Hi Freak Lad and Steve:
___You would probably loose fuel economy with the swap in fact. The Echo’s ICE isn’t the right one for the job. I can’t explain it other then with the following … Here is the Echo that weighs a scant 2,050 #’s with a 108 HP 1.5 L ICE and it darn well should receive more then just 1 mpg better w/ the Auto and 2 better with a stick then the 2,600 # Corolla with a larger and much more powerful 1.8 in it. The Cd of the Corolla is decent enough at .29 but I can’t see the Echo’s smaller frontal area being hurt by a higher Cd if in fact it is higher? I remember when I was looking at the Corolla and Echo for a commuter and thought this exact issue through. It just didn’t make any sense to drive the Echo and to this day, I still think I made the right purchase albeit a much more expensive one … What Toyota should do is Atkinsonize the stick and place the PZEV HW onto it right into the Echo as it stands. It would still be a 10 second automobile and would receive > 50 mpg out on the highway all the while being clean as clean could be.
___Then again, Toyota in their infinite wisdom wouldn’t want to really clean the air across the model lines, would they
****ed Echo LEV’s anyway
___Good Luck
___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___
Waynegerdes@earthlink.net
