Flexible, Frugal and Fun to Drive
Now that Toyota Canada has announced its long running Celica (and MR2) will no longer be imported after the 2005 model year,
only the recently introduced Corolla XRS and Matrix XRS will be left waving the brand's performance flag unless something else gets announced in between. To be fair to Toyota, there aren't many performance coupes left in the game for the Celica to compete against, with Honda's Prelude and the Chevy/Pontiac Camaro/Firebird long gone, and Acura's RSX, Mitsubishi's Eclipse and Hyundai's Tiburon it struggling out in a very soft coupe market. Only Ford's Mustang seems to rise above the trend year after year.
There is no such lack of interest in the compact sport sedan and 5-door liftback market, however, as more and more new entries are encroaching on established models with every passing quarter. The latter category has seen the most action, thanks to models such as the Mazda Protegé5, Hyundai Elantra GT, and Pontiac Vibe, kissing cousin to the Matrix.
While hardly established since its model year 2003 introduction, the Matrix has been widely accepted by 5-door aficionados. These
include young families not yet ready or willing to trade the styling and performance attributes of their sports cars in for an SUV, let alone a minivan, but still needing to make accommodations for practical issues such as 4-door functionality and cargo carrying capacity. Others on the 5-door list are young singles with active lifestyles, also needing the extra space a wagon provides. And let's not forget about aging singles and couples, who not only live active lifestyles but more often than not find themselves with junior's juniors, babysitting the grandkids.
Now that Toyota Canada has announced its long running Celica (and MR2) will no longer be imported after the 2005 model year,
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| With the Celica gone, that leaves the Corolla XRS and Matrix XRS holding the Toyota performance flag. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
There is no such lack of interest in the compact sport sedan and 5-door liftback market, however, as more and more new entries are encroaching on established models with every passing quarter. The latter category has seen the most action, thanks to models such as the Mazda Protegé5, Hyundai Elantra GT, and Pontiac Vibe, kissing cousin to the Matrix.
While hardly established since its model year 2003 introduction, the Matrix has been widely accepted by 5-door aficionados. These
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| With no lack of interest in the compact sport sedan and 5-door liftback market, the Matrix has been widely accepted by aficionados. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |