L O N G    T E R M    T E S T

We’ve been having fun with Toyota’s impertinent Echo for the past year, logging in more than 10,000 km.  We’ve driven everywhere from flood-logged streets to scorching-hot stretches of highway, and the Echo has proven quite competent, beyond what its diminutive 3615-mm length and 1.3-liter engine would suggest.   Competent it is then; but is it excellent?  We decided to measure the Echo against its parent company’s highest standard: the Lexus brand—and see how it well it would hold up. 

The first Lexus, the LS400, gained a reputation for being the quietest, smoothest sedan on the road.  That isolation from NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) has apparently trickled down the Toyota lineup even to once-humble products like the Corolla.  Which is apparently where the trickle has stopped.  Those who are looking for isolation should not consider the Echo.  Bombardment with sensory inputs from the engine and road surface seems to be your blessing—or curse—with this car.  The Echo makes you feel every bump and pothole that it goes through.  The very short springs and torsion-bar rear axle seem to be the culprit here.  The front seats aren’t too bad—we’ve managed a nineteen-hour period behind the wheel (with several one-hour rest stops) with no ill effects.  The back seat passengers are more susceptible to aches as they’re directly over the rear wheels.  The rear seatbacks are almost fully upright and lack contours to support the body—not ideal for taking even a short nap. 

The 1.3 liter is of course a tiny fraction of the displacement you’d find inside a Lexus engine bay.  However, it does share the VVTi of its big brothers to help optimize camshaft settings across the rev range. (In fact, it was, with the RAV4, the first car to be released here with that feature.)  The VVTi, 16 valves, twin camshafts and EFI squeeze all the torque and power they can from each cc inside that block.  The engine never felt strained, even when carrying five people uphill.   We also admired how little the Echo needs to run.  Under the hood, there’ s only one radiator fan to most cars’ two, and the radiator is only a fraction of the width.  Best of all, the car averaged 11.38 km per liter of gas, going as high as 14.64 km/liter on highway runs.

The “Super-ECS” four-speed automatic transmission also continues to impress.  It downshifts quickly in response to a firm prod of the throttle, or when it senses the smallest uphill grade in the road.  It puts each of the engine’s 122 Nm of torque to good use.  We would always hear the transmission shifting and the engine note changing, but shift-shock is virtually nonexistent.

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