It’s Wednesday, so that means it’s time for another The Autopian Podcast. We have a special guest today! It’s Kevin Williams, one of our favorite automotive writers. He loves cheap cars as much as we do and isn’t afraid to get something weird and flip cars.
There’s so much here it’s worth listening (as always) to the full podcast because Kevin is an inveterate car buyer and flipper and has driven/bought/sold some weird stuff. Also, he tracked a Daewoo to death. Why do old Hyundai Santa Fe engines go for like $7,000? Which Civic is the right engine?
Kevin’s love for the Yaris and Echo is appealing to me. Especially the Echo.
Here’s the sedan version of the Echo, which was also sold as the Toyota Platz. Can you imagine if they sold it as the Platz here? What a name. Elsewhere this car was badged as the Yaris, which is what the Echo eventually became.
The car debuted in the United States in 2002 as a sub-Corolla offering and, for some reason, all the press photos for it are of it in front of various shops and diners.
I can’t explain it either, but I loved the tall coupe version of this car which looked slightly aquatic. Besides its unique look, Kevin attests to owning numerous cars with the Toyota 1NZ engine, which is only good for 109 HP in most uses (Yaris, Scion xA, Scion xB) but can churn miles.
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