My wife does an 8 mile stop and go commute to the Metrolink station and parks in the hot sun all day. Her heavy foot and that sun didn't bode particularly well for the Prius. Well, yesterday we grabbed a beautiful little 2003 Toyota Echo with 114k miles she can use as her short distance daily driver, saving the Prius for the once or twice a week when she has to drive all the way in to L.A. I now get the Prius full time . I'll only be taking it out of the garage a few times during the week for short trips. Mostly the Prius will be used for highway trips of 1-3 hours each way on weekends which should help it last a lot longer. We're giving our 2002 Buick Rendezvous to our cash-strapped son and his family Saturday. We are now an official Toyota family again.
Good deal! I like the Echo. I wish it had been available as a liftback in the US, like it was in other countries (under the Yaris name). Atleast we got the Yaris liftbacks, even if we had to wait a few more years.
