
Still a fairly small trunk.
So with all this engineering cleverness, the iQ will appeal to people who enjoy space efficiency and a tiny turning circle: the iQ will whip in a circle like a zero-turn-radius lawn mower. It’s designed as a “city car” and it fits the bill perfectly. It won’t appeal to speed demons, but we’ll get to the powertrain in a minute. The result of all this work: surprising interior room, even for two full-sized adults, in an unbelievably small package.

Dastardly Disappearing Dashboard Doesn’t Disappoint
Everything in the iQ is designed to maximize interior space, but you don’t feel like you’re suffering. The center stack rises up high with HVAC controls aligned vertically, and the stereo system at the top – low-value real estate, so to speak. The gauge cluster is a motorcycle-style combined bin (similar to the one in the Chevy Sonic, actually), and there’s a large touch-screen stereo head unit, something of a Scion calling card.

It’s just like riding a GSX-R1000, minus the fast motorcycle part
The instrument cluster is surprisingly artful and easy to read; they make the tachometer so small because you don’t need it. Like a lot of commuter appliances, the iQ omits a temperature gauge in lieu of an “it’s still cold” and “it’s too hot” idiot lights, which I don’t find offensive. There’s a digital gas and trip mileage gauge to the left, which sadly washed out in these photos. Hey, I’m a writer, not Easton Chang.

Cheap car, fancy head unit.
Touch-screen stereos are something that will appeal to youngin’s, and annoy the crap out of old people. Fine by me: Scion’s always been aimed at 18-24′s, and they like this kinda stuff. The stereo’s actually pretty good, and it comes with Aux-in and USB ports down next the shifter, for your ubiquitous Apple product. Overall, the interior is remarkably spacious and comfortable: the seats are a lot better than what you get in a Yaris or Corolla, and the sit-up-and-beg driving position gives you a good view over the road.

This is where the angry hamsters live!
Here’s where the magic happens…. or not. The iQ is “powered” by Toyota’s 1.3L 1NR-FE. It’s a twin-cam, 16v I4 with VVTi cam timing, an 11.5:1 compression ratio, and port injection. It screams out 94 highly enthusiastic horsepower (at 6,000rpm) and 89ft-lbs torque (at 4,400rpm.) If it doesn’t sound like much, keep this in mind: it’s primary competitor is the Smart car, and it will blow it’s freaking doors into the next zip code. I’ve driven subcompacts a size or two up that would also lose their ingress portals, and that’s for two reasons. One, the iQ weighs all of 2127 pounds, and two, it has a pretty clever CVT.
The Smart chokes out 68 horsepower from its rear-mounted 12-valve slant three, but the problem is that it sends it through literally the world’s worst transmission: a 5-speed automated single clutch manual with all the intelligence of an ADD-riddled third grader. It’s so terrible, I cry thinking about it. It takes forever to engage a gear, forever to get going from a stop, and it’s the single worst thing about the car – among a lot of bad things. The iQ’s motor has a big displacement advantage (the smart is a 1.0L) but it gets the jump from the CVT. Have no doubt, the best pairing for a tiny power-challenged engine like the 1NR is a well-programmed CVT. Want proof? The iQ is around 3 seconds faster than the Smart ForTwo to sixty miles an hour; 9.6 seconds isn’t fast, but in a race with a CR-Z you’ll be surprisingly even.