Toyota's new dish on the hot hatch menu, the Echo Sportivo, looks great but lacks sports car flavour. Hot hatches with special herbs and spices are putting personality back into small cars.
Tastier new contenders are arriving regularly, with everyone from Hyundai to Volkswagen - and even BMW and Benz -- looking for a new hero hatch. There are two types of hot hatch today: hot lookers and spicy drives. Few cars combine both.
You only have to look at Toyota's new contenders. Its Corolla Sportivo has a muscular turbo motor that makes it a pocket rocket, while the Echo Sportivo is all about looking good.
Toyota says the cars are the start of a new sub-brand in its mainstream family, aimed at younger buyers who want more from their compact cars without the premium price tags of the Celica and the MR2. But the Echo still has a price problem. It jumps to more than $20,000 by the time you drive away, and it falls well short of the Corolla Sportivo on driving enjoyment.
It's a baby car, selling against the Holden Barina, the Hyundai Accent and the rest, but has a price that puts it up against everything from the new Nissan Pulsar to the Peugeot 206. The recipe for Echo Sportivo is simple: Toyota Australia took the 1.5-litre engine from the Echo sedan and dropped it into the hatches, then added plenty of dress-up gear to give it the essential street cred.
The engine has 17kW of extra go, but falls a long way short of fire-breather status with only 80kW and 142Nm of torque, despite some pretty hi-tech engineering. And there's nothing new in the suspension or brakes.
Sportivo also means after-market extras on the Toyota menu, and the Echo has body-coloured side skirts, door handles and door frames. The cabin also gets sports front seats, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and gear knob, carbon fibre-style panels in the doors and metal scuff plates on the door sills.
The value-added goodies also run to power steering, CD sound and remote central locking -- but the essential air-con is a $1453 extra that punts the price out of the ballpark. Toyota emphasises the basic $19,990 price for a three-door manual Echo Sportivo, but there is also a five-door model and an optional safety pack at $1220 for anti-skid brakes, a passenger-side airbag and seat belt pre-tensioners.
Driving
THE Echo Sportivo is a good-looking car with plenty of extra spice. The body bits give it more impact, the cabin changes make it more inviting and enjoyable, and it has the flair to compete with anything in the hot hatch class.
Until you turn the key. The Echo's Sportivo engine is really just the one that's always been available for the sedan, but wasn't fitted because Toyota needed a price leader and the 1.3-litre motor was the powerplant for the job. It's definitely not Sportivo.
Then again, it gets along pretty well with a good spread of torque and no peaks or valleys. It is extremely smooth, as you'd expect in a Toyota, with good response and no nasties as you close on the red line. It feels like a motor with plenty of room for improvement, though there's no need to tweak the impressive fuel economy.
The test car averaged just a tick over seven litres/100km during a mixed run of driving, and the digital fuel gauge was still reading a half-tank despite covering almost 300km. It is quiet at highway speeds and cruises nicely, though you need to plan any overtaking moves with care.
The gearbox is slick and tight, but the light clutch can occasionally catch you out. The steering is also light, with a wheel that combines leather grip with silver highlights. It's typical of the cabin treatment, which is one of the best around today for youngsters.
The digital dials in the centre of the dash look trendy and work extremely well, though they take a bit of adjustment. The front seats are roomy and supportive and the back is surprisingly good. There's plenty of head space and a wide range of adjustment, with the flexibility of sliding the whole bench back to boost luggage space.
It's tough to criticise the Echo because it looks good, it's well finished and it has obvious appeal. But a few minutes on greasy Melbourne roads, where the chassis failed to cope with the conditions, highlights the extra work needed to really qualify as a Sportivo car.
The baby Toyota is short and fat -- at least in the footprint -- which means it's no sports car. It gets a lateral pitching in corners that's hard to balance, possibly because it has limited suspension travel, and it just pushes straight ahead any time you try to get enthusiastic.
Toyota can do better and make it more rewarding. People will be prepared to pay for the Echo Sportivo, even if it's only to get a Toyota badge, but the price of the added spice doesn't match the flavour in the dish.
Toyota Echo Sportivo
Price as tested: $21, 990
Engine: 1.5-litre four with overhead camshafts and fuel injection
Power: 80kW at 6000 revs
Torque: 145Nm at 4200 revs
Transmission: Five-speed manual, front-wheel drive
Body: Five-door hatchback
Dimensions: Length: 3635mm, width: 1660mm, height: 1510mm, wheelbase: 2370mm, tracks: 1440mm/1420mm front/rear
Weight: 900kg
Fuel tank: 45 litres
Fuel conumption: 7.1 litres/100km
Steering: Power-assisted rack-and-pinion
Suspension: Fully-independent with front MacPherson struts and torsion beam rear with coil springs
Brakes: Ventilated front discs and rear drums
Wheels: 5.5x14 alloys
Tyres: 175/65 R14
Warranty: Three years/ 100,000km
Rivals
Peugot 206***(from $20,990)
VW Polo***(from $22,490)
Holden Barina****(from $13,990)
Nissan Pulsar hatch ***(from $21,690)
Plus: Looks good; well built
Minus: It's no hot hatch
Toyota Echo 2001: Sportivo
| Engine Type | Inline 4, 1.5L |
|---|---|
| Fuel Type | Unleaded Petrol |
| Fuel Efficiency | 6.2L/100km (combined) |
| Seating | 5 |
| Price From | $2,420 - $3,850 |
