Old echo toyota owner...

[BLKHILLSGUY]

Originally Posted by tarkus

Here's my tale of three cars.

I had a 2004 Echo RS hatchback and it was the most fun car I ever had. I put a performance exhaust on it, and got better fuel economy as well as noticably better performance. Then it got side-swiped by great big rusty old Mercedez on Boxing Day, and written off. :-( The damage wasn't that huge, but insurance didn't want to repair the car based on its current book price. It really says something about the that little car's build, that it could take a hit from such a big car and have so little real damage.

So then the insurance gave me a 2015/2016 Yaris hatchback rental car. I did not like it! It was considerably bigger and heavier, and with the 1.8 lire engine felt a lot like my wife's Camry to drive. Not fun. And the dashboard was a big boxy thing that looked like it came out of a 1970s pickup truck or Volvo, lacking all the useful storage compartments of the Echo and earlier Yarii. The radiator grill also has a huge whale mouth look, which is darnn fugly. And these cars are half Mazda. I never want to buy one.

Thankfully, I managed to buy a 2006 Yaris RS hatchback. It feels way more like the Echo, but has a nicer interior and some neat options. The dashboard looks kind of sci-fi'ish and has even more neat little compartments. To me it honestly feels very little different than my Echo RS. I'm happy again with my fun car. :D Now let the performance mods begin!

Sounds like you were driving the Mazda 2. We are still driving a Toyota made Yaris in the US until 17. The new Mazda 2 Yaris is not attractive.