Tag: #feature

Living with a Toyota iQ

I’ve been living with my Toyota iQ for around six months now, and I can honestly say in that time I have bonded with this car like it’s my little companion.

You see, every once in a while a new car is launched that completely re-writes the rulebook, and in 2009 Toyota did just that with the iQ.

It was slightly longer than its main competitor, the Smart Fortwo, but could seat twice as many people. How did they do that? Well, through complex engineering and Toyota’s very healthy development budget: the car featured a longer and shallower fuel tank, a smaller heater and A/C unit, the engine was turned the other way around, and the wheels were pushed out to each corner. Toyota’s marketing will tell you it’s a ‘three-plus-one’, the ‘one’ being a the seat for a baby or small child, but in reality the rear seats could be folded down to make the iQ a practical two-seater.

So what’s it like to drive? When you first step inside an iQ, you’re greeted with a very grown-up and spacious cabin; you don’t feel like you’re in a car that’s so small. There were two engine choices for the UK market: the entry-level 1.0-litre petrol, or a slightly more powerful 1.33-litre unit mated to a six-speed manual gearbox, or you could also get a CVT automatic for both engines, too.

My iQ is fitted with the punchier 1.33-litre unit and six-speed manual gearbox, making the driving experience very refined for such a small car. The front windscreen is triple layered to reduce road, wind and tyre noise, and having a sixth gear really helps on motorways to make the iQ an excellent mile-muncher. The turning circle is the one of the best in the business at just 3.9 metres, making the car very manoeuvrable in city driving, while the light steering and clear visibility makes it a doddle to park.

Moving onto the negatives, the engine is a little underpowered in certain gears; you have to really give it some revs to make progress. The steering is light, but lacks any feel, and if you chuck the iQ into a corner, you can feel the front tyres struggling for grip, making it feel a little nervous when driven enthusiastically. However, this doesn’t deflect from the fact that the iQ is still a fun car to drive, weighing less than 950kg and having that wheel-at-each-corner stance means you can take to the city streets like a go-kart to a race track.

Now onto practicality. You’d think this would be the iQ’s Achilles Heel, but no! Decent size door bins make up for the fact you haven’t got a glovebox, there are five cupholders, 50:50 split rear seats, and even a little storage space in between the driver and front passenger. With all the seats in place, the iQ’s pathetic 32-litre boot makes a Mini’s luggage capacity look copious, but you can carry three people with one seat folded to carry some bits and bobs, though don’t expect to carry four passengers and their belongings. If you have that mind set when buying an iQ, then this definitely isn’t the vehicle for you. There is the option of a glove bag, like the one fitted to my example, which makes up for the lack of a glove compartment, but at a cost of £125, some people will be put off with what look likes a little bit of felt stuck to the dashboard.

Now onto the iQ’s piece de resistance – the running costs. If you’re buying one of these cars, this will be a top priority, and the iQ does not fail to deliver here. The 1.0-litre models can manage a claimed 65mpg on the combined cycle, while road tax is £20 a year for both manual and automatic variants, and it sits in a very low insurance group three. Me being me, I value performance over economy, but even my 1.33-litre car does 60mpg on the motorway and 43mpg around town. Road tax costs £35 a year and insurance is a little higher at group six, although in short, whatever engine you chose, they will cost peanuts to run with both powertrains providing ultra-low running costs and should be extremely reliable.

Speaking of reliability, has anything gone wrong in my ownership? The only thing I’ve encountered was the engine light came on due to a faulty O2 sensor on the exhaust, but my local Toyota dealer resolved the issue and the iQ has performed faultlessly ever since.

Do Toyota iQs generally suffer with any issues? Avoid pearlescent white cars as the clear coat fails, and causes the paint to lift. Toyota did cover cars under warranty, but unless the vehicle is less than ten years old and it has a full Toyota history, your car will not be covered. Also, 1.0-litre manual cars suffer with a clutch vibration issue at around 2,000rpm, which is the clutch master cylinder wearing. To resolve the problem, a new clutch is needed, but due to the complex underpinnings of an iQ, the parts and labour will be costly at around £1,000. Unfortunately, the vibration will soon come back after some use, so most owners just have to live with the noise. But apart from that, nothing else really goes wrong with these cars.

To sum up, I bought this car as a cheap-to-run daily runabout and that is exactly what it is. It has cheeky looks, a great personality, it’s fun to drive, has loads of equipment, provides ultra-low running costs and it has a touch of class about it. Its build quality is second to none, it’s extremely reliable and it’s a great shame that there was never a follow-up version of this car. In a cost of living crisis, we need these fun, frugal little cars, because not everyone will want a large electric SUV. They’ll want to have something that’s easy to park, kind to their wallet and something they can be proud to own on their drive, and this car will definitely be a car we’ll look back on in years to come that just showed us what cheap transportation was really like.

Overall rating 8.5/10

By Cameron Richards

Want to buy a used car? Here are the best top tips

With the current chip shortage in the automotive industry setting back millions of new car orders, consumers are turning to the used market for their next car. In the last few months the UK has seen a rapid increase in the used car market with prices of older vehicles being £2,000-£5,000 more expensive from what they were back in May of this year.

So, there are plenty of used cars out for sale, right? Well, yes, but you have to be careful – it’s logic, the more cars, the more chance of being stung. Let me explain. Don’t get me wrong, not all used cars are hiding a past, but with the right mind set and knowledge you can avoid falling into the trap of driving around in a death trap or a dog.

  1. HISTORY: When looking at a car, always ask for the service book, that way you’ll know if the current vehicle you’re purchasing has been cared for because the book will be crammed with rubber stamps. Make sure that each service has got a mileage record and a date, that way if the seller hasn’t got an invoice to prove of any work carried out, you can phone up the garage that worked on that car to ask. If the car has a full main dealer service history then you know that the previous owner didn’t mind shedding out a few quid, and that you will know that genuine parts are going to be of better quality and will last a lot longer.
A full main dealer history increases the value of your car as well as it shows the previous owner looked after the car mechanically.

2. CAT C, D, S AND N: It is illegal for a seller, private or retail, to sell a car without marking it clear whether it has ever been a total loss. Cat (short for category) C and D is the old system, but essentially a Cat C car has been involved in an accident that has had structural damage, whereas Cat D is lightly damaged. Cat S and Cat N is the new recordings and essentially Cat S stands for structural and N non-structural. In my experience, if you are going to buy a categorised car, my advice is this, “be very careful”. In fact, if it was me, I would walk away, because you never know with an accident damaged car how it is going to behave should the worst happen again.

3. HPI: HPI, or Hire Purchase Information is an easy and effective way to know if you’re making the right decision with your next car. By paying a small fee, HPI, can tell you within seconds whether the car you are looking at has any outstanding finance, if it’s ever been stolen; had a crash and been declared a write-off, if it’s had a number plate change and that the ID of the car matches the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number). For the sake of £15-£30, it is well worth it and can save you time, hassle and can stop you from making a big financial mistake.

HPI results can save you time and money as well as preventing buyers purchasing bad cars.

4. OWNERS: The V5C or logbook is the beating heart of paperwork with a used car. Never buy a car without it, because otherwise you will not be the registered keeper. However, the main reason why is to always read it, because it records the amount of past keepers that vehicle would of had. Any car that has had more than six owners, I always question why? Has that car been problematic? Has it been past down the family? Why so many owners? On an older car, it’s not as bad, because the older the vehicle the more likely it may have had a few owners, but a three-year-old car with four owners does put a big question mark over the vehicle. Not only does a higher owner car decrease its value, but it also means that it might be harder to sell on. Try and look for a maximum of the three former keepers on the logbook, or the best would be one owner from new, because you would know that the car has been in the same household from new and that it has never changed ownership or fallen into the wrong hands in its life.

Low owners means better residual values.

5. CONDITION: One of the most important points to make when viewing a used car – the condition. Vehicles on the whole are used on a day-to-day basis, so it’s inevitable that occasionally a few knocks and scratches are going to appear. Deep scratches and large dents give the game away that the vehicle has been used in a demolition derby, and poor paint work repairs mean that a certain car may have some previous accident damage and it’s hiding a dodgy past. The way to look if a car has had paintwork in its life is to look for an orange-peel affect in the paint, air bubbles, (where little bits of grit and dust get under the lacquer when the car is being re-sprayed), over spray and the biggest giveaway…miss-match paint colours on each panel. Don’t get me wrong, just because a car has had fresh paint doesn’t always mean it’s been involved in an accident, it can be minor things like, stone chips, key marks or even the owner may have bumped a lamp post. But if a car has had previous work, you have to question why? Always cross the Ts and dot the Is when viewing a used car.

6. STICK TO YOUR BUDGET: The final point to make: never pay over from what you expected. Always stick to your budget, try and negotiate and never pay the full asking price, especially if the vehicle needs work. If the seller doesn’t budge, then it’s their loss, because there will always be used cars out there and another one will pop up in no time at all.

So, there you go, buying a used car can be a stressful and pain-staking experience, but that goes to all of us out there. Cars are an expensive purchase and going in with your head held high and knowing full well what you’re preparing to pay and doing all the basic checks means you will eventually end up with the right car at the right price.

By Cameron Richards