New Car Review of the 2005 Toyota Echo Compact Coupe and Sedan

Description: Compact Coupe and Sedan
Base MSRP Range: $10,455 - $11,785
Invoice Price Range: $9,827 - $11,076
Where built: USA

Toyota's smallest car comes as a two-door coupe or four-door sedan. Each carves out surprising space for riders in a five-seat cabin, accommodates a load of luggage in back, then delivers a kick from a juicy little aluminum engine and somehow still manages to rack up high fuel economy figures -- more than forty miles down the road for every gallon of the regular-grade fuel consumed.

Echo dresses in a design that looks progressive, even daring. Rather than the typical long, low and slinky shape of a conventional car, it stands tall in the aerodynamic format of a vertical bubble on wheels that seems to tip forward due to a high tail and low nose united by an arched roofline inset with a boldly raked windshield. Inside, the cabin floor droops low so you can step aboard easily, and the ceiling bows high to fit tall chair-like seats. Passengers in the two front buckets sit upright, with their heads positioned higher than normal for better visibility though the wrap of windows.