Well, great gas mileage, I just got the car 2 days ago, but so far I got 270 miles on 6 gallons of gas which would average out to be 44 mile/gallon, although I expect the second half of the tank to yeild less. Very roomy inside, Toyota reliability. I test drove 8 new cars in the 10,000 - 15,000 price range, and this had the best blend of practicality, low cost, and performance. It;s European counterpart the YARIS was the 2000 car of the year, as a much more attractive Hatchback...but that is another story.

It is a light vehicle, and rather tall, you can feel the wind at higher speeds, but if you have both hands on the wheel (like you are supposed to,) it should not cause any problems. Tires are pretty puny, I will be getting bigger rims/tires asap. And as far as the style of the car goes, I know it is a con for a lot of people. I thought that way too, when it first came out, but I actually rather like it now. When I was comparing cars, I put a picture of the echo on my desktop on my pc, and it grew on me I guess. Definately not your fathers corolla! I like The Hatchback Yaris better, but I guess I am the only American that thinks that.

Even with only 108 hp, the fact that the weight is only 2030 lbs means that this car feels faster than you would expect. I did the research and the average 0-60 times on the ECHO was about 8.5 seconds. This was from averaging motor trend, auto week, car and driver, and popular mechanics. Averaging the 0-60 of the 2001 Honda civic ex (vtec rated at 127 hp) was....guess what? 8.5 seconds. The Ford Focus was only rated at 9.0 seconds, by the way. My second choice would have been the Nissan Sentra se (145hp 0-60 in 7.9 seconds) but a half second is not a big difference. I feel that with performance that is competetive, way better gas mileage, and a brand new, unique looking car, why join the pack and buy a civic?

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I test drove 2001 Hyundai Tiburon, Nissan Sentra SE, Ford Focus, Dodge Neon R/T, Honda Civic EX, and several used cars, and I could not find a better car for less than 14,000 that had everything I wanted.

Room, comfort, storage, trunk size, bright headlights, great sound system, gas mileage, price.

No power windows or cruise control.

On 8/18/01, my Echo was totaled in a 60 - 70 MPH head on collosion with a king cab Ford truck that spun out of control during a rainstorm and sideways into my lane! There were three people in the car that were able to walk away with minor injuries. The most hurt was the one in the back seat because of the seatbelt, but I was told that is common with all cars. The airbags worked perfectly and there was no engine intrusion in the cabin. I was driving and the most damage was on my side, the side window broke leaving some glass scratches on my hand, the airbag left a mark on my nose and I have a bruise on my knee. I have a lot of pictures of the car after the accident, e-mail me if you want any. I will replace this car as soon as I can and feel a lot better about it's safety.

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1994 Toyota Tercel (smaller, not as many features), 2000 Toyota Corolla (plain interior, less visability and gas mileage, sits low to gound)