Matiz- any good?

[boboneleg]

Typical of a bunch of people who have never driven one! here say is a wonderful thing hey
Had a Matiz, very good. What other car for the price gives you everything:
Four doors
Central locking
Power steering
Electric windows

About three years ago, I came off my BM on ice and thought ooh, how about a car for the winter

Anyhoo, the Matiz is the most luxurious car for the amount of money.
Only one downside really, you do need to think about over taking; not too powerful at all.

So, there's my view from someone who had one and traded in after a coule of years. It is nice having more power now, but if you can cope without overtaking as much then it's a little cracker.

Oh better not buy a Transalp... they're under powered.....

Yeah, but as I said in the begining I have driven one and it was sh*t. Oh! and I have a Transalp as well

You are obviously a bit confused as you've included 'Matiz' and 'luxurious' in the same sentence

[Jakey]

Typical of a bunch of people who have never driven one! here say is a wonderful thing hey
Had a Matiz, very good. What other car for the price gives you everything:
Four doors
Central locking
Power steering
Electric windows

About three years ago, I came off my BM on ice and thought ooh, how about a car for the winter

Anyhoo, the Matiz is the most luxurious car for the amount of money.
Only one downside really, you do need to think about over taking; not too powerful at all.

So, there's my view from someone who had one and traded in after a coule of years. It is nice having more power now, but if you can cope without overtaking as much then it's a little cracker.

Oh better not buy a Transalp... they're under powered.....

A late 80s civic.
Electric windows all round, central locking, electric sunroof, power steering, bigger boot, more room inside.
Wait has this just out specced a 10+ years newer car :0
For half the price!

Long live Honda

[AlanH]

Anyhoo, the Matiz is the most luxurious car for the amount of money

Riiiight

[AlanH]

Thinking about a cheap and cheerful second car

For some sensible suggestions (yeah right - on xrv.org.uk), answer these:

1. What's the budget?
2. What mileage are you going to do?
3. What sort of trips and tasks do you need it for?

(If the answers are:

1. £500
2. None
3. Just for burning

...get a Matiz )

[pdsquire]

I went on holiday to Romania and we hired a Matiz for a week. What a hoot! OK so we had to turn the air conditioning off to overtake and top speed was about 70 mph but it smacked through potholes, climbed forest tracks, diced with traffic. You can park it anywhere, it's a doddle to drive, it has adequate space and after a week of hard use had used less fuel than my Transalp would have done. My only concern is crash-protection but even a Matiz is far safer than most 1970s cars.

A big tick from me for the Matiz!

On the other hand, I have just bought another XJ6 Jag for £435. Even at 20mpg, that's cheap motoring!

[AlanH]

I have just bought another XJ6 Jag for £435. Even at 20mpg, that's cheap motoring!

Now that's more like it

[Windmill John]

I suppose if you're a real man, the Matiz is too small for you

[AlanH]

It's nothing to do with being a real man - just someone with an ounce of aesthetic taste. Plenty of small cars aren't as ****e as a Matiz

[pdsquire]

It's nothing to do with being a real man - just someone with an ounce of aesthetic taste. Plenty of small cars aren't as ****e as a Matiz

Yes but you can rev the nuts off that little three cylinder engine and it'll keep coming back for more, without ever endangering your licence. If you drive a Matiz soberly it's really fairly awful, albeit the aircon is good. Drive it like the Devil's in the boot and you will get a huge grin on your face. Last thing I drove that was that much fun was a 998cc Mini.

[shack]

Ooh the Matiz fans and owners (not necc the same) are coming out of the woodwork, however I might keep my old Fiat (depending on MoT outcome) and redirect cash into an old XJ 750! as my man cave looks empty with only one bike in it, still working on winning the misses over first

But thanks again for all your observations, much better to ask people than an often biased review.