The new corollas seem to be more boxy shaped, which looks like it’d give alot more interior room. Does anyone have a newer corolla with the box shape? they look like this
They look different than the usual streamlined corolla/family sedan type.
I ask because i heard here on SD that the Echo is very roomy, and the new corolla looks like its just a bigger version of the Echo. Plus since Echos are new they are hard as hell to find but Corollas are everywhere.
I have one of those newer corollas. It is pretty roomy inside for a smaller car. My mom loves it cause its not too low to the ground, and so easy to get in and out of. I’ve had it for a year and a half and I haven’t had any problems except that the steering wheel always feels a little too far away.
And they are everywhere. There are three on my block alone, all silver.
What I did when I was looking for a car was that I went to the Great Seattle Auto Show, where they pile all the new cars into the convention center, and then Mrs. R, the Kid, and I wandered around between the booths, sitting in stuff. Very convenient for getting first impressions of a number of cars, back-to-back. I ended up being very impressed with the interior spaciousness of the Suzuki Aerio, which I eventually bought. Actually, Mrs. R and I liked it so well that we bought one for her, too.
I remember one car magazine review in which they call the Echo noisy, slow, and poorly made, a “mistake” for Toyota; but here on the SDMB the Echo owners seem to be very satisfied. Perhaps it’s a case of differing expectations.
Corollas have a reputation for never-fails reliability, and our 89 has 200K miles on it and is still running fine. Of course, there are the usual naysayers who claim that the car has gone downhill lately, they don’t make 'em like that anymore, etc. I do have to say that the interior materials haven’t held up as well as those in my old 1985 Omni.
I have several friends with Echos and they are all very happy with them. Whenever I am a passenger in one I’m impressed with the comfort level (particularly at the price) and the performance around town. Mind you all of them have manuals rather than automatics, which may make a difference - the manuals seem quite sharp performers in traffic.
I have the automatic Echo and don’t find it to be slow. In fact, it gives a pleasant little hum when you floor it and roar out into traffic. If one can, in fact, roar in a Japanese economy car. Haul ass, maybe.
We test drove a new Corolla around the same time we bought a Matrix (Corolla wagon basically. Same as GM’s Vibe). I think a big change for me between the new Corolla and Matrix and older Corollas is that it feels like they have more headroom. I’ve read that this may be due in part to a lower floor. The Echo was also surprisingly roomy inside - and my wife liked the Echo better in manual than the Corolla or Matrix in automatic. I didn’t find the Echo to be nearly as gutless as I’d have imagined. Toyota’s got to do something about these weak horns though . . . . I’m embarassed to honk. My two cents.