Once they roamed the earth. In a world of bland behemoths, they survived by being small and quick. And their cute exteriors attracted the loyal attentions of protective humans.

Evolved from humble genes, they grew stylish bodies. A few mutations to the motor and suspension and reasonable price points made the genus Hatchbackus a natural selection. But now they are almost dead.

CRXus Hondaensis. Gone.

NXnissanT-tops. Gone.

Impulsus Isuzu. Gone.

Toyotus FX. Gone.

Geostormaurus. Gone.

Toyota's Paseo wasn't an obvious choice to survive. The other cars remaining in its class, Volkswagen's GTI (which is a freak of nature, as its internal organs evolved underneath an unchanged skin) and the Mazda MX-3, have noticeably more performance; the Paseo relies on its looks and pricing to attract an image- and value-oriented audience.

That Toyota's Paseo evolved from humble beginnings can't be denied. It's recent freshening has left a sleeker exterior, but the internal organs match those of the Auto Tercellus, noted for frugality but not speed nor sophistication. The result is basic transportation with a little bit of visual flair. Think of the base Pontiac Sunfire or the four-cylinder Ford Probe and you'll get it; good looking, but obviously not for someone with a performance bent. They are cars for profiling. The question then arises, is this Paseo pretty enough to profile in?

We'll let the SC-D answer that: The Paseo has "cute little lines. Nice kind of swoop to the C pillars. Looks like lots of glass and a nice curvature of the windows. I like the little spoiler bit on the back." She also liked the headlights, but wasn't as nice to the bottom-feeder grille.

Next to a previous generation Paseo, the heritage is clear. Toyota stylists were charged with freshening the design without moving the chassis hard points, and they succeeded. Starting with the same basic pyramid shape, the current iteration has softer lines, with more side glass for better outward visibility. It's not a traffic-stopper, but doesn't look like anything else on the road, either.

That individuality is evident from the reactions of passersby; they gave the Paseo a good bit of attention. On our Cranial Rotation Factor, a creditable "Trying Not to Look."

Inside, the instruments are clear and in the daytime are stylish black on white. (We, being pathetically unstylish, prefer the reverse.) At night the numbers light up green on the white background. Gauges display coolant temperature, fuel level, speed, and revs; everything else is communicated by lights. Those instruments sit beneath a swooshy cowl that the Splendid Co-Driver found quite attractive. "It says this is a cockpit for the driver. I think that's really cool."

The rest of the interior leaves one with an impression of having been built to a specific budget target, and not a lavish one; the plastic underwhelms with its quality. Behind that plastic, though, lie two air bags.

Our tested Paseo also sported air conditioning and a cassette stereo. Underneath the stereo is a storage bin with a door which is obviously where you put your CD player. There's two minimalist cupholders, just holes in a flat piece of plastic that slides out of the center stack. Ashtray and lighter lurk below the radio. The tiny plastic center console has a recess to hold another cup. There's a clock in the center of the dash. One and a half Golden Cupholders.

Power windows use sensible switches; push ‘em down to put ‘em down, pull ‘em up to bring ‘em up. Unfortunately, the door insides bulge when the window hits full travel and the motor strains. The SC-D also complained about illogical controls on the right-hand side mirror: "You don't push out to go out. It's backwards." Her only other noted drawback: The passenger side map light completely floods the driver's side, not entirely useful for someone who wants to read on the passenger side while the driver is doing what he's supposed to do.

Switchgear feels good, as a Toyota should. It reminds you that these folks and Honda are the target American companies shoot for.

The SC-D liked the happy little textured design on the upholstery and the colors they chose to do it in, "but then green, aqua, and peach are girl colors so I like them. As well, I like the fact that it's a fabric that seems soft but it's also not napped in that way that's going to pill and wear really badly. This looks like a really nice-wearing fabric and that's one thing I haven't seen in a lot of the cars we've reviewed."

There's a vestigial back seat, which is more than some in its genus can say. It folds down as a single piece to allow passthrough to the trunk, although the opening is somewhat narrow compared to the width of the vehicle.

This leads to a review point we've never brought up before, but of particular interest to Hard Drive readers. A 17" monitor will fit inside the passenger seat of the Paseo. The box for a 17" monitor will not fit anywhere in the Paseo. The only orifice the box could come through is a door, but the opening to the trunk is too small to pass the box through. This is one of the drawbacks of a small car with a trunk instead of a hatchback. The trunk opening is too small to let it in. If I put it in the passenger seat, I couldn't see the right-hand mirror and I couldn't shift and it wouldn't fit through to behind the seat which doesn't matter because of the way the seat back folds down it would have been up high and blocking the entire view out the back.

Of course, with the Paseo's price, you could afford to just get a laptop instead.

The passenger side has a lot of forward leg room, especially when you move the seat back a little bit. Four people wouldn't be comfortable in the Paseo on a long trip, but that wasn't the question, was it? "The seat is reasonably comfortable and has some pretty good bolstering underneath my area," noted the SC-D, and I tactfully refrained from speculating on the nature or location of the area in question. I'll note only that side bolsters on the seat backs are pretty good and on the seat bottom are very good. You could be reasonably comfortable for a fairly long day trip in this car.

The steering column and steering wheel appear to be nonadjustable which would be unfortunate. However, if there is an adjustment for them, I can't find it. The result is something of a classic Italian-car position; when your legs are correctly adjusted, the steering wheel is way... out... there.

Doors make tinny sounds when opened, but close with a reasonably satisfying thunk.

ON THE ROAD

The improved outward visibility is hampered somewhat by the tall tail, and the wing on the back of our test Paseo cut it down a little, too. Part of the problem, I think, is that the seat is so high. The smallish rear view mirror doesn't help.

The engine starts right away even on a somewhat chilly morning with an eager thrum. At 60 on the highway, the Paseo turns just under 3000 revs; for a small car whose engine is turning that speed, it is surprisingly quiet inside. There's some tire noise, especially on wet sections, but not very much wind noise at all. The engine note is also much lower than you would expect from a small four and is thus not as auditorily fatiguing.

While the engine is quite revvy, and certainly makes a lot of happy sounds, there's almost no torque peak anywhere in the broad rev range. It would be cruel to say there's almost no torque anywhere in the rev range; let us note instead the lack of a reassuring sense of reserve power available should you like to speed up very much. "Obviously, moving from zero to 40 is big excitement in this car's books," noted the Splendid One. On the other hand, our mixed driving returned 29.7 MPG.

It makes its moves smoothly, too, thanks to a lot of suspension travel. The Paseo has a long wheel base for its length and the ride is fairly supple. Speed bumps are not a concern to the Paseo, passing beneath the Yokohama 376s like so many pebbles beneath an M1A1, to use a wretched simile. Those 185/60x14 Yokohamas ride on seven-spoke alloy wheels that look an awful lot like those on the late NX2000.

The handling-ride spectrum favors ride, although there's decent road feel through the steering even with the less than stellar tires. Turn-in is mushy, but then the Paseo rolls slightly and takes something of a set. One wonders what Toyota did with the suspension from the late FX16. That suspension on this car could be quite beneficial.

Brakes came in gently, and without much pedal feel. The five speed stick in our test car was rather un-Toyota like, slightly clunky, and especially reluctant to go into reverse.

SUMMING UP

Go to Toyota

Tested price includes: All weather package (larger washer fluid tank; defogger, heater, wiper motor, starter and battery all heavy duty, 70; anti-lock brakes, 850; air conditioner, 925; power windows and locks, 525; rear spoiler, 415; deluxe cassette stereo with four speakers, 225; alloy wheels with all-season tires, 415; floor mats, 70; destination, 420.

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