Filed under: Economy, Green, Japan, Toyota
Great things come in small packages. iQ wins Japanese Car of the Year
Click above for a high-res gallery of the production Toyota iQ
Any guesses on what car Japanese jurors might pick as their Car of the Year? Guess again; and again. That's right, the Nissan GT-R only managed to snag enough votes to garner a bronze finish in Japanese COTY voting. Wondering what epically amazing machinery bested the mighty Godzilla? That would be the miniscule Toyota iQ. Once again, it is clear just how far the priorities for transportation have changed. Supercar levels of acceleration, on-board supercomputers and remarkable handling prowess just aren't enough to woo the top pick from judges in Japan. Not only was the iQ the top overall choice in a landslide victory, the Citroën C5 managed to garner enough votes to steal second place from the mighty GT-R.
Don't get us wrong, the Toyota with the funny name is a vehicle deserving of all the recognition it gets. A packaging miracle, the smarty-pants iQ manages to cram four real human beings inside a footprint that's pretty darn close to that of the smart fortwo, a car that seats just two people including the driver. These days, exceptional fuel economy, low emissions and intelligent packaging are apparently the way to a Japanese heart, and likely many from the rest of the world, as well. What do you think? Is the Toyota iQ the, ahem... smart person's COTY?
Gallery: 2009 Toyota iQ
[Source: Inside Line]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
BLS 12:48PM (11/13/2008)
Pretty much the only Toyota that I would seriously consider.
Reply
s13hybrid 12:50PM (11/13/2008)
This is a much smarter choice than the Smart (pun intended) in my opinion. (If it gets better or the same gas mileage)
Reply
Rocketboy 1:00PM (11/13/2008)
Wow, thanks. I was not sure if you intended to make that terrible, unfunny pun, but now I know...
A-Booo.
s13hybrid 1:05PM (11/13/2008)
Are puns ever really funny? Some people just wouldn't get it if I did not state the obvious.
Hanoi Jane 1:27PM (11/13/2008)
I read somewhere that it is more efficient than smart, and it seats 4.
Bungle 3:00PM (11/13/2008)
I guess they're going to have to change the name of the "Smart" to the "Dumb!"
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Rocketboy 3:54PM (11/13/2008)
Some are, yes. Just not ones that you wrote.
Mobius_1 5:55PM (11/13/2008)
@ Bungle
I hope you were being sarcastic there...
Pedro IX 12:51PM (11/13/2008)
It probably only won because it would be
a loss of face if *gasp* a non-Japanese
constructor won. Japan #1!
Reply
Temple 1:14PM (11/13/2008)
Its called "Japan" COTY for a reason. They also have an "Japan Import Car of the Year" which awards non-domestic cars.
There is also an RJC 'Japan Car of the Year'. Again its separated between domestic and import (this year it was the Mazda 2 and the Peugeot 207)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RJC_Car_of_the_Year
Pedro IX 1:54PM (11/13/2008)
My bad-the C5 [i] is [/i]
the import car of the year.
Runners up:
The Subaru Exiga was rated "most fun" lol.
The GT-R got "Most advanced technology",
and the Honda Freed "Best value"
http://www.jcoty.org/year_this/index.html
tekd 8:06PM (11/13/2008)
I do find the autoblog title a little odd, I thought it was literally a competition between Japanese cars but the Citroen in 2nd so they should have wrote something more like "iQ wins car of the year award in Japan."
Except, upon looking at the actual awards, it would appear that they simply got it wrong that the Citroen came in 2nd, when in fact they weren't ever competing against each other. So the original title was actually accurate if they hadn't confused the hell out of everyone with saying that the Citroen came in 2nd.
DP 12:54PM (11/13/2008)
I am pleased it won, and look forward to owning this car next year when it comes, hopefully to the US as a Scion iQ.
Reply
Matthew 1:30PM (11/13/2008)
More expensive than an Aygo (a very good car), and even more expensive than a Smart... The headrests for the rear seats are... the rear window!
No way.
Reply
Bungle 3:03PM (11/13/2008)
Yeah, I was wondering about that. When AB says "four real people," I wonder if they're talking about Japanese or American people? There's a pretty big size difference there.
Just considering layout (price and other factors aside), this seems like it could work as a 2-seater. That would make it a great commuter car that could handle an occasional passenger, and you wouldn't have to worry about having a "human meat crumple zone" in the back.
tgpt 8:35PM (11/13/2008)
I would totally buy an Aygo, though I do think the styling on its Citroen brother (the C1) is marginally better.
But I doubt the iQ is any less safe in a rear-end collision than my Cinquecento was, and the rear airbags are actually a pretty slick idea.
If the iQ comes to the US at a reasonable price, I'll probably buy one. But I'll say the same about the Aygo.
Pip 1:37PM (11/13/2008)
This looks just like my Scion Xa but with two doors instead of four.
And about 6 feet shorter.
Reply
Myk 2:19PM (11/13/2008)
Soooo, pretty much completely different?
Xcountryflyer 1:46PM (11/13/2008)
Seems to be more inspired than some of the recent Toyotas and Scions.
Reply
thePeterN 1:49PM (11/13/2008)
Anyone else think having the rear passengers heads as the crush zone is a bad idea?
Reply