To start with, here are a few links that you may find interesting (hope I'm allowed to insert HTML).

Go here first - <a href= http://www.fool.com/Car/BuyingaCar.htm >Motley Fool and how to buy a car</a>

<a href= http://www.edmunds.com/newcars/2000/toyota/echo/sedan.html >Edmund's guide ... pretty well known but sloppy look & feel</a>

<a href= http://www.isthistoyota.com/echo/high/top.htm >Decent 'promo' of the Echo</a>

<a href= http://www.webcarbook.com/new/make/style/2000Toyota_Cars-Echo.htm >A decent place to go and find more price info ... near you</a>

<a href= http://carpoint.msn.com/vip/Overview/Toyota/ECHO/New.asp >Microsoft's site ... with some reviews</a>

<a href= http://www.google.com/search?q=2000+Toyota+Echo+4+door+sedan&num=100&sa=Google+Search >The best search engine on the web ... Google</a>

I drove an Echo the other day and, I was impressed.

My wife - the car will be 90% for her - and I went to the Stevens Creek Toyota dealership where we bumped into a completely benign salesperson named Chino. (Nice guy, but he'd have a hard time selling a bottle of Evian to someone dying of thirst).

We looked at a 4 door automatic with the "GI" package (the 'Option Pack #1 if you will). It was a nice weekday mid-morning, and we're in need of a car (thanks to our Mercury deciding a transmission was superfluous).

After walking briefly around it - to which I'd have to say, if you don't know what it looks like, it's basically 'cute.' I say basically because 'cute' now has a stigma ... I'd say the car really is 'nice,' 'fine,' whatever. It's not bad. Not sexy, not a VW Vanagon. Functionally cute.

So, we jumped in - with my wife driving, me in the passenger seat. At over 6 feet tall, and I was very impressed with the headroom & legroom. The seat felt comfortable, the view in all directions was really very good. (Now, I don't know where I read it... but I've seen people saying that it's just as high up as an SUV. I completely disagree. Granted, it's not like riding 'low down', but as one who drives motorcycles year round, I am accustomed to looking down on roofs, trunks, etc. This was not as high as my sitting on my Honda Nighthawk 750.)

Actually, speaking of the ability to see out ... we're currently renting a Dodge Neon (?) ... and compared to driving the Neon, the ECHO has FANTASTIC visibility.

So, we were off. She drove around, comfortably. With a grin on her face. Love at first sight would be extreme, but great immediate comfort is accurate.

When we'd done almost a complete loop, I asked her to pull over. We changed spots.

While putting my seatbelt on, I was checking my sideview mirror, and saw that there was no traffic going in my direction behind me. Also, the 3 lanes of oncoming traffic were acceptably far away for me to GUN IT and flip a quick U-ey. With the steering wheel all the way left, I put the pedal to the floor. ;)

The pedal felt soft - of course - but the car immediately jumped forward, and I was satisfied with it. The suspension is about right (perfect for my wife, a little too soft for me).

We got on the freeway and I just kept the pedal down ... 65, 70, 75, (thankfully, we live in California, where 75 is slow), 80, 85, 90, 95. She was still accelerating, and I wasn't near red.

As we were be-bopping along at about 95, I got over in the left (and empty) lane, and did a quick swerve to the next lane to the right. Not a problem.

Looking in my mirrors - no cars - I swerved back to the left lane (as if missing someone/thing) and quickly slalomed back to my original lane. If you've ever done this ... you know that sometimes when you swerve the 2nd time (back to the right) the car gets this really UGLY lean to the left, and the front wheels go right, but the rear end continues LEFT and... if you're not careful, the car skids out. The Echo was having NONE of that. Not a problem, it swerved left, and then swerved right, tracking very very well (although I'll probably STILL replace the 4 tires with wider ones).

I got over and - after checking my mirrors - SLAMMED on the brakes really hard. No, not hard enough to LOCK up the tires ... but HARD. We quickly decelerated from 80 to 35 (faster than our Mercury would have), and smiling, I got off (somewhere around 280S & Hamilton).

For a small car (which I drive pretty regularly as I travel a lot) it handled exceptionally well.

Also, the A/C was very cold, and contrary to other comments, I really LIKED the placement of the speedometer; I've seen more than a few race cars that have the tach (which, sadly, this car does NOT have) off to the side. Plus, if you live in CA, then you never look at your speed anyway! <grin> As to the 'interior noise,' in my opinion, it was normal - certainly not bad.

I like the little cubby holes, I like the legroom of the car.

DOWNSIDE:
1) It's the first year of the vehicle ... so no one knows the resale value... although betting on it being a Toyota is wise.
2) No elec. windows ... although there are (apparently 'after-market' elec. windows)
3) I wouldn't wanna go head to head with a SUV ... although with the money saved on gas, I could afford more life insurance :D
4) It was a little on the 'efficient' (read 'non-luxurious') side ... although we could always buy something else that is more expensive.

We compared this to a Honda Civic... and while the Civic is a more 'normal' layout for a car ... I'm much more happy about the idea of spending my money on this car.

And I'm betting my $$ that the ECHO retains its value like a CIVIC down the line.