If you must have 4WD, an alternative is strapping on a supercharger, available through Toyota Racing Development (TRD),
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| Toyota Racing Development offers a variety of additional parts to spice up your ride, all installed at the dealership and covered by warranty. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
dealer installed and covered by Toyota's warranty. TRD offers a variety of additional parts to spice up your ride, from suspension upgrades and wheels, to engine tuning components and aerodynamic add-ons. The supercharger is said to deliver as much power as the top-tier XRS engine, while doling out more torque lower in the rev range. In other words, it's even quicker! Nevertheless, in 4WD trim I was relegated to a bone stock 123 horsepower unit and despite its free revving engine it doesn't exactly deliver sports car-like performance. But still, most four-wheel drive Toyota wagon buyers moved up to the Matrix from a 90 horsepower late-'80s Corolla SR5 4WD wagon, or older yet, a 62 horsepower mid-'80s Tercel wagon. Compared to these durable yet hardly entertaining appliances even the least motivated Matrix is a bahn-stormer.
Fortunately for the diminutive powerplant Toyota's sophisticated V-Flex 4WD system doesn't tax output too much, at least compared to most full-time all-wheel drive systems. On dry surfaces V-Flex powers the front wheels, saving fuel and aiding in acceleration, but as soon as the tires start to slip the rear
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| The XRS comes with standard rear disc brakes and standard ABS with Electronic Brake force Distribution (EBD). (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
wheels engage via a viscous coupling which sits just in front of the rear differential. As soon as the front wheels find grip, all power going to the rear wheels gets diverted back to those in front. Simple, effective, and most of all efficient. While both front- and 4-wheel drivetrains did a good job of getting the Matrix going, I couldn't find much fault in the ability its braking system had in bringing it to a halt. The XRS binders are the best, due to standard rear discs - the XR gets rear drums - and standard ABS with Electronic Brake force Distribution (EBD). ABS is standard on all 4WD models, by the way, and optional on the XR. Four-wheel drive Matrix models also features a standard tire pressure monitoring system.
