Toyota ECHO

Don't bother if you live in the northeastern US. The Echo is no longer sold there.

Are ads welcome in this NG?

Brent "We thought, because we had power, we had wisdom." -- Stephen Vincent Benét

No, they are not. Looks like I'll have to make a trip over there...

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sedan, available in two trims, the 2-Door Sedan and the 4-Door Sedan.

Please remove your spam from this ng...

Brent wrote: snip of spam

No they aren't Brent...if we don't complain then the newsgroups will be overrun with spam and we won't have space to use it for what its intended...

Go for it Bruce...sock it to em. I emailed them complaining...

Like political rhetoric?

:-)

Natalie

sedan, available in two trims, the 2-Door Sedan and the 4-Door Sedan.

I actually appreciate this ad, because I learned that the Echo is no longer sold in the Northeast, which explains why I hadn't seen one lately.

Anybody know why they aren't sold here?

Seems to me that the Echo is the next best thing at this point to the Smart car or the VW Lupo, neither of which are available in the USA yet.

Echos did not account for a large portion of Toyota's sales, so dealers don't want to stock them. If dealers don't want to stock them, then the folks who sell the cars to the dealers end up spending a disproportionate amount of time trying to get dealer to buy something they don't want.

sedan, available in two trims, the 2-Door Sedan and the 4-Door Sedan.

The Echo is a Done Deal. I bet this guy has a boatload of them (we have ONE used one) and is tryiing to unload them, because the public (Except for Nat, of course...)has been staying away from this ugly little thing in droves.

I happen to like them, and I would like a nice 2 door 5 speed, but I can't afford one right now...and they are OUT of production.

That is really a pity, because "us poor folks" can't afford the pricier cars that these dealers want to sell. Methinks what is actually happening is gentrification of the region. Everywhere I look nowadays I need Lexuses, Audis, etc.

I also noticed that Honda has dropped their cheap hatchback, at least in this region.

I think I'll just wait for the Smart car. At least that's a company that cares about customers' needs.

You'd think that, like in years past, when the price of gas goes up, the econoboxes sell in record numbers. Either people don't care anymore, or they just like the camrys so much it doesn't matter.

Big shift from RAVs, Highlanders and 4-Runners (fixed Freudian slip...I had typed $-Runner...have you seen a price tag recently?) to Prius and Camrys. The Corollas seem to be lagging way behind, too.

Yeah! A bunch of Off-Topic, Political posts!

There is still a healthy demand for very small gas sippers, as evidenced by brisk sales of the Aveo. In order for consumers to want small cars, the cars need to outstanding class gas milage, interior space, or style. Unfortunately, the Echo's style did not appeal to a big enough group of consumers to warrant continued efforts for Toyota to sell. I think Scion sales also robbed some Echo sales.

I read somewhere that Toyota will begin to sell the Vitz in the U.S., and discontinuance of Echo sales is probably a precursor to Vitz sales.

Who knows? As the price of gas goes up, demand for gas sippers will begin to rise. You have to admit, once you get used to a larger, more comfortable and more powerful model, it's hard to go back.

I'm just glad I have the first model. The newer Echoes are dull as dirt - they look like lots of other cars out there - what's the point of that?!

Natalie

Too bad the Aveo is a gas guzzler in its class. EPA rated it as 27/35 with a 5-speed manual. Even the larger Corolla gets better mileage than that--with an automatic.

The Echo actually sold well here in Canada, where gas costs a lot more than in the U.S. even after you do imperial-to-metric and currency conversions.

Would this be similar to the Yaris that Toyota is bringing to Canada?

I'll go with a Vitz! There are a lot of tuner parts available in Asia for the Vitz. It's like the Starlet Glanza that's sold in a lot of other countries, particularly Oz and NZ. There's a whole Boy Racer culture built around the car.

They don't need washing as often?

That's what I mean about style being a major factor in a young person's buying decision.

toyota.com has a picture of the 2007 Yaris to be sold in the U.S. Toyota's Japanese web site has a picture of the Vitz: