Imagine a funky, chunky white guy snuggled in a tiny Scion IQ – just as pleased as punch as he smiles at you.
The folks at the Scion booth during the 2011 Chicago Auto Show tried to look away in sheer embarrassment as Roman Mica (TFLCar.com despot) stuffed me inside the less than 118 inch-long machine. Not only did I perch my big booty in an IQ – I squeezed into the tiny back seat on the passenger side; and I FIT! Yup, the novel 3+1 seating basically means the passenger’s front seat has more inches of forward leg room than the driver’s side. This means, there is some room in the passenger side of the IQ for – wait for it – passengers!
The seat behind the driver is useless for anybody over five feet tall IF the driver is short too. Otherwise, the back seat behind the driver is good for a small grocery bag or maybe a baby seat. When I pulled myself into the back seat, I think the Scion crew thought I was mating with the IQ.
There is packaging genius here as I saw a bunch of teenagers pile in. Despite the unintelligible grunts and sounds, I think they liked it. There’s something fresh about the 2011 Scion IQ despite being confused as a Smart Car. By the way, unlike the Smart Car, which is rear drive and only holds two, the 3+1 seater Scion IQ is front drive.
I like the looks of the IQ too. No, it’s not in any way sexy or provocative – it’s kind of cute while avoiding the misshapen car look it could have so easily had. Let me put it another way: you will soon see a bunch of guys with ill-fitting jeans lowering and modifying Scion IQs. In a way – that’s a compliment.
Scion and Toyota have yet to release concrete numbers, but many expect a 90 horsepower 1.3-liter engine along with a continuously variable transmission to be the only drive components available. I’ve heard conservative estimates regarding gas mileage to be in the high 30’s.
I truly look forward to driving a 2011 Scion IQ and only wish they allowed a manual option. Because – let’s face it – with chunky Americans (like me), we need to milk that tiny engine for everything its got.
Scion looks to be prepping the IQ for a mid-2011 début. Prices have not been released; however, we’ve heard that it will be priced between the Scion xD and tC – so that’s in the $17,000 zone. That price would pit the 2011 Scion IQ against the Fiat 500, Smart Car and vehicles like the Ford Fiesta.
Stay tuned for a TFLCar.com test drive!
We briefly visit the 2011 Scion IQ in the video below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc78S7UK_jQ
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