iQ: Micro marvel

It's certainly distinctive. In fact, when I first saw it,

I wondered where the rest of it was.

It's as high as most things, a whisker wider than a VW Polo and but soooooo short – four inches shorter even than an original Mini – that it looks rather truncated.

Bear that extreme brevity in mind and you have to admit it is ingenious. When it comes to seating three or four people, Toyota has outsmarted Smart – and everyone else, too, come to that.

In a car that is less than a foot longer than a Smart Fortwo – put another way that's a whole 17 inches shorter than its Aygo city car sibling – Toyota has created room for three six-footers.

That's because the lack of a meaningful glovebox means that the front passenger can sit further forward than the driver, maximising space for the nearside rear passenger.

The fourth seat? The one behind the driver is best forgotten about unless the driver is less than 5ft tall and/or the person sitting behind them is a child.

Given that stowage is otherwise restricted to a Velcro'd on 'glovebox' that takes the literature pack and not much else, doorbins, drink holders a boot that is good for a netbook, my guess is that the offside rear seat will spend most of its life carrying suitcases, briefcases or shopping rather than bums.

Not that that prevents the car being a real packaging triumph – especially considering it finds room to squeeze in a full complement of nine airbags including the world's first rear-curtain one.

That bag provides reassurance to rear seat passengers who find themselves pretty close to the rear window and therefore close to the idiot behind. Probably no closer than in the back row of some seven-seat 4x4s, though.

Small it might be but cheap it ain't. No apologies for that. Toyota set out to make a small car, not an inexpensive one.

Local prices range from £8,565 for the iQ manual to £10,273 for an iQ2 with the Multidrive CVT auto box.

And you can stop that tut-tutting now. I remember the old Issigonis Mini costing £8.5K or thereabouts before it was finally pensioned off, so nine years later it's not an outrageous price tag for a package that bristles with big-car features and technical innovation.

It's got character, too. Combine all the customer satisfaction and reliability surveys over the past decade and Toyota-Lexus will probably be up at the top. But their excellent results are more about car than charisma.

Not with this cute little chap. I know someone who's got one. Happy with it? He'd make a dog with two appendages look miserable.

In the UK, iQ owners have an extra reason to be cheerful. The manual version sneaks under the magic 100g/km CO2 figure which makes it road fund licence-free. Unheard of for a petrol.

There is a bigger-engined iQ3 on the way (due in July) in which the engine automatically stops when stationary.

For us and for now it's any engine you like as long as it's the 998cc 12-valve triple.

No problems with that. It's an award-winner and thoroughly tried and tested.

My iQ drive was in local dealer Freelance's demonstrator, an iQ2 with the auto box.

The high mpg/low emissions are in part down to both manual and auto's high gearing and in normal D mode, the auto box gets up to its highest ratio with disconcerting rapidity. And it is a leggy ratio. At a full 35mph the tacho was registering little more than 1,000rpm.

In fairness, the sales exec did suggest leaving the box in Sport mode which certainly sharpened up its getaway, but that meant that the holier-than-thou green economy no longer lit up and I missed it.

Put that down to my having driven the similarly-equipped Honda Integra just before.

The gear selector also offers a B mode, maximising engine braking when descending the likes of Le Val des Terres, which is where I tested it and found it worked well.

Of course there are cheaper, narrower cars on the market and a lack of width can be a major factor in easy Guernsey driving.

But there is always enough room for something of iQ width – especially when it has powerfold mirrors when the going gets really tight – and with more than half a metre to spare, it will be an absolute doddle to park in the increasing number of small-car parking spaces.

The only time the iQ does demand a little thought from its pilot is at 45-degree junctions – like the one where the coast road meets the main road at Bordeaux – where the B pillar can hinder the view to the left. But with a little thought applied that is an easy problem to overcome.

And as for manoeuvrability. Phenomenal. Think Triumph Herald (I learnt to drive in one) and London taxi and you're about right.

Open the bonnet and, surprisingly, there is more room underneath than with most modern cars.

Put that down in part to technically advanced smaller components and the transmission being mounted ahead of the power plant.

That allows the wheels to be pushed right into the corners giving the iQ the longest wheelbase possible within its diminutive dimensions. The result is a ride that is amazingly good for such a small car.

Handling is not compromised either. Before they default to safe, predictable oversteer, the iQ's tyres hang on gamely considering they were designed with low rolling resistance in mind.

For all its cheeky chuckability, iQ2 feels stable and secure at speed – I am assured by those who have driven it on a motorway – and bristles with features rarely seen even in cars a couple of sizes bigger.

Full climate-control air-conditioning, keyless entry and start, rain-sensing wipers, dusk-sensing lights and power-folding heated mirrors for instance.

And the ever-so-slightly flat-bottomed leather steering wheel – it increases driver thigh room – carries an ingeniously simple radio tuning/volume control.

Even standard iQs have manual air con, electric mirrors and windows, six-speaker radio CD with MP3 compatibility – and they, too, ride on 15-inch alloys, albeit not smart high-gloss ones like the iQ2.

And those who want to gild their Lilliput can choose from leather seats, satnav and Bluetooth and three option packs that add features varying from chrome side sills or rear roof spoiler to rear parking sensors.