Sad news today for fans of Regular Car Reviews and the Toyota Echo (though I'm sure there are more of one than the other): our faithful reviewer's 2002 five-speed Echo was in a devastating crash. Now he's wondering where the popular YouTube show goes from here.
The good news is that the reviewer is totally fine. The same can't be said for his Echo, which spun out when he was driving home in icy weather and crashed pretty hard.
The Echo, especially in manual form, is about as honest and unpretentious as a car can get. Our reviewer bought it 10 years ago and put nearly 100,000 miles on it. He says he's hardly ever had to repair it and it was great on gas; forget all the cracks we make about beigeness, this is why people buy Toyotas.
RCR's latest video is a eulogy to this humblest of cars, a competent and hard-working machine that did its job every day without fanfare or complications. The damn thing even starts up after all that front-end damage.
The really sad news? He says the future of "Regular Car Reviews" is now uncertain, which means he can't reach new cars to drive and make fun of on YouTube. He's considering a crowdfunding effort to get something new — he had liability-only insurance but not full coverage — but isn't sure it's appropriate to ask. It looks like someone already did it for him over at GoFundMe, so help out if you want. Here's another one.
In the meantime: What car should our Regular Car Reviewer look at buying, Jalops?