At the beginning of December, my wife and I brought home a new toy. Sheryl needed a daily driver and decided to go with a reliable Toyota. But she didn’t go with the expected Corolla or Camry, instead choosing Toyota’s attempt to beat Smart at building the ultimate city car: the Scion iQ. The iQ promised to better a Smart Fortwo by offering seating for four, a 37 mpg combined rating, a ridiculously tight turning circle, and 11 airbags. However, just 15,701 of them were sold after Smart delivered Scion a sales-floor beating akin to an angry Mike Tyson on a plane. Toyota may have failed to beat Smart, but after driving this tiny automobile for a month, I think America slept on a great little car.
If you’ve been reading my work for long enough, you know that I’m not afraid to praise the Smart Fortwo any moment I can. I own five of the things and plan to get more. Most of my brain stores are occupied with Smart facts that are useful only in highly specific settings. All of this is to say that when you read my admiration for this tiny Toyota, you know I’m serious about it. Cars like these are on the verge of extinction in America, and that’s sad because city cars are awesome.
Oh Deer
The end of the year has not been kind to Sheryl’s cars. Remember that Toyota Prius Sheryl used to have? We loaned it to a friend. Things were going okay with that deal until Sheryl and I were walking through Walt Disney World’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge theme area during our vacation last month. As we enjoyed a brief break away from reality, a call rang in, reminding us that we weren’t in a galaxy far, far away. My friend broadsided a running deer with the Prius. As if that wasn’t unlucky enough, the deer’s body tumbled down the entire length of the left side of the car. Thankfully, nobody was hurt. Even the deer jumped back into the darkness.
But even I could tell from the photos that the car was trashed. It would have needed a hood, bumper, core support, headlight, driver door, and fender at minimum, and that was what I could see with my eyes through blurry phone pictures taken at night.
It didn’t take much time at all for insurance to total the Prius, which was sad for a multitude of reasons. That car still had lots of life left in it and wasn’t ready to give up yet. Worse was my friend had the cheapest possible insurance and Sheryl did not have gap coverage. It got even worse from there as the insurer discovered a crumple in the unibody, presumably from the bottom of the vehicle impacting something hard at speed. Something that wasn’t the deer. The insurance company said that to fix the deer damage plus mystery structure damage would cost $14,000, or nearly twice what the car was worth. The Prius was totaled that day and the payout was abysmal, even after Sheryl flexed her lawyer muscles.
To add insult to injury, the BMW E39 we bought from the Bishop had just started exhibiting a puzzling problem. The vehicle started consuming oil at a rate of a quart roughly every 50 miles. When we bought the car, I noticed it burned a quart every 700 miles or so. Some searching on forums suggested this burn was normal, so we kept things topped up and lived with it. The change from a quart every 700 miles to a quart every 50 miles seemed as if it happened overnight. It didn’t, but Sheryl started noticing the BMW’s low oil level light was illuminating every day even though she was topping up the oil daily. The dipstick always confirmed what the light was suggesting, too.
I still haven’t figured out what’s going on, but the car now smokes like a poorly-tuned diesel truck. Well, that’s where a lot of the oil is going. Still, a quart every 50 miles is aggressive. I found no external leaks that add up to that much oil. The coolant is also clean, so the oil doesn’t appear to be getting sent somewhere else. Unfortunately, some searching would suggest a long list of possible causes for BMW M54 oil burn from an aged crankcase vent system to worn rings. Our German mechanic friends gave other, equally time-intensive potential causes. The wounded Beemer is fixable, but not in the time we have to diagnose and then chase the oil burn down.
Besides, Sheryl put about 25,000 miles on the car since I gave it to her earlier this year, so this steed was just two years or so from 200,000 miles. A few months ago, I asked you for solutions to the car’s rusting rockers. Honestly, a few of you were right when you said she drives the car so many miles so quickly that it would suffer a major mechanical failure before the body had the time to rust out. Given the ridiculous oil consumption and our still unsolved rust issue, Sheryl decided to demote her beloved BMW to weekend driver. As of now, it sits in her garage, awaiting warmer weather.
Hellish Car Search
Like me, Sheryl is allergic to high car payments. Besides, she already had to pay off the Prius earlier than planned. So, she wanted a newer daily driver with low miles, but she also didn’t want to pay new car money for it. Oh, and it needed to be reliable, which meant none of my high-mileage sort of broken hoopties would apply. This led her down a path of looking for the unloved, the basic, and the underrated.
In what looked like a Sheryl’s Marketplace Madness, my wife had assembled a list of cars she wanted to try out. That list contained such vehicles as a Volkswagen Beetle, a Jetta TDI sedan, a few Mazda3s, a Subaru Legacy, some Smart Fortwos, and similar cars. The more popular cars of the bunch, such as the Mazdas and Subarus, sold quicker than Sheryl could request information. We also decided that the Smarts would be too small since Sheryl sometimes carries a lot of stuff in her cars.
Somewhere along the way, Sheryl started finding Scion iQs and they seemed like a great idea. Sheryl loved the concept of a Smart, but wanted a little more space. That’s what the Scion iQ is! The iQ’s backseat is sized perfectly for our birds or for the odd friend to ride in the back. And when the car isn’t carrying the birds, the rear seat’s backrests fold flat, making for a regular car-sized trunk. Add the 37 mpg combined fuel economy rating with regular fuel plus Toyota reliability and Sheryl was sold.
Unfortunately, buying a car proved to be difficult. One lender backed out after learning about the Prius. Another dealership refused to work with transgender people. One dealer dragged Sheryl through the whole process and multiple hard credit pulls before eventually claiming that they could not work with people who changed their gender markers. Eventually, I told Sheryl that I’d just buy her a winter beater from Facebook.
Before I could do that, Sheryl tried a couple of more dealers. One of them was nearby and had a Scion iQ in stock. Sheryl told them what was going on and for the first time since we started the car search, we heard back something heartwarming. The dealer told us her issues weren’t a problem. And that iQ? Yeah, they didn’t see why she couldn’t just come down and drive out with it.
Admittedly, I’ve heard lines like those so many times in the past by used car dealers, and every time led to disappointment. But this dealer made promises and kept them. Sure enough, we rolled up to the dealership on a Saturday afternoon and drove out in the Scion iQ a couple of hours later. The purchasing process was surprisingly painless and the dealer was transparent about costs. We paid around $8,000 for the Scion and the financing rate wasn’t horrible, either.
Perhaps the most mind-blowing part for me was how when we pointed out some rust on one of the car’s fenders, the salesman said the dealer could fix that for free. Mentioning the rust was a shot in the dark. I never expected such a response, especially since 11-year-old used cars don’t have warranties. The rust has been repaired and they did such a good job you can’t even tell it was there. So, I don’t normally give used car dealerships praise, but thank you International Car Center of Lombard, Illinois.
Sheryl’s iQ
Sheryl drove home with a 2012 Scion iQ with about 67,000 miles. According to some research I conducted on the vehicle, it was distributed by Southeast Toyota and lived all of its life on the East Coast before moving to the Midwest. You can tell the car had lived on the East Coast because it has the wear to show for it. Surface rust appears on engine compartment components and bits and pieces of the vehicle’s undercarriage. That’s just how things are with cars out here. Thankfully, none of the rust is actually bad and an oil-based undercoating should help the car battle road salt. I mean, oil undercoating saved David’s Valiant from getting any worse!
The car comes painted in Pacific Blue Metallic and wears a design that Scion says is supposed to mimic a larger car up front while tapering off dramatically at the rear. To me, the design itself looks like it could have belonged on a Yaris, only this car shrunk in the wash. The diminutive proportions are what make this car stand out. At 120.1 inches, or 10 feet, the car is 14 inches longer than a Smart Fortwo. Its width of 66.1 inches makes it 5 inches wider than a second-generation Smart Fortwo. Add it all up and you get a car that feels normal width inside while sporting just enough room to carry more than two people.
That doesn’t stop people from mistaking the iQ for a Smart. Everyone will make comments about your “Smart Car” before being surprised to learn that Toyota made its own interpretation of the pint-size city car. Granted, with just 15,701 units on American roads there’s a good chance there are people who have never seen an iQ before.
Like the Fortwo, the iQ is a packaging marvel. Toyota was proud to call the iQ the “World’s Smallest Four-Seater” and a lot of clever engineering went into the vehicle to achieve it. Click here to read my retrospective, but the short version is that Toyota moved the differential to the front of the engine, made a more compact steering system, designed a smaller air-conditioner pack, hid the fuel tank under the cabin floor, slimmed down the seats, staggered the interior, and even deleted the glove compartment.
Your rear passengers have their head literally a few inches from the rear glass. So, to protect their noggins in a crash, Toyota implemented what it calls the world’s first rear curtain airbag.
Unlike a Fortwo, an iQ keeps its smart engineering pretty low-key. A Smart likes to advertise its safety cage and its rear engine, but an iQ feels like a regular Toyota inside. Your clues that the car’s a bit funky come from the offset seating, no glovebox, and when you turn your head to reverse and realize you could touch the back window. You never really get the feeling that the engine is buzzing away right in front of your feet.
We’ve also used up the whole car a few times already. We fit our birds’ travel cage in the backseat and also shoved a friend back there, too. Our friend commented that she wouldn’t want to be back there for any real length of time, but she fit well enough that it sort of felt like a full car back there. Unfortunately, if we were to carry a fourth person, we would hope they are good with less legroom than sardines get in a can.
The best part about the iQ’s interior is the upgraded stereo. The iQ doesn’t have trim levels. Instead, you got a base car and Scion let you pick and choose options. A base iQ has steel wheels and only two interior speakers. Whoever originally ordered this car decided to spend their money on sound. They opted for the 160-watt Pioneer sound system with two front speakers, two tweeters, two rears, and a subwoofer.
The system isn’t kicking out a ton of power, but there’s more than enough bass and clarity for rocking out inside of your little phone box. Certainly, it’s a better stereo than what I have in any of my Smarts. Mercedes Jam Session Approved
Better Than The Smart, Sort Of
Now that I’ve had a month to drive this car, I think Toyota came really close to succeeding in its mission to build a better Smart.
Personally, I think the advantages start under the hood. When the iQ was unleashed into America during the 2012 model year, the Fortwo was in its second generation and was getting by with a 999cc Mitsubishi three-cylinder good for 70 HP and 68 lb-ft of torque. Personally, I love the Smart’s engine, but it doesn’t really do things fast. A good 60 mph run in a second-generation Smart is 11 seconds.
The iQ’s engine was an immediate improvement. Sure, it wasn’t placed in the rear and powering the rear wheels, but the 1.3-liter four-cylinder unit makes 93 HP and 89 lb-ft of torque delivered to the front wheels. Yes, the 2,127-pound Scion iQ weighs about 300 more pounds than a Smart, but that little engine gets the iQ rolling with more gusto. An iQ hits 60 in about 9.6 seconds.
Despite what some readers have commented, the iQ does not beat a Smart Fortwo in real-world fuel economy. I can get 42 mpg with my second-generation Smarts easily, but I get about 35 mpg in the iQ under the same circumstances. On the highway at 70 mph, my Smarts will do 40 mpg while the iQ does about 35 mpg. Go above 80 mph and you’re into the 20s. I know what you’re saying, that’s terrible! However, keep in mind that these cars have the aerodynamics of bricks and were geared toward city prowess, not running down the American autobahn. The iQ’s saving grace is the fact that it takes regular fuel, making the iQ cheaper to fuel. Both the iQ and the Fortwo were available with thrifty diesel engines, but neither were offered in the United States.
It would seem most people prefer the iQ’s transmission over the Smart’s, too. In America we got the iQ only with a CVT, and while it’s not a particularly exciting transmission, many prefer it over the sometimes jerky single-clutch automated-manual featured in the Smart. In the iQ, the CVT leaves the small powerplant droning most of the time and this engine isn’t one with a particularly pleasant engine note. At highway speed, the engine runs roughly 3,500 RPM, so you cannot escape the noise. It sounds a lot like a Prius engine, which means your blender at home makes better noise. In terms of operation, it works like every other CVT in that it lets the engine rev up in exchange for forward motion. If you’re really punching it, the iQ’s CVT will “shift” at redline.
The suspension is also a winner. Both cars have MacPherson struts up front, but the tuning is different. The front suspension of a Smart is hard and harsh, while the Scion’s is a bit more forgiving. Things get weird in the rear, where a Smart has a De Dion tube and the iQ has a torsion beam. I think the Smart’s De Dion wins in the rear because it’s actually quite soft. However, the iQ’s suspension is overall better suited for taking hits from potholes without making your fillings fall out. Neither car, with its short wheelbases, tiny tire sidewalls, and little suspension travel, feels like a “normal” car, but the iQ is noticeably better at not beating you up.
On the performance front, the iQ outruns a Fortwo. It hits highway speed a little faster, it has a slightly higher top speed of around 100 mph as opposed to the Smart’s 90 mph, and it even has a better turning circle game. The little thing will pull a 180 in 26.4 feet, or tight enough to do a U-turn from the left lane and end up in the left lane. Also, that turning circle is two feet sharper than a Smart’s.
The iQ’s steering is quick, too, which is great for zipping around the obstacles that you’d find in a city. Darting the iQ around a city takes no effort and it’s really fun. See a tiny gap? Point the wheel there and slide your little Scion in. Someone parallel park their pickup truck poorly? No problem, you can fit in the space left over. Driving the iQ around a city feels like having a superpower.
With that in mind, I wouldn’t say the iQ has particularly great handling. Like a Smart Fortwo, once you start pushing the iQ it shows its limits relatively quickly. I’ve experienced loads of body roll with the iQ and the tires quit just when you’re really starting to have fun. Just like with a Fortwo, I suspect wider tires will make the iQ feel like a go kart. It’s a shame because the iQ comes with a thick, sporty steering wheel that makes you want to whip it around a corner.
While I’m on the subject of handling, the iQ can feel a bit twitchy on the highway. So far as I can tell, that same zippy steering that makes the iQ a city beast makes it a bit less of a performer on the highway. Keeping the iQ centered in the lane seems to require more steering correction than you’d need in a larger car. Or at the very least, it feels like you’re constantly correcting. Second-generation Smarts have this problem, too, and I’ve found wider tires to be a good fix.
What Was Toyota Thinking?
The Scion iQ kills the Smart Fortwo in a number of metrics. It’s faster, it seats more people, it has a softer suspension, and the transmission won’t infuriate you. On paper, it’s a better car, and I say this as someone who owns five Smarts. But Toyota didn’t hit it out of the park.
One thing bothered me immediately about Sheryl’s iQ, and it’s the joke of a dome light. Seriously, someone (or multiple someones) thought it would be a great idea to give these cars a horrible spotlight as the interior’s main lighting. If you lose something between the seats at night, it’s staying there until morning because the comically bad dome light isn’t helping you find it. Seriously, the reading lights provided in an old Greyhound bus are far more useful.
Toyota also didn’t seem to care that much about your comfort. The steering wheel telescopes and tilts, but you have only the most basic seat adjustment. To be fair to Toyota, Smart didn’t offer an adjustable wheel at all. However, what Smart did offer that Toyota didn’t was cruise control. Aftermarket cruise control units are available for the iQ, but require drilling and soldering.
The lack of comfort features don’t end there. Here in America, you were not able to option your iQ with heated seats, leather, automatic headlights, or automatic wipers. Some of these are baffling as Toyota did offer leather and heat in other markets, but seemingly felt such niceties weren’t worth bringing to America. Toyota also didn’t bother with a center console of any kind, meaning your right arm is sort of just hanging out with nowhere to go. Sheryl rectified that with a cheap aftermarket center console with an armrest, pictured below:
The quality is a mixture of that bank vault solidity you’d expect from a Toyota, but with a few oddities baked in. There are some choices that concern me. For starters, the vehicle doesn’t seem to make an attempt to protect the metal in the rear wheel wells. You won’t find any liners there, exposing the structure to hits from rocks, dirt build up, and road salt accumulation. At first, I thought the car was just missing liners, but it’s supposed to be that way. I make sure Sheryl blasts salt out of any area a hose can reach.
Also a bit odd are the vehicle’s door seals. On my inspection, I found that the seals seem to trap a lot more dirt, sand, and fine road salt dust than the other vehicles in our fleet.
Under those seals are metal trim clips. On Sheryl’s car, one of those trim clips was rotting out. I have seen some iQs with rust in this area and wonder if salt trapped under the seals ends up permitting the start of rust. I cleaned Sheryl’s seals just to see dirt trapped under them again. In fairness to Toyota, this car is 11 years old, so maybe it’s an age-related issue with the seals.
Either way, if you own an iQ, periodically check your door seals for unwanted junk.
Too Much Fun
Despite the annoying lack of features, the iQ is a barrel of fun to drive and live with. Everyone wants to ask you questions about your little car and the thing is cheap to run, too. The iQ has an itty bitty 8.5-gallon fuel tank, so even 20 bucks fills you up. Sheryl reports no more struggling with parking downtown and the cargo room is still just enough to do our daily activities. Really, the iQ has been like a Smart, but more. Even better is the fact that I’ve seen a lot of these with 200,000 miles and higher, so it would seem that Toyota still baked in some durability.
Ultimately, I think Toyota sealed its own fate. In 2012, the debut model year for the Scion iQ, a Smart Fortwo had a starting price of $12,490. Sure, that car had no features, but neither did the base model $15,265 Scion iQ. To make matters worse, a base model Toyota Yaris was $14,115. So, you were paying more for less car. The Yaris still did about 38 mpg on the highway, too. At least a Smart could say that it was the cheapest way into a Mercedes-Benz product.
Subjectively, I think the Smart is a bit more special, too. Take away its size and the iQ is styled like any other car that you’d lose in a parking lot.
There’s no official reason why the iQ failed to even come close to Smart’s sales, but it doesn’t matter. Cars like these are a dying breed. City cars didn’t really capture America’s attention, and now the vast majority of them are gone. That’s a shame because regardless if you sit in the Smart camp, rock an iQ, or get a Honda Fit, these vehicles remind you of the sorts of fun you had as a kid. Every day, you could drive something that provides the smiles of a theme park go-kart track.
(Images: Author)
Mercedes with the M54 have you can use a borescope to check out the cylinders.. while you are at it do a leak down test. Piston rings strength changes if there is any over heat / over flow tank/ water pump shenanigans. Best of luck.
I think Scion brand is too new / too confusing for the staid Toyota clientele.
Actually, most Scion owners were older, which greatly confused Toyota since it was targeted towards younger customers.
Surely all the luxury bits from the Aston Martin version are just a direct bolt-on, right?
And OMG the more I read the angrier I got about your wife’s treatment…
An iQ with that mileage would be above MSRP in California even after 11 years. I’ve been looking.
Mercedes I’d jump through hoops to sell you a car if I was a salesperson. Just sayin.
That said, I’d like to hear your thoughts on the IQ versus a cheap second-hand Fiat 500. I have an Abarth parked in my drive and after five years of ownership I’m still ardently in love with it.
I think the 500 is jusssst big enough to not suffer the demerits of being a microcar.
I am decisively not Mercy on account of being not nearly as smart or beautiful, but I did poke around the Fiat 500 market for a minute until Mercy gave me the list of known reliability issues. She was still going when I said “okay, I get it.” (I drive 30,000 miles a year or more, so reliability is kind of a must.)
I honestly don’t know where the idea that the Fiat 500 isn’t reliable comes from. It’s as good as any other mid-tier consumer grade auto given the modern best-practices shared by today’s automakers.
Our 2013 Abarth was bought with 80k on the odometer with two prior owners and now five years later and 40k more miles we’ve had to … replace the battery.
Re. your beauty and intelligence: you did buy a beautiful IQ so those bases are now covered. ;^)
OMg. We rented one of these in Puerto Rico while on vacation. It was a three seater and at 6’2” I felt like I was in a clown car. BUT I FIT! What the heck? Anyway it was perfect down there as the streets are, well sometimes just paths. It was red and carried our birding stuff just fine. There is a very long and frightening story about traveling in pitch black in a severe torrential rain storm through the side of the mountain road that had the drop off, not the hill. And no there were no barriers to keep you from certain death and you would probably not be found for weeks either. It since it was a Toyota the wipers worked. The defroster worked and we arrived alive back at the hotel. To even think about taking one of these on a USA highway you must have a death wish. And this from a guy with a Del Sol as a play car. So analysis says if it were electric I would buy one as a third car for grocery trips etc.
Also those discriminatory A holes need to be doxxed so the allies out here never support their sorry butts
Interesting.I’d forgotten the iQ,and that it had a whole row of seats over the Smart.
Personally i would have gone for a normal small hatchback, but hey we’re all swayed by looks/etc
Those fuel figures aren’t good are they
You guys really financed a $7000 car, got bitten when it was totaled and you still owed payments, and then made the decision to finance an $8000 car? Okay then.
I bet a car this small really is fun to drive around town, but that’s the only conceivable reason I can see to own one of these ugly little things. The fuel economy is quite unremarkable, and honestly under 30mpg under any circumstances for any reason is quite awful for a car this size and with that many space compromises. There are cars quite literally double the weight, double the length, and more than double the interior space that will deliver better fuel economy 100% of the time. While being cheaper and vastly more comfortable, and not being so grody lookin.
Rust, this site is about fun cars, quirky cars, if you haven’t noticed.
I like this car and it especially looks good in that blue. About protecting the undercarriage, consider cleaning it to remove all dirt, muck and salt deposits, dry it out real nice & get yourself several cans of a product called Fluid Film. Lots of YouTube videos out there in it’s application underneath. You can start by seeking out the most excellent South Main Auto channel. Eric O there shows how Fluid Film is applied as well as a year update as to how it held up.
I always liked these cars, along with the original Smart FourTwo and it’s second gen. Even the gray market Smart FourTwo diesels, before Penske and Mercedes came along and nixed that diesel for the upcoming introduction into our markets.These days I drive a Fiat 500 Abarth and still am amazed every time I start it up; how did they get such a sweet sound from such a small little engine?
The 500 Abarth is unmuffled from the factory. It has the turbo and a cat near the firewall, but the rest of the exhaust is basically open. 🙂
No, she really financed a $14,000 Prius. The insurance valued it at $7,000 when it was totaled, which is a completely different number. Also, yes, my wife financed an $8,000 iQ.
Edit: The only thing I’ll say is that curing cancer isn’t cheap. If it were any other year, I could have purchased that iQ as a present for her. But you know what, I’ll take a cancer-free wife and a financed iQ.
I’ll remind our readers to refrain from assuming what you don’t know…
But it’s a safe assumption that all of us are getting screwed by the automakers and dealers who took advantage of COVID shortages to jack car prices!
I absolutely understand money being tight and not having eight grand to drop on a car outright. I did not assume that you had right grand to drop on a car outright. That’s why I would drop two grand on a car outright.
What I did assume is that the staff and readership of this website would understand that buying a $2000 used car privately is a better idea than putting $2000 down on a used car at a dealer, every single time. If money is tight then making decisions that don’t cost you extra money is even more important than usual.
But do you recall what they say about assumptions?
A $2,000 car in Northern Illinois will likely be rusty with high mileage and either a current mechanical problem or one around the corner. That’s fine for people like me or Jason. We don’t have to worry about appearances and in a worst-case scenario, our crap breaks and we get to write about it.
My wife needs her car to drive over 30,000 miles a year and for that vehicle to be able to go anywhere at a moment’s notice. If her car has a problem and she doesn’t make it to court, her client can lose. It also needs to be new enough and clean enough to keep the attorney commission off her back. Yeah, Illinois wants its lawyers to drive certain cars. That applies to all lawyers, even low-paid public defender types like her.
There isn’t really a $2,000 car in our area that meets all of that. Believe me, I tried. 🙂 Her Chevy HHR fried its TCM, the Oldsmobile LSS was too old, the Bronco was too old, the Dodge Grand Caravan too rusty, the Camry was too rusty, the Smart had a transmission fault requiring a rescue, and so on. We’ve learned that super cheap cars aren’t worth the gamble when failure means a client can go to jail.
The iQ, while it sucks to have a car note, will do what she needs it to, just like the Prius did.
I guess the car market just really sucks over there. I thought 2k was generous, here in Idaho I have bought extremely dependable cars for under $1500 more than once. Cars that I really would trust to take me 30k miles a year and anywhere at a moment’s notice.
But would you have bet a jail sentence on that cars reliability before you bought the car?
Also were you in a hurry to buy a car you needed? Or did you have the luxury of time?
It’s relatively easy to find a good cheap used car when you have time and are just looking for the next good deal. When you’re in a hurry to replace your DD, it can be a bit difficult.
You’re in Idaho dude.
If someone is looking for a “city car”, chances are the market sucks just like it does where I am and if you KNOW what you want and are particular, prepare to hunt down any leads and pay to play, because everything costs quite a bit still. You can’t get a car husk for $1500 in my parts. And if you want something good in a hurry…. Haha, good luck.
You should also know this because on this very site there are routinely $5k+ cars even in the shitbox showdowns.
But more importantly, WHO CARES what other people buy if it makes them happy? An iQ isn’t the car for me, but at least it isn’t Grey/white/black/silver and offers something interesting. People buy Rogues like hotcakes and IMO they’re ugly, poorly made, poorly engineered piles of shit….. but if they put a smile on someone’s face until they hit an inevitable repair…. Rock on.
I don’t really care what other people buy with their money, but I was surprised that they financed a car, especially after having a remarkably poor experience financing the last one. I also hate to see people make poor financial decisions, especially people who are tight on money and can’t afford to do so.
You say that you don’t really care, but your entire second paragraph (much larger than the first) was all the reasons you dislike the iQ, not all of which were objective. Besides that, the point of a small city car is to be small, so that it can be maneuvered through traffic and take parking spots that other cars can’t fit into. I’m not sure you realize how big of a deal this is when you’re in or near a major metropolitan area. Having a smaller car than everyone else can be the difference between finding a spot in 15-30 mins or driving around for 2-3hrs before you “get creative”. And yet you mention how they could have gotten something larger, heavier, and comfier. Being small can sometimes be the ONLY important factor, especially when it potentially shaves hours of frustration off of every day.
People have their priorities and those lists may not appear in the order ours do.
As for the financing, I assume they did what they could with what they had at the time. Even if you are right (and perhaps especially if you ARE right) about the financials, that’s not the tone your delivery should take.
The part about the car requirements for attorneys could make an interesting article. I live in IL too and didn’t know about that. Honestly, I wouldn’t care if my attorney showed up in a 1973 Dodge Dart, as long as they were a good attorney and they showed up. Is the requirement to have a good car more of a concern about reliability than appearance? Like, ensuring people have attorneys who won’t miss court due to car trouble?
Toyota sold the Prius C at around the same time. Larger, much more usable passenger and storage space, not much more in price, and it got 50mpg, that probably killed the market for the iq. It was a larger car but still small compared to everything else.
I keep meaning to find a few of these for use around NYC, but between the environment dictating that they don’t have a ton of miles, the niche size, and lack of new replacement options, these hold their value amazingly well. It’s rare to find one under 100k miles under $10k. Plus they come in that amazing orange or purple.
“ That doesn’t stop people from mistaking the iQ for a Smart”
Well n some neighborhoods they would think it was an Aston Martin.
I’m so sorry that you and your wife had to deal with such discrimination. I’m happy y’all found a daily, though! And considering I’m casually window-shopping for E39s, I’ll be sure to keep your oil-consumption issues in mind.
Also, is there somewhere you feel comfortable saying which dealerships refused to do business with you, so that I MAY NEVER GIVE THEM THE TIME OF DAY EVER?
scrolling down before finishing the article to say that some dealerships not working with folks like us is BULLSHIT
I always thought the iQ was a compelling little package. The Smart is just unnecessarily small for an American city. The iQ being just a bit bigger, while still being really small, always seemed the right size for a city car to me. I’m surprised to learn how expensive they were, and no cruise control for that price really sucks!
“I asked you for solutions to the car’s rusting rockers”
My solution to rust was to leave Illinois for the sunbelt. Plus no cold weather and better economic policies. Some backward social issues but it sounds like that is still a problem in Illinois.
I sat in the iQ when it came out and was impressed with the packaging, but it was about 2 inches of headroom short of me being able to sit up straight. In a Smart, on the other hand, I have headroom to spare. Plus, as cool as the packaging efficiency is the iQ is still just another FF car, while the Smart has the same layout as only the 911.
I believe the iQ is the only US car caught up in the Daihatsu Charade?
The Smart car has a RR setup, just like the original Beetle. (Some of those are still around.)
I’m glad to know that no transphobic jerks were rewarded in this transaction. Let them sit in the dirt waiting for their apocalypse.
I mean, it’s coming, just not for the reasons they think.
I suppose the deleting of comfort features was because Toyota knew a car like this was only going to sell in the US if it was cheap, and the iQ wasn’t, so they started throwing stuff out until the MSRP got down as low as it could without going into the red (though they probably still did). Wouldn’t be the first time an automaker did a panicky last minute de-contenting to get a small car’s price down, and the results are never ideal. Maybe they would have had better luck pitching it as a MINI-like premium small car and just embracing the higher price instead of running from it?
Also from what I remember no options and only one trim level was a Scion thing, while it sold as a Toyota in the other markets.
I still want an Aston Martin Cygnet even though one could probably buy a real Aston for the same money.
Second that motion.
The cygnet will however be much, much cheaper to run and to keep running.
I love these older car reviews. To me they say more about the car and company than a new car review. Add in that Toyota didn’t fly you to Prince Edward Island for lobster and a test drive and you get a more honest review. (I think you do great with the full disclosures and all that but human tendency is to like people that give us stuff.)
Anyways I would love to read more of this kind!
I concur.
Same here!
The perspective of years can radically change how a vehicle is perceived.
I like the iQ. I’ve driven a couple and by far the best experience was in England because it was equipped with a manual transmission. Being able to shift that little 1.3 when I wanted to almost made it feel like a completely different car.
As to amenities, most of the stuff you mentioned it lacks, I’d never prefer or use. I’ve only had one car with cruise control and it got used once just see how it worked. I never touched it again in 500,000 miles of driving.
Obviously, an iQ is not for everyone, but it’s a great little daily ride and I didn’t find its size or dart-like handling a detriment on a long highway haul, either. Think you two made a good choice and the color is perfect.
Finally, what kind of birds do you have? I share my house with a golden-collared macaw, my best buddy. Bird people rule.
We have two conures. Kathryn Janeway was my first birthday present to Mercy, and her boyfriend/adopted brother Tuvok we rescued the day after we got married, actually. We stopped in a store to get some food for Janeway, who had naturally come with us for our wedding, and we saw this sad adorable conure whose wings had been clipped allllll the way back by himself in a cage. Seems he had been to ten different stores and according to the salesman there hadn’t sold so he was going to be food. So even though we were completely broke at the time, we offered full price right there if they sold him to us instead of feeding him to something.
That’s an amazing story and it has a happy ending, too. Mine is not so dramatic. My macaw pal belonged to a friend for a decade or more, but whose occupation and frequent location changes made it difficult for her to care for him. I volunteered to host him for a few months while she got her life together. That was 11 years ago. We’re pretty much attached at the shoulder now. Thanks for relating your story.
Weird question but could those birds be trained to go riding on the motorcycles with you? I ask because I once saw a beautiful ENORMOUS gray parrot(?) somewhat ironically perched on the handlebars of a Honda Silverwing outside of a laundromat.
As I was grasping the unexpected presence of that massive bird the rider walked up to the bike, put his helmet on and moved the bird to his shoulders. As he drove away the bird spread its enormous wings and “flew” while still perched on the rider’s shoulders, bobbing its head up and down.
I don’t speak bird body language but to me it looked like it was having a good time
I have absolutely no doubt that Birdy Janeway, if securely affixed to Mercy’s shoulder, would have an awesome time. Birdy Tuvok, who is scared of his own water bowl, my hair dryer, my clothes, Mercy’s dinner, and literally any drink bottle, and still doesn’t understand that when we go in the other room we haven’t disappeared from existence, would probably not enjoy it lol
Sorry, posted reply in wrong place.
No sweat, but the answer to your query is yes. My parrot loves to “fly” on my shoulder on both my bicycle and motorcycle, though only neighborhood speed on the motorcycle because otherwise he ends up flying on his own. It’s kind of dangerous because if he startles and flys off he can panic and bolt for trees. Then it’s long process of talking him down. I walk and ride with him on a short flying tether these days.
Nice! It’s great when animals get to experience outdoors with their humans in a safe, fun manner.
Sad to hear that too many car dealers and lenders can’t figure out that we queer folk’s money is just as legal tender as anyone elses.
Out gay guy since 1977 and this shit still astounds me.
Yeah, that’s both sad and bizarre – you’re running a business, right? Money is money, make the sale and donate the profits to whatever current scam Jim Bakker is running if you want to.
Straight guy here, but I just can’t wrap my head around why anybody cares what other people do in their own bedrooms. Especially to the point of thinking their money is any less green. It doesn’t make any damn sense!
Playing devil’s advocate here (bear with me!) as I work at a dealership and have seen this in action.
Depending on what is on the purchaser’s legal paperwork versus what they go by, there can be some difficulties and even impossibilities in terms of getting approvals and/or financing, if not the purchase itself. So while discrimination is abhorrent, following the law and common (uncommon?) sense is reasonable even if it can be inconvenient.
An individual with a recent name change (for whatever reason, even including marriage and divorce) may not have the state and/or federal documents to validate their new name (“new name” on driver’s license, “old name” on social security card and/or birth certificate, for example), and the business can’t accept differing documents. They person with a new name may not have the same visible histories (credit, purchase, residence, utilities, etc.) as someone who’s had their name for a long time if not their entire lives. So as such, regardless of the business’ and employees’ stances on such things, they may be handcuffed by the system working as it’s supposed to.
In the same vein, identity theft can happen much more easily without such checks in place. I’ve seen several instances of dishonest wannabe customers attempting to use their relatives’ identities as their own to purchase a vehicle (and even just for going on test drives) and thankfully our procedures caught their dishonesty before it could be abused. Not every place is as thorough as we are, though. We even had one a few weeks ago where a female customer was using her brother’s identity (even having the driver’s license and a copy of the birth certificate on hand) and trying to claim she was the same person, despite a 10″ height difference (most glaring difference on the ID aside from the obvious) and the license having been renewed just a few months ago. In that instance we did call the police, and the brother showed up to retrieve his stolen documents, though he didn’t press charges.
So it may not necessarily be discrimination (and, again, I’m not excusing it if it was). It’s entirely possible that it may have been that the author was prudently asking ahead of time if they could purchase a vehicle even if their name didn’t match their state- and/or federally-issued identification documents. Not saying that’s the case, just trying to provide some perspective. Dealers generally want to sell cars (it’s fairly critical to their business model), many/most places have anti-discrimination laws in place (and with a lawyer on hand that avenue was likely explored), and dealerships and low-margin businesses tend to want to avoid potential lawsuits and bad reviews. In our time where one bad review or story (even if it’s blatantly false) can easily go viral and destroy a business (and individuals that may not even have been involved), there tends to be (or should be) an abundance of caution used especially with sensitive and/or controversial situations.
So all that said, it may be that some additional clarity about documentation could be helpful, but it’s also not our business to know. I respect the author’s choice not to include the businesses’ names, and with as many dealers that may have been contacted it’s easy to possibly muddle details and misremember things and have it go badly. Celebrate the good, don’t tolerate the bad.
“Another dealership refused to work with transgender people.”
WTF? That is just appalling.
Is discrimination like that legal in the US?
It depends on where it is. Sadly, yes in many places. Positive spin: It’s good to know who never to do business with.
Businesses can get away with that sort of stuff in quite a lot of places. Consider that your recourse to discrimination from a business would be to file a lawsuit. If that business wants to fight it and you can’t win on summary, you could expect to spend a year or longer in litigation.
That’ll cost you thousands of dollars in court fees alone before you even pay your lawyer. Oh, and if you don’t win, you’ve spent all that money for nothing.
I’m genuinely shocked. The world shouldn’t be like that.
I grew up in SLC Utah.
Got busted at eighteen for stealing a few cars.
Went to jail for a bit and was genuinely shocked to find myself a skin color minority behind bars.
I’m suddenly the only white guy in the room?
This doesn’t make sense!
This system is non operational.
Now it’s 2023 and you can’t get financing on a new car because your a wife and have a wife?
I’m genuinely disappointed that we still act like this toward each other.
Was hoping it would get easier and better over time….
At least there’s Google Reviews. You can post a frank and honest opinion of your experience at those dealerships.
Grrrrr. Mercedes just know there are straight folks out here who are your allies and cannot abide the reactionary hate that falls on you. They need to be shamed out of business.
Who was the dealer? I have multiple friends in the market in the Chicagoland area, all of whom would want avoid such bigotry and spend their dollars elsewhere.
Was the IQ even offered with a manual trans? I just can’t get behind a CVT, my xB has a normal auto.
And yes if you go with a wider and possibly taller sidewall tire things will feel better instantly. After owning Toyotas for almost 50 years, every one has received a wheel/tire upgrade and the results far outweigh the cost.
Yours looks really nice and I wish you the best with it, thanks Mercedes.
Just reread the story. US got the CVT only. Crap.
My favorite moment with this car was when I stopped for gas near a rural county courthouse, and the man in line behind me couldn’t stop gushing about how adorable my car is. Finally he says, “It’s so great you’re driving a Geo Metro, because I haven’t seen one in years.”
I think your last point about the pricing is the main reason this failed in the US.
A Yaris costs less and has more space, so the only reason you would buy the iQ is if you truly needed a city car for VERY tight spaces.
Here in wide open America, places like that are rare
Definitely pricing, and also the Scion brand, outside the Mk1 xB and the Tc, just never had the sort of mass appeal Toyota expected – I kind of think the iQ would have done at least a bit better under the main Toyota nameplate as it was elsewhere in the world. Really, I’m not totally sure any Scion model wouldn’t have done at least as well, if not better, as a Toyota.
Yea, for that money, you could get a Honda Fit or similar vehicle and get the same MPGs
Size, price relative to a Yaris, lack of a manual (and CVT had questions about longevity in that era), and also fuel economy were the reasons for the iQ’s failure.
Yaris with automatic was about $1800 less than the iQ. It’s true that the auto in the Yaris had 4 gears, but it’s durability was known. The Yaris automatic got 6 fewer MPG than the Scion, but neither used terribly much gas at all, and city cars generally don’t see lots of annual miles, so it would take a long time for the extra upfront cost of the iQ to make up for its gas savings.
I wanna see a drag race between these two cars lol
You’d need to use time-lapse photography.
It’ll be a drag race measurable with a calendar, for sure!
Maybe we should lay off the gender jokes for a little bit /s
But how?
I’m a forty something year old, white male, that grew up in a rural, religious community.
I have opinions about all this.
-redacted-
I mean c’mon this gender fluid
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Nevermind.
Holy commas Bat, Man.
So many, unnecessary, commas.
,,, huh?,,,
You’re losing, your mind.