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Sedans Toyota Echo Toyota Echo Real World MPG
345 messages, Last post on Oct 04, 2009 at 10:34 PM
You are in the Toyota Echo Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
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Yeah the Dems have a whole agenda in store to undo everything Bush did. They better think about it real good because Bush had some good reasons for some of the things he did. One thing he didnt do was mandate an energy policy. Like no cars that dont get at least 35 mpg. No cars like the Prius that just take the money you would have given Exxon and give it to Toyota either. Techno frauds!
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Replying to: kneisl1 (Nov 10, 2008 8:04 am) In my view, and in the view of the prius owners I know, the prius is not about saving money at the gas pump. Maybe a few people think that is true, but none of the people I know think that they will spend 25000 on that car and end up spending less on transportation than my $4600 echo that averages 46mpg. What it is about is emissions, and the environment. They can get a nice comfortable family car that gets great mileage and produces drastically fewer pollutants than any other sedan on the market, including the much smaller echo. I can't afford one, and dont need one, but if I had a couple of kids and the money I'd be very happy to buy it. On another note, I've posted no mpg posts lately because I have moved and am walking to work! Haven't bought a tank of gas since August. The car has been turned over to my wife and she doesnt seem to care about tracking mileage.
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Replying to: dephinusorca (Nov 13, 2008 10:27 pm) As for me, my mileage is running 43-44 mpg right now as it always does in fall and spring. I know I will pay for this in a couple months' time, with lots of tanks around 40 as those cold winter months begin..... The car is at 108K miles now, still has never needed a repair, the next tuneup is due at 115K. It may need a battery before then - I wonder if having a weak battery (as mine is beginning to have now) impacts gas mileage at all......
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| Yeah when you sit down and do a bottom line analysis of the Prius you gotta come up with some reason to justify the money you spent. Hence the "Im driving it for the environment" line. Well the gas engine in the Prius is the same one as in the ECHO with a different valve actuation mechinism. It also has more advanced emissions control devices. Which could very easily be in any gas car. For a lot less money. I believe the Ford Focus has (or had) an engine option for zero emissions just like the Prius. The Prius needs to be outed for the engineering fraud that it is. Its incredible that so many people have been taken in by it. | |
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Replying to: nippononly (Nov 14, 2008 12:44 pm) |
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Most of the "service"  30/60/90k is an inspection of the car. If you read the owners manual you can see what they check. Things like: ball joint seals, CV joint boots, evap hoses and canisters, brake linings, shocks, belts, check for oil leaks etc. As the car gets older those things become more important, but it isnt hard to do the checking yourself. The "real work at the 30/60/90 service is changing the engine oil and filter, changing the sparkplugs (if you dont have platinum plugs that is) changing the air filter, changing the coolant. All that you should be able to do yourself very easily. The thing thats a little worrysome is the valve adjustment at 60k miles. The ECHO has a first for Toyota shim under bucket (as opposed to hydralic or screw and nut adjusters) valve system like on a high performance motorcycle. Frankly I dont know Toyota mechanics are up to that job, given the small number of Toyota cars with this feature and the complexity of doing the work. But definately that is something youd want done. Its VERY easy to just NOT DO the check/adjustment and this frequently is what happens on motorcycles. The dealer just tells you "Yeah the valves are fine" without checking it. They get away with this because usually no adjustment is needed. I would mark the valve cover somehow so you can determine whether or not it has been removed if you do have Toyota perform this job for you.
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Replying to: kneisl1 (Nov 14, 2008 4:34 pm) |
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You could CHECK the valve clearances if you are at all handy yourself. You just remove the black plastic valve cover and the sparkplugs. (so you can easily turn the engine) Then you get a set of feeler gauges, turn the engine so the lobes of the camshaft point upwrds and check those valves. Keep checking and recording the values until you have done all the valves. Its easy to CHECK the clearances and not often necessary to perform an ADJUSTMENT. If no adjustment is needed you are merrily off on your way to 120k miles worry free. Its possible to do the adjustment yourself but you better have mechanical knowledge. If you find tight exhaust valves then its got to be done or you will burn the exhaust valves and need a valve job. Better to know! |
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to mention that this week I had my first fill-up under $20 in the Echo in several years. That's right, $19.85 did the trick. WOW, have those gas prices ever dropped a lot! 
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| Usually I fill up every 2/3 weeks and buy like 6 gallons of gas. But since the price of gas has been falling so hard I waited as long as possible. Just bought 7.3 gallons of gas for $14. Thats $1.89 a gallon! Gas must be well under what it was a year ago? Anyone know? I think my last fillup gas was $2.19. | |
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