Toyota iQ2 1.0 VVT-i | Road Test Review

“Toyota’s new iQ majors on clever
packaging and smart design and
Toyota expects to sell around 9,000
in the UK this year. And while owners
won’t pay any road tax, they will
pay when they buy one because the
iQ’s a small car that comes at a big
price...”

THE COMPACT, LOW-CO2-EMITTING, FUEL-EFFICIENT TOYOTA IQ is no quick-fix product to meet the demands of today's congested, highly-taxed and recessionary world of motoring. The mould-breaking iQ has taken five years to be brought to market — but it's arrived in the UK just at the right time.

The design is brilliant; it is compact (less than three metres in length) and is easy to park and drive in congested urban areas. Yet because it is relatively wide — at 1,680mm — the iQ is just as stable as a larger 'supermini' on motorways or open roads. The iQ easily doubles up as a commuter car as well as one that can be realistically used for longer journeys — and it can officially accommodate four people.

Powered by a three-cylinder, 996cc petrol engine — also used in the Toyota Aygo — the fuel economy is officially 65.7mpg in the combined cycle and with a CO2 output of 99g/km (manual transmission model) the iQ is exempt from road tax.

All good on the face of it, but the new iQ is pricey: Ł9,295 for the standard model and Ł10,275 for the higher-specification iQ2. The CVT automatic transmission option for both versions adds a further Ł980 to those prices and then, in true niche marketing tradition, there are accessory and option packs priced from an extra Ł245 to Ł930 for satellite navigation.

My test car, the iQ2 costs Ł10,275 plus the SatNav option so we are talking about a small car with a big price tag of Ł11,205, a price that's well into 'supermini' sector prices. Its main competition is quite obviously the Smart ForTwo which, without too many options, costs around Ł8,987. But the latest Toyota Aygo (Ł7,040), the new Ford Ka (Ł9,295), MINI One (Ł12,345) and the class-leading Hyundai i10 (just Ł8,075) are all competitors — and all but the Smart are roomier.

Toyota estimates it will build 100,000 of these iQ models a year, with 80,000 of them going to the UK, Germany, France and Italy. Toyota in the UK plans to sell around 9,000 units this year although that will depend on how the market performs in the ongoing financial downturn. Currently there is a 50:50 split between iQ and iQ2 versions, and in the summer a 1.3-litre iQ with Stop-Start technology will be added to the line-up. The iQ will, of course, have to compete for sales against other Toyota compact fuel-efficient models such as the Aygo and Yaris and, no doubt, there will be some interest from Prius hybrid owners.

Having lived with the iQ for a week it is the chic styling and compact size that attracted lots of interest, even from non-motoring enthusiasts. The question most asked, more than about the fuel economy, was "How much?" Most people who enquired thought the car pricey, but they definitely liked the size and styling.

“The iQ really does look
trendy and different
from any other car
on the road today...”

Officially, the iQ city car is a four-seater. However, the rear seats only offer the minimum legroom and no boot space unless they are folded down. But the clever bit is the front passenger seat layout in relation to the facia. There is lots of legroom and space ahead of the front passenger so the seat can be moved forward to give the nearside rear seat passenger enough legroom. The rear seat head-restraints severely restrict rearward visibility for the driver — I found it better to remove them and fold the rear seatbacks down. Doing that meant enough room for two overnight bags.

Because the rear seats are right up against the tailgate, the iQ has a rear-end airbag. Default boot space is hardly space at all — a mere 32 litres. Another issue with the iQ is that it is as wide as a conventional 'supermini', so unlike the Smart ForTwo you cannot nip in between congested traffic — which is a pity because this car has an amazingly tight turning circle (think London taxi) so it could be very nimble if it was slimmer. Having said that, its ultra-short body length makes it an absolute joy to park.

The 'wheel at each corner' design is taken to new extremes with the iQ. The rear wheels are positioned so far back in the bodyshell that the rear wheelarches actually protrude outside the car's overall length. Distinctive styling to be sure — but they will be prone to damage from other vehicles during parking.

One of the benefits of its conventional width is that the iQ is much better to drive and more stable on motorways and fast open roads than the flawed Smart ForTwo. The ride is more controlled and, because it is not as tall as the Smart, it is far less prone to side wind gusting. In real life conditions the iQ is far less tiring to drive on long journeys than a ForTwo.

The 996cc three-cylinder front-transverse aluminium petrol engine is well known from its use in the Aygo and its other siblings, the Peugeot 107 and Citroen C1, all built by Toyota.

Its gruff tone is very distinctive but with 67bhp and 67lb ft of torque developed from 4,800rpm it is a willing worker although the unit needs to be kept spinning at high revs to get the best from it. Drive to the front wheels is through a five-speed manual gearbox but there is the option for a CVT five-speed automatic unit which pushes up the emissions to the Ł35 road tax band.

The iQ, as does the Aygo, uses the latest incarnation of the three-cylinder engine which benefits from Toyota's new Optimal Drive engine technology — said to 'reduce emissions and increase fuel economy with no compromise on driving pleasure.'

In real life this unit with the manual transmission emits just 99g/km of CO2 so there is no road tax to pay. The official combined cycle fuel economy is 65.7mpg. However, in the real world this depends on what roads, what speed and, perhaps more importantly, the weight in the car. All these factors are important to most cars but even more so with smaller vehicles. With just me in the car plus an overnight bag, taking a 240-mile motorway trip and driven at realistic legal speeds, the fuel consumption was 53.7mpg. With me and my lightweight wife in the car for A-to-B and stop-start town driving, the average consumption was reduced to 'just' 46.8mpg. That's nowhere near the official 65.7mpg and for buyers who expect to see a genuine 65-ish, that will be quite a disappointment.

The iQ's gearbox is precise and slick — it needs to be because the driver gets to use it a lot. Second to fifth gear ratios are relatively high to facilitate good mpg/low CO2 figures so I found I was often driving one gear lower than normal.

The iQ has a shift light which advises on when to change up (or down) a gear to maintain optimum fuel economy. It is quite strange driving on a motorway at 70mph with the engine seemingly coping happily with a slight uphill gradient, and then for the shift light to comes on asking for a down-change to fourth. The high second gear ratio also means that pulling away from low speeds, say, after turning into a side street, is poor as it takes time for the engine to get back into its power band. The iQ's top speed is 93mph and 0-62mph takes 14.7 seconds.

Overall the handling is much better than I expected from a compact city car. The ride is comfortable, the road holding generally good — although the short wheelbase and front-wheel drive layout does mean understeer is more evident than on longer wheelbase cars.

The iQ is well equipped; as it should be for the price. In its standard form the city car includes 15-inch alloy wheels, rear privacy glass, air conditioning, electric windows and door mirrors, electric power steering, stability and traction control, front, side, curtain and rear airbags, trip computer, 50:50 split-folding rear seatbacks and a good specification sound system.

The iQ2 specification adds such items as 16-inch alloys, smart entry push-button start, rain-sensing wipers and dusk-sensing headlights, automatic air conditioning, heated and folding door mirrors and Bi-halogen headlights.

The iQ really does look trendy and different from any other car on the road today, and that will be a key selling point. The concept and packaging is to be praised, as is the driveability and low CO2 emissions. Good points include clever space packaging, low CO2, compact length for parking, driving refinement and safety equipment. Counting against that is the very small boot space, the fact that it's quite wide for town driving, is not cheap to buy and the mpg does not live up to the official claims. So intelligent buyers should really consider their iQ carefully, because although it is a small car it comes with a big price. — David Miles

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