2000 Toyota Echo Coupe

The car had about 475,000 miles on the original engine before it started to knock, so I opted for a used one with 35,000.

It has a 4-2-1 header, larger 1ZZ-FE throttle body, gutted airbox with fresh air ducted from lower grill, Agency Power lightweight pulley, Ralco RZ short-throw shifter, Torque Solution shifter cable bushings, Hotchkis front strut-tower brace, Eibach Sportline springs (it still sits high, but it’s still a -2” improvement), and upgraded seats and center console from a Scion xA/Toyota Ist. For now I have a TRD muffler off of an xA (not pictured). Nice smooth tone, but the decrease in back-pressure seems to have taken its toll on low-end performance, but damn I like hearing some over-run at the cost of .1-second slower 0-60.

I go back and forth between steel wheels with beauty rings with hand-painted white-letters with +10mm wider rubber, and Miata Hollow-spoke wheels (a tad wider, and lighter) with +20mm wider rubber.

It’s a one-ton car that’s chuckable, roomy, efficient, and in progress.