Toyota’s Subcompact Echo: Frugality Has Its Rewards, Like 38 MPG
We are inclined to look haughtily down our hood ornaments at subcompacts. It has to do with their lunch-box styling, social standing and noticeable reluctance to travel forward in any kind of a hurry. They do not impress the opposite sex, will have hotel valets directing you to self-park slots in the basement and usually carry license plate frames claiming your other car is a Porsche.
What tends to get overlooked is that the nation’s No. 4-selling car, just below the Ford Taurus, is the subcompact Honda Civic. Combine the two Neons by Dodge and Plymouth and you have DaimlerChrysler’s biggest seller.
They are perfect, you see, as first or fourth cars. And they represent ideal transportation for teens waiting on their first Visa card. They are also great raffle prizes, and they have enormous appeal for commuters whose daily happiness hinges on parking where sport-utilities don’t fit--and gassing up for $12.50 a month.
And no company knows this minimarket better than Toyota, early pioneer of the three-speed Crowns and the 1.0-liter Coronas, which made excellent doorstops, and builders of the economic Corolla for more than three decades.
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Now comes Toyota’s 2000 Echo, smaller, certainly less expensive by $2,100 than the Corolla, and totally different in looks and market purpose. In appearance, it is tall and lightly telescoped. By design, the Echo is aimed squarely at youthful, first-time buyers still several jobs away from acquiring their first used BMW.
At a flimflam base price of $9,995 for an entry-level two-door with a five-speed manual and no air conditioning, the Echo will certainly appeal to minimum-wage earners and the newly divorced. And an extra $2,500 will buy that air conditioning, plus automatic transmission, two extra doors and a CD player.
No matter what you pay, this little rascal will deliver 31 miles per gallon in town and 38 mpg on your way to Palm Springs. Plus, of course, anything built by Toyota comes with genetic reliability and durability that could see you willing this car to some yet-unborn grandchild.
Four inches taller than the Tercel it replaces, the Echo has enough driver headroom for one head in a big hat. Its dimensions also create a surprisingly large interior for four adults with ample shoulder room, although rear-seat knee room is typically subcompact and skimpy. Those high front seats, however, provide a commanding perch with the forward and surround vision of a minivan.
The Echo’s insides are particularly pleasing for such a frugal vehicle. Basic instruments no longer lurk behind the steering wheel and in front of the driver but are moved to the right and housed in a pod mounted high on the center of the dashboard. It will break old viewing habits in seconds, and actually make instrument scanning easier because the pod is closer to a driver’s line of sight when monitoring what’s happening outside the vehicle.
There are front-door pockets, a really useful glove box, under-seat storage trays, and open, oddly shaped bins on both side of the center console. (If shape suggests purpose, they should be ideal for storing large slices of watermelon.) The trunk, despite a tiny rear deck and dinky lid, is a 13.6-cubic-foot affair offering almost the same cargo space of a Lexus LS 400 luxury sedan.
Our test car came in metallic bottle green, a color that suggests something you might try slapping with a fly swatter. It hunkered low in the front with a minivan snout, and showed a perky rear pointing high. If this resembles anything, it is the massaged and purpose-built shape of the Prius gasoline-electric hybrid that Toyota will start selling here next year.
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With the Echo, you don’t get much excess for your $9,995. With a few niceties, the cost can run up to $14,964, which seems uncomfortably close to the price of a Honda Accord. The compromises and cost cutting are typical of any subcompact. Such as mouse-fur fabrics for upholstery; hand cranks (remember those?) for windows; and a set of really dreadful plastic wheel covers that probably will not survive the first 1,000 miles of curb rubbing.
The 1.5-liter, four-cylinder engine delivers 105 horsepower, but don’t expect zero-to-60 mph times better than 12 seconds. The power plant is buzzy, is dragged to slower performance levels by a four-speed automatic and goes from snooze to full bray with much surging and roaring in protest.
Yet the Echo steers quite deftly and has little trouble merging with freeway traffic and galloping with the pack.
In basic form it is highly affordable, very thrifty transportation of necessary purpose.
In a way, that relates the Echo to the bubble-round Ford Ka sold only in Europe and apparently not headed for the United States. It’s also a definite cousin to the Mercedes-Benz A-Class, another mini-car yet to bring its brand of low-cost city commuting to these shores.
The Echo’s strong point, as with those cars, is its utter practicality. Unlike those cars, it’s here, right now.
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2000 Toyota Echo
Cost
* Base, $9,995: includes front air bags, five-speed manual transmission, AM-FM radio, tilt steering, remote trunk and fuel-lid releases, passenger grab handles, trunk light.
* As tested, $14,964: adds automatic transmission, air conditioning, anti-lock brakes, daytime-running lights, power steering, CD player, power door locks.
Engine
* 1.5-liter, four-cylinder engine developing 105 horsepower
Type
* Front-engine, front-drive, subcompact passenger car
Performance
* 0 to 60 mph, as tested: 12.1 seconds, with four-speed automatic
* Top speed, estimated: 104 mph
* Fuel consumption: 31 miles per gallon city, 38 mpg highway, with automatic, as estimated by the Environmental Protection Agency
Curb Weight
* 2,080 pounds
The Good: A mini-sedan (or coupe) for those into frugal transportation with few thrills. Despite subcompact exterior, added height provides a well-sized interior. Aimed squarely at young, first-time buyers and the financially challenged.
The Bad: Buzzy, overworking engine. Basic price hides basic realities of two-door coupe with no power steering, no air conditioning, no automatic.
The Ugly: Plastic wheel covers that should never have survived the ‘70s.
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Comparing the Subcompacts
How does the new Echo stack up to the current crop of leading subcompacts? Here’s Paul Dean’s quick comparison:
Honda Civic. Base price about $1,000 more, horsepower and performance about the same, fuel economy and build quality and standard equipment also about the same. Honda’s only real edge might be its better, certainly more conventional, looks.
Dodge-Plymouth Neon. More expensive than the Echo but also more horsepower and a much quicker performer. And there’s the R/T high-performance model. Just don’t expect Toyota’s inherent reliability.
Ford Escort. Also more expensive--and also plagued by road noise and automatic transmission roar. But it does come with an optional 130-horsepower engine. Ride not quite so choppy. But fit and finish, also quality feel, not up to Japanese levels.
Chevrolet Cavalier. More expensive and delivers less fuel economy, but it offers more horsepower and an optional 2.4-liter engine (which raises base price to $15,000) for really moving around. Anti-lock brakes also standard. But, as with most domestics, durability and fit and finish fall shy of imports.
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Paul Dean can be reached at dixiedean27@aol.com.
