"Jonathon Klein" (jonathon-klein)
05/15/2014 at 13:34 • Filed to: None
1
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"Jonathon Klein" (jonathon-klein)
05/15/2014 at 13:34 • Filed to: None | 1
| 0 |
It's been a week or two since I last posted one of these Sittin Waitin Wishin articles and boy is that too long! So because of the lack of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , this week I hope to give you TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE!!!!! And today's price is free, so you have that going for you! Speaking of being cheap, how about we talk about a cheap car? How about one so cheap that it could be mistaken for a refurbished washing machine, not only due to its cheapness, but because its exterior actually resembles a washing machine. Does that sound good? No? Too bad. Today we are greeted by the fun loving quirky weird box that is the Scion iQ. What is this car you ask? I have no idea. Are you sure it's a car? Not really, I think it might be some sort of enclosed go-kart thingy. The wheelbase seems to come from a Dr. Seuss story. Very do I drive it on the road, or do I drive it like a toad? I'm not sure who the target audience is or why they would want one, but you know what it's strangely attractive. Yes, it's targeted at city dwellers, but even city dwellers want more space than this "car" offers.
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( Maybe it's cute or something? Gotta be or something... )
So as we make our way into the interior we are greeted by yet another large iPad looking console display. Yes, carmakers we young people like touch screens and tablets, but having one in a car is dangerous and unnecessary. The way the screen is integrated into the dash also looks extremely cheap. It honestly looks like someone got an iPad charging station superglued it to the dash and then stuck their tablet on the port and said, "There, look how great this looks. This is sure to get young millenials into this car!". Hey carmakers, you know what we want something that actually works and looks good. Although, personally I wouldn't want any of the fancy high-tech systems on my car. It just offers greater distraction. Do you know the primary thing a car is supposed to do?
( iPads for everyone!!!! )
Moving down the dash the climate control systems are interestingly laid out, vertically. This seems awkward at first due to the odd configuration, but soon becomes easily used. What isn't easily discerned is why the fan speed knob is separated from the other two climate control knobs. Now it is not separated to the extreme where it would be on the ceiling or in the trunk, but rather separated by different dash finishes. This little separation actually tricks your eyes and confuses you when you are trying to find the knobs. There is no logic in why the Toyota engineers decided to put a piece of gloss plastic around the fan speed knob instead of the rough black plastic that surrounds most of the rest of the dash. I have a feeling that whoever designed the interior was drunk one night picking out what color and plastic schemes would go into this car, since it not only has a gloss silver plastic, matte black plastic, tan plastic, black hard plastic, and the very shiny yet tacky chrome. In addition, this car's daily invitation would say BYOGB because it has no glove box.
( My eyes!!!! WHY! )
To the seats you say? Alright, the back seats are completely worthless unless you have a friend that wants to have their legs cut off. If not, stay away. You can put a tiny dog in the back or just put your groceries in the back, other than that there is no other reason to use the back seats. The front seats are great; they are pretty comfy, if not a bit on the hard side. Now, I say great on the scale of how much this thing costs. The seats are good for the price point. They aren't good in anything over the cost of this car. Essentially, they made a great short distance city car. This car is really targeted towards the European buyers and not the American buyers. Headroom is good for anyone shorter than I am. My wife fit perfectly fine and she is only 5'10". If you are above 6', find a different city car. One interesting feature I found after hitting my head on it was the interior light. Why is this interesting you ask, because it's on a swivel. More car lights need to be on swivels. Hell, more of everything should be on swivels!
( SWIVEL EVERYTHING! )
What is this car then? It's an aberration. Something that is not supposed to be here. Something outside the natural American environment. Something Toyota thought would appeal to 20-somethings that live in the city and don't like cars. It is really a unicorn, it's meant to be seen in the streets of London, Paris, or Rome, where driving is secondary to walking. Where the people are tiny and the roads tinier. We somehow got this tiny European car here in the States and while I would usually applaud a manufacturer for bringing over a more European car, this is not the one I would have expected or the one that should have been. The Scion iQ is a car for a market an ocean away. It's a little bread box that might sell a few, but I sincerely doubt it will last in the American market, even Scion as a brand isn't doing that well. So what is the verdict then? I'd say if you live in a dense city where it doesn't snow and you don't like carting around your friends and are below the height of 6', this is a great car for you. If you don't meet any of those criteria try a Civic or Fiesta.
( I do not like the fan knob, or its stupid key fob. I would like to buy Toyota stocks, but I do not like this little box. )
You can find me here on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
Also check out the last !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! with the John Varvatos 300!
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