My New Iq

[saucebox]

Hello Everyone

Took delivery of my iQ at the beginning of last month and want to share the plusses and minuses to see if anyone else shares my views or has a useful comment to make where I'm having problems.

Summary of the car: a flawed genius.

In over 50 years' motoring experience- this is my first ever Toyota - I've never owned a vehicle which, along with its many good points, has so many bad ones...

This very day, having done about 600 miles, the caris in for a dealer check because I'm only getting an average (town/country driving) of 48.89 mpg. Even allowing for a 20%drop in the brochure fig, to me this is an appalling and totally but totally unacceptable fuel consumption figure. (I've measured the consumption precisely, filling the tank 'immediately' the little flaashing symbol comes up and noting the mileage on both occasions.)The nearside indicator doen't cancel either and there'sa rattle on the dashboard which I've temporarily fixed by stuffing a couple of thicken tissue paer under the central slab of metal, at both edges of the windscreen position. You can't see the paper/s from the driver's or passenger's side but it doesn't look pretty when you face the windsreen from outdside.

The most imprssive feature is the refinement in such a tiny car. admittedly it sounds a bit rough around town, as do most 3 cylinder engines. However, no problem on the open road - even though it takes 5 years to g r a d u a l l y reach 70 mph. (The donshift light comes on even when ascending a slight gradient at 70 mph -with no luggage or passengers. I must say thatthe seats are THE most comfortable I've ever encountered in acar in this class; the sound system is beyonf excellent too.

No for the many bad aspects:

Naturally, being so tiny, I knew that crosswind stability might be a problem but not the gigantic one it's proved to be. Many of the road where I live (in Nor-fumble-land) are cruelly exposed. We have a lot of strong winds in the region, the ferocityof which makes you fear that when you open the door the thing is going to part form its hinges. In such circumstances to say that the drive is hairy is an understatement.

The car has a tendency to slightly bounce on occasion though it's not worrisome.

I'm staggered that on as vehicle which the manufacturer presumably markets as being of premium quality, there is no Battery cover. Even my p/x Ford Ka had this feature.. Lot of exposed wire, too, which similarly amaze me. Neither is there an LED tell-tale dashboard light to warn off opportunist intruders.

The largest failing by far - so much so that I don;t know how the beast got out of the factory before some spotted and correct the fault - is the potentially dangerously compromised odriver's over-the-should view. The seat is too close to the window, the headrest obscure vision, the B pillar is too thick and, atractive as the rea dark glass 'porthole' window is, it further worstens the situation. Mega annoying.

Someone on this site mentioned makingh scratches on the trim because of the awkward seat belt positioning. Right from the start I noticed this aspect. The answer is - and I appreciate that it's annoying to have to spend the time required - is to deliberately be 0h-s0-careful when both fitting and releasing the seat belt.

Oh that stupidly small/fiddly steering wheel stero button. Grrrrrr! SURELY Toyota could have avoided that nusiance? Almost as annoing is the dark petrol guage instrumet glass.

I recall some club members complaining about the relative difficulty of selecting second gear. I've had no problems in this respect but I do find that getting into reverse is very awkard at times. Not an very ease operation at all.

WHAT a drab interior. And black/brown? Gordon bennett.

Finally, a boquet and a brickbat for the dealer. The entire sales experience was exemplary, the salesman literally the best I've ver come across. nothing was too much trouble and, like me, he was a stickler for detail. I got an overnight test drive the same day I walked into the showroom - I walk out of any dealer who offers simply the standard 20-minute run. When I came to pick the car up, a mere week later, the fellow had put on some extras to the extra I'd ordered. I was mightily impressed with him in general and astounded at the additional (free_ provisions in particular. Alas, the PDIxperience was like any other I've encounted over the years, viz not just poor but very poor indeed. Unknown to the sales personnel, my custom on delivery day is to always closely inspect the car ahead of handover. What did I find? Three longish black steaks on the white bodywordk - how could anyone fail to spot such a blemish? I removed it. Then, despite both verbally and electronically instruting that I wanted no rear window decals of any kind whats0ever, there wre two, on inspection, one for the manuacturer and one for the dealer. True, I was able to remove them within seconds but that's not the point. The point IS that it's not rocket scince. What in reality it is, is a lack of fine details and listening to/obeying the customer wo helps provide the workshop's wages... There was a third default too. Ensurinf that the tyres were cold (next day) I took the little fller into a tyre specialist to check the pressures. Toyota (both in the handbook and via the door panel label) states that with just 2 occupants the front tyres should have 33 psi and the rear, 32. Actuality? 34 in 3 and 35 in the other. As I opined to both the dealer and Toyota, if they delivered a car whith such obviousl collective (admittedly minor) faults, what else migh the preparation dept have missed? My confidence in their 'ability' has plumetted to the level that, when the car comes up for service, I shall take it to an independent garage, ensuring of course that genuine Toyota parts are used in the process.

Looking forward to your feedback.

PS sorry for the typos, I'm on a library computer for which the time is about to run out . I've therefore not been able to go through my narrative and make corrections.

[crb1011]

Well I have just read your long report and I can honestly say you are being very picky. I picked up our IQ (wifes car) and all was ok no marks sales person was excellent hand over went like a dream. Very please with the car so far and as for the faults every new car has teething problems the measure of a good dealership is how the problems are resolved. Lets hope you have trouble free motoring once the faults are put right. As for fuel consuption this will improve the more miles you do. Dont forget the engine is still tight. I have a new Polo and it took approx 5k miles before I started getting good mpg now done 25k and the fuel consuption has improved greatly.

[johnan]

Hello Everyone

Took delivery of my iQ at the beginning of last month and want to share the plusses and minuses to see if anyone else shares my views or has a useful comment to make where I'm having problems.

Summary of the car: a flawed genius.

In over 50 years' motoring experience- this is my first ever Toyota - I've never owned a vehicle which, along with its many good points, has so many bad ones...

This very day, having done about 600 miles, the caris in for a dealer check because I'm only getting an average (town/country driving) of 48.89 mpg. Even allowing for a 20%drop in the brochure fig, to me this is an appalling and totally but totally unacceptable fuel consumption figure. (I've measured the consumption precisely, filling the tank 'immediately' the little flaashing symbol comes up and noting the mileage on both occasions.)The nearside indicator doen't cancel either and there'sa rattle on the dashboard which I've temporarily fixed by stuffing a couple of thicken tissue paer under the central slab of metal, at both edges of the windscreen position. You can't see the paper/s from the driver's or passenger's side but it doesn't look pretty when you face the windsreen from outdside.

The most imprssive feature is the refinement in such a tiny car. admittedly it sounds a bit rough around town, as do most 3 cylinder engines. However, no problem on the open road - even though it takes 5 years to g r a d u a l l y reach 70 mph. (The donshift light comes on even when ascending a slight gradient at 70 mph -with no luggage or passengers. I must say thatthe seats are THE most comfortable I've ever encountered in acar in this class; the sound system is beyonf excellent too.

No for the many bad aspects:

Naturally, being so tiny, I knew that crosswind stability might be a problem but not the gigantic one it's proved to be. Many of the road where I live (in Nor-fumble-land) are cruelly exposed. We have a lot of strong winds in the region, the ferocityof which makes you fear that when you open the door the thing is going to part form its hinges. In such circumstances to say that the drive is hairy is an understatement.

The car has a tendency to slightly bounce on occasion though it's not worrisome.

I'm staggered that on as vehicle which the manufacturer presumably markets as being of premium quality, there is no battery cover. Even my p/x Ford Ka had this feature.. Lot of exposed wire, too, which similarly amaze me. Neither is there an LED tell-tale dashboard light to warn off opportunist intruders.

The largest failing by far - so much so that I don;t know how the beast got out of the factory before some spotted and correct the fault - is the potentially dangerously compromised odriver's over-the-should view. The seat is too close to the window, the headrest obscure vision, the B pillar is too thick and, atractive as the rea dark glass 'porthole' window is, it further worstens the situation. Mega annoying.

Someone on this site mentioned makingh scratches on the trim because of the awkward seat belt positioning. Right from the start I noticed this aspect. The answer is - and I appreciate that it's annoying to have to spend the time required - is to deliberately be 0h-s0-careful when both fitting and releasing the seat belt.

Oh that stupidly small/fiddly steering wheel stero button. Grrrrrr! SURELY Toyota could have avoided that nusiance? Almost as annoing is the dark petrol guage instrumet glass.

I recall some club members complaining about the relative difficulty of selecting second gear. I've had no problems in this respect but I do find that getting into reverse is very awkard at times. Not an very ease operation at all.

WHAT a drab interior. And black/brown? Gordon bennett.

Finally, a boquet and a brickbat for the dealer. The entire sales experience was exemplary, the salesman literally the best I've ver come across. nothing was too much trouble and, like me, he was a stickler for detail. I got an overnight test drive the same day I walked into the showroom - I walk out of any dealer who offers simply the standard 20-minute run. When I came to pick the car up, a mere week later, the fellow had put on some extras to the extra I'd ordered. I was mightily impressed with him in general and astounded at the additional (free_ provisions in particular. Alas, the PDIxperience was like any other I've encounted over the years, viz not just poor but very poor indeed. Unknown to the sales personnel, my custom on delivery day is to always closely inspect the car ahead of handover. What did I find? Three longish black steaks on the white bodywordk - how could anyone fail to spot such a blemish? I removed it. Then, despite both verbally and electronically instruting that I wanted no rear window decals of any kind whats0ever, there wre two, on inspection, one for the manuacturer and one for the dealer. True, I was able to remove them within seconds but that's not the point. The point IS that it's not rocket scince. What in reality it is, is a lack of fine details and listening to/obeying the customer wo helps provide the workshop's wages... There was a third default too. Ensurinf that the tyres were cold (next day) I took the little fller into a tyre specialist to check the pressures. Toyota (both in the handbook and via the door panel label) states that with just 2 occupants the front tyres should have 33 psi and the rear, 32. Actuality? 34 in 3 and 35 in the other. As I opined to both the dealer and Toyota, if they delivered a car whith such obviousl collective (admittedly minor) faults, what else migh the preparation dept have missed? My confidence in their 'ability' has plumetted to the level that, when the car comes up for service, I shall take it to an independent garage, ensuring of course that genuine Toyota parts are used in the process.

Looking forward to your feedback.

PS sorry for the typos, I'm on a library computer for which the time is about to run out . I've therefore not been able to go through my narrative and make corrections.

Thanks for your interesting account, much of which I agree with.

My consumption is (accurately calculated) between 55 and 58 mpg unless I push it on a motorway when it drops to below 50.Yesterday I was "stuck" behind a "Sunday driver" on a country road for about 10 miles doing 45mph and the mpg went up to 64!Not very practical though!

I too have noticed that the indicator does not cancel as soon as it should when straightening the steering after a left hand corner, but over my driving years (only 46years since my test for me!)I have got used to manually cancelling it anyway after many of my old cars did not having self cancelling indicators.

No excuse though, MrT.

I have a red light on the dash that flashes when I leave the car locked..I presumed it was an anti-theft thing but perhaps it is indicating a malfunction that I havn't noticed yet!Maybe the base model doesn't have a warning light, but the iQ2 does.

I have read somewhere that the brightness of the dashboard lighting can be adjusted in some way, that would help with the dark fuel gauge glass.Maybe one of the experts would know how.

The scratch prone trim has not been a problem for me/us.No marks after 2500miles, except for one which was inflicted while transporting junk from my attic clear-out which involved about 10 trips to our local re-cycling centre with the car crammed to the gunnels with all sorts of rubbish.I have managed to disguise the mark which would have happened to any car to be honest, not just an iQ, so all is well again.

It really is depressing how little trust one can have in some car dealerships.I felt all through my purchasing of my iQ that I was being ripped off in some way and I had to be constantly on my guard for being scammed.I don't think I was in the end, that was just how it felt...and Toyota are supposed to be good at customer relations.

What on earth must it be like dealing with a franchise with a poor JD Power report.

I hope they find some reason for your less than satisfactory fuel consumption, but I expect not.As I have got used to the car, mine has steadily increased...I tried to drive it like my old Aygo and that is a mistake.

Different sort of beast entirely.

(By the way, compared to an Aygo the iQ is extremely stable in windy conditions, so I doubt if there are many Aygos in exposed Berwickshire or Northumberland!)

[crb1011]

The flashing red light that you are seeing is correct it is telling you and everyone else that the car is alarmed. If you look closely it looks like a padlock (well mine does)

[no_data]

Well.......

I have to agree about the crosswinds, vision & MPG BUT>>>>>>>>

we all should have test drove this vehicle on all types of road so knew what these things were like. I knew mine got blown about like a feather when I took me & the dealer on a dual carriageway, I knew the vision was pants as I tested parking the thing, MPG was showing nowhere near thier figures but they are done in such set up conditions you hardly ever get them to be honest. The door cards mark far too easily, my indicator also does not cancel sometimes & I had mine in for the 2nd gear problem but I think a car is like your other half = has some faults but you love em so overlook them. Unless they really play up ;) Then you trade them in for a newer better version.

I have not noticed the padlock sign so am going to check....

[SallyIQ]

I dont think crosswinds are bad at all tbh... I drive along the motorway and it feels as solid as a bigger car to me. Also got wider tyres on now so that may also help a bit more.

If you really want to feel a crosswind, take a Smart Fortwo out on the motorway and let a lorry overtake you, then you will realise its not bad in an IQ. Me n my partner were out in my old Smart Fortwo and it was ridiculous.

[SooZ]

but do you actually LIKE this car? :o

[zakelwe]

Good job you didn't get an Aygo then considering we have to put up with a lot more :D We're bladdy hero's over in that part of the forum...

Interesting on the fuel economy. Has it got the same very long geared gearbox? What's rpm in 5th at 60mph? Also, how much does an IQ weigh?

Regards

Andy