Interesting pairings of cars always catch my attention. The title “micro-van” isn’t really accurate, but it’s pretty obvious why that came it mind; it does look a bit like a radically shortened and chopped mini-van. The Scion iQ (Toyota iQ in the rest of the world) is not exactly a common sight, but there are a couple around town that I’ve noticed. I don’t know what Toyota’s expectation for it were in the NA market, but it’s probably not meeting them. Let’s go find out…
Having just checked Toyota’s sales stats, it’s certainly not meeting them, given that its sales in 2013 so far are running 56% down from the same period last year, and averaging less than 500 per month. That puts it almost in Honda CR-Z and Insight territory. And the Smart’s too. A little dudlet? But an intelligent one?
Japan wasn’t the iQ’s target, since it doesn’t qualify for kei status. Undoubtedly, Toyota had Europe in its visor when it designed the iQ; a smarter Smart. And that it is, given its ability to tuck one and a half persons into its rear seating area. That can come in pretty handy, every once in a while. But in the US, who really cares about having such a short car? Especially when it cost two grand more than a Yaris. Who said intelligence comes cheap?
Perhaps the only production FWD car in the world with a front axle *ahead* of the transversely mounted engine. Too bad it doesn’t come with a 6-spd manual.
Yes, the two people in the world that would actually buy one will be very disappointed.
Your Zanussi is ready.
If you have more £ than sense you could always get your iQ as an Aston Martin Cygnet.
Ha! A little iQ for every Cygnet?
http://www.carwow.co.uk/car-reviews/Aston-Martin/Cygnet
I just looked up the Aston Martin Cygnet.
So we have a premium luxury car make slapping their name on a mildly refaced plebeian economy car in order to get their corporate average fuel economy in line.
Sounds very Cadillac Cimarron to me…
No way to cover up with clever text. The iQ, smart4two and other such kei cars will not work in US. Except in very limited areas like NYC, where most people just take public transportation anyways, their limits become painfully clear.
The iQ is actually too large and has too large of a motor to be a kei car. That gives you an idea of how small they are.
Off topic but that house is just like the hippie house in my neighborhood growing up in the 60s and 70s.
Always an interesting crowd of young people about and CC’s for the era.
This car, or some other tiny car, could very useful if I still lived in SF, where street parking is incredibly tight. There have been times when I’ve driven out to meet friends in more parking-intensive neighborhoods, only to give up after circling for a parking spot for nearly an hour, and I know plenty of people who regularly spend 15-30 minutes every evening looking for a parking spot when they get home from work. Driving a car this short could potentially eliminate that problem, as there are plenty of tiny spots in between garage curb-cuts.
My solution was to drive a motorcycle.
Of course, establishing a demand-based market price for street parking would also eliminate the market for this car, but that type of free-market economics seems to meet a lot of resistance in this country.
I also don’t understand the decision not to bring a manual transmission to the US. I know we only drive automatics here, but the European reviews indicate that the stick version is much more pleasant to drive, and I think there might be increased willingness to drive a manual transmission among the group of people willing to don this hairshirt.
I think the automatic is because the iQ (and the Smart) are designed as city cars, expected to spend their entire lives in gridlocked traffic.
Actually, I rather like them. Then too, I see nothing unintelligent about using a 150cc scooter as a commuter. It puts a full blown motorcycle to shame in traffic, as long as you’re not going over 50mph.
When I lived in Daegu, South Korea, I had a scooter the whole time. It was a Hyosung Sense a 50 cc two stroke. I put a big box on the back and away I went. I had a second job after my university was done, which was across town. Nothing was faster than that scooter. You could even ride on the sidewalk and nobody cared. I was three times faster than a car in horrible Korean traffic.
For tropical monsoons, I had a poncho.
For below freezing temps I layered up.
I could put one 12 pack of 640ml Cass bottles in the box and one one the step. I even did two once, for a total of 36 big beers!
It cost me about $4.00 a week to ride it all over. No registration or insurance required. What a cool little vehicle. I would whisk you anywhere with no fuss. I could even get 70 km/h out of it! The local people were amazed how I rode it like a motorcycle in traffic. Korean scooter drivers usually hug the shoulder but at city traffic speeds it’s easy. There is quite a scooter culture in Korea and it’s cool.
I remember seeing Fiat 500s & Innocentis (Minis) parked perpendicular to curbs in Rome, they were that short. So yes, there’s something to be said for that form factor. But I bet the old 500 had more interior room than this crash-safer Toyota.
I have not looked but is the aftermarket offering an Aston-Martin Cygnet front end for the IQ yet? The 21st Century version of the Beetle with the R-R grille…
Nah, there aren’t enough copies of either for anyone to care.
You don’t start seeing aftermarket variants like that until a car becomes as popular as a VW Bug, or even a PT Cruiser.
Doubt if it’ll happen. Aston-Martin’s lawyers would be on your butt real fast.
The whole purpose of the Cygnet is something for an Aston-Martin owner (my understanding is that you can’t buy a new one unless you already own one of the big ones) to be able to drive in London. It’s not meant to be a separate car line.
I thought the reason for the cygnet was to get astons fleet fuel consumption down to an acceptable level(whatever level that was). So they could continue to sell their V-8 and V-12 engined cars.
We have those here no doubt for fuel economy reasons for Toyota because all those kei cars land here used if they can pass compliance
IMHO the PT Cruiser was the microvan, this would make the IQ a teenyvan or a tinyvan or a nanovan…
There is a local driving school that has 3 orange iQ’s in their fleet, I think that might be the perfect use for them. Though I think you should be forced to take the test in a 1972 Mark IV, if you can handle that, you’re pretty much ready for anything.
Agreed. I taught my little sister to parallel park in a 63 Cadillac Fleetwood. She has never had a problem driving anything.
A family friend taught all four of his daughters to drive in his early fifties Chevy pickup which had the stock 235 six and three on the tree. His reasoning was that if they could drive that, they could drive anything.
“Undoubtedly, Toyota had Europe in its visor when it designed the iQ; a smarter Smart.”
You’re right. But it’s an odd objective, as the Smart hasn’t been a screaming success in Europe, either.
I suspect that the problem is this: If you live in an area in Europe in which parking is that bad, then there’s probably a mass transit that serves most of your local travel needs. So most of the time, your car stays put. On those occasions that you do drive, you probably want a car that’s reasonable for traveling places that the transit system doesn’t serve well and/or carry people, and you’ll most likely want a somewhat larger car for that kind of journey.
In other words, the ability to park perpendicular in a parallel space — the Smart’s claim to fame — isn’t all that great of a value proposition for most people. In real world terms, it probably doesn’t open up a lot of extra parking opportunities in comparison to something better, such as a VW Polo.
Would love to see this iQ next to PN’s xBox next to an Astro, next to an Express.
The CC equivalent of the Russian matryoshka dolls? 🙂