I have 3, yes 3, toyota echos. One (2000 model) has 270,000(wife and I's), one (2002 model) with 188,000 (daughter's) and one (2005 model) with 325,000 (son's). The echo and the Yaris are basic transport. No real frills but they are great little cars. On the Yaris, they changed a few things compared to the echo. Yaris's have EPS (electric power steering), the echo has a power steering pump, etc. The Yaris also has drive by wire throttle body opposed to the cable in the echo. Some Yaris's have ABS, very few Echo's do. Some Yaris's have power locks but I think most still have roll up windows (unless its a newer one). Scotty said he's not a fan of the Echo in one of his videos, but mine have been excellent! I think its because they are mostly plastic and if you were to get into a wreck, well....... size isn't on your side. 

I'm an A&P (airplane mechanic) by trade, and I fell in love with these little cars. Not to bad to work on, if you need to. Water pump is a bit hard to get to, but mostly simple. I used to teach shop class at a local high school and we literally stripped one of these car down to the hull (long and boring story there). It was nice how accessible everything is to get to and put back together. Not to mention the killer gas mileage they get. 

The Echo and the 07 Yaris have the 1.5 VVTI engine and as long as you keep the oil changed( I do 3k no matter what) they run forever. Timing chain, so no worries about a belt. The Yaris looks like they changed up the drum brake components on the rear, looks simpler that the Echo, The Echo has automatic adjusters and they are a bit challenging to get together correctly, lots of parts to transfer to the new shoes.   

I did have a differential bearing go in our 2000 model (5 sp manual) at 250,000 which isn't bad. I put a clutch in it while pulling the tranny, and a real main seal, might as well your there anyways. The other two are automatics and haven't had any shifting or slipping issues at all. All the a/c's work and blow cold, still after all these years. Also remember that the one with 325,000 miles on it is driven by a 17 yr old boy, he doesn't treat it nicely.  Only issue I have now is finding parts for the Echo, I can't even find a junk one for cheap to rob parts off of, (they only made the Echo in the US for 5 years) so we are going to get a Yaris as well. 

And BTW, I don't drive mine like a grandma either, I dog it and it just keeps taking it without complaining. I basically live in a cow pasture which is rough, bumpy, and muddy at times and it plugs away through it all. 

Just so you know that there is wind noise at 70-80 mph and they get blown around a bit by the semis or cross winds. 

Most people don't like them, but I love their reliability and their goofy-ness, i.e. the gauge cluster in the middle of the dash!! Sure a corolla is probably a better car to get but everyone has one of those and why not love an Echo/Yaris??

My 2 cents for what it's worth

They are pretty reliable basic cars.

2007 has the most complaints for the Yaris but the most common issue is the paint peeling.

Have a mechanic check the car out before you buy it to make sure it is in good mechanical shape

Don't pay much

https://www.carcomplaints.com/Toyota/Yaris/2007/

How much? I love how simple the Yaris is.  I wish they still sold the new Toyota version in the US.