Toyota Once Sold 100 Supercharged Versions Of Its Tiny iQ Hatchback And It Was Epic: Holy Grails

In 2010, Toyota’s Scion brand excited fans of small cars when it announced that America would get what it called the world’s smallest four-seat car. The iQ hit American shores during the 2012 model year as Toyota’s interpretation of the city car formula that made Smart famous. The iQ was a weird experiment in tiny cars that was only sold for four years, but Toyota churned out a hot version before the car took a bow. The Toyota iQ GRMN Supercharger boosted the smallest four-seater to 120 HP and upgraded the vehicle’s platform, turning the little car into a hot go-kart. With just 100 ever built and all of them in Japan, you’ll likely never see one.

Tiny cars have been a part of America for a very long time, from the Crosley cars of the 1940s to imports such as the Subaru 360 of the late 1950s and 1960s, and the oh-so-adorable Honda Z cars from the 1970s. For decades, Americans wanting less got just that. Today’s subject takes us to a more modern era. Eventually, the Smart Fortwo planted its stakes in America. The new Fiat 500 did, too, and these cars were joined by affordable offerings such as the Toyota Yaris, Mazda2, Ford Fiesta, Honda Fit, and even the Chevy Aveo.

If cash was tight during the Great Recession, a number of automakers offered small cars to help you get through the rough time.

If you needed a tiny car, but wanted more than the two seats Smart offered, Toyota had just the thing. In 2011, the brand launched the Scion iQ in America, and that car suffered the same fate as Smart USA and the Fortwo. While the iQ is gone, there is a version of it worthy of being called a Grail.

Revolutionary Change

The Toyota iQ was released into the world in 2008, right on time to compete with the then-new generation Smart Fortwo. However, the idea that became the iQ sprouted up long before that.

As Toyota UK Magazine writes, the Toyota iQ was the automaker’s answer to growing global concerns impacting the world’s cities, namely, pollution and congestion. The magazine notes that discussions on such topics were hot in the 2000s and it seemed as if everyone had ideas on how to make driving a bit easier for everyone. Toyota believed that in order for cars to have a secure place in the future, those vehicles had to be frugal on fuel consumption, emit as little CO2 as possible, and help cut down on congestion.

Toyota UK Magazine writes that the iQ’s development started in 2003 after an initial proposal. Development was led by Chief Engineer Hiroiki Nakajima and the team was given a rather large, or should I say, small, task. Toyota’s development team had to take the small car and make it even smaller. That would be challenging enough, but that subcompact had to seat four people while also retaining attractive styling and Toyota’s characteristic refinement. Toyota’s engineers had to do all of this with a vehicle coming in at less than three meters of overall length.

Toyota UK Magazine continues by saying the early development of the vehicle involved revolutionizing how a car is designed. To get four people into such a tiny space, the car had to be miniaturized. That meant a change in philosophy, from the magazine:

The Japanese design philosophy of ‘kaizen’ – meaning continuous incremental improvement – simply didn’t apply here. Instead, ‘kakushin’ – for revolutionary change or radical innovation – became the driving force behind the project. Every detail, every subset of components had to be rethought, not just in their design but also in how they related to each other and how they could be packaged within the iQ’s footprint.

While the development team worked on miniaturizing the car, designers in Japan and Toyota’s ED2 Design Centre in France had to take 10 feet of car and turn it into something you’d want to carry home with you in your backpack.

After two years of initial development, Toyota brass gave the project the green light for production. The first iQ concept car rolled out at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show. The production version launched at the 2008 Geneva motor show. Of course, Americans wouldn’t get to enjoy the car until late 2011.

The World’s Smallest Four Seater

When the iQ launched, Toyota was proud to call the car the smallest four-seat vehicle in the world. While I am not sure if this is true for every car of all time, it was definitely true of cars built in 2008 and later. At launch, the iQ was a scant 2985 mm, or just 9.79 feet. Toyota UK Magazine noted that the iQ’s competition, at least as far as size was concerned, was the Smart Fortwo and the Smart Forfour. The Fortwo seated just two and was a foot shorter. Meanwhile, the Forfour seated four, but was over two feet longer.

The iQ split the difference between the two cars, offering buyers something they could slip into tiny spaces while still seating four people. It should be noted that while Toyota’s UK magazine says the Forfour was a rival, the Forfour was out of production for two years before the iQ came along. The second generation of the Forfour came in 2014, just a year before the iQ bowed out of production.

Toyota used some clever engineering to make a car about 10 feet long and 5.5 feet wide fit four people. The automaker says a lot of the tricks went into the vehicle. To maximize interior volume, Toyota punched the wheels out to as far near the edges as they could be. To facilitate this up front, the differential was moved forward of the engine, placing the centerline of the wheels slightly ahead of the engine.

Another space-saving development happened with the steering gear. In other Toyota small cars, tie rods connect to the ends of a conventional rack and pinion. In the iQ, the rods connect to the center of the steering gear. Toyota says this allows the steering rack to sit back near the firewall, reducing front overhang and saving space in the engine bay.

The engineering didn’t stop there. The iQ uses a flat fuel tank that resides under the floor, roughly in front of the rear seat and under the driver seat. Other space-saving measures included the aforementioned air-conditioner pack, which was reduced in size by 20 percent, that weird dash, which is slimmer on the passenger side for more legroom, and seats slimmed down to barely thicker than what you’d see on a bus so that rear passengers could have a place to put their knees. The glovebox was also deleted for even more room.

The Toyota iQ uses its space so efficiently that rear passengers will find their heads literally a couple of inches from the rear glass. Since Toyota targeted five stars in the Euro NCAP, this meant 11 airbags, including inventing what Toyota says is the world’s first rear curtain airbag. To Toyota’s credit, the iQ did score five stars in its crash test, something my beloved Fortwo did not.

The smallest engine available was the 996cc 1KR-FE three, which produced 67 HP. Other engines would include a 1,364cc 1ND-FTV diesel four making 89 HP and a 1,329cc 1NR-FE making 93 HP. Another variant of the 1NR-FE made 97 HP. Drivers had their choice of manual transmission or CVT.

For those of us in America, the Scion iQ gave us one choice, the 1NR-FE making 93 HP and coupled to a CVT. Here in America, the Scion iQ changed little from its global counterparts. The EPA rated the vehicle at 37 mpg highway, 36 mpg city, and 37 mpg combined. The Smart Fortwo gets 41 mpg on the highway, but 33 mpg in the city, so the iQ wins.

I’ve had the pleasure of driving the iQ back when it was a new face in America. I thought back then, as I still do today, that the iQ was a more refined driving experience than a second-generation Smart Fortwo. The CVT, while boring, didn’t have any of the jerking of the Smart’s automated-manual. The suspension was softer, the turning circle was tighter, and the engine had more power. On paper, Toyota built a better Smart. However, I couldn’t escape the feeling that I was driving a scaled-down Yaris.

It was a fine car, but it didn’t quite have the “puppy dog” character of a Smart. It also didn’t really seat myself plus four of my friends. Three of us fit in just fine, but the poor person sitting behind me began wishing they didn’t have legs. Mind you, our tall friend, the guy above 6 feet, sat shotgun next to me. The car also hit 60 mph in about 9.7 seconds, making it faster than my 11-second smart!

Perhaps others felt the same way. In Europe, Toyota sold 99,359 iQs between 2008 and 2018. Yep, the iQ was discontinued in 2015, but were still selling a few years later. Meanwhile, Smart sold 605,305 Fortwos in Europe from 2008 to 2015. The iQ didn’t even come close. Smart even took Toyota to the cleaners here in America, and Smart was already a failing brand here! From 2011 to 2015, Toyota sold 15,701 Scion iQs in the United States. In the same timeframe, Smart sold 43,255 Fortwos.

I couldn’t find sales numbers for Japan, but reportedly, Toyota canceled the iQ due to slow sales. It didn’t help that here in America, a 2015 iQ had an MSRP of $16,435, a couple of grand more than a Smart, and about the same price as a Toyota Yaris.

The Grails

Before the iQ departed this planet, it left behind some oddball variants. Many people already know about the Aston Martin Cygnet. As the story goes, Aston Martin was in a need to meet fleet average emissions regulations in Europe. Instead of developing an efficient vehicle, Aston took iQs and turned them into baby Aston Martins, complete with lavish interiors, some custom body parts, and 97 HP from the 1.33-liter four.

It was a compliance car in every sense of the term and yet, Aston managed to sell about 593 of them over the course of a couple of years. That’s impressive for a car that cost £30,995 ($38,719) to start, double the iQ that birthed it. Beau has one and it might just be the perfect city car.

Perhaps the true Grail of iQs is the one and only Aston Martin V8 Cygnet. A collector commissioned Aston’s Q division to lift the 4.7-liter V8 from a Vantage S and drop it into a Cygnet. Even though this was made at the request of a customer, Aston’s designers were apparently dreaming of cramming a V8 into a Cygnet, so this was a dream come true.

The result was a 430 HP monster that Aston said was capable of hitting 60 mph in 4.2 seconds, faster than the donor Vantage, and race on to a top speed of 170 mph.

The Cygnet had to give up a lot to accept the V8, including much of its interior. A roll cage was also added–a necessity, no doubt, considering so much power was to be wielded by so little car . The thing is, the car was officially a one-off. You will almost never be able to buy it, and if it ever came up for sale, you can bet on it costing around $500,000 or so.

If you wait long enough or perhaps pull some strings, you might be able to find the Grail nominated by my wife, Sheryl. See, she’s become the owner of an iQ and has been researching all she can about them. Almost by accident, she stumbled on the car I’m about to show you. At first, I thought it was a tribute car, but it’s real, and 100 of them exist.

Toyota Gazoo Racing, the fabled racing arm of Toyota, decided to turn the Toyota iQ into something a bit hotter. In 2009, Toyota released the Toyota iQ GRMN. That alphabet soup is actually an acronym for “Gazoo Racing, tuned by the Meister of the Nürburgring.” Gazoo is known for its motorsport as well as tuning up various Toyota models. Americans are perhaps most familiar with the GR86, GR Corolla, and GR Supra. If you know your obscure Toyota knowledge, you may even know about the ultra-rare Toyota Century GRMN.

In 2009, Gazoo Racing tuned up the iQ. Just 100 iQ GRMNs were sold and this initial batch included platform improvements. Buyers were treated to a manual transmission, a rear disc brake conversion, stiffer and lower springs, RAYS wide wheels, a stiffening brace, brake upgrades, an exhaust, a spoiler, and a body kit. This one was powered by a stock 1.33-liter four. The mild upgrades kicked the price up to ¥1,972,000 ($13,182 today), compared to about ¥1,400,000 ($9,360 today) for a base iQ.

Gazoo didn’t stop there. In 2011, it presented a concept version of a widebody iQ racer. This went into production in 2012 as the Toyota iQ GRMN Supercharger, also known as the GRMN iQ 130G. Once again, just 100 people were able to buy it.

The highlight of the Toyota iQ GRMN Supercharger is the engine. It’s the iQ’s normal 1NR-FE 1.33-liter four, but now it wears a supercharger. Output rises to 120 HP and 128 lb-ft torque. For those of you counting, that’s 27 more ponies than the stock engine and a kick of 41 lb-ft of torque. That’s pretty mild, but this is also a car that weighs just 2,182 pounds, so it doesn’t take much power to make a pocket rocket.

Backing the power are the same platform enhancements from the last iQ GRMN. That means better brakes, a body kit, over an inch dropped from ride height, a sport suspension, dual exhaust, Enkei wheels, sport seats, spoiler, stiffening brace, and a close-ratio six-speed manual transmission. Just 100 of them were ever sold, each for a startling ¥3,550,000 ($23,733 today). Reportedly, all Toyota iQ GRMN Superchargers were sold out basically immediately after they were announced.

Rare And Invisible

Sadly, I couldn’t find any performance figures. I found no reviews for them, either. It seems as if all of the supercharged models were purchased and immediately tossed into collections. However, I did find a review of the naturally-aspirated iQ GRMN.

The reviewer concludes that the naturally-aspirated GRMN is not about straight-line performance, but carving corners. They describe it as a sort of hot city car. In other words, it’s the Toyota iQ equivalent of a Smart Brabus, but you get an honest manual transmission and nominally, seating for four.

As I said before, these are crazy rare with just 100 of them out there. That said, you could make a replica if you tried hard enough. Rotrex, the supplier of the GRMN iQ Supercharger, will sell you the supercharger kit to bring your iQ to GRMN spec for about $5,000. One person who went through the work to get the supercharger fitted to a Scion iQ reports a 60 mph acceleration time of around 9 seconds, so roughly a second faster than stock.

If you ever find one of these, be sure to take lots of pictures and talk with the owner. Chances are, you may never see another again. If you see one for sale, you might have to begin figuring out if the hottest Toyota iQ counts as significant enough to qualify for a Show or Display exemption.

Do you know of or own a car, bus, motorcycle, or something else worthy of being called a ‘holy grail’? Send me an email at mercedes@theautopian.com or drop it down in the comments!

(Images: Toyota, unless otherwise noted.)