MM Static-Review: 2012 Scion iQ
02-08-12, 12:32 AM
#16
Lexus Champion
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In fact, if I have money, I'd buy one
02-08-12, 01:38 AM
#17
Lexus Champion
Just because of the name?? It's insanely overpriced just because of the name and plus you can't even buy one unless you own a AM in the 1st place. This was made to make the AM's overall fuel economy of their cars increase a bit and basically just for AM owners to use as a golf cart IMHO.
02-08-12, 03:15 AM
#18
Agreed, at least to an extent. The interior is rather plain, but, in general, uses good materials. The paint-job is first-rate, particularly in the Black-Currant color. And the sheet-metal, doors, and exterior hardware seem solid as well. Except for the vaunted Mercedes safety-roll-cage on the Smart-for-Two, the iQ simply blows the Smart away.
You must be shorter than I am (I'm 6' 2" and 280)...and you're probably also thinner. It was difficult (but not impossible) for me to climb in and out of the back seat....fortunately, my back and legs are in pretty good shape for a person my age.
I could stand sitting back there only if the front seat was moved way forward...and then, (probably) only for relatively short time-periods. The rear-headroom, though, wasn't bad...the tall, conservative roofline certainly helps.
Have you driven one? I hope to get a chance to in a month or two, when it is formally-released here on the East Coast. I'll, of course, update the review when I do.
You must be shorter than I am (I'm 6' 2" and 280)...and you're probably also thinner. It was difficult (but not impossible) for me to climb in and out of the back seat....fortunately, my back and legs are in pretty good shape for a person my age.
I could stand sitting back there only if the front seat was moved way forward...and then, (probably) only for relatively short time-periods. The rear-headroom, though, wasn't bad...the tall, conservative roofline certainly helps.
Have you driven one? I hope to get a chance to in a month or two, when it is formally-released here on the East Coast. I'll, of course, update the review when I do.
iQ has premium damped suspension, unlike other small cars that are built to price. So when you drive over the potholes, it works really, really well. Complete thing is pretty premium. I think they should have added more soft plastics and some leather and called it an Lexus. This way, it is priced like Corolla here in Europe, and that means 25k after taxes, which is too much for us, for a second car. Fiat 500 starts at much much lower prices here.
same goes for the back seat, i have set myself comfy but tight at front and i could nicely sit down at the back. But I am used to sitting at the back of cars that are probably small for you :-).
when you drive it, you feel like you are driving a nice corolla... it has same space in front, including width, so you realize you are in tiny car only when you look back, and hit the trunk with your eyelashes :-).
02-13-12, 10:44 AM
#19
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Thanks for your input, BNR34. I haven't had a chance to test-drive one....they haven't been released on the East Coast yet. (At the D.C. Auto Show a couple of weeks ago, Scion had 2 iQs on display, but could not come up with an answer why they released it only on the West Coast and not yet nationwide). Auto-marketers and planning-people can drive me up the wall....sometimes I feel like I'd rather go to the dentist and get a couple of teeth pulled. 
Anyhow, it not surprising that the iQ drives better than the Smart.....that, of course, doesn't take very much. The Smart body-rolls like Humpty-Dumpty, pitches back-and-forth like a child's rocking-horse (especially when the auto-manual transmission shifts in the lower-gears), and, even with the Mercedes-designed high-strength Safety-Roll cage around you, gives you about as much confidence in surviving an accident as being in a paper bag.
I haven't had a chance to test-drive one....they haven't been released on the East Coast yet. (At the D.C. Auto Show a couple of weeks ago, Scion had 2 iQs on display, but could not come up with an answer why they released it only on the West Coast and not yet nationwide). Auto-marketers and planning-people can drive me up the wall....sometimes I feel like I'd rather go to the dentist and get a couple of teeth pulled. Anyhow, it not surprising that the iQ drives better than the Smart.....that, of course, doesn't take very much. The Smart body-rolls like Humpty-Dumpty, pitches back-and-forth like a child's rocking-horse (especially when the auto-manual transmission shifts in the lower-gears), and, even with the Mercedes-designed high-strength Safety-Roll cage around you, gives you about as much confidence in surviving an accident as being in a paper bag.
02-13-12, 10:52 AM
#20
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Price-estimates run anywhere from 30-50K....a wide range. Official U.S.-market-pricing, from what I could find, has not been released yet.
Last edited by mmarshall; 02-13-12 at 11:04 AM.
02-13-12, 10:59 AM
#21
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
yeah, i had one for a day when it came out. Keep in mind I am from Europe, so I am used to driving small cars.
iQ has premium damped suspension, unlike other small cars that are built to price. So when you drive over the potholes, it works really, really well. Complete thing is pretty premium. I think they should have added more soft plastics and some leather and called it an Lexus. This way, it is priced like Corolla here in Europe, and that means 25k after taxes, which is too much for us, for a second car. Fiat 500 starts at much much lower prices here.
same goes for the back seat, i have set myself comfy but tight at front and i could nicely sit down at the back. But I am used to sitting at the back of cars that are probably small for you :-).
when you drive it, you feel like you are driving a nice corolla... it has same space in front, including width, so you realize you are in tiny car only when you look back, and hit the trunk with your eyelashes :-).
iQ has premium damped suspension, unlike other small cars that are built to price. So when you drive over the potholes, it works really, really well. Complete thing is pretty premium. I think they should have added more soft plastics and some leather and called it an Lexus. This way, it is priced like Corolla here in Europe, and that means 25k after taxes, which is too much for us, for a second car. Fiat 500 starts at much much lower prices here.
same goes for the back seat, i have set myself comfy but tight at front and i could nicely sit down at the back. But I am used to sitting at the back of cars that are probably small for you :-).
when you drive it, you feel like you are driving a nice corolla... it has same space in front, including width, so you realize you are in tiny car only when you look back, and hit the trunk with your eyelashes :-).
Like I told BNR34, it pretty-much has to drive better than a Smart. The Smart was one of the worst-driving modern vehicles I've sampled.......so was the now-discontinued Ford Excursion, ironically at the other extreme-end of the size-range. You suggestion of doing a Lexus version is interesting....even considering that you could probably fit one in the trunk of an LS460.
Last edited by mmarshall; 02-13-12 at 11:07 AM.
02-13-12, 12:37 PM
#24
Thanks, spwolf. Like I told BNR34, it pretty-much has to drive better than a Smart. The Smart was one of the worst-driving modern vehicles I've sampled.......so was the now-discontinued Ford Excursion, ironically at the other extreme-end of the size-range.
You suggestion of doing a Lexus version is interesting....even considering that you could probably fit one in the trunk of an LS460.
Like I told BNR34, it pretty-much has to drive better than a Smart. The Smart was one of the worst-driving modern vehicles I've sampled.......so was the now-discontinued Ford Excursion, ironically at the other extreme-end of the size-range. You suggestion of doing a Lexus version is interesting....even considering that you could probably fit one in the trunk of an LS460.
02-13-12, 08:35 PM
#25
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Whether it is the absolute worst new vehicle on the market, I can't say. It is, though, without question, one of the worst-driving new vehicles I've sampled in many years. The worst-assembled new car I've ever sampled, for defect-levels in a car right out of the showroom, had to have been the 1984 Pontiac Fiero. If I listed all the problems I found with that car, just on a simple test-drive and inspection, you wouldn't believe it.
Yes, I was hoping to sample a Cygnet, but I found out today that the Aston shop near my house just folded. They haven't found another location yet for a new shop.
If the Cygnet make it to the U.S., there is no need for a Lexus version. As nice as Lexus interiors are, it is still not in the same league as Aston
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