Smart Fourtwo v Toyota iQ.

[longdistancecdi]

Got the chance to drive a Toyota iQ back to back with my Fourtwo CDi today, despite my best endeavors a friend bought an iQ 1.0vvti on Saturday.
So the obvious difference is the Toyota being petrol front wheel drive and the Smart rear wheel drive Diesel.

Interior.

Quality of materials an easy win for the Smart, lots of cheap plastics in the Toyota with a weird silver plastic centre dash board.

Space, much more front seat space in the Smart, but trumped by the two small seats in the iQ's rear - Draw.

Boot space about twice as much in the Toyota with the seats down but it has a very high lip and you can hit your head on the tailgate, so a win for the Toyota if you want a small car with maximum luggage space, but for general everyday useability the Smart.

Driving

Five speed manual in the iQ with a light clutch, but give me the Smart auto any day. The iQ engine is a quieter also three pot but petrol, but it gets buzzy as the revs rise, where as the Smart is gruffer but doesn't get any nosier as the revs rise. Handling wise the iQ is slightly more stable due to it's squarer wheel base, but road noise in both cars is pretty much the same Draw.

Economy

Bearing in mind my friend has only had the iQ two days it has returned 57mpg on the motorway back from Reading and driving around town, another easy win for the Smart with an average of 82mpg. Both cars are zero road tax rated, until the chancellor decides to lower the Co2 tax limits. The insurance is also slightly dearer for the iQ.

Don't know what the list price difference is, bearing in mind the Smart CDi isn't made anymore, but lets assume they are the same ?
If you have to have the option of an extra seat, I say one extra seat because I'm dam sure even a small adult couldn't sit facing forwards in the rear of an iQ, so would have to have their legs sideways, go for the Toyota, but if ambiance, easy of driving and economy are more important the Smart wins.

[Z06-LITE]

Re: Smart Fourtwo v Toyota iQ.

Very good report on the two cars, thank you.

[Sam]

Re: Smart Fourtwo v Toyota iQ.

Got the chance to drive a Toyota iQ back to back with my Fourtwo CDi today, despite my best endeavors a friend bought an iQ 1.0vvti on Saturday.
So the obvious difference is the Toyota being petrol front wheel drive and the Smart rear wheel drive Diesel.

Interior.

Quality of materials an easy win for the Smart, lots of cheap plastics in the Toyota with a weird silver plastic centre dash board.

Space, much more front seat space in the Smart, but trumped by the two small seats in the iQ's rear - Draw.

Boot space about twice as much in the Toyota with the seats down but it has a very high lip and you can hit your head on the tailgate, so a win for the Toyota if you want a small car with maximum luggage space, but for general everyday useability the Smart.

Driving

Five speed manual in the iQ with a light clutch, but give me the Smart auto any day. The iQ engine is a quieter also three pot but petrol, but it gets buzzy as the revs rise, where as the Smart is gruffer but doesn't get any nosier as the revs rise. Handling wise the iQ is slightly more stable due to it's squarer wheel base, but road noise in both cars is pretty much the same Draw.

Economy

Bearing in mind my friend has only had the iQ two days it has returned 57mpg on the motorway back from Reading and driving around town, another easy win for the Smart with an average of 82mpg. Both cars are zero road tax rated, until the chancellor decides to lower the Co2 tax limits. The insurance is also slightly dearer for the iQ.

Don't know what the list price difference is, bearing in mind the Smart CDi isn't made anymore, but lets assume they are the same ?
If you have to have the option of an extra seat, I say one extra seat because I'm dam sure even a small adult couldn't sit facing forwards in the rear of an iQ, so would have to have their legs sideways, go for the Toyota, but if ambiance, easy of driving and economy are more important the Smart wins.

you should add in

acceleration and fun

hands down to the smart. as much as the smoothness of the iq when i had one overtaking was a no no as you would really have to push it to do so

[The_FishmanAU]

Re: Smart Fourtwo v Toyota iQ.

Sadly, this never came to Australia.

I would prefer the Aston Martin Cygnet version of this. The main difference why I would choose the smart over the Toyota IQ, 50 cm shorter & a convertible!

[ColSmart]

Re: Smart Fourtwo v Toyota iQ.

A while back we needed a four seater small car, and it was going to be between a Toyota IQ, or one of the following three cars with the same engine as the IQ.

These were the 1000cc Toyota Aygo, the Pueg 107 and the Citreon C1, all made on the same production line but with a different badge. (OK, the Agyo has some cosmetically different panels front and back).

We checked out the Toyota IQ, easy to drive but the back seats are really for small children, hopeless for an adult. The cabin felt restricted. That put us really off. The IQ was far more expensive than the Aygo, 107 and C1.

When checking these three, they are the same car, the same engine, they all drove the same, very good manual gearbox change, easy clutch, plenty room in the back, and when back seats folded plenty room in the boot. When not folded not so good. Road tax was £35/year.

Anyway cost was everything to us, and the Aygo was a grand dearer than the 107 and C1, so the citroen C1 won out, as although both 107 and C1 was similar priced, at that time the C1 had a deal on free servicing for 3 years, so we bought that. These deals always change, so best to shop around.

We had 3 years trouble free motoring on the Citroen C1, except for the doors which leaked rain water over the one pathetic door seal (bad design), which they could not fix under warranty, even though they tried twice, and I ended up resorting to putting a smear of silicon grease on the door seals, and that sorted it, dry as a bone.

Conclusion: Although all the four small cars mentioned are good, reliable and drive well, they do not compete with the fun factor of a Fortwo.