Category: City Cars 
Price Range: £9,149 to £9,149
Quirky, unbelievably spacious, ideal for city driving, economical and tax-efficient.
May look too oddball for some, no manual gearbox option, poor audio system.
The four-seater Smart should have made.
The i is a Mitsubishi, built in Japan, but it would be easy to mistake it for a Smart. Not only does it have a very similar snub-nosed front end, upright body and vertical tailgate to the Fortwo, it has the same rear-mid-engined layout - and the same 660cc three-cylinder petrol engine Mitsubishi supplies to Smart.
There is a historical link: Mitsubishi had a now-defunct joint venture with Smart's parent company, DaimlerChrysler, which led to the co-development of the Smart Forfour and Mitsubishi's own Colt superminis (identical under the surface), and had planned a number of further shared models. The i was initially based around Fortwo underpinnings, and was to have a four-seater Smart sister model, but Mitsubishi has since gone solo and further developed the concept on its own.
The Smart connection is a bit of a red herring, really, in understanding what the i is all about. Best think of it as a car specifically designed to meet the demands of the Japanese 'K-class' tax-break sector, and representative of the best-selling small cars in Japan. To meet the K criteria, it is just 3,395mm long and 1,475mm wide, with a 57bhp power output from its tiny but turbocharged engine. Yet despite its miniscule dimensions (it's smaller than a Toyota Aygo, Peugeot 107 or Citroen C1, let alone a Fiat Panda) it's quite incredibly roomy, with a decent amount of luggage space and legroom for rear-seat passengers.
Just one version is on offer in the UK at the moment, with all the necessary equipment. Mitsubishi is planning to sell around 500 initial-run i's in the UK this year and is studying market demand for increased imports, perhaps including a higher-powered version, in the future. It has confirmed the introduction of an all-electric model, the i MiEV, which is currently undergoing testing with a view to production within the next two years. In the meantime, this 660cc model should be very fuel-efficient, low-impact and cost-effective to run, despite a comparatively high price - just over £9,000 - for such a small car.
