Used Toyota ECHO for Sale

4.5

(43 Reviews)

Overall Rating

4.5

(43 Reviews)

Value

4.5

Performance

3.2

Comfort

3.7

Fuel Economy

4.8

Reliability

4.7

Owner Reviews

4.5

43 Reviews


Overall	4.5

Value	4.5

Performance	3.2

Style	3.6

Comfort	3.7

Fuel Economy	4.8

Reliability	4.7

2003 Toyota ECHO - Great little car

This car gets great gas mileage and has been an excellent daily driver through the years. With minimal maintenance it has traveled on and on with only a couple of issues related to routine care. I love this car and would buy another one in a heartbeat.

Story

We took our daughter home in this car. It was a safe trip and very memorable.

Pros

The car uses virtually no gas due to its low-power engine, which was a godsend in the late-2000s oil price boom. I haven't kept up on regular maintenance at all and it still runs perfectly. Its MPG is close to an electric vehicle. It's an incredible little car.

Cons

Interior is extremely Spartan and the only real amenity is air conditioning, which doesn't work effectively when the weather is unusually hot. Materials on the interior feel cheap. Low-power engine makes freeway driving difficult at times at speeds over 60 MPH. Very small car without backseat room for a car seat without extreme discomfort.

2000 Toyota ECHO - Seventeen years old and still going strong.

I've had this car for seventeen year, and it's still a very reliable machine. It still gets better than average mileage (around 27 mph on streets; 35 mph on the highway). The car handles well and has a very impressive turn radius. The car does have a "unique" boxy look that some think is unattractive, but I (and other Echo owners) really like it. For a small car, it is surprisingly roomy, and has impressive trunk space. The view from the driver's seat is a bit higher than other cars, so it's nice to be able to see above some of the smaller vehicles on the road. My biggest complaints are that the engine is not as responsive as I would like (sometimes I have to literally put the pedal to the metal to accelerate quickly in order to get out of potentially dangerous situations), there are n... (more)

Story

I was able to cram eight passengers into my car one night. It was a very cramped experience, but I got the nine of us safely to our destination without incident.

Pros

Honestly, the sheer longevity of this vehicle is astounding. I've had it for seventeen years, and it still looks (and kind of feels) like a new car. The exterior of the car is still shiny and reflective, and the color has not faded a bit. The interior is a generic grey fabric that looks the same today as the day I bought it. Overall mileage is impressive, and the car handles quite well. One of the things I love about this car is that it is so small that the air conditioner and the heater are very effective very quickly (I've been in cars where you become a sweaty mess before you begin to f... (more)

Cons

Topping the negative list is the engine's not-so-impressive power. I have to floor it sometimes in order to zoom out of precarious situations. And when the air conditioner is on, the car is even less responsive; sometimes it takes nearly a full second for the car to respond even when I slam the gas pedal completely down. I've learned to instinctively turn off the air conditioning button when I need a quick burst of speed. Note that this is not a slow car or anything; it just responds slower than I would like in emergency situations. Another gripe I have is that this particular model does n... (more)

2001 Toyota ECHO - The best car ever

Overall, this was an excellent car. Like Forest Gump, if just kept running. I bought it with over 200,000 miles on it and proceeded to add over another 130,000 miles before it finally gave out on me, and that's because I didn't actually spend any money taking care of it. I used and abused this car, but it just kept being reliable. It was black and therefore hot during the Georgia summers. It wasn't the fastest thing around, but for some reason, it was always fun driving a car that small and low to the ground. I drove it during the recession ,and it quite literally kept me from being constantly broke.

Story

Me and a friend nearly had a head on collision when I first got the car, through no fault of my own. We were passing a dump truck legally, and another car pulled into our lane. We wedged between them without hitting either due to the dump truck being smart enough to see what was about to happen. But I'm sure that was the closest I ever came to dying.

Pros

The number one benefit of this car was the excellent gas millage of upper thirties. This was extremely helpful during the recession, when I wasn't making much money, but it seemed like prices were still going up, especially gas prices. It drove like a charm too. Could dip in and out of curves really well—better than expected from a car that style. Obviously, another huge benefit of this car was that it lasted forever. I was really sad when it finally broke down. I would have got it fixed -- if I could ever have figured out what was wrong with it.

Cons

Hot, hot, hot. Mine was black, and during the summer heat, it could be tough to get into and get going, so that the air could cool it down. Eventually, this problem became even worse when my air went out around mile 300,000. Another real problem with this car is that since it was so low to the ground, if you had a lot of people riding in the car with you, then you couldn't go over speed bumps because it would bottom out hard and make an awful scraping sound.