Toyota has proved itself to be very clever with the new iQ.
Watch the video review of the Toyota iQ.
It is wide but very short at less than 3 metres long, tiny outside but big enough inside for three or at a push four adults - and it's green too! Toyota is boldly going where only Smart went before in delivering to the market a car that challenges conventional thinking about personal transport.
The exterior of the three-cylinder iQ appears a little mad when viewed first because, when seen head-on, the car looks like a tough and quite broad supermini but boy, you get a shock when you take a look at the iQ side-on. The car is incredibly short and this means that as a city machine it is a joy to park. The car can turn on a sixpence! Okay, sorry, I know many of you like myself have no idea what a sixpence looks like, but the iQ can turn fully in 3.9 metres and that's half the distance it takes a famous London black cab to do a U-Turn.
Priced above the Toyota Aygo city car, the new Toyota sits in a niche market all to itself. The four-seat version starts at €14,410. It is dear for a town car and similarly priced to some great superminis, so who is going to buy it? Toyota honestly isn't sure, but I can tell you the roads are a better place for it being there. The car comes in a 1.4 litre D4D diesel or a very eager 1-litre three-cylinder. The same tried and tested petrol engine is super frugal and also found in the Aygo trilogy (Citroen C1/eugeot 107) and a quite few Daihatsus. It sips juice, averaging 65mpg, yet is like a puppy on a tight lead around town. The nippy iQ whizzes along and can also hold its own on the motorway, too, thanks again to its wide track (ie the distance between the left and right wheels).
A two-seat version starts off the range (€13,690) but the four-seater is the practical choice. The two specification levels of the six-speed car (Strata/Luna) are high. For the moment the colour choice is limited to just a few strong colours.
Inside the driver and front seat passenger get a huge amount of space; this is thanks to the asymmetrical dashboard design. The front seat passenger actually sits further forward than the driver, which frees up space for the rear seat passenger. There is, however, zero room behind a normal adult driver for a grown-up passenger, although you could fit a small kid - under protest.
On the road the iQ features remarkable steering that is wow inducing and instant. Steering the extremely short car is like piloting a mud plugger! Cornering is never fun in a city car because they tend to be very narrow, but the iQ is as wide as most longer superminis and therefore surprisingly stable on the twisty bits.
Toyota expects a high score from Euro NCAP crash tests, too.
iQ owners will enjoy being very green as both engines fall into the lowest CO2 tax band as well as having a strong machine under them.
The Toyota iQ is a work of genius. I love it!
Michael Sheridan
