NO!
Thereâs nothing âcultâ about it! This happens to be the worldâs most durable and reliable small car. It is a family car in many countries.
My niece has one and commutes to work with it daily and it has never failed. The name was changed to Yaris in North America some time back, but it the rest of the world it was always a Yaris.
Whether you should buy it depends on the price and the care it has received up till now; even the best car is a poor buy if abused and not maintained properly.
If you want it have a qualified mechanic inspect it.
1 Like
A revived thread from 2012 about buying a 2000 Echo with 255000 miles on it .
You may also not believe this but the Geo Metro, Ford Festiva, etc. have a following. Yes, there are die hard Echo people as well. I have always thought it was ugly but is reliable and economical.
1 Like
I used to work with a guy that drove an Echo. The most popular car on our parking lot was a 3-series BMW, and he could afford it. I asked about the Echo, and he said he and his wife were minimalists, and bought what they needed to get the job done. High end functions and luxury didnât cut it for them.
My parents bought an echo to replace the 92 Corolla with a bad transmission at the beginning of 03. The amount of space inside, fuel efficiency, and ease of parking were huge improvements compared to the Corolla.
6 months later, the dealer started stocking scion xa. For 300 more, it had abs power door locks and windows, pioneer mp3 player but minus the auto. I was hooked to the xa until I sat inside the xb. My xB would have been 2k more than the echo had I gotten the automatic, but the extra money was well spent. I once brought home a brand new stove, with the original packaging, using the xb instead of renting a truck. For some reason, the xB had better feedback through the steering than the echo. A Miataâs steering it wasnât, but it was better than the garden variety Toyota
There were nights I camped out, comfortably, inside the box, sleeping on an air mattress. The echo would have had me looking for a nasty motel
Someone here taught me to use the âhomeâ button to quickly go to the beginning of a 7 year old thread to see what the original question was. Then to use the âendâ button to get to the last response. Thank you to whoever it was.
I maintain what I said 7 years ago. Most of these are donation cars given to relatives in need of âsomethingâ that goes. Maybe that will âhelp someoneâ.
Iâm sorry for being so sarcastic. I gotta go and get some work done.
Several years back, we had a series of posts from a woman who was very disappointed in her new Toyota Yaris because it could ânever equal the excellenceâ of her old Geo Metro/Suzuki Swift.
2 Likes
@VDCdriver. Yes I remember the âYaris Ladyâ. The Geo Metro/Suzuki Swift is outright primitive compared to a Yaris. Perhaps she had unrealistic expectations and as a result had âbuyerâs remorseâ.
Yes, she was unrealistic, but she was also not at all a savvy car shopper.
She apparently waited until her Metro/Swift âwonder carâ was totally dead before she went shopping for a replacement vehicle, and she did her very-rushed car shopping at night.
She looked-at, and drove a 4 door Yaris, but wound-up buying a 2-door Yaris. The 2-door model has a shorter wheelbase than the 4-door model, and it also has different upholstery. Her two biggest complaints wereâsurprise, surprise!âthat her car didnât ride as well as the one that she test-drove, and that she didnât like the pattern of the upholstery.
After several exchanges in which I suggested thatâperhapsâshe is an individual who cannot readily adapt to changes of any kind, she finally admitted that this description fit her personality, and she acknowledged that she would simply have to try to adapt to her new car that she purchased without doing proper due diligence.
$4000 , really ??? Maybe about $100 .
it did really help me tommorow i will afford a 285000 km echo 2013 and i will pay 300$ im happy i readed this
it have helped me alot toyota echo are the vest cars
Did you fully read the initial paragraphs of this discussion . . . ?!
There are some important details which you may have overlooked
op was talking about buying a Toyota Echo with 255000 MILES . . . which is 410382 kilometers
Youâre talking about buying a Toyota Echo with 285000 KILOMETERS . . . which is 177090 miles
410382 - 285000 = 125382 kilometers difference
All that aside . . . $300 is pocket change
I hope youâre happy with the car . . . at that price, even if you only drive it until the first major repair and then dump it, itâs probably worth it
Like I said nearly ten years ago, these are cars that are donated to needy people, but yeah $300 is nearly a donation just to make someone feel better.
I just canât help but editorialize after reading the original post again. Someone with two cars and two house payments but considering spending $4000 for a car with nearly 300,000 miles to save gas money. This is why personal finance needs to be mandatory in high school.
5 Likes
thank you a lot yeah i dont know how to see if my counter is in kilometer or in miles how do you know it ?
300.00 vehicle it really does not matter miles or kilometers . But is this really a 2013 because all I find is that 2005 was the last year for the Toyota Echo .
thanks i think i am echo addict today i had the choice betweet a 2007 yaris and a 2003 echo and the look and feel of the older brother was really more appealing to me new update i bought a echo 2002 for 150$ only bad news is manual transmission but tommorow i go to another seller which is the one mentioned in the post i hope i will get both one for parts and the automatic for riding in total i will pay 450 for two echo aha 
i sold my old dodge neon 2005 for 800$ and now i get two car for less than the price i paid my neon that has a really bad gas per mileage ratio 40$ i do only 200 kilometer that said i sold the neon pretty new with only 80000 km so i dont give crap i hope my gas consumption will be better now thanks for reading
Where do you live . . . ?!
Do you rent or own?
Because if you rent, your landlord might not be too happy with you having a bunch of cars in the carport, with at least one of them being scavenged for parts
I live with my parents and my girlfriend abd my father encouraged me to buy manual car but i dint feel like manual car is better because im not used to it so i decided to buy both and test each of em to know how they compare and which one will win the daily choice award aha except of that i just dont feel like playing with the radio volume will be the same if i have to handle a clutch in same time but they both look pretty indestructible car that last forever aha