2005 Toyota ECHO Base sedan review from North America

No repairs. Worn out front brake pads and rotors.

1. Interior

Yaris wins hands down : looks much better; the dash has a special plastic that absorbs much less the heat from the sun and stays cooler on sunny days - the dash plastic in the Echo gets very hot, making the A/C less effective; the Yaris also has more interior space.

2. Comfort

Front leg room is the same in both cars, would not recommend this cars for 6ft+ drivers. The seats in the Echo look cheaper; however they are very comfortable, despite lacking lateral comfort. The seats in the Yaris look better, but have horrible lumbar support, no comfort for drives longer that 30 minutes.

3. Handling/driving pleasure.

Manual transmission in Yaris is painful to use, clutch action is horrible. Automatic transmissions work fine in both cars.

The Echo is very sensitive to side winds on the highway, being at times scary to drive. The Yaris is much better in this aspect : while the steering feels a little weird when side winds are blowing, the car stays in track with no effort.

Driving the Echo, it's a pleasure thing, especially from a Toyota. The car feels tight and maneuverable, the steering and the engine are both responsive. My previous Honda Civic was also a pleasure to drive, the Echo also feels funny in a different way. However, the Yaris is a total disappointment in this matter, the fun factor is purely nonexistent. Maybe the suspension has been changed or the electric steering doesn't help, but I felt no pleasure at all driving the Yaris. It just doesn't have that fun factor.

4. Engine

Yaris and Echo have similar engines (there is a difference in the injectors size, but the main engine is the same). However, the Yaris is heavier, therefore the acceleration is clearly better in the Echo.

Verdict:

All in all, the Echo looks on the cheap side about the interior design, yet it has a very pleasant drive and is surprisingly comfortable for such an inexpensive car. On the other side, the Yaris looks much better with better interior materials, but disappoints in the comfort and driving pleasure areas.