Category: City Cars 
Price Range: £10,495 to £11,615
Clever packaging; a more flexible engine; premium feel.
Noisy engine; too expensive; tries too hard to be something it's not.
Although the 98bhp engine adds cruising ability, Toyota's city car doesn't need it when you consider the higher purchase price and greater running costs.
Any Toyota makes sense if you're after a reliable and well-built car, and we see no reason why the iQ wouldn't benefit from the brand's first-class reputation for making some of the most reliable cars in the world. The Japanese giant's models regularly top customer satisfaction surveys - the company was rated fourth (and Lexus, its premium subsidiary, came in first) in the manufacturers' league table compiled by JD Power in 2009.
In the iQ itself, everything seems well made and properly screwed together. There are some plasticky bits in the cabin, but this is only to be expected in a city car.
It's not exactly an inspiring place to spend time though, with dull, dark materials filling the interior. That's a shame, because this funky little car could have been the perfect opportunity for Toyota to (finally) reveal its fun side.
