Scion iQ, which has been on sale since late 2008 in Europe and in Japan as the Toyota iQ, is bigger than the Smart, but by only fourteen inches. For comparison, the Fiat 500 is 19.5 inches longer; the Mini Cooper is 25.5 inches longer. That means the iQ still squeezes into spots normally reserved for motorcycles, birds, and litter. And it may, depending on where you live, be small enough to legally park perpendicularly. Unlike the ForTwo, it's brilliant to drive. In fact, from behind the wheel, it's Toyota's best small car.
The iQ's 1.3-liter four-cylinder engine is vocal, and its modest output means noise is omnipresent, but it's never intrusive.
The iQ goes on sale on the West Coast in October, with other markets to follow the Gulf states and the Southeast in January 2012, New York and the remainder of the East Coast in February, and the rest of the United States in March.