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I do wish the gas tank was a bit larger so save having to actually stop to fill up so much.
My average mileage so far is 41.7 MPG over the last 60k miles (US gallons).
Give your car no more than 30 seconds of idling before starting. Just make sure you use the defogger and crank up the heater. It will warm almost immediately because it has an electric heater element.
1. Block heater is out -- no place to plug the car in when I'm at work. (block heaters (head bolt heaters) used to come standard on cars in North Dakota, but I think someone finally realized that most people don't have a place to plug them in ;~)
2. I use synthetic oil.
3. I have an auto-start and start my car about 7-10 minutes before I get into it.
4. I've seen temps down to -40 below, windchill to -85.
5. The ECHO runs fine no matter how cold it is, however my body does not. Unfortunately, I have Raynaud's disease and cannot tolerate cold temps. I also weigh about 90 pounds soaking wet so the insulation factor is in the negative numbers
6. Please, no lectures on how unfriendly running my car for 10 minutes in the winter is to the environment. I am a tree-hugging, vegan. I HATE that I even have to DRIVE period, and it goes against my very moral fiber to have to warm the car for a bit before I get into it. If I ever move out of this god forsaken state, I would probably walk or bike EVERYWHERE, EVERYDAY. I bought the ECHO so I would use as little fuel as possible knowing my situation cannot change at this time.
7. Don't bother suggesting that I move -- not possible until hubby retires. On that day -- I'm heading south -- even if I have to live in Zihuatenajo
BTW, I never use the A/C. All gas mileage I quoted was without A/C.
I hate this place.
Current 5-tank average: 44.7
Average over last 60 tanks: 41.9
I do try to baby this thing, I love it. But this car is used in all kinds of driving, though mostly rural 45 or 55 mph 2 lane roads.
He paid $8400 on the road, including TTL for it.
Those two questions brought 'em out of the woodwork!
We have two Echo's (two votes):
Approx 31 mpg around town, San Francisco, lotsa hills, lotsa stop and go. The best on a trip:
41 MPG (automatic). Ages: fifty something
Another tough question: tire pressure.
I use 36 psi for all four. Rougher ride, better mileage.
I am seeing more and more ECHO's around this rather small town and 9 times out of 10 the folks driving them are sporting gray hair I tried to convince my next door neighbor to buy an ECHO -- she's 68 and her hubby is 80. They ended up buying an older Buick Century (isn't that what all older people buy ), and I see the both of them struggling to get in and out of that car, so much so it almost pains me to watch. Whenever she and I go somewhere I will drive and she always comments on how easy it is to get in and out of my car. Duh..... that was the main reason I pushed the ECHO so hard.
This past weekend I was waiting in the car while my husband dashed into a store quickly. Parked next to us was an older style Lumina. I couldn't believe how little room there *appeared* to be in that car. Both occupants were so close to the dashboad, no headroom and they looked squished in there. Everytime I get into my deceptively "little" silver ECHO I am amazed over and over how much room there really is!
Toyota didn't seem to consider the possibility that there might be an older market out there. Instead, Toyota targeted the younger generation thinking of it only as an entry level car. And Toyota didn't do a lot of advertising at that. I may have seen one Echo commercial on TV in the last two years. Too bad, Toyota has a winner with this car, but dropped the ball.
Of course, Toyota may have worried that pushing the Echo too much might impact other car sales, Corolla, Camry, etc. Could impact the profit margin. I'm not sure that makes any sense.
In response to the demographic survey: the female owner of the ECHO in question was 28 when she bought the car.
Yes my tires (Bridgestone Potenzas) are about one half worn out at 12.5k miles. Im disapointed because with the light weight of the ECHO I thought they would last longer. (but tires wear most when new and harden up and wear slower when old) Ive never seen Douglas tires but if you look on the sidewall at the government treadwear numbers and compare them to the potenza numbers youll get a relative idea ie if potenza equal 200 and they last 25k and Douglas equal 400 then the douglas tires should last 50k. Thats the best anyone can predict how long the tires will last unless they have actual experience with other tires. Toyo makes a 80-100k tire which I think I will go to when the stock tires wear out.
Also, my friend is always saying how much money he saves in gas with this car compared to his previous one. And how much more peppy the car is as well.
Thanks!
Jeannine Fallon
PR Director
Edmunds.com
MODERATOR /ADMINISTRATOR
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About the Bridgestone tires, the Avalon's factory Bridgestone tires were replaced at 35,000 miles, because they were torn out. When I picked up My Echo, it had Potenzas on it and I had the dealer replace them with Goodyears. I'm not sure they are better than the Potenzas, but they couldn't be any worse. My 2 cents worth
>It has less impact on the environment and because it uses less gas leaves us less vulnerable >to foreign sources of oil.
Ditto! I couldn't have said it better.
It doesn't take much to humor me, but when I pull away from the gas pump with a total of 11.00 showing plus a full tank, then pass huge SUV's still sucking up petrol with their pumps approaching 40.00 I am so thankful for my ECHO. (in all likelihood they will be visiting the gas station again before me
Be sure the WalMart balances your tires correctly. I had to take my tires back twice, the first time because the balancer hadn't been calibrated in a while, and again because the technician did a sloppy job. WalMart has a good attitude, but keep your eye on them. They also overinflate your tires - 35 psi, which is liveable, but the tires only need 32 psi. WalMart overinflates them all in case the customers don't come back for a while or check their tire pressure regularly.
Just add "s" to words ending in "o".
So the plural of Echo is Echos.
fungo -> fungoes
mango -> mangoes
tomato -> tomatoes
potato -> potatoes (remember Dan Quayle?)
http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=echo
echo -> echoes
Then again, Toyota seems to want us to spell out ECHO in capital letters, so maybe it's not subject to dictionary restrictions!
My age when bought: 53 (now 55)
Mileage: 38.2 in town, 41.3 hwy (37,243 mi so far)
Likes (priority order): Quickness (handling & acceleration); roominess; entry/exit ease; appearance; economy.
Dislikes (priority order): OEM tires, lack of tach and presence of "idiot lights".
Buy again? You bet!