Do you look at the Hyundai Matrix and go weak at the knees? Do you often wonder what it would have looked like with Fiat badges? Would you stop to take a photo of one in a supermarket car park?
These are rhetorical questions; I’m aware that I’m alone in my fondness for the Korean compact MPV. Isn’t that the point of the Guilty Pleasure section? Have I asked too many questions in the opening paragraph? Don’t answer that.
It’s 20 years since the Matrix arrived in a blaze of mediocrity. I doubt you noticed. Few people go to bed dream of owning a Korean MPV, even one that sounds like it should exit the showroom wearing a black trench coat, with red and blue pills in the storage tray below the front passenger seat. But here’s the thing. I watched The Matrix the other night and – controversial opinion alert – I don’t think it has aged that well. My children, who were watching the 1999 film for the first time, were shuffling in their seats and reaching for their smartphones within 20 minutes or so. We gave up at the end of the first act and played Wreckfest on the PlayStation.
You won’t find a Hyundai Matrix in the racing game, although used prices have dropped low enough for the car to be considered disposable. As little as £500 could be enough to secure a pre-facelift model, but £2000 will bag you the best of the breed. Why should you care? Allow me to explain.
The neat, monobox styling was the work of Pininfarina. In an era of the Ferrari 500 Maranello, Peugeot 406 Coupé and Ferrari 360, the Italian styling house designed a compact MPV for Hyundai. It also worked on the Tacuma, but I’ll save that ‘gem’ for another Daewoo. You’re unlikely to find a reference to the Matrix in a Big Book of Pininfarina’s Greatest Hits, but when listed in chronological order, based on the launch date, the Hyundai is sandwiched between the Ferrari 550 Barchetta Pininfarina and the Ferrari Enzo. Take that, Kia Carens, Mazda Premacy, Nissan Almera Tino and [Insert name of another compact MPV you don’t care about].
There’s more to the Matrix than meets the eye. If Morpheus removed his pince-nez sunglasses, he’d notice the Papal tiara-style front wheelarch. He’d also appreciate the side window line, although he might also make a comment about the Fiat Multipla looking more interesting. That’s his prerogative.
The interior was an in-house job, and it shows. It’s a sea of grey plastic, punctured only by the red and blue of the heater dial and the curious but effective central-mounted instrument binnacle. I could wax lyrical about the white speedo, but you’d probably send in the men in white coats. That’s assuming you’re still here.
‘The Matrix has more space than you could have thought possible in such a compact car, complemented by a level of quality and equipment that will leave you pleasantly surprised,’ Hyundai said in the brochure. Pleasantly surprised? In the same way that you could be pleasantly surprised by Milton Keynes, or pleasantly surprised that a tooth extraction didn’t hurt as much as you feared? There’s more, because the brochure also claimed that the Matrix was ‘styled to look great.’ As opposed to what exactly? Styled to look like a tin of creamed tapioca? Styled to look marginally more appealing than the Daewoo Tacuma? Styled to look like the designers completed the job during a liquid lunch?
In fairness to Pininfarina, the design was completed in just two months following the completion of the renderings in May 1998. ‘Overall, the project was completed to the satisfaction of both parties,’ said Lorenzo Ramaciotti, the general manager of Pininfarina Studi e Ricerche, in a statement overflowing with faint praise.
Perhaps you share Ramaciotti’s ambivalence. The Matrix isn’t as bold as the Multipla or as clever as the Renault Mégane Scénic, but you need only look at the third and final facelift to see what a yawn-fest it could have been. ‘Am I dead?’ asked Neo in The Matrix. Some prospective buyers probably asked the same question when test driving a new Matrix, especially when attempting to hit 62mph in the 1.5-litre diesel. Taking the blue pill is preferable to enduring the glacial 18 seconds it takes for the needle to hit 62mph.
Take a look at a Matrix the next time you’re in town, you might be pleasantly surprised.
This article first appeared in issue 6 of Classic.Retro.Modern. magazine.
