The dealers in my area are saying that either the 2005 or 2006 Echo doesn't exist, or that they're just not being sold in my region - Connecticut, USA.
I don't think you'll find one. I saw an 03 in Saybrook/Loernson Toyota- secondhand- for the same price as I paid for my daughter's Echo new two years ago. I'd keep away from the Scion xA as an alternative. The mpg is nowhere as good, although my wife loves hers. On Edmonds.com they note "limited production" Toyota.com shows the "Yaris" comming in spring 06 as the replacement. I'd wait till the spring.
> The dealers in my area are saying that either the 2005 or 2006 Echo > doesn't exist, or that they're just not being sold in my region - > Connecticut, USA.
> Is anyone getting them?
> 2003's with 40K are getting MSRP around here!
> -- > Ken Goldman kg...@watson.ibm.com 914-784-7646
On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 19:23:10 +0000, kgold wrote: > The dealers in my area are saying that either the 2005 or 2006 Echo > doesn't exist, or that they're just not being sold in my region - > Connecticut, USA.
> Is anyone getting them?
> 2003's with 40K are getting MSRP around here!
Discontinued in the US, but not in Canada!
Go figure. I would guess a 38-45 MPG car would be flying out the door!
> The dealers in my area are saying that either the 2005 or 2006 Echo > doesn't exist, or that they're just not being sold in my region - > Connecticut, USA.
> Is anyone getting them?
> 2003's with 40K are getting MSRP around here!
> -- > Ken Goldman kg...@watson.ibm.com 914-784-7646
> Whatever happened to puting the instumentaion in front of the *driver*?
1. when you're building a car for the world market, you need two different dashboards. This way, you make ONE dashboard, and two instrument clusters, which you would have to do anyway!
2. Ever driven one? After the initial 'shock' of it not being where you expect, it's actually in a good sot for looking at while you're driving!
What IS unnerving, however, is the lack of illumination of the steering mounted controls at night; tha stalks and the buttons on the wheel. It's dark!
>> Whatever happened to puting the instumentaion in front of the *driver*?
> 1. when you're building a car for the world market, you need two different > dashboards. This way, you make ONE dashboard, and two instrument clusters, > which you would have to do anyway!
It's easier to see anyway!
> 2. Ever driven one? After the initial 'shock' of it not being where you > expect, it's actually in a good spot for looking at while you're driving!
Yup!
> What IS unnerving, however, is the lack of illumination of the steering > mounted controls at night; tha stalks and the buttons on the wheel. It's > dark!
I don't have that problem - have you turned the light level down?
>>> Whatever happened to puting the instumentaion in front of the *driver*?
>> 1. when you're building a car for the world market, you need two different >> dashboards. This way, you make ONE dashboard, and two instrument clusters, >> which you would have to do anyway!
> It's easier to see anyway!
>> 2. Ever driven one? After the initial 'shock' of it not being where you >> expect, it's actually in a good spot for looking at while you're driving!
> Yup!
>> What IS unnerving, however, is the lack of illumination of the steering >> mounted controls at night; tha stalks and the buttons on the wheel. It's >> dark!
> I don't have that problem - have you turned the light level down?
> > Whatever happened to puting the instumentaion in front of the *driver*?
> 1. when you're building a car for the world market, you need two different > dashboards. This way, you make ONE dashboard, and two instrument clusters, > which you would have to do anyway!
> 2. Ever driven one? After the initial 'shock' of it not being where you > expect, it's actually in a good sot for looking at while you're driving!
> What IS unnerving, however, is the lack of illumination of the steering > mounted controls at night; tha stalks and the buttons on the wheel. It's > dark!
This is very true. It would be easy to get illumination power to the steering wheel, and while you were at it you could gently warm the rim. Heated seats are nice, but a heated wheel would do away withe need for clumsy gloves.
Brian Gordon wrote: > In article <fLh3f.197$Xj4.23...@monger.newsread.com>, > FanJet <FanJe...@hotmail.com> wrote: >> Mark Schofield wrote: >>> check this out
>> Whatever happened to puting the instumentaion in front of the >> *driver*?
> Where you had to twist and strain to see it through the steering > wheel?
Never had the problem and I don't like the placement on the mini-cooper either. If it's cute enough I'd buy one but I think my vote's still for the Smartcar.
> This is very true. It would be easy to get illumination power to the > steering wheel, and while you were at it you could gently warm the rim. > Heated seats are nice, but a heated wheel would do away withe need for > clumsy gloves.
> Brent
Thing I don't like about the dash is that there is no durn light on the ashtray!
ps: I drove a 1,300 kilometre round trip several times over the summer. Automatic sedan, with the AC on, cruising mostly at 110-115kph I got 46 MPG.
But that's an Imperial gallon, and I converted it all from metric anyway, so who in hell knows if it's right?
On Wed, 12 Oct 2005 23:34:18 -0400, Buck Frobisher wrote: > "Brent Secombe" <bsecombo...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message > news:121020052236452185%bsecombover@yahoo.co.uk... >> This is very true. It would be easy to get illumination power to the >> steering wheel, and while you were at it you could gently warm the rim. >> Heated seats are nice, but a heated wheel would do away withe need for >> clumsy gloves.
>> Brent
> Thing I don't like about the dash is that there is no durn light on the > ashtray!
> ps: I drove a 1,300 kilometre round trip several times over the summer. > Automatic sedan, with the AC on, cruising mostly at 110-115kph I got 46 MPG.
> But that's an Imperial gallon, and I converted it all from metric anyway, so > who in hell knows if it's right?
I would guess. I had a '95 Tercel, basically the same car, and averaged over 40 MPG during the period I owned the car.
> > Whatever happened to puting the instumentaion in front of the *driver*?
> For what reason? so it can be what you are used to?
Perhaps, but that's not a bad reason. In an emergency you're likely to do what you're used to doing. If you're accustomed to finding the instrumentation with a simple downward glance, having to look downward and rightward will take longer.
The elevated cost of satisfying the opposing demands of left- and right-hand drive dosn't justify making the instrumentation's location unfamilar to both. Each car is driven by one person at a time, and the driver shouldn't have to pay a penalty just because other countries have different standards.
The Prius has unusual instrumentation and controls, but those innovations don't involve the controls and data a driver needs suddenly. The brake pedal, the accelerator, the steering wheel, the speedometer, the horn -- those and other vital controls are where you'd expect, and they function conventionally.
By arraying the gauges and alerts horizontally beneath the windscreen, Toyota has made it easy to site the crucial readouts (speedometer, etc) at one end or the other, placing them in front of either the lefthand or righthand driver as needed. That's smart design.
And BTW when you look at those crucial readouts, you're not viewing them directly. You're seeing their reflection in a 45-degree mirror. Could Toyota be anticipating the day when those readouts will be part of a head-up display system wherein the data appear to float in the driver's field of view? That would require no looking downward at all, merely a small refocusing of the eyes.
I suspect the Prius is a rolling testbed for Toyota's broader plans.
"Mark Schofield" <mark.schofi...@sbcglobal.net> writes: > I don't think you'll find one. I saw an 03 in Saybrook/Loernson Toyota- > secondhand- for the same price as I paid for my daughter's Echo new two > years ago. I'd keep away from the Scion xA as an alternative. The mpg is > nowhere as good, although my wife loves hers. On Edmonds.com they note > "limited production" Toyota.com shows the "Yaris" comming in spring 06 as > the replacement. I'd wait till the spring.
According to the dealers around here, the Yaris will be Echo-sized but with a big engine and nowhere near the same gas mileage, a hatchback, and loaded with toys and power everything, so much more expensive.
> Perhaps, but that's not a bad reason. In an emergency you're likely to > do what you're used to doing. If you're accustomed to finding the > instrumentation with a simple downward glance, having to look downward > and rightward will take longer.
1 - I'm trying to imagine an emergency that requires a quick look at the instruments.
Ah, got one. "Oops, a radar trap - quick - how fast am I going" :-)
2 - It took me just a few days to get used to the center mounted instruments. For a car purchase, it's really not an issue.
For a rental car, I agree that a more typical layout is better. Years ago, Fords had strange controls - horn on a stalk, strange headlight switch, even an unusual method for removing the key, and I hated renting a Ford.
kgold wrote: > According to the dealers around here, the Yaris will be Echo-sized but > with a big engine and nowhere near the same gas mileage, a hatchback, > and loaded with toys and power everything, so much more expensive.
Either those dealers are uninformed, or it is different between the U.S. and Canadian models. The Canadian model comes in three trim levels and costs only a little more than the Echo, and gets about the same gas mileage. The engine is a re-tuned version of the Echo's engine but has about the same amount of power.
kgold wrote: > For a rental car, I agree that a more typical layout is better. Years > ago, Fords had strange controls - horn on a stalk, strange headlight > switch, even an unusual method for removing the key, and I hated > renting a Ford.
I remember those God-awful "pod" controls for lights and wipers that Pontiac used in some of their cars in the late 80s/early 90s.
On Fri, 14 Oct 2005 13:22:48 +0000, kgold wrote: > Brent Secombe <bsecombo...@yahoo.co.uk> writes:
>> Perhaps, but that's not a bad reason. In an emergency you're likely to >> do what you're used to doing. If you're accustomed to finding the >> instrumentation with a simple downward glance, having to look downward >> and rightward will take longer.
> 1 - I'm trying to imagine an emergency that requires a quick look at > the instruments.
> Ah, got one. "Oops, a radar trap - quick - how fast am I going" :-)
That's what I was thinking, but there's also: I smell Maple Syrup. Oops..not temp guage in the Echo...
> 2 - It took me just a few days to get used to the center mounted > instruments. For a car purchase, it's really not an issue.
> For a rental car, I agree that a more typical layout is better. Years > ago, Fords had strange controls - horn on a stalk, strange headlight > switch, even an unusual method for removing the key, and I hated > renting a Ford.
And we hated owning a Ford. After YEARS of hitting the center of the steering whell, you now have a car backing out of a driveway, looking the other way ,and you hit the center of the wheel, and...NOTHING!!!
Locking up the brakes in a full sideways skid always got their attention! "Better Idea", huh...
