I've been looking at IQ reviews, and I can't understand why anyone would buy one. I think the Aygo/C1/107 is a much better car, and it costs less.
From the outside it looks like an Aygo with the boot cut off, and inside it looks like a boring/cheap version of the Aygo. The rear blind spots look even worse than the Aygo, and I thought the Aygo's blind spots really bad! In terms of practicality you have less rear space and pretty much no boot. For all this, the starting price is approx £2000 more than an Aygo.
From what I can see there is only one advantage, you get an extra 7% mpg more than the Aygo. It's supposed to be the smallest four seater, but dispite being a bit shorter than an Aygo, it is wider. In my opinion making the car shorter is pointless most of the time. I park in parking bays mostly, and the length is never an issue, it's the width.
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For the same reason that someone pays £18k for a Mini or £9k for a Smart - and yet you see loads of them around, so whatever you may think about their value for money, they have a formula that people like.
Why on earth does anyone buy a BMW 3-Series when you can have a Mondeo for same money and get a bigger, just as accomplished car?
The IQ is if anything, a slightly more practical take on a Smart ForTwo, not a rival to an Aygo. It does have a boot if you treat it as a 3-seater which is effectively what it should be viewed as - a 3+1 perhaps.
I bet you anything that the IQ sells though. With the divirce rate like it is, plenty of single people around!
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For the same reason that someone pays £18k for a Mini or £9k for a Smart - and yet you see loads of them around so whatever you may think about their value for money they have a formula that people like.
I quite like Smart's and Mini's, although I haven't driven either. I struggled to get into a Smart car so I didn't bother test driving one, but if you fit in it then it's probably good. There's just nothing good about the IQ, and the Aygo looks better! I may be wrong, but I don't think it's going to sell.
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I wonder why you wouldnt fit in a smart - this bloke did and he's 6'7" !!
www.carpages.co.uk/smart/smart-03-09-08.asp
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I think it will be bought because it's not a Aygo/C1/107. It is different, a talking point and the latest new small car, that will be enough to get the sales going. Aygos to me look like "first cars" driven by very young people still living at home who can just about fib a credit history to get a new car but only just. The IQ I think will sell to an older population who are more interested in being in something novel than saving 2000 pounds. After all there are plenty of things that cost more than the equivalent eg iPods, Apple laptops, Waitrose food etc etc and they sell in droves if the cachet is right.
Edited by Honestjohn on 28/12/2008 at 12:40
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The MINI, Smart and 3-series all have a premium brand 'cachet' (no I don't buy that marketing clap-trap, but a lot of people do). Toyotas are white goods with wheels, and I can't see them selling that many IQs at list price.
Maybe they should put a Lexus badge on it?
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When I first saw the price of the IQ my thoughts were very similar but this is not a fair comparison.I have owned a toyota Aygo Black and although I was pleased with this car the quality of manufacture for toyota can be described as average. I have owned a number cars/motorcycles made in Japan and I can tell you that the Aygos fit and finish is for sure not up to what I would have normally found in a Toyota. This I am sure is because it is made in europe and it feels very "French" in finish.I new before I bought the Aygo about its French cousins and I can tell you after owning this car it confirmed it to me. As for the IQ, the quality of manufacture is in a different league altogether and I would go as far as to say "chalk and cheese".One thing is for certain the quality of this car just leaps out, and you can certainly see this is "Made in Japan". As for the price differance, you are not comparing like with like as the basic IQ has a very high spec (AC etc) where a basic aygo is very very basic.Just go along to a Toyota showroom and you will see for yourself. If you take out the credit crunch which will I am sure will hit all car sales at the moment I predict this car will be really big seller.
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How does the quality of the IQ compare to the Yaris* ?
(* Made in France)
Edited by Honestjohn on 15/01/2009 at 15:42
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It's small - It looks cute - It's low CO2/Tax - It will sell
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> I've been looking at IQ reviews, and I can't understand why anyone would buy one.
It matches their handbag.
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Toyota have an IQ on display at the Japancar exhibition at the Science Museum in S Kensington, London.
I must say, seeing it in the flesh (visitors aren't allowed to touch !) the IQ looks cute. I am sure it will sell to those who have the money and want to own something different. It had a good review in the current CAR magazine. It seems to have a tight turning circle, making it easy to use in crowded cities.
But I did notice that the rear seats (more of a bench actually) are incredibly close to the rear windscreen. I wouldn't want anyone to have to sit there and not sure how strong the rear end would be if an IQ was shunted by another vehicle.
I have read that the IQ will be fitted with a rear windscreen airbag (is this the first vehicle to get one ?) but I don't know how effective that would be in a crash.
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alex - your concerns mirror mine. Even a 5* NCAP won't test this aspect.
I see it as a two seater with more luggage capacity than a smart.
Apparently Toyota are working on a 7 seat Yaris using the same rear set set up as the IQ.
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