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Have you seen the new Honda Hybrid Civic that costs $20,000 plus and gets 48mpg? My ECHO cost $13,000 out the door and it just got 43 mpg on a trip! What is Honda thinking here? This might give economy cars a bad name! (but maybe not with the price of gas these days)
Do u guys think that the echo is a girly kind of car?.. I am not trying to make fun of anyone, I am thinking about considering it as something to think about getting and I just want your views..
i think that they are nice looking.. not toyota's best looking car. but, not it's worst..what do yall think?
I thought the Echo was the ugliest car around when I first saw it. It is a car that grows on you and it's also the 'shock of the new'. 2 years later and I like it even more! Also, I fell in love with the Yaris(Euro version of Echo) the first time I saw one in Spain...wish the US one looked more like it.
If you're buying to impress someone else, you won't like the Echo. Buy it for yourself and it will continually make you smile.
I find it rather neat how some people attach personalities to their cars: My daily driver is a CR-V. After a short time, I decided that it was a "girl" and nicknamed her "Betty." (It comes off the tongue easier than the initials C-R-V!) Or, if you saw the movie Gone in 60 Seconds, notice that Nicolas Cage's character nicknamed the elusive Shelby Mustang "Eleanor." Has anyone else here personified their car like this? Or is the ECHO really just a point-A-to-B machine for everyone? <GRIN>
I took a group of CR-V owners to the Houston Auto Show this past weekend. While there, my ECHO-owning girlfriend and I paid a visit to the Toyota floor. As far as cars are concerned, it looks like Toyota is all about promoting the Corolla and Matrix this year. There was only one lone ECHO on display, at the periphery of the action:
The rear tire fills that space nicely now and the fronts are just at the edge of the cladding. Glad I didn't get the 16" ones!
that the circumference is greater than before, else they wouldnt fill the spaces any more. If the circumference is greater, then the speedometer/odometer would be reading wrong now, no? And the gearing would be even taller than the original? I dont care so much about the speedometer
readings, but if the gearing is even longer, less revs at the same speed, seems like the car is going too far in a direction where it was already pretty far out. Or maybe you have done this change differently than what I am supposing.
I can say it feels like I'm driving a bigger car now. I didn't go for 16's because of price and proportion. Anything bigger than a 15" makes the car look almost cartoonish IMHO I have seen an Echo here with 17" wheels and it looks cool but not for me. The true test of mpg etc. will be when I do my usual drive to Vegas. The aerodynamics suffer with bigger/wider tires so it'll be intresting to see what my mpg is now. I'd post a pic but don't know how! lol
I had the opportunity to ride in a Subaru Forrester a few weeks ago and it felt smaller than riding in my Precious. Goes to show you can't judge a car's interior by looking at the outside and also confirms my Dad's comment when we first got her that she's a TARDIS.
Personally, I think of my car as male and that is one reason I gave him a male name. Major Tom (his name) is the name of the character in the David Bowie song, Space Oddity. The Echo is a space oddity because it is bigger inside than it appears from the outside.
Nicholas Cage called that one car, Eleanor, because that is what it was called in the Original Gone In 60 Seconds movie. You should buy or rent the original. Amazing what the film maker did on a low budget.
I think the Echo is not selling to the young people because they think it does not have enough horsepower.
Be honest, if you did not take a test drive, would you think something with only 108 horses could be as fast or as fun to drive as the Echo?
If Toyota is not cancelling the Echo, I think they should bump the hp up by about 7 to 17 horses. I doubt that Toyota will bump it up to 125 horses total because then you are getting into the hp range of the Corolla which has 130.
But bottom line is that to sell more to the youngsters, the answer is more power.
Take a look at the Saturn Ion...seems like the Vibe is not the only one sharing Toyota parts! The dash looks like an Echo hybrid!
I drove the Echo, like I said before, and the dash was not a problem for me. Once I got used to looking to the right instead of straight ahead, it was no big deal. It did feel funny to have an empty dash in front of me though. And also, Toyota needs to add some more instrumentation to the pod as well. It looks too cheap with just the speedo and fuel gauge in there.
We are going to take a test drive of the new Suzuki Aerio on Saturday and then we will head up to the Toyota dealership so my roommate can test drive an automatic Echo.
Pat
Sedans Host
....My 18 year old friend rode a lot with me in my Echo till he got his first car recently, a used Accord. He was not out a lot with his peers initially, but surely is now. When I saw him the other day and we were talking cars, he mentionned that "most people think the Echo is junk", referring to his peers, where the older Civics are the car of choice. Seems clear to me that the reason for disapproval is the looks and the tallness. Even the newer Civics are less desirable amongst the younger set due to that tallness. And when I refer to the younger set, I am talking about a group who is into performance and performance-looking. I am sure there are lots of other young people, in other areas of the country, who have different priorities.
....(Thanks for the further info on your tires, kaz6, makes sense.)
MIKE
http://www.hlj.com/cgi-local/hljpage.cgi?FUJ18624
The model FUJ03482 is also a good model. However, the 82 comes with all black body and interior. Unless you have or want an all black model, a lot of painting and customizing is involved. I recommend model FUJ18624 for ECHO enthusiasts.
Welcome Mike, but could you not post in all upper case. It made your posting hard to read. Regarding engine sludge, there is a thread in either news and views or maintenance that is Toyota specific and a Toyota rep answers questions through the board. You might pose your question about the Echo there.
Got to disagree with you about the seafoam blue being a boring color. I think it is a very snazzy color. Major Tom is black sand pearl, but if my roommate gets an Echo, she wants the seafoam blue and I agree with her choice.
Seems that the corporate strategy is to sell to the youngest buyer possible to create product loyalty, a lifetime of buying Toyota. The Matrix is called a crossover utility vehicle that contains "the style and performance of a sports car, the functionality of a sport-utility vehicle, and the affordability of a subcompact sedan." Toyota hopes to sell about 70,000 Matrix in 2002.
I thought that the Matrix was in answer to the PT Cruiser. Will Matrix's possible success signal the end of Echo?
thanks
if you want to be safe, it wont hurt either to change the oil/filter now, even though you're way below 4000 miles. oil and filter are both cheap so it's not a big deal if you change it often.
Only costs so far (other than fuel): 7 oil changes @ $ 20 each (synthetic oil only), 1 transmission drain and refill @ $38, one coolant drain and refill @ $ 35, new spark plugs @ $ 8 (Bosch Platinum).
Only complaint: Toyota floormat (driver side) is already worn through and the carpet beside the accelerator pedal has a hole (probably my size 13 feet :-))
how long did it take you and how many stops in-between?