I'm looking to buy a Toyota Matrix with manual transmission. Which 1.8L is more reliable, the 1ZZ-FE found in the first generation before 2009 or the 2ZR-FE found in the second generation after 2008? The only difference I'm aware of is one is VVT-i and the other is Dual VVT-i. Hopefully someone with more expertise knows if these are truly identical, which is a safer buy etc...
The Tuesday hours are notorious for burning oil where the smaller engine never Burns oil my 07 matrix doesn't burn a drop of oil and it's got the smaller 1.8 engine. It's also plenty fast enough
When it comes to Toyota VVT systems, all that matters that it’s not a ValveMatic - the rest are quite simple and mostly reliable.
some ZR series engines had issues with oil consumption but by 2009 they were mostly solved.
The ZZ engine, from what I’ve been seeing online and on this forum doesn’t hold up well overtime.
