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First Drives

Toyota iQ 1.0 (2009) CAR review

By Phil McNamara

02 September 2008 11:18

The new Toyota iQ is a landmark car: the world's soon-to-be-biggest car maker has gone and made the world's smallest four-seater. You see, the iQ packs two rows of pews into a tiny slip of a hatchback. It's not even three metres long. But the Toyota iQ has a twist; like Smart's Fortwo, the last car to rip up the packaging rule book, the iQ wears a distinctly premium price tag.

Think of it like house prices. Although the iQ is tiny, at just 2985mm long, it is plonked slap bang in Mayfair, carrying an estimated £10,000 price tag when UK sales start in January 2009. So it had better be good...

Ok, so the Toyota iQ is pricey, but is it good to drive?

CAR drove some of the first pre-production prototypes on the roads around Toyota's European design centre in Nice, on the south coast of France. This posed a bit of a problem; the Provençal roads might be sun-kissed and blessed with heart-stopping views, but they're also rather steep. And the pair of 1.0-litre iQ models we drove felt out of their depth.

Granted, the cheapest iQ models are designed to flit from Chiswick to Bond Street and back, not blast up the Col de Vence. But we were finger-tapping disappointed by the lack of oomph up the hilly Nicoise roads in the cars powered by the Aygo-sourced 1.0-litre triple.

The 1.3-litre engine option might be better (we didn't have the opportunity to drive it) and there will also be a 1.4-litre diesel option, but the UK won't bring it here. Small diesels just don't sell in Blighty...

And on the motorway?

The 1.0-litre iQ is fine on a motorway run. It'll cruise at 85mph no trouble, but we did feel strangely vulnerable when passing HGVs towering overhead. The iQ is still leagues ahead of the first-gen Smart Fortwo, which bobbed and weaved and felt generally out of sorts at dual carriageway speeds.

Click 'Next' to read the rest of CAR's review of the new Toyota iQ

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Statistics

How much? £10,000
On sale in the UK: January 2009
Engine: 998cc 3cyl, 67bhp, 67lb ft @ 4800rpm
Transmission: Five-speed manual, front-wheel drive
Performance: 0-62mph 14.1sec (15.2sec for CVT), 93mph, 67mpg (60mpg), 99g/km (110g/km)
How heavy / made of? 860kg/steel
How big (length/width/height in mm)? 2985 / 1680 / 1500
Need to know

CAR's rating

Rated 3 out of 5

Handling

Rated 3 out of 5

Performance

Rated 2 out of 5

Usability

Rated 3 out of 5

Feelgood factor

Rated 4 out of 5

Readers' rating

Rated 3 out of 5

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Average rating: Rated 3 out of 5 (42 votes)

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Toyota iQ 1.0 (2009) CAR review

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lianna1958

lianna1958 says

RE: Toyota iQ 1.0 (2009) CAR review

I love this car. For those of us who must commute to work, we really only need a small car. I would love one just big enough for the driver & maybe 1 passenger in back. If the seat were high enough to feel like we weren't low to the ground, like an SUV or mini-van, that would be even better. It is really silly for all of us to be driving regular cars just to work & back. Ideally, car manufacturers could market cars like what I have described as a second car, while families could still have a regular size car to fit those families into. If only these cars could be made more affordable, so a second car would no longer be a luxury.

14 September 2008 01:27

idworx

idworx says

RE: Toyota iQ 1.0 (2009) CAR review

You write "In an age when the Mini, and even bargains like Fiat 500, make small-car owners feel like they haven't made sacrifices". Let's remember that both Mini and 500 have no usable rear seats. They are not true small cars, they are disguised little sports cars. The real challenge is in designing a small car with good passenger space. If I would buy a Mini I certainly would feel like having made a sacrifice. It may be nice to drive, but it wastes road space like the original Mini never did. As for the iQ: how small a car do we need? Is the world such a small place? What looks great though is the turning circle, let's have that on all cars..

12 September 2008 07:40

Vilagos

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Vilagos says

RE: Toyota iQ 1.0 (2009) CAR review

On paper the iQ answers the central objection I have to the Smart ForTwo, the lack of interior space. In the Smart, there is room for little more than a newspaper behind the seats, and the boot is good for 4 supermarket shopping bags. Two people going to a meeting or on a picnic can easily run out of carrying space in a Smart. Logically, a good percentage of city living people taking a car, instead of public transport, have things to carry, no? As for driving experience, the current ForTwo drives like an ur-Beetle with a two feet cut out of the wheelbase, but the transmission works surprisingly well. If the iQ is good for manual only, it's a big drawback in city use. Small point, it would be lovely if CAR compared the iQ to the current Smart, rather than stating a couple of times in the article "better than the original ForTwo." Not exactly the competition, is it? So Toyota, good on you for the space, work on the auto box, and feel free to offer big incentives on the price if it's not selling!

08 September 2008 18:37

blakkar

blakkar says

RE: Toyota iQ 1.0 (2009) CAR review

Despite the sense of a small urban car, and despite the iQ's clever features, I don't think I'd want to be seen dead in a car designed with a face deliberately designed to look like a cheeky urchin. It's obviously intended to invoke the "aah" factor, but for me that'd soon become the "ugh" factor.

05 September 2008 11:32

dzynrs

dzynrs says

RE: Toyota iQ 1.0 (2009) CAR review

Surely not ripping up the rule book, who remembers the Minissma (spelling) by William Towns.

04 September 2008 20:15

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