frankensteined the 2 transmissions and installed a complete bearing set for $2640.Īnybody want to buy a low mile Matrix? I can hardly stand to look at the thing. I gently placed it in reverse and back into first and it let the car move, thankfully. That one did lock up trying to limp it back to our shop. Car made it a quarter mile and that tranny failed too. I kept looking for occupied houses we could walk to if the thing decided to sieze up on us, as it was 12 degrees that day.įound an '06 vibe at a bone yard near me, replaced trans and clutch assembly and the works, took a buddy and me 2 days and a lot of up down up down. Made it to my cabin going 52mph, with my handicapped son and our dog in the car. Towing company quoted me $450 to get it to the next major city 40 miles away. Pulled over and called my mechanic friend, he said keep it in 1st 3rd and 4th to get it somewhere I could work on it. At 81k 5th gear failed on the freeway at 73mph. Good luck to you on the recall petition, but I wouldn't be too optimistic.Īdd me to the list, found a nice low mile stored inside '04 Toyota Matrix with 73k miles from an estate, an older gentleman owned it. Unbearable, I am not sure the tranny reliability issue is really a recall worthy problem. I do trust the site trb posted to provide accurate parts compatibility info. However, if the price on the bad tranny Vibe is too attractive to pass up, then try to find a replacement from the latest compatible model possible, even for a higher cost. Because of the different gear ratios, the 6 speed should be less efficient than the 5 speed, but I don[t remember seeing any documented numbers, especially ones that eliminate the unintended change to driving habits. Manuals are more fun to drive (imho) but the auto tranny used in Vibes has been quite reliable, and the power/acceleration differences between auto and manual tranny vibes is token. Unfortunately, my advice would be to pass on the 5 speed, and instead find an automatic tranny Vibe. I suspect that in addition to the weak bearing issue, there is some driving style that somehow accelerates the weak bearing failure that unfortunately seems to be my driving style, but that's only conjecture. There are some high mileage 5 speed Vibes with no tranny troubles. I was no fan boy before, but now I find myself quite anti-Toyota It has since really soured my opinion of Toyota. Toyota really played up their bullet proof reliability, and the fact that car was mostly Toyota was considered a significant advantage for a number of Vibe buyers. After some research was surprised to learn there are problems with these transmissions leading to somewhat early failures.Ī number of us here were surprised when our 5-speeds failed. on-bearing" onclick="window.open(this.href) return false Hopefully if there are enough signatures, Toyota will do a recall. At this time, Toyota will not compensate Matrix owners for this very expensive defect. The regional manager of the repair shop I took it to said he has seen this problem before, and he believes there will be a recall. Some vehicle owners have had it happen at less mileage. I don't believe a manual transmission should need to be replaced at 98,000 miles. There are numerous reports of Toyota Matrix 5-speed transmission failures due to a defective transmission bearing. It is important to notify Matrix and Vibe owners about this problem before their life is endangered when the car breaks down without warning on a 70 mile-per-hour highway. I was told since there is no recall, I would not be compensated. I sent a certified letter to the president of Toyota Motor Corp. We had to replace our five-speed manual transmission on our 2004 Toyota Matrix at 98,000 miles at a cost of $3,100! Models besides the 2004 are also affected, but I don't know which ones. I would think this applies to Vibe owners also. It seems that many Matrix owners are having problems with a faulty transmission bearing which necessitates the transmission needing to be replaced prematurely. Please be aware of a serious transmission problem on these vehicles. It is my understanding that the Toyota Matrix and Pontiac Vibe have the same transmission and engine.
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