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SAN FRANCISCO – In the fall of 2007, Penske Automotive Group picked this City by the Bay for the U.S. media introduction of the diminutive Smart Fortwo micro car.
The program included stops in San Jose, so the car could bask in the high-tech glow of Silicon Valley, and ended here at the Golden Gate Ferry Building on the Embarcadero.
Nearly four years later, purely by coincidence, Toyota’s Scion youth brand chooses this same location – just across the street from the Ferry Building’s historic clock tower – to stage the launch of the iQ, a city car that is infinitely better and more enjoyable than the Fortwo.
Literally and figuratively, the iQ picks up where Smart left off.
Where the rear-wheel-drive Fortwo is unstable on rough pavement, underpowered and marred by a clunky 5-speed automated-manual transmission, the front-wheel-drive iQ feels much more substantial, handles well, employs a capable continuously variable transmission and has 24 hp more than the Fortwo. What’s more, the iQ’s bigger engine is happy with regular unleaded. The Fortwo requires premium.
Plus, the iQ’s fuel-economy rating is 36 mpg (6.5 L/100 km) in the city, topping the Fortwo by 3 mpg (1.2 km/L). In the combined drive cycle, both vehicles achieve 37 mpg (6.3 L/100 km).
Icing the comparo is the iQ’s interior, which offers ingenious asymmetrical “3+1” seating and 60% more passenger volume in what Toyota calls the world’s smallest 4-passenger car.
Three adults fit comfortably as the passenger seat slides forward up to 11.4 ins. (28.9 cm), thanks to relocating the air-conditioning system from behind the right side of the dashboard to behind the center stack. The glovebox also is gone, replaced by a bin below the passenger seat.
