Gadgetory

it's size and shape are not much different than my boot it costs about the same as a good pair too let's drive the 2014 Scion iQ and check the tech now the headline on the Scion iQ is very simple small specifically short it's about 120 inches long nose to tail 56 inches shorter than a Civic Coupe that's tiny not quite short enough to park it you know perpendicular the way a smart car can however because this guy ostensibly has seating for four we'll look into that later now I'll admit when I get in this thing I feel a little bit like my name should be bozo and my fuzzy wig should be touching the roof it's a little bit of a small cabin in here not super Cranham is no smart fortwo but definitely small and very tall and they emphasize that with the design of the console a lot of the cues in here say up right now we have the optional what they call the bespoke audio system let's run through some of the features of that that does give you navigation it's a basic system but it works well and what I always look for is does it have quick response on the touchscreen at least when you touch the button properly and it does it's fairly advanced with a number of different view modes I still like to DS straight down to be honest but getting in and out of things is quick and easy which is great for low distraction so kudos for inexpensive car nav rig of course the system also includes Bluetooth hands-free as well as bluetooth streaming audio pretty good display of media as well in fact there are a lot of expensive cars that don't do it this well which is kind of a shame on them you pretty much have all the greatest hits of modern media here AM and FM with HD radio available I mentioned the bluetooth streaming with a pretty good handling of meta tags and album art your iPod goes in through a USB connector as any modern car does today and in spite of this being a car for the youngest buyers it's got one of the oldest media in there it stills a CD player which we're seeing drop away from a lot of vehicles but this one still has it you've also got aha right here which is going to bring you streaming internet stations predictive internet radio stations you know like Pandora and such you're also going to bring in the ability to play podcasts and it's also your social media portal for Facebook and now beyond the central screen you don't have a whole lot going on in the instrument panel area a simple little orange Nissan like info display on the left its LCD speedometer a weirdly shaped tach and that's it only transmission on this car is a CVT a continuously variable gearbox no paddles or anything like that this is a very simple basic car and simple and basic is the word that comes to mind with these seats as well I've rarely seen upholstery that looks more like covers you buy it O'Reilly Auto Parts there's no stitching there's no detailing looks like something you slid over it like a pillowcase now back here is where a Scion iQ is quite a bit different than a smart fortwo back here you've got a pretty decent cargo bay and seating area here's the seat area folded down pull them up and these very very basic little seats do give you kind of a church pew or a form school bench this is some prostate pinching stuff back here you're never going to find me in these seats but if you've got some very small friends or children it'll do in a pinch you've also got a little smugglers box back here that passes for a very tiny little hiding storage area now underneath what has to be the world's stubby stud we find one of the world's smallest engines not that small but it's down there 1.3 liter inline-4 sitting sidesaddle driving the front wheels of course and hooked up to that CVT as I mentioned the numbers are diminutive as well 94 horsepower 89 foot-pounds of torque we don't see double digits around here in those categories very often however the weight number goes down with them just about 2100 pounds I sat next to a guy on a flight last week away more than that therefore the mpg comes out pretty good thirty-six City 37 Highway 37 average but notice as small as this car and its engine are we still don't crack 40 mpg that's at least psychologically disappointing now the first little frustration of driving this car as I put it in reverse and nothing shows up on the dash there is no rear view camera standard or optional in the IQ now driving this car is I put it this way I don't mean it to be a backhanded compliment but I guess it is and that is is not the worst car I've ever driven and considering that it's got a very small engine in a CVT and a low price tag that's actually a victory for scion I have driven more expensive cars with more power and more cylinders that actually have worse response so good on them on the other hand something exhilarating about driving an IQ it doesn't make any very pleasant noises though they aren't awful the ride quality is good these big ugly looking seats are actually quite comfortable I've got to give them that as well looking back over your shoulder you realize how small a car you're driving it's not quite as pronounced as a smart fortwo but you really go whoa when you turn around where's the rest of it you have to get used to that and start to take it as an advantage in parking and you really can't put this thing on some small spots you've got a sport mode here on the gear selector and you know it doesn't do a whole lot for the vehicle it holds rpms a little higher and seems to increase throttle response but again in a gearless gearbox it doesn't give it any more bite now pricing our little snub nose friend is pretty easy about 16 for bass delivered the only option to take it more seen that style is 1198 for that so-called bespoke head unit that brings in far more audio options navigation that AHA support and things of that nature it's certainly worth the money I wish there was a backup camera available at almost any cost but there's not and that frustrates me you'll logically cross shop this car against a Fiat 500 or even a smart fortwo but don't cross shop it against a chevy sonic for example it's got better mpg and it's a full serving of car in about the same price range you have to value super small urban dimensions for this car to make sense