I have a lead on a 2004 Toyota Matrix XR. The car had an engine swap out at some point. Car has 200k miles on it but the new engine only has 100K. The motor wasn't rebuilt it was a swap out. Not sure why. I looked this up on Consumer reports and it says this model is notorious for transmission and engine issues.
Scotty has an E140 Matrix not an E130.
The E130 has ZZ-series engine is not a ZR-series engine.
NO WONDER THE ENGINE HAS BEEN REPLACED; THEY'RE *THE WORST* ENGINES BY TOYOTA.
I’ve seen 1ZZ-FE and 2ZZ-GE engines blow before 120,000 miles. Most consume a lot of oil, and the timing chain was VERY poorly designed they typically need a new one only after 90,000 times.
That is the worst Toyota product I’ve worked on!
Even comparing it to the motorized manual E150 and the diesel Avensis - both known as a terrible cars.
Don't put too much faith into Consumer Reports.
The Matrix was a good little car and if you maintain it well it can go hundreds of thousands of miles. If you can get it at the right price, and a mechanic checks it out and says all is good, I would say you're ok to buy it.
The XR version of the Matrix has the 2ZZ-GE engine, which was very trouble-prone, both in the Matrix and the Celica those years - which is probably why it was replaced. I have a Matrix, and would love to have the extra power, but I am much happier with the bulletproof 130 hp 1ZZ-FE
That said, maybe yours was replaced with the 1ZZ? Or you could possibly get good enough life out of the replacement engine (IMHO high output engines often have problems from how they are driven as much as design flaws.).
Actually the XR had the 1ZZ-FE. It was the XRS that had the 2ZZ-GE.
@Glen_stet DEFINITELY knows what he’s talking about, I’ve also seen many of these engines fail at 100,000 miles or less.
Billybob is correct the XR had the 1ZZ-FE
Go ahead and buy it. Those engines were bulletproof. They did have some issues with the manual transmissions but the automatic transmissions were bulletproof.
The ZZ? Are you sure you’re not mixing it up with the ZR?
on the American market, the ZZ was used for only a couple of years. And no wonder why, I’ve had so many costumers blow up these motors it’s not even funny.
The ZR didn't even come out until 2007.
Personally, I would just look for a Toyota Camry or Avalon without a swapped engine.
To give some insight, The transmission in concern: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_A_transmission#A246E
Engine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_ZZ_engine#1ZZ-FE
Same 1.8 engine found in the last gen Celica. The manual transmissions tended to be weaker on the e130 Corollas and these years of the Matrix.
It was the XRS that had the Celica engine. His is the XR which has the Corolla engine.
@billybob
It has the 1zz-fe engine which is also found in the Celica GT, though yes the Corolla has it as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_ZZ_engine#1ZZ-FE
(Look at the powertrain section on the right) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Celica#North_America_2
Are you talking about the oil starvation problem that the Celica had? I do believe that it wasn't an issue with the mainstream Corolla, Matrix, and Vibe.
@billybob
I just put what engine it had, I didn't talk about any problems it has because I'm not qualified for that.
Some are saying its a horrible engine some saying its a great one, so I'm not going to comment on that, except for the fact that it was recalled for engine stalling, and the manual transmissions were weak.
Depends how much $, what you need it for, and what your alternatives are. It’s probably better than most other cars in the price range. But although it may be a Toyota, it’s a nearly 20 year old economy car... it’s gonna have issues.
