My next CC wants to be an epic, and isn’t going to make it today. So how about a little diversion with this sad little fellow? How did Toyota end up doing this? Especially since the Yaris Mk 1 (which we didn’t get state-side) was a rather fresh little number.
I was in Europe in 1999 when I first saw the non-Echo Yaris, and at the time it managed to stand out quite positively among all the European competition in that crowded category (I’m speaking design-wise). Its wedge shape was effective in helping mask its tall overall stance, which was of course to improve passenger space. That’s always a challenge, to make a tall small car look like it’s not tipping over or such.
But Toyota decided that Americans weren’t ready for little hatches yet (again), and punked us with the trunked Echo, also called the Toyota Platz in Japan. Some designs just don’t lend themselves to be changed like this. What looked sassy, now looked gassy. In the Yaris hatch, the rear wheels are so close to the rear of the car, without any overhang, it doesn’t matter that they look a bit small. In the Echo sedan, they suddenly look like roller-skate wheels.
The Yaris’ B pillar is a very critical part of the overall design, and really integrates it.
On the Echo two-door sedan, Toyota even went to the effort to black out the B pillar. It was a lost cause by then anyway. The Echo was a big disappointment, sales wise, in the US. It was a rare case of folks shunning Toyota’s reliability reputation, simply because the car looked so dorky. And yes, these cars are reliable. I should know, since I drive one, with a different body on a lengthened Yaris platform.
Obviously, Toyota learned its lesson, and the Yaris Mk 2 came with both the hatch as well as the Yaris name. It still hasn’t set the sales stats on fire, but that might be for other reasons.
And the 2012 Yaris drops the still-ungainly sedan altogether. Yeah! I think this is the first one I’ve seen. And TTAC doesn’t have a review of one; hmmm.
What do you all think? Or is it off your radar too?
Now back to my CC; uh oh. I just gave it away. But restrain yourselves; it will be here soon.
The hatch was sold in Canada as the Echo Hatchback as a companion to the sedan. A neat looking car IMO. They aren’t that many around as they were quite expensive for what they were.
I drove a rental Yaris version in the UK with a 1.0L four cylinder engine many years ago. Rather uninspiring but with the price of fuel over there and the exchange rate at the time it was all I wanted fill up.
Yeah, I saw them when I was up in Fort Erie in the early ’00s…which was a semi-regular event at that time.
I was in the market for a car, my second (of three, as it turned out) Geo dying of body-rot. The Echo was the smallest Toy at the time, and the Metro was a dead brand…even I couldn’t see past the Echo’s uber-dork styling. I saw those Echo hatches in Canada…and the exchange rate was fifty-seven-cents to $1CN…a vagrant little thought took root in my mind.
I stopped in a Toy story on the Canuk side. Turns out they’d done it all before…the car would cost me about $8500, unbeatable at the time. They would sell it to an import broker, who would then sell it to me. Duties were all reasonable; and Canadian safety and smog laws all mirrored American. I was ready to pull the trigger…
…and I got stopped at a random check on the Peace Bridge. Turns out a long-ago incident, “Driving with Ability Impaired” when I was a kid in New York State, made it onto that state’s criminal database. Twenty-five years later. ALSO turned out, Immigration Canada interprets that offense as DUI (in fact it was not). So I was forced to sign a whole bunch of papers to the effect I was being expelled from Canada; escorted under arms back to the American side, and then spent four hours trying to get the American border guards to believe it. (My Mountie escort turned tail as soon as I was talking to the border guards.)
So I didn’t get. I now have a Yaris; but that one remains the Big Bargain that Got Away…
As an aside: It’s probably good for the rest of the auto industry that Toyota never thought to hire Maximum Bob. Toyotas sell in SPITE of their styling…imagine a Toyota LH or Solistice! They’d have the WHOLE market…
Wow, 57 cents to a US Dollar! We in Canuckistan would love that exchange rate. It is only 11 cents now!
11 cents on the dollar???? I’m a bit confused, or am I missing something?
http://www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/exchange/
Yes, for sure Socialism has ruined Canada’s economy. Fortunately, that is all being undone now. I am sure the working people will really benefit from it, too.
Ahem, Mr. Peters, please keep politics out of CC (even if I completely agree with your anti-socialist views, which might or might not be true). It is Paul’s policy to keep politics & religion out of CC.
Mr. Mann; are you the CC PC police? What brought you all the way back here?
The Paseo Cohort CC helped bring me back here. I wish for certain CC rules to be enforced (no religion or politics) so we don’t become an odd clone of TTAC in ways.
What do you want CC to be more like in 5 years? TTAC in current form or the ever-neutral Car Lust? Choose wisely.
I have met two people in my life who owned Echos. The first was still trying to live by the rule that there is no reason to spend 5 figures on a new car. He broke his rule with the Echo, but not by much.
The second guy was an older fellow I met one Sunday when the Toyota dealer was closed and we were prowling the lot looking at salesman-free cars. He wanted a new car but liked his Echo because it sat up so high and was so easy to get in and out of with his arthritic knees.
The only other thing I remember about these was the center instrument pod that made me feel like it was 1936. Actually, Paul, pieces like this are encouraging to me. I read so many pieces that result in yet another car being added to my bucket-car list. This is not one of them, and I feel refreshed because I am not farther behind in my car-ownership experience than I was an hour ago 🙂
If memory serves the speedometer on these was mounted in the center of the dash. Such ergonomic stupidity immediately disqualified it from consideration when I was looking for cheap transportation.
Most agreed. I drove a 2010 2-door Yaris as a rental. Nastiest little car I’ve ever driven, IMHO. And the speedometer in the middle just made it worse. Kept having to take my eyes off the road (left eye dominant) to see the damn thing.
I assume you have not experienced an Aveo?
Yes. Despite it being fashionable to completely slag the Aveo, the old Yaris is worse. Amazing what sins the Toyota nameplate can cover in the eyes of the auto bloggers.
Lots of these dorky cars in Portlandia. Lots more little Hondas.
Back when the first Prius came out, an NPR reporter from Detroit called it a version of the Echo. I felt insulted.
The dream of the ’90s is alive in Portland…Portland …Portland…
Notice the similarity of the B-Pillar treatment of the 2 door versions to that Rambler in the background.
It’s the too small wheel wells and wheel compared to the height of the car’s sides that makes it so dorky looking. The Nissan Versa sedan is its today’s equivalent.
The new Yaris is okay, but I looked a very basic 3-door and it was priced around $15.8K.
The equipment level, packaging, and driving experience just didn’t justify that price, so you must be paying a big premium for the Toyota reputation.
I think you’re paying a big premium for a VIN that starts with a J. IIRC, the North American Yaris is still assembled in the Land of the Rising Yen.
If these cars *are* still being assembled in Japan, I doubt Toyota is making a whole lot of profit on them, even if they don’t seem to be a lot of car for the money.
Honda recently started building Canadian market Fits in China, I would expect Toyota to start sourcing North American Yarii from a low cost region soon, perhaps Indonesia or Thailand.
The big premium is the exchange rate, presently hovering at Y75 to$1.00. The Yaris is made in Japan. Toyota cannot be making anything on them.
No; and it’s not the only product they lose money on, either. Industry figures suggested Toyota was losing about (IIRC) $4000 on the sale of EACH Prius initially.
With progressions in development over time, that figure has probably turned around – it’s most likely a breakeven prospect now, the real payoff being in good company PR. But Lutz, at GM, and others marveled that Toyota could accept such an initial loss…according to Maximum Bob, GM had the technology, borrowing from their EMD division, and considered countering Toyota. But with GM losing money even then, Wagoner told Lutz that if he, Lutz, wanted, he could take it to the board and try to explain the reasoning. Because Wagoner couldn’t.
Toyota, being partly controlled by the Toyoda family and profitable too, could take such a risk. Probably with cars like the Yaris, also…it keeps jobs in Japan and it protects market share. If it makes money, great; if it’s a breakeven, it still pays off down the road.
There’s no basis for that. Toyota has repeatedly insisted that the Prius II was profitable, and that that all recent/current hybrids had to meet the same profitability expectations/margins as all their cars.
Toyota has slashed the costs drastically with each generation, and suppliers now build the components in huge quantities, Toyota is well past the Prius being a halo car; it’s a bread and butter part of their line up, and they’ve made it clear that all their lines will have hybrid versions. Toyota is not hybridizing their cars in a plan to destroy themselves, but to earn as much or more form them than their conventional cars.
The issue with the exchange rate is another matter, but that affetcs all their Japanese produced cars proportionately.
Lutz and Prius haters have found it very convenient to make such implications, that Toyota has been losing money, or barely breaking even on the Prius, in an effort to diminish it’s actual commercial success.
There is plenty of evidence that the “hybrid premium” is no more than the “diesel premium”, and that it was about $2000 several years ago. It’s probably dropped since then. If you really look at all the parts, it’s not really that exotic.
It’s a mite off-topic (again!) but I find this all amusing and confusing, by turns. Because I’m a big backer of Toyota – for its bulletproof quality; sure, there’s exceptions and weak spots, just as with any brand. And there’s NO QUESTION that most of them are kludgy to drive and look like a Revell model that’s been kit-bashed and then melted in Mom’s oven. (Did they hire Datsun’s old styling team, I wonder?) No, they’re not enthusiast’s cars; but they’re the Maytag of the auto world.
And I’m bludgeoned for it by enthusiasts. Fine, well and good…dream cars and daily drivers are two different things. But then, the Prius…
In his book, Evan Boberg makes the case against hybrids well, if you can get past his horrific writing. And he backs it up with numbers – it puts specifics to my suspicions. I have my Puritan’s distrust of complexity; and the Prius sets off all my alarms.
And I’m well aware that the EPA mileage cycle-test doesn’t mirror actual driving conditions. To have a car actually DESIGNED around those test conditions…remember those insane ESVs the Department of Transportation used to contract, to “test” various concepts like periscopes? The Prius makes me think of that. All that weight in the batteries; all that wiring and computer controls. Smokey Stover would love it…
If this comes off as a flame, it’s not meant that way. I’m amazed, that’s all…and amused.
It depends on how you define the loss per vehicle. There was a lot of money spent purchasing and further developing the technology and it did require a fair number of them to be sold to amortize that cost. That did wipe out the profit on the first gen, the one we didn’t see here. The second gen, the first one we saw in the US, built on that technology and started making them a profit.
Fact is until the price of copper skyrocketed the transmission the main meat of the system, actually cost less than a conventional transmission. The battery pack wasn’t that expensive either. All the things they did to give it respectable hwy mpg despite the inefficiency of the Hybrid system at speed accounted for a large portion of the added cost. Lots of time spend getting that drag down and relatively exotic ways to counter act the weight of that trans and battery pack, like the Magnesium seat frames.
By the end of Gen II they were raking in the profits as the cost of amortization had dropped, they were still getting a huge premium and the cost to build the car wasn’t that much more.
I’d have to disagree. I think the euro spec Yaris looks dorky including the weird B pillar that makes it look like they did it to fit a piece of glass they already had rather than tool up for one that fits the car. I think the US spec Echo isn’t that bad at least w/o the ground effects. I’m not saying the Echo is looks great, just better than the euro Yaris of the same time period.
Echo was meant for ‘hip’ 20something ‘Echo Boomers’, but ended up in lil old ladies’ garages. Sort of like the Honda Element.
The same thing would happen here, the sedan seems to be little old ladies only while the hatch is bought across the board (demographic wise)
I would be in the market for this but already own it’s competition. We bought a Nissan Cube a year and a half ago and have 37k on it right now. I would have considered a Yaris but got a deal on a demo.
I am at that point in my life when I need a truck for the hay etc and a new car for Mama. Since we go together almost everywhere I get the most economical new car that will carry the passengers we need. My choices here were the cube, the soul, and the scion. A yaris or versa would have worked just as well but she liked the “cute little window” and I really did not care one way or the other.
I believe toyota gives better economy but I hit the 30 town 35 hiway level and see no need to do better. I don’t care if it looks dorky and it a kids car in an “old folks” garage. It hauls the freight.
Had the misfortune to drive one of these for a week while the 126 Mercedes was in the body shop.Sheesh!! And I wasn’t comparing it to the Merc,just to a basic transpo car! When the Merc went to another body shop a week later(to correct the shoddy first repair attempt),I got a Mitsu Lancer rental,which I actually enjoyed!
The late 90s version is the one the fitted with a hybrid powertrain isnt it they certainly look identical.
Look closer, nothing in common. 2001 Prius 100.4″ wheelbase, 2000 Echo 93.3″ wheelbase.
Also called Toyota Platz and looks the same as Prius
Not.
Bryce, the Platz IS the Echo (Yaris/Fitz with a trunk). The Prius rode on a longer and wider platform. No relation, except maybe a few nuts and bolts.
The Prius platform (Prius II and III) is probably most related to the Toyota Avensis.
Fair enough I was going on looks I drove past a Platz coming back from school today
This hatch->sedan pseudo job is fairly common. The best at this is probably Fiat with the Punto->Linea, while the worst has to be Suzuki with Swift->Dzire (yes that’s what its called). The Echo has to be a contender for the worst spot, though its original hatch car (Yaris Mk I) is not much a looker itself.
If customers want bigger cars, some manufacturers will provide bigger cars, regardless of absurdity. It also helps to sell otherwise small designs at a price premium. The small, *expensive*, hatch is a well-established concept in Europe but alien elsewhere, though with the current Yaris price according to ajla, the US is getting there.
During my 30-day stint as a Toyota salesman in the summer of 2000, I drove an Echo many times. It was a surprisingly roomy and peppy little car with a weird dash, but also with an even weirder exterior that would keep me from ever buying one. Shame…
I was selling Toyotas around the same time in the Northwest burbs.
I not only never drove an Echo, I never got a request to test drive one, and never tried selling one. We had a stockpile of used Corollas that made more money.
I do remember going to a sales seminar that was headlined by this salesman turned motivational speaker sponsored by Toyota. I laughed out loud when he described the Echo as “cute as a bug”.
LOL. During my time as a Toyota salesman in the early 90’s, we had the Tercel. You knew this car was bad when the top dog salesman called it the Turd-smell.
Same deal, odd styling, under powered drive train cheap (well, kind of) price. The far more conventional Corollas slaughtered the Tercels in sales at our store. I sold dozens of pick up trucks and Camrys, a few Corollas, but just one Tercel. At cost. I made $35 on the deal. I never showed another one again. Not because of the lousy spiff, because no one ever asked.
A few other guys did sell them, primarily to the folks who were credit risks, or more like credit disasters. The disaster cases didn’t get loans, either. They got leases. And not good ones, some ran for five years. I can’t think of the name of the banking company we used, but they hit these folks hard,
Then Toyota had the brain
fartstorm to come up with the Paseo, a little coupe based on the Tercel. I remember the sales “rallies” we had to promote the car. It was just awful. I know they’re supposed to get you fired up about the new product, but everyone could see through the veneer. The Geo Storm slaughtered that thing, with a passion. The Chevy store that was part of our group couldn’t keep them in stock.It was then I realized that Toyota had no more clue than any other auto manufacturer. At best they hoped to ape GM, and were doing a pretty good job at it. Their small cars sucked, and the real meat and potatoes (even in the early 90’s) were their pickup trucks and SUVs. The midsized cars were just gravy.
That was the story at my exurban store. I left the selling business, but struck up a relationship with the Toyota dealer (just in case) near my then-home in Forest Park, GA, which borders the city of Atlanta. You would think there would be a big change being in an urban area. What were their biggest sellers?
Camrys, trucks and SUVs.
I would have rather had the Tercel than the Echo. They were both awkward but the Tercel looked more balanced. New Corollas always netted a $50 mini deal, there just wasn’t any money in them. The Camry, Highlander, Solara usually got a good commission but the good money was in Avalon, SUVs and Trucks as you pointed out. We got paid on the front and back too so we kinda stalked the bustouts. If we got one financed hoo boy! It was party time.
Funny thing about Toyota buyers was that they never came to the store as “lookers”. There was no actual “sales” involved where I was unless it was a non-Toyota used car.
@birddog: I really grew to dislike the Corollas I was selling in the 90’s. I’d sold several used 80’s versions, and they were much nicer riding and driving cars. We’ve discussed the “fat” engineering of Camrys, and the subsequent “leaning out” that took place in the last decade or so. But the leaning out of the Corolla started in the 80’s somewhere. By the early 90’s, those cars were penalty boxes. I would place them on the same level as the contemporary Tempo and Topaz models.
Totally OT: Did you ever notice you and Sean have the same icon?
No doubt on the Corolla being a penalty box. When the redesign came about with the intro of the Matrix they improved 100%. It was almost exciting.
The OT, we’re one in the same. I keep forgetting to change my name in this computer.
I am late on this, But I know what you mean about Tercels being unconventional. I ended up with a 1995 Green DX Coupe in 2004 with 88k. My Aunt sold it to me after my 1992 Taurus overheated due to a water pump failure.
The Tercel was ok for what it was. But I only kept it a year, as it’s shortcomings kinda started to wear on me. Im 6’4″, my dad and brothers are all taller if you can believe that. It was a joke trying to go anywhere with more than 2 other people. Images of a sardine can become all too real in something like this. Fit and finish was actually very good, but the stuff that was optional was laughable. Mine was pretty loaded with a passenger side mirror, trip odometer and cloth seating. It had a clock delete in the dashboard, so clearly that was one option passed up by the original buyer.
The engine was underpowered, and even more so trying to run the A/C during a Denver summer. It took all that the car could muster to merge onto the freeway (A chore I rarely took on) and it was very noisy at highway speeds. It was also dangerously light. It would often slide on snowy roads at low speeds, and it was ridiculously light in the rear. A man helping me get it unstuck once just lifted it up with his hands and moved it over. Ill never forget that.
It probably served the older woman I sold it to much better than it served me in terms of everyday usefulness. She was a retiree who delivered newspapers in Boulder for extra cash. Her husband had a F-150 for their leisure times, so the car wasn’t going to be trying to fill a void left by a malfunctioned Taurus. She simply needed it to make her deliveries and move on with the day. I was trying to do full time family duty and it just never seemed to work out the way I had hoped. I had only put 20k on it, so it only had about 108k on it when she bought it. Sold it for what I paid for it. Ended up with my 92 V6 LE Camry with 80k which I just retired in December 2016 at 211k. (Serious power steering failure that I wasn’t gonna shell out $1,900 for. Replaced it with a low mileage 1999 V6 XLE.)
Not a terrible car, but unless you were small and needed a car for no more than basic a to b transport, it had an awkward way of fitting into one’s daily routine. Gas Mileage was good, but little else stood out to me other than the interior quality compared to something like a Cavalier.
The Paseo was no better. My best friend actually had a 1992 Silver Paseo at the same time I had this Tercel. I did notice that the ride seemed to be a little smoother in the Paseo. Hitting bumps in the Tercel did not speak to any refinement in that department.
Odd little cars they became during the last 2 generations, Somewhat likeable, and about as reliable as they come, but something about them always made you feel like you were coming up short.
I believe “homely” and “awkward” come to mind when I see an Echo. The center mounted instrument pod really put it over the top. The other side of it is that the cars are economical to run and bulletproof mechanically. The outer wrapper really turned off a lot of potential customers.
I rented a few Echos. While they were roomy and great on gas, they were a bit of a handful in a crosswind.
Something about the 2-door Echo makes me think of it as a Japanese version of the Henry J.
Wow you’re right, remarkable. But I see it in the four-door. Something about their bland faces with two-slot grilles, plain bodies, steel wheels. Both too stripped to sell much.
Well, to my eyes they are both ugly, and never really registered with me to the point I even realized that there was a hatchback and a sedan body.
While I didn’t like the styling of the Echo, what really ruined it for me was the centrally mounted speedometer. It felt like Toyota was punishing Echo buyers for not stepping up to the Corolla by denying them a real dashboard. That being said, the only person I know of who bought an Echo still has it and loves it. Apparently, it works far better than it looks.
To my eyes, the new Yaris is not much of an improvement over its predecessor, which was not much of an improvement over the Echo. And the center-mounted instruments were unforgivable. Certain cars just have bad genes, and this is one of them.
Yeah, I never got used to it either…and it’s my current DD.
I just put the TomTom low on the windshield, right in front – where the speedo ought to be. And I just use it for speed…100 percent accurate, too!
The flat spot under the center speedo pod makes a GREAT place to park the morning coffee mug…
FWIW, the 2012 Yaris had reverted to a conventional instrument cluster. Man, that must have stuck in someone’s craw at Toyota…
Prius has always had its main instruments high and centered. I don’t have to take my eyes as far off the road to read them. I like it.
The only trouble with that was at night, the car next to me could easily see my speed. Made me extra careful when passing police cars (even Crown Vics). In the 2nd gen they recessed them.
My 3rd gen has the Touch Tracer Display, a trick setup using mirrors: when you touch any of the little steering wheel buttons, a map showing which one your finger’s on shows up over top of the fuel and mpg gauges.
We had a Pontiac Aztek with a heads up display. I liked it a lot. I seriously wish they had more availability across car lines. But with the demise of Pontiac (which was the only division to push them) I only see them on uplevel Buicks now… No other car companies (I’m aware of) either sells them or promotes them.
BMW. Although I’m not impressed by their stuff or prices.
One of my least favorite cars, ever. For various reasons, I loathe these things. Unfortunately, there are still a fair few around in Toronto.
I had an Echo as a rental in Hawaii once. With an automatic I had it floored most of the time. After five days the fuel still read full.
That would seem to sum up the vast majority of bottom-feeder penalty boxes. What’s always perplexed me is why they always seem to have strange styling. I understand that getting as much space as possible into a small package can mean an overly tall, somewhat out of proportion, not too stylish vehicle. Yet, some manufacturers seem to go out of their way to make their smallest cars as absolutely goofy looking as they can.
It’s the automotive version of Dancin’ Fool…
Paul, you should do an article on Toyota’s “Project Genesis,” of which the awful Echo was a part. I was in high school when they launched Project Genesis, which was supposed to lure younger buyers into the fold via the Echo, new-for-Y2K Celica, and MR2 Spyder. All models that are considered failures. I guess Project Genesis eventually became Scion…success still TBD.
There was a rather rotund girl who I went to high school with who came from a well-off family that was hardcore “Toyota Only.” Her mother drove each generation of Avalon (and still does). When this girl got her license, she got a brand-new Echo, which she perceived to somehow be “cooler” than the Corollas of the time even though she looked like she was stuffed into a sausage casing driving it. Everyone hated it. I remember sitting in it and thinking how the silver plastic slider for the HVAC controls was quite possibly the cheapest control I’d ever seen in a car.
Looking back, it was interesting how Toyota sensed a need for something like Project Genesis so long ago. At the time, they were at the peak of their reputation for quality, the domestic cars still sucked, and there was still coolness factor from the Supra and Celica. As a high school kid in the late ’90s, 4Runners and Tacomas were considered cool cars and desirable. Corollas were meh, but reliable and a lot of kids drove them. Echoes were laughingstocks.
A friend I used to work with has one of these, a navy blue sedan. I think it is a 2006. She just loves it and plans to drive it until the wheels fall off. It is one of the facelifted versions, which toned down most of the odd styling cues.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned the parallel with the VW Jetta, which was another hatchback with a trunk tacked on for the US market.
I had a 2000 sedan which I turned into the “Fauxgeot” with some eBay imported Peugeot badges and hubcaps for a rolling automotive pun. For some reason it reminded me of a mutant 206 sedan- it was kinda freak how well the Peugeot emblems matched the curvature of the car. It was the perfect around town vehicle-2 gloveboxes and a bunch of really handy storage trays, big doors and high seats-easier to get in and out of than a UPS truck, great visibility. The center speedo thing was easy to get used to (and in town you didn’t need to look at it too much anyway). The tiny wheels were goofy but CHEAP to buy tires for (now you know who gets to pay the “starting at $45” price on the tire store flyers). The trunk was huge for such a small car; I once got 9 large bags of mulch in there with the lid closed. Horrible highway car- noisy and handling above 50 was a joke. It got crunched by a texting college kid at a traffic light.
It’s not pretty, but the Echo Coupe can work out alright if given a little TLC. Removing the black decals isn’t a must for darker colors, but I did on my Electric Green Mica coupe with a little Goo-Gone and razors (I suggest a Teflon spatula if anyone here attempts it… I had some gouges).
In any case, the body color B-pillar is a huge plus. The sedan will never have the added look of a naked B-pillar like the coupe or three-door hatch.
One of the other issues of the Echo Coupe/Sedan was the bumper bottoms– the dark colors had light plastic, and the light cars had dark plastic. My green being dark, they were gray. I painted them black and it’s far cleaner for it. Have some foggies, 10mm wider tires rocked the 14″ Steelies with beauty/trim rings and hand-painted white letters. Now there are seven-spoke Miata 14′s on the car, shaving a grand total of 18lbs with the tires included. Also played with the tail-light housings (the URL I provided has plenty of images to look around).
There are ways to make the coupes look alright, it just takes being a little bored and fiddling. 462,000 miles strong.
Given, that was last year. Right now this is how she sits. Again, for other shots, click my name and it’ll take you to the PheobetheEcho Facebook page.
How many miles on the Echo now? I sold mine at 190k, still ran brand new and on the original clutch. Ran like a top.
464,600 miles last I remember. It shouldn’t be past 464,700 yet.
Funny thing, I saw another two-door green Echo near my sisters new apartment when I was moving her in, and it really didn’t have the same “pop” as my green. Same vintage, but a much darker green. I also discovered a new scratch in the rear right fender thanks to San Francisco clumsiness that seems oh-so-common. Hopefully I can buff it out at some point.
BTW, screw the ’03-’05 Echo Sedan pictured, what about the classics in the driveway next to it? :p
It seemed as though the little reliable car that people love to loathe had hallmark propensities for longevity and exceptional gas mileage. Maybe this was one of the last cars along with the 1988-02 Corollas which were not Camry sourced Toyota had that Toyota Philosophy for reliability, dependability, longevity and well built as being the one of the least recalled cars unlike the Toyotas of today involving their widely popular car line like the Prius, Matrix, Corolla, RAV4, Camry (along with its Van & SUV derivatives) & Avalon which you often hear in the News lately on any given day which it shared similar notoriety with General Motors for the most recalled cars in history. Anyway the Echo had a much conservative styling sibling in the Far East and its called the Toyota Vios which were built from 2004-07. Here is the photo of both cars which were also scaled to their relative sizes as well.
Speaking of the Red 2012 Toyota Yaris 5 Door Hatchback shown here, This generation of the Yaris also had a spin-off hybrid version called the Prius c (aka Aqua in Japan) Hybrid and a different NEW Vios based NEW Yaris 5 Door Hatchback shown on this post as well. When the North American version of the Yaris is replaced in 2016, it will be based on the newer upcoming version of the Mazda2 which will heavily use its modern skyactiv platform.
I remember Car and Driver saying that this car resembled an elephant on roller skates, and also calling it “Something new from Toyota – a big mistake” when they put it in a comparison test not too long after it came out. I drove two of them (the Japanese market Platz) when my Sentra was undergoing repairs, and I found it to be quite roomy and a nice entry-level car. One of them had a digital dashboard as well, something I thought had died out with “Knight Rider” in the eighties. I saw some nicely dressed up ones in Puerto Rico in 2004, but once again, even the most attractive hatchbacks tend to become uglier when they are made into sedans.
Still, Toyota wasn’t satisfied with the Yaris sedan’s level of ugliness. Here’s the proof, the Yaris Verso.
It resembled the Nissan Cube on steroids. Imagine if Scion had this car instead of the xB which was also based from the same chassis as both the Yaris Verso and the Platz based Echo Sedan? Maybe the Yaris Verso SMH would be considered like a Station Wagon Version of the Platz based Echo and Yaris.
The successor of the Yaris Verso is this Toyota Verso-S. Much better ! Still not selling very well, fierce competition from a new generation of compact CUVs, mainly from France.
It seemed as though that its chief competitor Nissan copied the Toyota Verso-S and named it Nissan Versa Note.
Here is the latest version of the Nissan Versa Note. It still looked like the Toyota Verso-S. The designs of both Nissans albeit Toyota Verso-S lookalikes has a little bit of Renault influence since both Nissan and Renault are automotive partners.