Toyota Echo

[Heep]

Don't even have to say a thing.

[Lizard King]

Compared to many other cars, especially in its class, that car ain't so bad.

[verboom]

Ain't so bad? You supply the car designers with their cheap cheap crack, don't you? Fool, it's ugly as sin.

[Heep]

I think I hate the 2 or so feet of fender vertically between the top of the tire and the trunk lid...I like a car with the back end a little lower down. Same idea with the Focus sedan.

[Porsche]

Kind looks like somebody kicked the ends of a Prius in and sat on it.

[carmaster]

I think its cute, expecially how it looks like its been squished too about 2 feet short of what it should look like.

[Jay!]

I feel compelled to defend it. My fiance got one and I drive it from time to time, and I must say, it's really nice for a sub-compact car. And then it really does get around 40 mpg! Here's to performance for economy's sake.

As for the looks, I have a theory that anyone with Photoshop could help me out with. Take a side view of the Echo sedan and a same-side view of the Lexus GS and squish the GS horizontally until they're the same length, then look at them side by side. Now, I'm not saying the Echo is a Lexus orphan or anything, but it does seem to share quite a few design traits, skewed though they may be...

[Heep]

heh, never thought about that.

I imagine it is a very nice car, but it's still ugly as anything.

[carmaster]

I don't like the placment of the instrument cluster, it looks stupid.

[BRABUS]

Too small, too bubbley, too slow, too little power, too bad! Only thing good about it is its gas efficiency.

[Morpheus XIII]

The Toyota ECHO is another prime example of automotive impurity. People immediately label this car as junk, and never look at it twice. I understand why they do; it looks just plain retarded, seeming like designers slapped it together in a few days, almost as if they knew that no one would care just like no one really cared about the Tercel/Paseo subcompacts. This might not be all too far from the truth.

The ECHO is a cousin of the Toyota Vitz (J) / Yaris (UK). The people of the U.S. live by the line, "bigger is better", thereby eliminating any possibility for the existence of those slow-yet-highly entertaining supercompacts, known to the rest of the world as "minis". These almost toy-like means of light transportation have no place in the States. SUVs will eat them alive. The majority of the roads here are business-like, with boring perpendicularity (perhaps this is why stoplight drag-racing is an American past-time ). Numerous roads in Japan and Europe are narrow and winding, perfect for minis; this factor alone has made these types of cars multiply like bunnies.

What confirms this popularity? Soon after its release, the Toyota Yaris was pinned with the famed prestigious award, "European Car of the Year". And we mustn't forget that the Vitz is available with different trim than the ECHO, including AWD.

Then what is the purpose of the ECHO in the U.S? Simply to fill a niche, and nothing more. They allow those with limited funds to purchase a new car and save on fuel costs, as well. It was not intended for spirited driving (especially with the lack of a tachometer), or even for providing the zippy fun factor that minis do (since ours has grown in size). As for the center placed instrument console, the son of a Toyota official and my good pal let me know that it was actually made so to cut down on costs for reversing the placement of the steering wheel (the upper dash is perfectly symmetrical), also signifying 'economic'.

SO DON'T PESTER THE ECHO. Internationally, it is a HUGE success. Much more popular than you, me, and the Backstreet Boys combined.

[Morpheus XIII]

Here is another example of automotive impurity:

In 1995, Nissan introduced the 200SX to the States. It never really received much attention. Why? My guess is that the rear end was hideous (I know, I owned one). The only thing it had going for it was the SR20DE on the SE-R model. Eventually, the car was withdrawn from the public. Again, the U.S. was shortchanged with an oddball rather than the sharper looking relative. The Pulsar (J) / Almera (UK) twins stole the show in other parts of the world, at one point even receiving the infamous SR16VE and SR20VE screamers.

I mentioned this once before in another thread, but I was sincerely tempted to slice off the rear clip of my 200SX and implant the nice 3rd door hatchback aft section.

Will the U.S. ever get the real McCoys? Or will we be stuck with their ill-fitting counterparts until the end of time?

[Moppie]

Originally posted by morpheusxiii

Will the U.S. ever get the real McCoys? Or will we be stuck with their ill-fitting counterparts until the end of time?

Everything you said about the echo is spot on, (the yaris is the same car, and comes with a tach in the UK), everyone else in the world has hailed it as a great fun to drive, practile and very efficant little car. But the simple attidude of the general american public prevents the car form being accepted for the great car it is, and untill that attidude changes the US will never get some of the world greatest cars in any kind of Volume, and continue to be stuck driving vechiles that havnt evolved much beyond the automotive equivilant of the stone age. (e.g SUVs that will never see a day out side of a major urban area.)

[Moppie]

Do you still think the Echo/Yaris is ugly? And this is from another AF forum too http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...&threadid=3206

:sun: :sun:

[Jay!]

I drove my wife's 4-door ECHO south on California Highway 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) south from Monterey to San Luis Obispo about a month ago on our way home from our honeymoon, and I can testify that it is quite and adept car for some white-knuckle driving.

The bad part was that my wife is terribly afraid of heights, so I had to drive ultra-carefully so as not to scare the bejesus out of her. As it was she was sobbing part of the way. That's about the cliff-iest road in California!

It took about three hours to drive 67 miles!!! Some of those turns can't be made at much more than about 35mph, in any car. The good ol' ECHO took it all in stride.