What is your other car?

I know a couple of people who used to have Smart Fortwo. They both said the maintenance (tune ups, etc) is expensive. I think it is owned by BMW and they charge BMW prices. The iQ is probably much more reasonable on maintenance expense. They are now former Smart car owners.

 

It was Mercedes, though it must be a US thing as the Smarts here are very cheap to run. My cousins wife has one and loves it.

 

Making it a Scion meant loading it up with features, and thus bumping up the price. The xD is only $250 more with a full back seat plus cargo space. If they don't want all the features, a Yaris can be had for nearly $2000 less. The Chevy Spark is about $4000 less for those looking for the cheapest ride.

Overseas, Mercedes and BMW are more broad spectrum brands. Not just luxury as they are here. They could have saved some cash by taking it to a Mitsubishi dealer, which is the manufacturer of the smart engine. A Scion dealer would likely charge less for maintenance, but a buyer could get a base fortwo for around $4000 less.

 

2013 Rav4 EV & a 2008 Solara Convertible.

 

It would be fun. And I could always stick the younger daughter on the roof.

There are a few things that people bring in as grey imports here to get noticed. There are a fair few Nissan Cubes, and the occasional Cadillac. But I've never seen an IQ.

From what I've seen on TV and in the press, they look a lot more civilised than Smarts - quieter and more comfortable and more relaxed. Is that right?

 

It's pretty much like driving a Yaris until you look behind you

It's quite wide so is stable for what it is. The ride is a little unsteady compared to the Prius but for cars the size of the IQ it's quite civilised. The 1.0 engine on an auto box isn't going to win any competitions but it's quick in traffic upto 30 mph. It is said the manual is better. We drive to London a couple times a year and have taken the IQ due to parking issues and it'll happily sit on the motorway at 80 mph - and quite steady for a small car. It is much smoother than the Aygo. Obviously at 80 it has barely any acceleration but it sits along smoothly.

It's surprisingly good. We were not convinced when we first saw one, but it grew on us and we loved it when we took it for a test drive. Obviously I wouldnt want you to get one just off my say so, but they're fun. You can get a second hand one for not a lot and you'd have a weird, distinctive car.


New Toyota IQ (09 on) Review - Summary | Parkers


I have some pics in my profile album. The car has a/c, auto, radio, alloys, indicators in the wing mirrors and colour coded, all on the base model.

You know you want to. What cool car to whiz around Sydney in

 

You are definitely selling me on an IQ, Grumpy. I drove a New Beetle for many years and loved how well it handled and how unique it looked. Seems like the IQ experience would be similar. I am planning to go to the DC auto show in the next two weeks -- I hope they have one for me to sit in! If I disappear from PC, I may have gone to a Toyota/Scion dealer and traded my Prius in!

 

I think the US version is different. The front end is different for some reason, maybe to comply with crash tests, though the UK version got a very high 5 Star NCAP rating. Ours has 9 airbags - though if a truck hits you!

You only get the 1.3 engine which is a bit quicker than the 1.0 and probably more likely to keep up with US roads, though it's still not 'fast'. I'm also not sure if you get the amazing turning circle. That's the one thing we really love about ours.

But they're a fun car. It is what it is. My earlier picture shows the problems we have for parking over here, so for us it works. It's small like the old mini from the 1960's was before it became a bloated mess.

At the end of the day it's like a Smart but with Toyota reliability. It also makes us smile whenever we drive it and it's just plain fun. It's probably not for everyone though. At least take one for a test drive if you can. You'll come back either hating it or with a massive smile on your face.

 

There are no second-hand ones here - I've just had a look. But I looked on autotrader.co.uk, and there are indeed a fair few for under GBP 5,000. I'm tempted. Parking in Sydney is horrendous, and a tiny car would be a brilliant thing.

When we went to the Toyota theme park thing in Tokyo, there were loads of Toyota and Daihatsu city cars on display. The IQ was one of the bigger ones, and there were four-door cars with the same sort of footprint as an IQ. There were some remarkably cool things there, and most of them were cars I'd never seen outside of Japan, apart from the occasional grey import in Hong Kong.
But I think if I did get a second car, it'd be a big estate (station wagon) or ute (pick-up truck) to lug stuff about in. One of my neighbours has an indestructible Hilux, which he loves.

 

WOW, nice Toyota lineup

Here in Metro Detroit "Motor City", home of the Big 3, you NEVER see that many "foreign" cars in 1 driveway. Heck, sometimes you might not see that many in a WHOLE subdivision, lol.

As a matter of fact, the neighbor to me on the one side is a top engineer at Chrysler and works at the Chrysler Tech Center in Auburn Hills, and the neighbor to my other side works at a Tier manufacturing company for Ford. The big 3 employ so many people here in SE Michigan, that almost everybody you know is connected to Ford, GM or Chrysler in one way or another and to "not" drive one of those cars is insulting to people around here.

Needless to say, they werent exactly as thrilled (as I was) over my Prius purchase.

 

289 with Holley 4150 about 7mpg and 427 with Weber 48 IDA about 4mpg on good behavior
That's why we have a Prius to drive everyday View attachment 61564

 

My favorite other car is this one,

 

Nice collection, Speedy. I like those old California plates, too. Even if I am a foreigner.

 

I have 3 cars. Small, medium and large.

2010 Prius
2008 Ford Taurus X AWD
2000 Ford Excursion Diesel 4x4

Also realized recently that I own 3 different types (cycles) of engines in those. Never dawned on me until a week ago.


Nexus 7 ? 4

 

Prius 2008
Subaru Forester XT 2004
Corolla AE86 for historic rally
Corolla AE86 with 350HP SR20DET swap
We used to have Smart fortwo and we replaced it with Prius due to having a baby, so 2 seater was not an option any more.

SM-N9005 ?

 

Thanks Hyo, The plate was the original plate for this numbers matching K-Code. I peeled the annual stickers down to 1965. Here's what the plate looked like before I restored it

 

It's funny how much the iQ has been mentioned in this thread. My current other car is an iQ, hence my user name. It is, however, a diesel iQ so it's just a hair faster than my old Prius or current CT. It's pretty fun to drive and a huge contrast to the hybrids.

 

We don't get the diesel here as we are attempting to clean our air.

BBC News - EU air pollution target 'still too high' for heart health

Diesel is cheap in many European countries, but just look at the emission specs of your diesel. It will probably emit 20 times more NOx than the petrol version. It may now sound a lot but times that by 20,000 cars in your town and you have a problem. If all those cars were petrol the air would be much cleaner. (not perfect of course, but much cleaner).

European pollution limits (which are often exceeded) are already double those required in America. It stinks that the German and French car lobby are happy to poison the inhabitants of Europe just so you can save a few €'s filling your car up.

If you're driving a diesel and you have children or family with asthma, you're part of the problem.

 

My city car is a hybrid... There is no need for a lecture as my diesel is for 30+km use. Any shorter trips and you start getting trouble with soot. It is my out-of-town car, the one with all the nifty features.

My hybrid is part of the problem as well - it is just a lesser problem than 98% of the other cars on the road (the rest being electric and Yaris hybrids)

 

I know where you're coming from with lots of bid-3 neighbors. I used to have an all-GM stable. Then I ventured to Ford and Lincoln... Lexus... Subaru... Toyota...

Now's it's the Prius and three Hondas: My Ridgeline & S2000, plus my wife's new Fit.