{"id":11541,"date":"2016-05-28T11:00:54","date_gmt":"2016-05-28T18:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/?p=11541"},"modified":"2016-05-30T11:43:58","modified_gmt":"2016-05-30T18:43:58","slug":"transposing-the-matrix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/?p=11541","title":{"rendered":"Transposing the Matrix"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"userpic=matrix\"On Tuesday, driving home from the North Hollywood Red Line station after spending the day judging projects at the California State Science Fair<\/a>, I was rear-ended. To be specific, a 1996 Honda hit the drivers side rear of my 2006 Toyota Matrix in the far right lane of I-5 just S of Osborne, near the end of the Route 170\/I-5 merge. We drove off the freeway, exchanged information, and I called for a tow because I was unsure about long-term drivability of my car. The end of the day saw me at home (pissed), and my car over at Schiros Collision in Chatsworth<\/a>. Here are some photos:<\/p>\n

\"MatrixAs before (i.e., when my previous Honda Civic was tipped on its side<\/a>), I thought the car was repairable<\/a>. As before, the impact of putting low miles on a car does not offset its age, and the car was totalled<\/a>. To be specific, the repair estimate on the car totals out at $6,263.17 for parts and labor<\/a> (PDF),\u00a0 and the KBB trade-in value maxed at $5,300 and the KBB purchase value was between $5,800 and $6,400, depending on how the condition was judged.<\/p>\n

As before, I’ve been pissed at the inequality of it all<\/a>: The person who inflicted the damage gets off with some minor repairs (his car was drivable). The innocent victim gets to replace a vehicle that was paid off with something newer, meaning the insurance proceeds won’t cover the replacement 100%. This means having car loans again, plus having higher registration costs and higher insurance due to a newer vehicle, none of which was planned for.<\/p>\n

I have the fellow’s email, and I have the urge to vent at him, but I know it will do little good. This is the fault of the profit-driven nature of our insurance system, which seeks to minimize payouts to insureds.<\/p>\n

As a result of all of this, we get to go car shopping. What I’m looking for is a car priced less than $24K, 2013 model year or later (ideally), certified pre-owned if used. I want a wagon or hatchback (because I haul boardgames), but I do not want an SUV. The 2006 Matrix, which this was replacing, was essentially a Toyota Carolla Hatchback<\/a>. I’m used to smaller cars: the Matrix replaced the 1996 Civic Hatchback, which replaced a 1981 Nissan Stanza Hatchback.<\/p>\n

I also wanted to ensure it would work with my iPod Classic, could support an AUX (3.5mm) input, had a rear backup camera, got gas milage equal to or better than the Matrix, and had sufficient cargo hauling capability.<\/p>\n

The initial short list was based on recommendations from Consumers Reports<\/em>, and consisted of the 2013 Toyota Prius V<\/a>, 2013 Toyota Prius<\/a>, 2013 Toyota Matrix<\/a>, 2013 Honda Fit<\/a>, and 2013 Subaru Impreza Hatchback<\/a>. Second tier possibilities were the 2013 Scion xB<\/a> or the 2012 Toyota Venza<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last night, we went to the local Toyota dealer to do some test drives. Despite the Prius\/Prius V being at the top of the list, a test drive eliminated them. The Prius didn’t have enough space. The Prius V did. However, the “get up and go” had gotten up and went, and the car had no pickup. We also did not like the display and control layout. We also drove a 2013 Venza, and that was a “yes”: it is essentially a Camry Wagon. Very comfortable, very nice drive, and loads of storage. However, it lacks a backup camera (until 2015, it wasn’t standard) and has worse gas milage than the Matrix. That’s not a surprise, it has a V6 engine.<\/p>\n

Visiting the dealer also led to one unexpected find: the 2016 Scion iM<\/a> [brochure<\/a>] (which will become the Toyota Corolla iB in 2017). This is the current version of the Toyota Carollla Hatchback<\/a> (Aurus in Europe), which means it is a sportier Matrix equivalent. It is new, which likely means a 0% financing deal (which beats the credit union), is priced under $20K before taxes, and gets service covered for two years. It also drives like or better than the Matrix, has similar space and storage, has an Aux port, has a backup camera. In short, it is an updated Matrix. Drawbacks? Being new, there will be the new car depreciation, plus higher registration fees and insurance fees.<\/p>\n

Over the weekend, we’ll be test driving the 2013 Subaru Impreza Hatchback. We probably won’t drive the Honda Fit — we’re familiar with the car, but it is hard to find used, and doesn’t have the storage of the Matrix<\/del> Scion iB<\/ins>. We may also test drive the 2014 Mazda5 Grand Touring<\/a> and the 2014 Mazda3 5 Door Grand Touring<\/a>. One last possibility is the Kia Soul<\/a>, either new or used. For new, we’ll need to see the incentives.<\/p>\n

I’ll be glad when this process is over. I’m still pissed; my wife’s car (2002 Honda CR-V<\/a>) was the next one to be replaced — and now that’s going to be pushed back until the cash flow can support additional payments and a down payment is rebuilt.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday, driving home from the North Hollywood Red Line station after spending the day judging projects at the California State Science Fair, I was rear-ended. To be specific, a 1996 Honda hit the drivers side rear of my 2006 Toyota Matrix in the far right lane of I-5 just S of Osborne, near the Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[194,59,242,44,328],"class_list":["post-11541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-status","tag-auto-accidents","tag-automobiles","tag-car-tipping","tag-grrrrr","tag-toyota-matrix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11541"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11577,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11541\/revisions\/11577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}