I'm sure that if I lived in a city the iQ would have had a more appreciative response during my time with it than it actually did. This is a car which feels like it will appeal greatly to trendy urban types, but out here in the country, where funkiness often seems just plain silly, it's apt to inspire people to become pricelessly witty at the expense of whoever is driving it."I see you have a small iQ, David," was one such remark. And the first time my neighbour saw me getting ready to drive off, he interrupted me to say, "Oh, was that you putting on your seatbelt? I thought it was the sound of the engine starting." Ha ha. It is to laugh.I found myself having to defend the iQ (or in this case the better-equipped iQ2, pronounced "iQ squared") from these jollities, because in many ways it is quite a remarkable little car. Overall, it's not much more than an inch longer than a smart fortwo, but from the driver's seat it feels like the centre section of something considerably larger. The level of quality is very high, noise levels are low (even when you're pushing the little one-litre three-cylinder engine right up to the point where the revlimiter comes in) and the ride comfort is simply amazing.There are practical limits to that last bit. The iQ seems equally long, wide and tall, and although the front and rear wheels are as far from each other as they possibly could be they are still close together compared with those of almost any other car you can buy. That inevitably leads to a pitching motion over rough surfaces, but the effect is limited, and in all other circumstances the iQ rides remarkably smoothly.It is also - or at least it at first appears to be - something of a miracle that Toyota has managed to fit four seats into a car less than three metres long. The precise details of how this has happened would take longer to explain than your patience will bear (though I'll just mention the flat underfloor fuel tank as a particularly clever example) but you can take it from me that it's all jolly clever.Toyota's claims about the result seem to err, however, on the side of optimism. I'm looking at a document in which the company avers that three 6'3" adults and a child can be "comfortably accommodated", and I'm sorry but I just won't have it.I happen to be 6'3" myself, and although I can be comfortably accommodated in the driver's seat this is possible only when it is touching the seat behind it. No child over the age of, say, 18 months would be able to cope with that.The situation is more promising on the other side of the car, since the front passenger seat can be slid quite far forward, but I still don't see how two six-footers are going to be able to manage for any length of time. This was put to the test when three of us embarked on a round trip of about 60 miles - my passenger, who was possibly an inch or two taller than me, compromised his legroom as far as he could, but his much shorter wife still had to sit at a 45-degree angle (with her feet in the undeniably useful flat area behind the handbrake) in order to be able to fit in.Three-up, the iQ is intimate, nearly but not quite to the point of impropriety. With four people on board it would be like an orgy scene.On top of all this, I don't think I would like to be a rear passenger in an iQ. The impressive amount of safety equipment includes a rear airbag, but I still shudder to think what would happen to anyone sitting back there if the car - or, worse, the van - behind ran out of brakes while the Toyota was at a standstill.If you do manage to cram people into the back of an iQ, you can forget about carrying any luggage. The quoted capacity is just 32 litres, and the volume is arranged in such a way that you can't get a six-pack in there. Fold down the rear seats and the capacity increases to a much more impressive 238 litres, though in neither case is there a way of hiding your luggage from the eyes of any dubious rotter who looks in to see if there is anything worth nicking.Parking the iQ is of course exceptionally easy, not least because the rear wiper - which you could touch from the driver's seat if the window wasn't in the way - is very nearly the furthest-back part of the car, and also because the turning circle is memorably tiny. Visibility isn't great, though, and it can be a particular problem at T-junctions because there's a large side pillar between you and whatever you need to see coming from the left.Out on the open road the iQ spanks along quite well, though it's barely quicker than the 1.2-litre SEAT Ibiza, which has about the same amount of power and is substantially heavier.The official combined fuel economy figure of 65.7mpg looks good - and relates to CO2 emissions of 99g/km, making the iQ exempt from VED and congestion charges - but according to the trip computer I managed just 47.8mpg. Of course, it's unfair to compare economy figures directly, but I've done better than that in larger, more conventional diesel cars driving along the same roads at similar speeds.The iQ may not, therefore, be as cheap to run as you think it's going to be, and it's certainly not cheap to buy. The base model costs £9495, and if you went for an iQ2 with the optional metallic paint, leather seats and satellite navigation you'd be paying nearly £12,500. And that, I feel, is beyond a joke. Engine 996 cc, 3 cylinders Power 68 bhp @6000 rpm Torque 67 ib/ft @4800 rpm Transmission 5 speed manual Fuel/CO2 65.7 mpg / 99 g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 14.1sec Top speed 93 mph Price From £10736.00 approx Release date 01/01/2009
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