2005 Echo 2door coupe
Pros:
Very Reliable, Great, Did I mention Great Gas Mileage.
Cons:
No Power Windows, Door Locks or Mirrors.
The Bottom Line:
Buy it!! You won't be disappointed unless your are a Speed worshiper or an SUVaholic.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
This vehicle is a Great buy, And Cheap enough that I was tempted to put it on my credit card. I purchased this car back in August of 04, about a week ago I turned over 10,000 on it. (So far no problems whatsoever. But then it's a Toyota right?)
After reading Consumer Reports review of it, I decided to check one out. Since I already owned 2 other cars, I wasn't really intending to buy. But, once on the lot and a test drive latter I couldn't pass it up.
I guess I should explain that my motivating factor was a cheap, inexpensive car that was reliable and did good on gas. I use my car for work which requires about 10-15 stops a day as a field inspector. My Saturn VUE, while very happy with it, was putting a hurting on my bank account with gas station visits every other day. The ECHO makes ONE Stop a week.
The Echo has exceeded all my expectations. Gas mileage has been 40-45mpg -- The little 4 cylinder engine has plenty of pep for an automatic. There's plenty of storage space throughout and a trunk that will surprise you with the amount of space it has. Even the much talked about center dash mounted Speed odometer is actually very easy to get use to. And parking in tight spaces is a breeze.
I haven't really found too much about the ECHO that I don't like, Maybe Power locks/Windows/Mirrors would be nice. I'm not sure if these are dealer add-ons or not available at all, I heard both from various people. But it doesn’t matter since the car is small enough to lean over and unlock the door or roll down the window, and the mirrors? Once you set them, that's it.
The car came standard with an AM/FM and could be upgraded to a AM/FM/CD -- Of course I thought I knew better and bought an aftermarket job at Best Buy, Boy Aftermarket stereos are junk, The buttons are so small it's a pain to use, The factory unit had Hugh buttons and was very easy to use while driving, That's been somewhat resolved by the Wife's gift of XM satellite radio for Christmas.
All in All the ECHO is one great buy, While not a family car it is definitely a great car for one or two person hauling. I find myself driving it more and more outside of the original work car purchase, just because it gets such great mileage.
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