Seven long years ago, Toyota spiced up its bland and predictable lineup when it introduced the Echo. A sub-compact hatchback with unabashedly modern lines, the Echo was just short of being an excellent package. Designed with the European market in mind, its fortes were quick handling, responsive acceleration combined with fuel efficiency, and roomy passenger space that belied its puny exterior. Its weaknesses were: a lack of luggage room, deletion of equipment like split-folding and sliding seats, and a crashy and noisy ride. It was relatively expensive too, retailing for about P605,000 then. Not surprisingly, it tanked at the market and was soon withdrawn. It seems that sheer fun behind the wheel was not the subcompact holy grail in the Philippines.

Toyota went back to the drawing board, and soon introduced a bland, predictable sedan version called the Vios. Everything that held back the Echo from wide acceptance was fixed: vehicle body type, interior and exterior styling, and ride. Since then, the Vios has gone on to enjoy a healthy slice of the market,

For starters, the Vios stretched out the Echo’s bulbous lines. Angular doors took over from the Echo’s egg-shaped openings. A conventional trunk sprouted out from the back. It’s not exciting, but it meets all the requirements of a transporting a small family and their belongings.

One of the few novelties in the Vios’ interior is its center-mounted gauge cluster. Instead of the usual analog dials, information is offered in a semi-circular pod canted towards the driver. Looking at the deep-mounted digital display is like staring into a deep pool. The supposed logic is that you don’t have to change focus when looking from road to speedometer. Whatever the reasoning behind it, it’s a welcome diversion from an otherwise standard-issue interior.

The design may be standard-issue, but the execution is exemplary. Plastics are tightly-mounted and pleasantly-surfaced. Switchgear and controls click and glide with precision. Sound from the standard audio system seemingly emanates from a tin can, but at least it has MP3 playback capability (from a CD, that is). Cranking up the volume to drown out ambient noise is not such an appealing prospect. Fortunately, there’s not much road and engine noise to bother with. The Vios has incorporated plenty of sound-deadening material.

The revamped Toyota Vios is modest to say the least. It merely gains cosmetic changes including new lamps, bumpers, bigger alloys and such.

1.5G has center-pod mounted digital meters. Aside from looking cool, it actual is easy to read. We're not big fans of the digital fuel gauge though.

Hard to tell that it came from the Echo, isn't it. However, where Toyota's cheeky little hatch failed, the Vios delivered.