Toyota sent me a survey this week to evaluate my Echo satisfaction. The Echo is pretty darn awesome. This car never needs repairs. We’ve been together almost three years, and other than a synthetic oil change here and there, the car needs nothing. I’ve never gone for such a long stretch without replacing an alternator or a radiator.
Of course, I generally buy elderly vehicles, so I expect to make repairs as we go. I figure either I can pay for occasional repairs and parts, or pay a loan payment every month. With the Echo I chose the latter route. This is the first time I’ve owned a brand new car and the thrill of custom ordering a car from Japan is incredible.
If only I could have custom ordered my little Festivas from Korea. My Festivas were the best. Back when I was a county employee, one of my co-workers spotted Little Red, my Festiva GL, in the parking lot of our server co-location company in Eagan. Little Red sported a few bumper stickers. Okay, maybe a few is an understatement. The entire hatch was covered with stickers. None of them were mine. They came with the vehicle. Anyway, my co-worker took a look at all of the Sierra Club and Arbor Day stickers on my Festiva and dubbed it the Hippy Car.
There is nothing about the Echo that says "Hippy" quite like Little Red's overt environmental and political messages. In the Toyota survey, the Echo scored high in sub-compact satisfaction, but if I had to fill out a survey on my Festivas, they would score off the charts in every single multiple choice question. You just can't quantify love.
Posts
The Echo is probably more environmentally friendly than the Prius. I understand the battery technology for the Prius is so toxic in production that it places it at dirtier than a Hummer.
ReplyDeleteWired's report on Hybrid's new fuel economy
ReplyDeleteAnd the new EPA guidelines bring the hybrids fuel economy down closer to real-world economy.
You never can rely on the window sticker mileage. You should determine your own fuel economy by using your trip odometer and gallons in. Fill the tank every time to when the pump shuts itself off. Then take the trip odometer mileage and divide by the gallons put in. That will get you your fuel economy average for that tank.
The fuel economy varies drastically depending on driving style and speed of driving. If you drive nothing but 50 MPH you will see awesome mileage (in cars), but if you drive 80, you will see a major decrease in miles per gallon.