Scion/Echo 1.5L

[mrbell]

Hey, I had the thought to use the Scion or Echo 1.5L motor in a mini. Has this ever been evaluated or attempted? A friend has a scion and it's got VVTi, ~105hp, I think, decent torque, good economy and looks to be pretty compact.
I haven't looked, but I would imagine people are upgrading to something more powerful, so these motors might start becoming available fairly cheaply. Any thoughtS?

[BassAddict]

Just one thought for me - what are Scion's and Echo's ?!!! I presume you're not from the UK (hence these will be called something else over here ! :) ) ??
Rich

[mrbell]

Heh, no, I'm from across the pond...
We have the Scion line which is Toyota's new line to "attract younger buyers". We have an xA and an xB and a tC. The xA is a small version of the Toyota matrix(do you have that there?). It's a little hatchback. and the xB is basically a shoebox on wheels. It's a cross between a big deisel truck and a chihuahua. I think in Japan, they are the bA and bB. The tC is a sedan, but it's got a 2.2L instead of the 1.5L so it doesnt' count. I say small, but I know they're probably average over there.
I don't know what the Echo is called, but it's a tall, narrow, top-heavy looking sedan w/ the same 1.5L. Do you have the Toyota Prius gas-electric hybrid over there? I think it's the same 1.5L engine, just tuned to make enough power w/o the electric assist.
I wish we could get more of your engines over here. 1.5L is the smallest motor I can find in a modern car. Even most economy 4-cyls these days are well over 2 liters. Its tough to find anything that will even remotely fit in a Mini, other than the Honda's, and even that is a really tight fit...

[minstar]

Well Mr Bell, which pond! u in the USA? Anyway, in Oz we get quite a number of 1.3ltr cars and also have acccess to some of the exotica from Japan. I got my Starlet GT Turbo halfcut imported from japan (This is also available in England by the looks of it). Anyway there was a discussion of this on Ausmini which may give you a better idea of the Echo conversion (which also comes in a 1.3 & 1.5 here). Anyway link below. Hope this helps...

http://forums.ausmini.com/viewtopic.php?t=8893

[Oz]

I know an Echo is basically a Yaris with a boot (saloon shaped - only available in US AFAIK) perhaps the Scion is the hatchback version we get here, so the 1.5 is the motor you get in the UK Yaris T-Sport

[mrbell]

Sorry... yes, I'm in the US. I do believe the Echo is a Yaris. I had forgotten about that. The Scions are not hybrids, they're just small "youth-oriented" vehicles. YOu can see them at the bottom of http://www.autozine.org/html/Toyota/Yaris.html.
Anyway.... It is the 1 NZ-FE motor which is what they are talking about on the ausmini page, so at least someones looked into... I'm gonna go read that thread. Thanks!

[BassAddict]

Dont think we have the Scion here - it looks like its a bit of origami made from a shoe box :lol: !!!
I had wondered about a Yaris VVTI engine in the past though - and they look pretty compact in some of those links !
Rich

[Oz]

If any one is considering it (probably not) but if you want to go for the 1.3 Yaris engine dont ! Get the 1.3 out of the Daihatsu Sirion (preferably the Rally version) as they are higher output versions of the same K3-VE engine (Toyota own Daihatsu and nicked the engine for the Yaris). The Yaris is about 85bhp, the Sirion (non Rally) is 100bhp and the Sirion Rally is 107bhp (more than the 1.5 T-Sport incidently :lol: )

Or if you wanna have a bit more fun the YRV has a 130bhp turbo version of the engine but is only available with an Autobox :evil:

[BassAddict]

Always handy to know !! Thanks Oz !