I'm a Canadian woman who has been living in Europe for the past three years with my Dutch husband. In June, I came back to Canada to set up house in preparation for my husband joining me in July.

I rented a car at the airport...a 2000 Toyoto 2 door, silver in colour. I thought it was one of the homeliest cars I had ever seen, but when I started to drive it, I was very comfortable.

I drove this Echo for 6 weeks, and keep telling people how much I didn't like it. Then my husband arrived, and we started to look for a car to buy. Our last car was a Fiat Chroma Turbo. We visited a couple of car dealerships, and became convinced that we should buy a Toyota Corolla. We didn't like the first few car dealerships because they were very disrespectful, and we finally ended up at Mayfield Toyota in Edmonton.

We were very impressed with the service there. We test drove a Corolla for the first time, and immediately realized that we didn't like it at all. It's a very reliable car, but it just wasn't us. Then to my amazement, I spotted a bright red Echo, and knew that I wasn't leaving that dealership without buying it. I looked at my husband, and he was thinking the same thing.

The Echo really grew on me over those six weeks of driving the rental car, and I wanted one of my own. One of the very best things about the Echo is that you are seated high up and you have an excellent view of the road and other cars. I'm short, so that's important.

The trunk of the Echo is roomy and the back seats split in half and fold down so you can extend the capacity of the trunk. The back seat is very comfortable and I know my mom will not mind riding back there when she visits.

The front seats are comfortable and firm. My husband is tall, and finds he has lots of leg room. The interior is a nice calm grey...a contrast to the bright red outside. There are little pockets and places to put things, like parking passes and pads of paper and maps.

We bought a four door...we didn't like the two door rental car at all. We specified to the dealer exactly what we wanted and the price we wanted to pay, and they ordered it from Vancouver. Most people prefer the silver or white models, so they had to search a little for a red one for me.

Our Echo drives nicely, and gets good gas mileage. It goes fast when I want it to, and sometimes when I don't want it to... The steering is easy and firm, and the brakes are solid. I feel confident when I'm driving.

Toyota has paid a lot of attention to detail on this car. For instance, it has child locks on the back seat, a convenient gas cap popper beside the driver's seat, and a valet key which only opens the door and not the trunk.

We get free oil changes and lubes for three years...a nice bonus!

We have only found one thing that we don't like about the Echo...it doesn't have intermittant windshield wipers.

I can't tell you about the technical details of this car, but I do know that I love my Echo, and I'm convinced we made the right choice for our small family.