On my second IQ

March 28, 2020

Hi,

Back in 2010 I was doing some temporary work that regularly took me into Toyota dealers and I was struck by this quirky little car in every showroom, with its non existent back seat and wheel on each corner compact design. I loved it but being provided with a company car and having a large family meant the thoughts went no further. Then in 2013 a change of career meant I needed a car in a hurry, which would only be for me and my laptop bag. What's the point of driving a big car solo? My mind rapidly went to the IQ and within a fortnight I had bought a 2010 silver IQ2 with 5000 miles on it and proceeded to drive the car for the following 5 years and 75,000 miles with no issues. Imagine the design brief in Japan in the early 2000's; 'design the most clever small car ever for urban and city roads, make it comfortable, make it economical, make it super reliable'. Clever, comfortable, economical and reliable - yep, no issues there! However, mine rarely went into cities and spent a good deal of its life on motorways and on long runs as this car was used as my business car and literally travelled all over the country (many times). That IQ must have thought it was a Supra and it went like one!

Sadly the little car had to go as I needed an automatic, but 18 months later the itch was there for another IQ and the search started for an IQ Multidrive. Type in Toyota IQ to Autotrader, Motors or eBay and many came up, filter to automatics and the availability shrank to a small number of massively over hyped and priced cars. Excluding those being sold by some traders with pretty dodgy reviews and all of a sudden the choice was down to a small handful. At this point I was not worried about either a 1.0 or 1.3, although a 1.3 would have been good news for the motorway I knew a 1.0 was probably nearly as good, cheaper to run and as indestructible as a cockroach. Criteria was really about age and mileage both had to be lower than my 2010/80,000 departed friend and of course price, which shrank the numbers down even more... One car started to catch my eye, a private sale, one owner, 2012 amethyst IQ2, with leather and full service history, but it was a long way from home. I put the word out to friends in the motor trade; there were lots of shaking heads, sharp inhalations and mutters of

'Yeah IQ's, it is really hard to get the owners out of them',

'Cor, don't see them very often', they were really expensive'.

'I can get you a manual but an auto, well, that's difficult...'

'IQs, great cars, never see them in the workshop, you got one to sell?'

Or a real classic, 'We have got one coming in, 2011 car with 6000 miles, are you interested?' Gritting my teeth at the anticipated price, I said yes, but sadly this 2011 car must have stayed in its low mileage owner's garage because I never heard anymore from the dealer.

I looked again at the long distance IQ, still available probably because it was a long distance from anywhere, the leather trim looks great, on impulse I picked up the phone to the seller, a deal was hammered out and I booked the train ticket. It's not a great experience travelling four and a quarter hours on trains with the first major worry over Corona Virus starting to emerge making you look suspiciously at everyone around you. Neither is thinking about the one way ticket and the cost of having to buy another one way ticket home at full price if the car turned out to be a dog. Thankfully the car was not a dog, it went well, but it was going to need a bit more cosmetic attention than I had anticipated. Price was agreed and an hour later I was heading home. I have not driven a Multidrive before and absolutely love the CVT, my previous auto needed to be driven on the flappy paddle shifters to overcome early or reluctant gear shifts, but the IQ sang along and I did not need to use the S shift position. 58mpg achieved, Result! My manual IQ had always been around 55mpg so this was good news and better than the 43mpg I had been getting on my previous car.

Since arriving home it has been to Birmingham once and then the full on lockdown commenced. The IQ has now got some OEM accessory door protection strips applied, has been thoroughly cleaned, paint chips touched in and, today the nearside door mirror stripped out to find out why there was so much moisture in the indicator lens? Looks like a stone chip has over time allowed moisture in. I am now looking for a replacement and note with amusement that the previous model Prius and Camry have the same indicator fitting. I am keeping an eye on the nearside rear light as this also has condensation in it and is much harder to get off the car.

So, lightning has struck twice, and I am again grinning from ear to ear as I rattle along in my little purple IQ. This one will be staying with me until I am forced into an electric car.

Best regards,

Nigel