Doug didn't mention probably the most important selling point: At the time, the Cygnet was effectively offered as a mini version of the Aston Martin that customers already had in their garage. That is, both the paint and the entire interior were offered in the same colors and with the same materials. At least in Switzerland I have seen several Cygnets on the road.
I will never understand why but we have a lot of them here in Paris (they didn’t depreciate at all btw). It’s funny as I am always taking them for Toyota IQs, especially from the side angle. They are quite disappointing exterior wise, but interesting in the inside.
They must be reliable because to this Day i still see quite a few of them in the "Luxury Shopping Streets" of Munich, Frankfurt etc. Say what you will, but if you want a "Luxury Smart" that is easy to park in the narrow Medieval Streets of Europe, this is perfect. Hence why they are actually not a rare Sight in European Shopping Streets
@Retired Bore its still a rebadged Toyota, made by Toyota, with some parts made elsewhere, but still very much Toyota, which can be easily swapped to the iQ
Aston Martin really did ask the question of: "Hmmm, how can we make a car worth 10k be worth 40k?" And then decided the answer was to stuff 30k worth of leather into the interior.
Europeans love to boast about how good their cars are when all you pay for is a badge and leather with only a small amount of the thought going into the car itself.
@@rulingmoss5599 European cars are (or at least, were) sensible and rational. They are less so now that American trend came over in the shape of SUV/crossovers. How *good* a car is largely depends how well it suits your needs. So I'd say they are worse now with the SUV trend as you really don't need an SUV for largely city driving, suddenly it's more difficult to park and people get stuck everywhere because they think their vehicle has offroad capabilities. As usual, American trends are spreading through invasive marketing and ruining it for all. Thanks. :)
I owned the IQ for a few years while I was in college. It was fantastic. It didn’t drive fast, felt cheap, only had 1 cup holder, and only had an 8 gallon gas tank. But I still loved it because if you put the back seats down, you had a really solid trunk space and the front seats could go extremely far back to the point where you really didn’t feel like you were in a tiny car. Being basically a two seater, it meant that I was never the guy driving my drunk friends around. One memory I’ll never forget is when we packed all the seats to go get burritos, and some girl was standing there watching as my (large) friends all climbed out the back of this clown car.
Aston Martin Cygnet: the official car of the guy who wants maximum gas mileage but can only drive an Aston because he thinks he’s James Bond, but he's really just James May.
The least depreciating Aston Martin in history. In the UK, a Cygnet with the lowest miles is currently listed for just under £40,000. That's nearly $49,000.
I was working in a technical car inspection center in Central Paris ten years ago. We worked with a bunch of prestigious car dealers and Aston Martin was one of them. We inspected a few cygnets. Most of the time they were from the dealer stock, the salemens were complaining all the time on how they struggled to get rid of those, no one of their customers wanted one, even not at the usual price, especially not at a reduced price. So they thought to give them as a gift for the best customers who's just bought a new big high top range V12 model from the brand, they declined... Finally those cars finished at auctions, surely close to the price of an IQ...
Can't say I'm shocked it was a pretty cynical attempt to reduce the fleet C02 figure. Aston would have been better off either making Aston versions of other manufacturers cars (like Lotus did with the Ford Cortina or the Vauxhall Carlton) or make a sub brand selling cheaper cars with smaller engines, maybe a Catarham type track car with a small 4 cylinder from one of the volume manufacturers
From what I heard: Back in the day, When this car was new, you couldn't just go into an Aston Martin dealership and order a Cygnet. No, it was only offered as an "option" to a regular Aston Martin. Yes, the Cygnet was a 30.000 pound option on the option list of a Vantage or DB9.
I remember this detail as well (maybe from Top Gear?) Cygnet wasnt sold independently, but rather as an optional extra for one of their regular cars. Other luxury car makers charge ridiculous sums for options. Some options would buy a regular car. Aston went ahead and made the option an actual car.
At first this sounds brilliant: if you want to preserve your Aston and don’t want to spend too much on fuel, you get a daily driver that means you own an expensive Aston. But then you realise rich people don’t care and will probably daily drive a Porsche Cayenne or BMW 5 Series.
Aston Martin missed their chance to remove the back seats and fill the cargo space with custom Aston Martin leather handbags. That would have looked like "true luxury".
I think they absolutely bombed the compliance car idea. They could have been so much better than vomit leather everywhere, but I don’t think they gave enough of a damn about luxury city cars; they only cared to do the bare minimum to prevent this from dragging the badge down anymore
The idea of reducing the average emissions of the range was a sound one - the Cygnet was only available to buy if the customer was also buying a proper Aston at the same time, the idea being that when you were seen in a Cygnet, it was also a proof that you possessed the real thing too. This, of course, no longer applies in the used market but at the time it was as much a badge of status as any other Aston.
Back when it came out, I remember thinking "who would buy this car?’ As expected, the answer was 'no one.' When production began in 2011, Aston targeted 4,000 sales annually but ended up selling fewer than 150 in total! Thanks Doug for continuing to review odd and interesting cars that most have forgotten about (or never knew existed).
Yeah, who's gonna buy it? - The guys who actually buy Aston Martins won't because they don't give a shit about pollution, climate change or anything of the sort. - The guys who actually care about pollution and climate change aren't gonna spend that much fucking money on a glorified Smart ForTwo.
This car might actually be slightly slower than the stock Toyota iQ. Just think of how much weight was added in leather and extra pieces to make it more luxurious.
I think you miss a key part of Aston's intention with the Cygnet. It is the ultimate "my other car is an Aston" badge. In the UK you could only buy this alongside a grown up Aston. Perfect for pootling around Chelsea while making sure people didn't think you were a pleb.
Not true. They were available to anyone, although it was envisaged existing customers would get priority. The sole reason for it was to lower the fleet average emissions of the AM range so the company could stay inside Euro regulations.
They were most often used as a deal-sweetener gift by Aston dealers to sell DBSs which were virtually impossible to sell otherwise due to ludicrous over-pricing.
@@Tourist1967 I’m pretty sure the original commenter was correct and not yourself. Aston only needed to sell a limited number and they were generally given to DBS buyers as a deal-sweetener. That might’ve changed by the final year of production but certainly at launch they weren’t available in the UK to Joe Public.
@@Tourist1967 Correct. I thought this was common knowledge but after skimming over the comments you're the only one to mention the actual reason for the Cygnet to exist.
@@TheCinderDudedude buy a scion iq they’re way cheaper, and from the outside look cooler, this is just an abomination of a car that shouldn’t even have made it out of production, they didn’t do anything to the 94hp motor, and added tons of weight to the car lol, it’s way slower and gets worse gas mileage than a iq. And is 3x the cost. Horrible idea don’t ever
@@xcarter_carsx2848 You could only buy a new one if you also bought a proper Aston, but now you can buy a second hand Cygnet on its own - there is one for sale on Autotrader UK.
The funny thing is that Aston Martin didn't actually need it, they were exempt from the regulations at the time due to their small annual production. I believe there was hope from AM they could attract a new type of clientele to the brand, e.g. rich parents buying it for their daughters first car.
@@woodyscrappyopenings5707 It does look very tacky, it looks like what you'd see on the doorcards of a clapped out £500 mx5 with a duece kit and a dodgy mot certificate.
My former boss used to drive a Smart but when this car came out he immediately bought one. It was in green and looked very nice. For crowded cities this was the perfect car for people with money.
Can you imagine trying for years to get a job at Aston Martin, finally landing work at your favorite car company, and then being asked to go on to the production line of this thing?!
Q is a character in the James Bond films and novelizations. Q is the head of Q Branch (later Q Division), the fictional research and development division of the British Secret Service.
So like the more exotic Aston Martin cars, the Cygnet also has back seats that you can't fit into the back of, another Aston Martin feature many may overlook in this car.
Saw the Cygnet V8 at Goodwood a few years ago, absolutely hilarious, looked pretty cool, and sounded amazing! they really did stuff that engine in, from memory the dashboard is pushed further into the interior to fit the engine in.
@@2knight22I am fairly certain he sped up this video to like 110% when he was editing. His head and arm movements are unnaturally quick and choppy. Frankly its kind of uncanny and weird, like watching CGI that looks eerily real
The Toyota iQ also had a 1.4 turbo diesel engine, which was indeed the most economical engine, managing up to 60MPG on country roads. Simply Toyota never did half of the marketing smart did and I believe it was the reason it did not succeed. Much better car than the smart.
Toyota has never really spent Marketing Dollars on any of their small cars (Echo and Yaris), even though some of them were extremely reliable... Its like they didn't want to talk about the "economy cars" that they were selling to hook people to the brand...
@@misters2837 Yeah I think outside Japan they struggle to increase the premium perception of the brand because they're so large, the economy cars lower the customer perception when at the extreme other end they're producing luxury cars for Japanese CEOs, top government officials, and even the Emperor.
@@GintaPPE1000 The problem with this sort of regulation at all is that it really screws the little guy. As he mentioned all the ones with big parent companies did absolutely nothing different but any sort of small scale specialty car maker is never going to have the sort of economy of scale to make an entry level vehicle viable. Even if they did nothing but change their logos its going to cost more than what ford is selling it for... because they're buying it from ford.
I had the Toyota version of this and it was fantastic. Drove well, a bit slow but felt comfortable, easy to park and drive. Wonderful car, wish they still made them.
There were a LOT of decent little cars built in the past. Not a lot of power but reliable and fun to drive. Then the execs at the car makers needed to make EVERYTHING performance and hard and over optioned. Gone are "econo boxes". Cheap to buy, reliable, cheap to own and got a million miles per gallon. That's what the honda civic used to be: a little car, well built with few options that lasted forever and drove forever on a gallon of gas.
The IQ was meant to seat 1 adult on the driver side and 2 kids in tandem on the passenger side. Knee room was carved out for the front passenger by deleting the glovebox, seen @ 26:00. The seat behind the driver was meant more for handbags/backpacks. This overall laout made the IQ/cygnet much more practical compared to a smart fortwo.
that's actually my wifes dream car. we were at the Vienna Auto Show in 2012 or 13 and when she saw this she totally freaked out. She loves tiny cars in general way more than bigger ones but a tiny car with luxury touch was exactly what she wants. But frankly said it was just not affordable and at the end of the day even not practical enough.
I live in Wrocław, Poland. It’s relatively large city so you see exotic cars from time to time. But not one of those (not even a Veyron) was so surprising to me as Cygnet. Some local guy daily drove it, parking it near the city center. I always wondered what was the story behind it.
If someone said they had an Aston Martin in the garage I’d be wow’d … but when the garage door opens and I see a Cygnet I think I’d be even more happier to see one of these to be honest lol.
Honestly, same. They're rarer than a lot of Astons, and the sort of person who'd pull something like that off is usually someone you'd want to be around anyway.
That flower design on the interior might be one of the most revolting things I've ever seen in a car. This puts even the Fiat Multipla's interior to shame
Seriously though, whose ideas was to have those flowers designs there? My grandma? Yeah, that’s honestly the only legit explanation I can think of for such a design choice.
Imagine being one of the Aston Martin designers that were thrown this project... working for one of the most prestigious car design companies in the world, only to be assigned to try to hide the cheap plastics in a Toyota IQ interior!🤣
I can see it being a job for several intern designers though, it's a fun and easy project to get them used to designing better things. I have no idea if they used interns for this project though.
@@yasirrosli4305 Would have been the smart way to do it. That's how we use interns at my company; instead of assigning them as menial assistants on larger projects, we give them smaller low-risk projects to run (mostly) themselves. Frees up more senior folks from having to spend time on non-critical deliverables, and gives the interns a better learning experience from the perspective of how a complete project or program actually functions.
@@masssssy I was utterly confused by that at first, but after hearing a bit more description about it being customized, I think that must have been a customer request. I seriously can't fathom that being an option to put into even a car ridiculous as this, stock.
Always wondered about buying an iQ and converting it into a Cygnet. A few people did it, but from what I remember, it was way more expensive to buy the kit/lights etc than you’d expect, nobody really made them.
It's a crazy idea, almost impossible. I'd suggest to try an Abarth mod on the iQ. Like an old Fiat Abarth 500. At least you can find the pieces and it'd be the only one on the planet
Great video one thing you missed was the rear seat belts had hangers so they did not make rattling noises down the road. Also this is a supper car if you consider the power to weight. Problem with this car is it’s missing engine temperature gauge
I miss my Scion iQ, I filled up my tank and never even worried about how much gas cost. It’s a perfect commuter car. Easy to drive, easy to own, easy to maintain. The first car I owned that wasn’t a money pit. I save up enough to buy a Tesla. I gave the car to a family member, still going strong.
I have an IQ and it truly is a Toyota reliable car. Ours survived a tonne of snow falling on it and it cracked the windshield and popped out some stuff from the roof. One fixing session later, the car is going as if nothing ever happened. I don't even think we've had the AC go out on it in its 11 years we've had it
I remember that they were trying to sell the Cygnet as a tender for people who already had a real Aston Martin. They idea was that, if you had to go to a city for business, you didn't want to drive your Aston in crowded city centers. So you could get a Cygnet, park it in a garage outside the city, drive to the garage, get the Cygnet and reach the city center.
Doug fails to mention there's no glove compartment because the front passenger seat track is actually placed a few inches further ahead than the driver's seat so the rear-right passenger can have more legroom. The iQ/Cygnet is more like a 3+1 as opposed to a 4 seater.
This actual model at the Geneva Motor show had a raspberry coloured luggage set and the clip at the front was to hold the matching handbag. Standard Cygnet came with a leather glove bag held by press studs.Bill Amberg did an optional set of luggage which was included with the launch models The iQ had an optional glove bag in Europe. That's.probably why he didn't mention your incorrect assumption.
@freepieanchipsgarage I'm a little confused by your reply. Do you mean that the glove bag that came with this car is stored in the compartment under the rear passenger's seat or that the tray under the rear seat is the glove box? I have seen this actual car in Europe and it came with a raspberry-coloured handbag that fitted on the clip. There is no room under the front passenger seat to store anything as the wiring for the seat heaters and sensors are there. The interior of this car was a showcase for Q at the Geneva Motor Show and is unique. All other Cygnets came with a black leather glove bag which was attached in front of the passenger seat by 4 press studs.
I seen the Cygnet recently, As an IQ owner i lost count of how many times i fit into tight parking spots in London such a fun little car and keeps up on the highway although it feels like your in a empty pepsi can especially on windy days.
That was awful brave of Doug to park next to the storm drain during his review. With a slight breeze, the car could have fallen through the grate at any moment.
I live in the uk and my backup car/runabout is a 2010 iq with the1.0 3 cylinder engine and 5 speed manual gearbox.It cost me £2000(about 2300 dollars).If you leave the rear seats permanently down there is space for shopping.It will give about 65mpg at 70mph on the motorway,is zero rated for road taxes and ulez compliant in central London.Having seen your video I now feel wealthy.
I'd love to know how Aston Martin's designers felt. Just because a car's cheap doesn't mean it isn't thoughtfully engineered. So I wonder what their impression was given their experience.
IQ was designed masterfully. There's plenty of articles and videos showing just how amazing its engineering was, and how much effort went into making it all fit in something this tiny.
So something cool happened and I felt the need to come back to this video (the origin of my knowledge of the Cygnet) to express my excitement: My mother travelled overseas to London and sent me a photo of a "funny looking thing" parked on the street. It was a Cygnet! What are the odds?! Obviously having only learnt about the car less than 2 months ago I was absolutely ecstatic to tell her everything I knew about it. Just thought I'd share :)
You see alan we live in a world full of exceptions. I just saw an old video a few months back of an old vantage which had this car on it’s option list. Some gentleman back in tha day took this car as an option
You have forgotten one of the weirdest things of the Cygnet and IQ: Because the head room in the back wa sso small their was a risk your head would collide with the back part of the roof when you get rear ended. Thats why the Cygnet and IQ are the only ever production cars that have a back airbag, sitting just upfront the trunk lid, spanning over the entire width of the interior.
I'd love one just for the ridiculous factor, as well as being able to say that I owned an Aston Martin. The pauper's Aston. Probably the most reliable Aston ever. The leather and Alcantara may help to deaden noise a bit. Hard to say if they added any extra sound deadening materials, but I doubt it.
If I worked at Aston Martin at that time, I would try four things to improve the Cygnet to make it feel separate from a Scion/Toyota iQ. One would be tweaking that center console so a proper radio with a navigation system can be implemented. They were options in a Toyota/Scion iQ, so why not standard on the Cygnet. Two could be remove the rear seats to add more cargo space while saving a little bit of weight (a rich person would likely use a larger vehicle for carrying kids rather than this). Three would be make the suspension a bit softer for more comfort while sharpening the steering to make it a bit more agile and responsive. Four would be improve the engine a bit with some basic performance upgrades, maybe even toss on a small turbo or supercharger (and thus requiring those vents be functional). Sure it would be a bit less fuel efficient from all the extra power (though still very much so), but it would make the Cygnet appear more unique from it's Toyota-Based siblings.
The Cygnet Doug reviewed was the 2012 Geneva Motor Show car and it featured Cherry Tree Raspberry paint which had been colour matched to the same hue as intense cherry blossom. The interior featured luxurious Deep Soft Kestrel Tan leather with both bespoke photograph based headlining and door inserts. Uniquely this car featured tan Alcantara. In addition, this particular Cygnet Q came with a three piece colour matched luggage set and folding Brompton bicycle. Even the wheels were custom made for this particular car. Unfortunately the wheels seem to have been changed and the Brompton bicycle is no longer present along with the three piece luggage set. The clip on the dashboard in front of the passenger seat was to hold the matching ladies handbag which came with the car instead of the leather glove bag that featured in all other Cygnets. Sir Stirling Moss had a green one with the registration SM7 and his British Racing Drivers Club badge on the front grill. These make an excellent city car that's economical to run and easy to park. It cost £35 per year to tax and does 54 MPG in London and the CVT gearbox is excellent in stop start city traffic. We also have 2 iQs which are 1.0 litre manuals which are zero road tax and get 66 MPG on a run. I think the US spec Scion iQ is a much lower than the Toyota iQs that were available in the UK. All cars came the alloy wheels as standard and disc brakes all round. The iQ2 and iQ3 have keyless lock and unlock. Keyless start. Self dipping rear mirror. Electric folding and heated door mirrors. Auto lights. Auto windscreen wipers. etc. Luxury cars have always been disproportionately expensive. David Brown Automotive produce the Mini Remastered Oselli Edition: yours for just £130k
I am surprised they didn't "try" at least and do something like this to something like a Miata. Would have sold a LOT more cars probably as it would be like a "cheap" Aston (kinda). Would offset the emissions quite a bit (not as much as this thing) and wouldn't have been a total embarrassment to have in the lineup.
Mazda already made that deal with Fiat/Chrysler. Kinda amazing since thay wouldn't make that deal with Ford in the 90s. When Ford wanted a 2 seat 4 cylinder roadster they went with the Capri, still Mazda based but they weren't allowed to share the Miata chassis.
Miatas are 1.6-1.8L unmodified & get 18-31 mpg depending on year and city vs. 1.3L and 36/37 mpg is why not miata for compliance. The Mazda 3 does better than MX-5, but not this Scion
It would devalue the brand too much. If you make something a lot of people want and it’s moderately affordable, suddenly the mystique of Aston Martin to the ultra wealthy is a lot less
I remember reading about the Cygnet back when it was new in a german car magazine. The main reason for its existence given was not environmental regulations but rather the idea of giving Aston owners and especially their wives a small but luxurious car from the same company as their big Astons for daily driving, like doing grocery shopping and such. Looking at this car i can totally see this intended appeal to wealthy women.
I'm thinking this could easily have been a super-Fiat 500 or Lancia Y. An exclusive small fashion car for non-car wives of rich Aston owners to comfortably take into the city and shop at Hermès without risk of smashing the Vantage into a bollard. From that perspective, the engine would have been just fine and the actual problem may be that they didn't finish the conversion job. Replacing the remaining plastic bits, adding more soundproofing, the Garmin thing, perhaps deleting the back seats and designing a bag set that fits in the rear, using a proper Aston keyfob and such shouldn't be that expensive compared to the hundreds of cows that died for the interior. It would cost some money, but that would be better than it flopping and the target audience doesn't care about price anyway. And of course, you shouldn't actually tell anyone it's a compliance car.
Weird that the government can't make an except for a low volume producer like Aston Martin. The company probably didn't grease enough palms at Parliament.
Actually, with an EV drivetrain and a bit more effort put into suspension and steering, the idea of a small city car with an ultra luxurious interior does seem to be able to present a solid business case...
I used to live in Central London, and taking a short walk through Belgravia you'd be constantly tripping over these things. I have a few pictures where you can see at least three of them in the same photo, some parked next to each other, some just down from each other, everywhere! Considering their low production numbers, I just assumed the entire Cygnet population lived in the Knightsbridge area! xD
I fantasize about telling my family and friends that I bought an Aston Martin and then seeing their faces when I pull up in this. It's a lot of money for a joke but I think it would be worth it 😅
Strangely enough... I've seen one driving around here in Grimsby (Grimsby UK), yeah, GRIMSBY.... the 'Bum hole' of the East coast! 🤣🤣🤣 Also, while 'Daddy' gets the V12, 'Wifey'/Daughter gets THIS!🤣🤣 😎🇬🇧
I love this car. I love how you talk about cars. The best thing is that used Cygnet still costs the same, i.e. about 30k GBP. Each Cygnet was made to individual order, so there are probably no two identical Cygnets. That’s why is amazing and special for me
The biggest "incompleteness" to me here actually isn't the stuff borrowed straight from Toyota, but rather the clumsy leather wrapping of small items like the seatbelt buckles. I don't know if actual Astons were still using Ford switchgear in this era, but I feel like the interior would have looked much better if Aston interior parts were used more extensively. I mean, was it really that hard to adapt an Aston steering wheel?
Steering wheels are part of crash testing, which makes it incredibly expensive to fit a different wheel. That's why you typically see rebadged identical wheels in different brand versions of identical platforms.
Check out Tavarish's video about the leather wrapped Volvo key on the proper Aston Martins... Just peel off the leather and a Volvo badge lurks beneath. I also remember lots of 90s Astons like to Vantage v550 with the Ford airbag steering wheel. All they did was take off the badge but the oval indent it was glued into remained clearly visible!
@@mxc2007 Wait, does having the same steering wheel exempt this vehicle from further crash testing? Because if not, I don't think making it look different and doing the Cygnet's mandatory crash testing would be that much more expensive. Just set some design constraints to avoid any possible need for a retest and voila
Bizarrely, these things have held their value really well, at least here in the UK. You can buy a decent, low mileage DB9 for less money than one of these.
It's rarer, that's probably the reason. And also, except the tailor made Smarts and Goodwood Minis, not much competition in the small luxury car market
95 hp is actually good for that car when you compare it to other superminis even today. Even larger cars like the Fiat 500 have about 70-80 hp depending on model.
I agree. Despite having a slightly larger displacement, the entry level engine of the contemporary Mercedes A-Class had 98 hp and it was a much heavier vehicle. So I suppose that 95 hp in the IQ had to feel more than adequate.
@@BMWROYAL Guess what, cars don’t need to have all 500 hp. A city car is small, light and agile. It doesn’t need a huge power output to move quickly in a crowded city center.
An important detail of this car that he didn't mention is that even though it is a compact car, it is still quite wide with a lot of leg room with high seats which makes it easier for people with limited mobility.
I gotta be honest, if I was Aston Martin at the time, I would have gone above and beyond for this car. Boost the power by 10hp, add an actual auto transmission, redesign the dash really go all out and sell for $40,000. Younger buyers would eat this up which could have been marketing for Aston Martin so hopefully one day the buyers of the Cygnet could get a DBS or a Vantage
Honestly, Toyota’s cute lil 3-cylinder motors take turbo pretty well. If they could somehow cram in the Prius powertrain and dump in a tiny hybrid turbo system, this’d be a hilarious little efficient race car. In eco mode, just run the turbine as a generator for the hybrid powertrain and maybe get 100-120hp, then have a performance mode where it runs that lil turbo spool-less to its limits along with the electric motor to 150-180hp. …why hasn’t Toyota made this powertrain option already LMAO
I had a Toyota IQ and it was a great car! I’m 6 foot 3 and it was very roomy up front. Also the front passenger seat was designed to be able to slide much further forward than the driver which meant you could quite comfortably fit one adult in the back. Me and my two brothers, both also 6 foot 3, could all fit in the car pretty easily. I usually left the rear seat behind the driver folded down to give regular cargo space while still keeping the other three seats available. I find two seater cars pretty limiting if it’s you’re only car but having the one extra seat made such a difference. We even did a few journeys with 4 adults but admittedly these were short trips and the person behind the driver had to put their legs at an angle behind the passengers seat!
I still have my Toyota iQ, 1.33L 6sp MT, discs front/rest. Also being 6'3" enough room to dit in and small enough to park everywhere😁 Aston Martin had to stop because Toyota stopped producing.....
I've been waiting for this review for 7 years. I drive the US Scion branded version of the Toyota IQ, I've owned it for 7 years and I've put 200k miles on it. I love it. I know that to most people it's just a ridiculous novelty, but for me, it's the most efficient way I can get around (at least back when I bought it, 40mpg was a lot), it fits anywhere, and as just a commuter vehicle, I've never needed any more space. It's fun to see this crazy import luxury version. Thanks for this. I never imagined flowers on the inside, that's something I never saw from just the surface exterior pics available online. And I noticed there's some kind of body kit, most of the panels are different from the IQ, there's even a different hatch door arrangement. I have no idea what's going on with the radio because my Scion just has a regular unit in addition to the steering wheel controls, which I never use. Maybe they figured the dash redesign took priority over having a regular head unit? This is just the silliest thing I've ever seen. Thank you so much for going out of your way for this.
I'll never forget I was working as a tech at a Toyota dealership when the iQ came out. Me and 3 other guys(all of us were larger fellas) and we got in (yes a little cramped) and did circles in the service drive. It was hilarious but awesome.
I have a scion IQ as my daily driver. After a rear seat delete its surprisingly practical. Oh, and the IQ did come with leather seats. I hate them. They are super slippery and the seats are nearly flat with no bolsters at all.
As an owner I can only say thank you for not burning it down 🙂 Btw it has a 6-speed manual not 5. Also in Europe IQ was available with SatNav and half leather interior. A bit more than 800 build and I believe the car in the video was sold originally in Belgium.
@@god8347 if you mean a negative bias, not really. He’s owned a lot of cars from all three of those continents. The only reasons it may seem that way is because Europeans make a wider range of cars (including the quirky ones that he likes and you don’t get so many of in the US), and whether you like it it not, Europe has a richer car history. Aston Martin and Land Rover have a lot of history, the Germans are famous for performance sedans and have some of the most iconic brands on the planet, Italy owns the super car history and then you’ve got everything weird in between; Saab, Bugatti, Alfa Romeo etc. For a long time the US made simpler cars just focused on the US market, pretty much up until the last decade or so. Also he literally raves about all the new US electric cars so I don’t know what you’re talking about.
for the $55k large, AM really should have spent more on what is under the skin- upgrading the suspension, adding both acoustical noise suppression and electronic noise cancellation, a turbocharger or supercharger, upgraded motor mounts, hydrolastic suspension bushings, thicker window glass etc.
@@taelorwatson9822 Probably because it was the smallest engine available. A Camry or Corolla might not’ve gotten them to the average the needed to or they would’ve had to increase their projected sales by a lot.
not really ztupid coz the point waz to bring down the fleet'z emizzion average. they did exactly that and didn't loze money on making theze. win-win for them!
I saw one of these in Amsterdam a few years back and everyone I was with thought I was so stupid for how excited I was to see it. It looked like it was daily driven with all the dings and scratches you’d expect on a street parked toyota.
Fun fact: The Cygnet name could also be interpreted as a reference to the 1910 Brooke Swan Car, that literally looked like a swan and had an identical looking little electric sidecar called the Cygnet. Look it up it‘s super cute
That couple is owned by the Louwman museum in the Netherlands. You can visit the museum on RUclips AND ......... Louwman imports Toyota’s in the Netherlands.
Doug didn't mention probably the most important selling point: At the time, the Cygnet was effectively offered as a mini version of the Aston Martin that customers already had in their garage. That is, both the paint and the entire interior were offered in the same colors and with the same materials.
At least in Switzerland I have seen several Cygnets on the road.
i wish they did this with a honda fit rather than the worst toyota in existence.
I thought Aston would only sell the Cygnet to those existing customers, and not to the general public?
@@cavemanvi I’ve got a Toyota IQ and I can say it’s the one of the most reliable cars I’ve ever had; and I got the diesel version
You are correct but only during the final months of the manufacture as they were unable to sell them as a stand alone vehicle.
I totally forgot this car existed until I ran into one two years ago in the inner city of Vienna. What a bizarre vehicle, but really quirky and cute.
Always wanted to see one of these ridiculous Cygnets in person. Has to be the cheapest to maintain and insure Aston ever.
I've spotted a few in Italy and Austria, at the lakes/border.
Lol
I have seen a couple, and they are easily distinguished from an Toyota IQ. Saw one in Britsh Racing Green and it was actually a little bit cool.
I will never understand why but we have a lot of them here in Paris (they didn’t depreciate at all btw). It’s funny as I am always taking them for Toyota IQs, especially from the side angle. They are quite disappointing exterior wise, but interesting in the inside.
I think they sold no more than 1,000 of this thing all ver the World
Ah, the most reliable Aston Martin in history.
X)
The secret behind it? It was made by Toyota!
Everything except the outer shell is reliable, if you removed the outer shell, half the clips break.
They must be reliable because to this Day i still see quite a few of them in the "Luxury Shopping Streets" of Munich, Frankfurt etc.
Say what you will, but if you want a "Luxury Smart" that is easy to park in the narrow Medieval Streets of Europe, this is perfect.
Hence why they are actually not a rare Sight in European Shopping Streets
@Retired Bore its still a rebadged Toyota, made by Toyota, with some parts made elsewhere, but still very much Toyota, which can be easily swapped to the iQ
Aston Martin really did ask the question of: "Hmmm, how can we make a car worth 10k be worth 40k?" And then decided the answer was to stuff 30k worth of leather into the interior.
Wait, the Scion IQ was only 10 thousand new where you're from? Wtf
@@Gritt982 close enough.
Europeans love to boast about how good their cars are when all you pay for is a badge and leather with only a small amount of the thought going into the car itself.
@@rulingmoss5599 i doubt when buying a peugeot or fiat you pay for the badge or leather
@@rulingmoss5599 European cars are (or at least, were) sensible and rational. They are less so now that American trend came over in the shape of SUV/crossovers.
How *good* a car is largely depends how well it suits your needs. So I'd say they are worse now with the SUV trend as you really don't need an SUV for largely city driving, suddenly it's more difficult to park and people get stuck everywhere because they think their vehicle has offroad capabilities.
As usual, American trends are spreading through invasive marketing and ruining it for all. Thanks. :)
I owned the IQ for a few years while I was in college. It was fantastic. It didn’t drive fast, felt cheap, only had 1 cup holder, and only had an 8 gallon gas tank. But I still loved it because if you put the back seats down, you had a really solid trunk space and the front seats could go extremely far back to the point where you really didn’t feel like you were in a tiny car. Being basically a two seater, it meant that I was never the guy driving my drunk friends around.
One memory I’ll never forget is when we packed all the seats to go get burritos, and some girl was standing there watching as my (large) friends all climbed out the back of this clown car.
It was similar in my Prelude, except that car wasn't as short overall, but the rear seats were just as useless ;p
So you didn't want to pay the extra $27,000US and upgrade to Aston Martin?
😂😂😂 The last bit
why are Americans so obsessed with cup holders? Cannot get it.
@@gzboti Probably for the work commute. We all got to have our coffee next to us.
Aston Martin Cygnet: the official car of the guy who wants maximum gas mileage but can only drive an Aston because he thinks he’s James Bond, but he's really just James May.
James May rn 🔥
James May is goated
Godspeed Captain Slow!
May is better than any actor pretending he is a superhero - cause he is for real. And does not call stuntmen when it gets hard.
@Bruh Bruh I think I would too.
Guy who convinced them to put in a V8 solely for him is an absolute boss
I wish to see that now , and also check a DRAG STRIP time , i also hope it is AWD.
@@Narinjas it does 0-60 in 4,2 seconds and no, it doesnt have awd, just a typical rwd.
@@moz1998 yah I imagine
Exactly what they should have done with them all
@@moz1998 probably the coolest car
The least depreciating Aston Martin in history. In the UK, a Cygnet with the lowest miles is currently listed for just under £40,000. That's nearly $49,000.
Doug is a registered flex offender
Still more expensive than a rundown DB7.
I know I want one!
@@RevLexus why? I have an abarth that i use to get around the city! Much nicer and i got it for half the price!
@@Baresi-Unico-Capitano I currently have a high spec iQ automatic and the cygnet is cool and interesting. I like rare and cool cars (like my sc430)
I was working in a technical car inspection center in Central Paris ten years ago. We worked with a bunch of prestigious car dealers and Aston Martin was one of them. We inspected a few cygnets. Most of the time they were from the dealer stock, the salemens were complaining all the time on how they struggled to get rid of those, no one of their customers wanted one, even not at the usual price, especially not at a reduced price. So they thought to give them as a gift for the best customers who's just bought a new big high top range V12 model from the brand, they declined...
Finally those cars finished at auctions, surely close to the price of an IQ...
Can't say I'm shocked it was a pretty cynical attempt to reduce the fleet C02 figure.
Aston would have been better off either making Aston versions of other manufacturers cars (like Lotus did with the Ford Cortina or the Vauxhall Carlton) or make a sub brand selling cheaper cars with smaller engines, maybe a Catarham type track car with a small 4 cylinder from one of the volume manufacturers
The have planted enough trees to create a forest...
Not anymore, anybody who bought one at list price wouldn't of lost any money on it. They're worth a few quid!
Well usually in the future these type quirky cars will bring money 💰 at auctions. Might be a good investment 😆👍🏼
Someone I think recently had the Q department install a V8 and wider track in one!
From what I heard: Back in the day, When this car was new, you couldn't just go into an Aston Martin dealership and order a Cygnet.
No, it was only offered as an "option" to a regular Aston Martin. Yes, the Cygnet was a 30.000 pound option on the option list of a Vantage or DB9.
I remember this detail as well (maybe from Top Gear?) Cygnet wasnt sold independently, but rather as an optional extra for one of their regular cars. Other luxury car makers charge ridiculous sums for options. Some options would buy a regular car. Aston went ahead and made the option an actual car.
So, it's the motocompo of Aston Martin
At first this sounds brilliant: if you want to preserve your Aston and don’t want to spend too much on fuel, you get a daily driver that means you own an expensive Aston.
But then you realise rich people don’t care and will probably daily drive a Porsche Cayenne or BMW 5 Series.
@@genericasian I think a while ago, maybe about the same time Audi did a bicycle as an option for something ridiculous like £5000, maybe more.
Ah, no wonder the production numbers were so low....if they made it purchasable on it's own then they would have probably hit their sales targets.
Aston Martin missed their chance to remove the back seats and fill the cargo space with custom Aston Martin leather handbags. That would have looked like "true luxury".
good point
I think they absolutely bombed the compliance car idea. They could have been so much better than vomit leather everywhere, but I don’t think they gave enough of a damn about luxury city cars; they only cared to do the bare minimum to prevent this from dragging the badge down anymore
Depends on the country seats affect taxation. But i agree lmao. Or this was the most seated aston offered at the time. I think rapide came later lol.
No. Because if you have money,you do not travel with city car,does not matter how luxturius it is,so what is the point to handbags?
The idea of reducing the average emissions of the range was a sound one - the Cygnet was only available to buy if the customer was also buying a proper Aston at the same time, the idea being that when you were seen in a Cygnet, it was also a proof that you possessed the real thing too. This, of course, no longer applies in the used market but at the time it was as much a badge of status as any other Aston.
that makes a LOT of sense, thing is I did not know this at all and I've seen Cygnets on the road here in Denmark where I live
At least in the UK, Cygnets didn't depreciate. At all. They are still worth £30-40k.
Nope, anyone could buy one. Previous customers had higher priority and youd have to ask aston directly.
Back when it came out, I remember thinking "who would buy this car?’ As expected, the answer was 'no one.' When production began in 2011, Aston targeted 4,000 sales annually but ended up selling fewer than 150 in total!
Thanks Doug for continuing to review odd and interesting cars that most have forgotten about (or never knew existed).
Nope!
There are people who would buy an electric Mustang SUV, so you never know
@@KepleroGT I wonder how that outsells the regular Mustang GT coupe, or even the Ecoboost.😫
Yeah, who's gonna buy it?
- The guys who actually buy Aston Martins won't because they don't give a shit about pollution, climate change or anything of the sort.
- The guys who actually care about pollution and climate change aren't gonna spend that much fucking money on a glorified Smart ForTwo.
@@extremegrieferbible *glorified Toyota IQ. Wait a minute. Smart. IQ. What are they trying to say!?!
This car might actually be slightly slower than the stock Toyota iQ. Just think of how much weight was added in leather and extra pieces to make it more luxurious.
Nothing a hybrid turbo can’t solve
@@1nsanejochem /s
I think there were a couple of engine options. Most had the 1.0 3 cyl 68hp (0-60 14 sec. I think this had the 1.3 4 cyl, which was more powerful.
If that’s the case I’ll take the Toyota
Not really, I mean, how much could that weight?
A person weight maybe?
So isn't that much
I think you miss a key part of Aston's intention with the Cygnet. It is the ultimate "my other car is an Aston" badge. In the UK you could only buy this alongside a grown up Aston. Perfect for pootling around Chelsea while making sure people didn't think you were a pleb.
Not true. They were available to anyone, although it was envisaged existing customers would get priority. The sole reason for it was to lower the fleet average emissions of the AM range so the company could stay inside Euro regulations.
They were most often used as a deal-sweetener gift by Aston dealers to sell DBSs which were virtually impossible to sell otherwise due to ludicrous over-pricing.
@@Tourist1967 I’m pretty sure the original commenter was correct and not yourself. Aston only needed to sell a limited number and they were generally given to DBS buyers as a deal-sweetener. That might’ve changed by the final year of production but certainly at launch they weren’t available in the UK to Joe Public.
And 300 people were stupid enough to fall for that shit, worldwide.
@@Tourist1967
Correct. I thought this was common knowledge but after skimming over the comments you're the only one to mention the actual reason for the Cygnet to exist.
This is low-key probably the best vehicle they ever produced. Super luxurious and comfortable, and the Toyota bones will make it last forever
I own a lexus LS400 and I want one of these so badly
@@TheCinderDudedude buy a scion iq they’re way cheaper, and from the outside look cooler, this is just an abomination of a car that shouldn’t even have made it out of production, they didn’t do anything to the 94hp motor, and added tons of weight to the car lol, it’s way slower and gets worse gas mileage than a iq. And is 3x the cost. Horrible idea don’t ever
@@calebtvog If they made modifications to the motor it would defeat the purpose of the car.
My grandpa bought this car.. he literally bought it ironically because it was hilarious and honestly it was such a conversation starter
@Austin Davis do you have to buy an Aston to purchase this “Aston”
@@xcarter_carsx2848 You could only buy a new one if you also bought a proper Aston, but now you can buy a second hand Cygnet on its own - there is one for sale on Autotrader UK.
Your grandpa is a badass!
@Austin Davis I saw that they couldn’t sell them normally so they started just giving them to people who bought highly optioned Aston’s
I'm more disturbed that Doug took at least 4 adderall before this vid. {0.o}
This vehicle is like the definition of "compliance car". Like, Aston Martin didn't WANT you to buy it, it merely existed to help with regulations.
With that overdone luxury interior, though, it makes you wonder what they were expecting from the Cygnet.
@@megachonk9440 well they couldn't tarnish their reputation with a cheap Toyota interior. Lol
Only 150 were really produced. Not a thousand as Doug stated.
@@muppetpaster a quick google search will show that 786 were produced in total. So that makes Dougs numbers closer to yours.
The funny thing is that Aston Martin didn't actually need it, they were exempt from the regulations at the time due to their small annual production.
I believe there was hope from AM they could attract a new type of clientele to the brand, e.g. rich parents buying it for their daughters first car.
FYI:
Each Cygnet had 300+ hours of hand made interior detailing and upholstery work...
And then they ruined it with that ugly ass flower crap
@@woodyscrappyopenings5707 not all of them. Only the Q by Aston Martin models.
@@woodyscrappyopenings5707 It does look very tacky, it looks like what you'd see on the doorcards of a clapped out £500 mx5 with a duece kit and a dodgy mot certificate.
The person in charge of stitching the roof did a terrible job
This guy seems so genuinely in love with his job. There is so much passion here. Lovely. Kudos to you brother. I admire you.
My former boss used to drive a Smart but when this car came out he immediately bought one. It was in green and looked very nice. For crowded cities this was the perfect car for people with money.
Death can
@@Grandpaneedsblood it's not so bad when everyone else isn't driving a 3 ton truck or SUV while texting. Hard to imagine for an American I guess.
@@Weimerica8841 to small it's very gay
@@Grandpaneedsblood I guess that's why you take the bus, right?
@@Weimerica8841 no I drive a brand new rolls royce
In Italy, especially in Rome where parking around is a nightmare, Cygnets are owned unironically.
No, IQs are.
Can you imagine trying for years to get a job at Aston Martin, finally landing work at your favorite car company, and then being asked to go on to the production line of this thing?!
It’s a job and it will go on your resume you worked for Aston
Mmm
Mmm
@@darell8310 o
@@darell8310 o
Q is a character in the James Bond films and novelizations. Q is the head of Q Branch (later Q Division), the fictional research and development division of the British Secret Service.
So like the more exotic Aston Martin cars, the Cygnet also has back seats that you can't fit into the back of, another Aston Martin feature many may overlook in this car.
I guess carrying on that trend was the only reason they chose to leave them in!
Ironically this is the most reliable Aston Martin ever built…
It’s not ironic
@@inthebackwiththerabbish The irony is lost
because it is a Toyota.
Toyota IQ
Because inside is a toyota
God bless Toyota engineering
Saw the Cygnet V8 at Goodwood a few years ago, absolutely hilarious, looked pretty cool, and sounded amazing! they really did stuff that engine in, from memory the dashboard is pushed further into the interior to fit the engine in.
this dude keeps getting more and more animated as the years go by.
it's hilariously awesome.
just letting everyone know....
I had to check to see if my playback speed had changed from normal to something higher. That’s how fast his movements were! 😂
@@2knight22I am fairly certain he sped up this video to like 110% when he was editing. His head and arm movements are unnaturally quick and choppy. Frankly its kind of uncanny and weird, like watching CGI that looks eerily real
@@rwh_ yeah it seems to be on purpose. probably because the video is already 36 minutes long
The Toyota iQ also had a 1.4 turbo diesel engine, which was indeed the most economical engine, managing up to 60MPG on country roads.
Simply Toyota never did half of the marketing smart did and I believe it was the reason it did not succeed. Much better car than the smart.
More reliable too
Toyota has never really spent Marketing Dollars on any of their small cars (Echo and Yaris), even though some of them were extremely reliable... Its like they didn't want to talk about the "economy cars" that they were selling to hook people to the brand...
I did not know they did a diesel IQ as well! We didn't get it in the UK though
@@misters2837 Yeah I think outside Japan they struggle to increase the premium perception of the brand because they're so large, the economy cars lower the customer perception when at the extreme other end they're producing luxury cars for Japanese CEOs, top government officials, and even the Emperor.
@@G1NZOU CEOs buy S Class mercs instead...or is it just the Yakuza?
The point is they never had to sell any of them. Just having it available meet the fuel mileage goals. They never expected anyone to buy it.
That's not how those regulations work. The fuel economy figures are weighted by the number of vehicles sold when calculating fleet average MPG.
@@GintaPPE1000 The problem with this sort of regulation at all is that it really screws the little guy. As he mentioned all the ones with big parent companies did absolutely nothing different but any sort of small scale specialty car maker is never going to have the sort of economy of scale to make an entry level vehicle viable. Even if they did nothing but change their logos its going to cost more than what ford is selling it for... because they're buying it from ford.
ive seen one in the wild
Exactly
Bizarrely, AM set a sales target of 4000 a year. It sold a total of 300 over its two-year production run.
I had the Toyota version of this and it was fantastic. Drove well, a bit slow but felt comfortable, easy to park and drive. Wonderful car, wish they still made them.
Toyota Yaris or scion xa?
There were a LOT of decent little cars built in the past. Not a lot of power but reliable and fun to drive. Then the execs at the car makers needed to make EVERYTHING performance and hard and over optioned. Gone are "econo boxes". Cheap to buy, reliable, cheap to own and got a million miles per gallon. That's what the honda civic used to be: a little car, well built with few options that lasted forever and drove forever on a gallon of gas.
@@c00lreviews10 It was called Toyota IQ in the UK
The interior looks a lot better than I expected. It actually looks like a decent place to spend time.
The IQ was meant to seat 1 adult on the driver side and 2 kids in tandem on the passenger side. Knee room was carved out for the front passenger by deleting the glovebox, seen @ 26:00. The seat behind the driver was meant more for handbags/backpacks. This overall laout made the IQ/cygnet much more practical compared to a smart fortwo.
Yes, I'm sure it was marketed as either 1+2 or 2+1 seating arrangement, I don't think I ever saw it described as a 4 seater
2 kids in tandem? What? Is that legal?
Behind the driver would also be suitable for an infant seat, because they need no leg room.
@@questioner1596 oh ok, I was thinking on both children in the passenger seat
It was marketed as a 3+1. You can quite easily fit 3x6ft adults for short journeys.
that's actually my wifes dream car. we were at the Vienna Auto Show in 2012 or 13 and when she saw this she totally freaked out. She loves tiny cars in general way more than bigger ones but a tiny car with luxury touch was exactly what she wants. But frankly said it was just not affordable and at the end of the day even not practical enough.
It actually got me thinking as well. This is an untapped market, luxury city cars. Instead of the cheap plastic death traps we always get.
Cars arent the only tiny things she enjoys if she married you
@@joecool9739 in general she is absolutely not in to cars, so they are probably the least important things for her to enjoy...
"She loves tiny cars"... Does she love everything tiny??? Just asking....
@@m-a-l-3000
She isnt into large things in general
I wish other manufacturers had to make their own "compliance" cars.
Imagine a modern Porsche based VW Beetle or an actual Ferrari based Abarth 595 😂
Ikr
I have never been so aroused
So a Porsche 9.01 . A Ferrari 108 GTB Wee. A McLaren 1.70 S. A Koenigsegg ag wherea?. A Jaguar Wee Type. A Morgan -4 and ÷8.
I mean they did make the Abarth Tributo Ferrari. Not really the same as this though.
@@redmr2na lmao
I like how Doug was appreciating the Cygnet in the starting and then like 2 seconds later he called it 'stoopid'. Classic Doug
"Mom can we get an Aston Martin?"
"We have Aston Martin at home."
Aston Martin at home:
Well it is an Aston Martin
I would just laugh at my kid if they asked that. Like "yeah sure buddy, right after we buy that bugatti"
Meanwhile: Toyota iQ
I live in Wrocław, Poland. It’s relatively large city so you see exotic cars from time to time. But not one of those (not even a Veyron) was so surprising to me as Cygnet. Some local guy daily drove it, parking it near the city center. I always wondered what was the story behind it.
this video sucked. it mentioned every leather trim like it wasnt expected. THE GRAB HANDLES HAVE LEATHER so does the shift gear WE GOT IT.
No one is dumb enough to daily a sports car in a city?
Siemanko
Its (been?) owned by local architect couple. They just wanted some cool, small car for the city traffic.
If someone said they had an Aston Martin in the garage I’d be wow’d … but when the garage door opens and I see a Cygnet I think I’d be even more happier to see one of these to be honest lol.
Hard agree. I live this car to absolute bits. If I was rich it would absolutely be my runabout
Honestly, same. They're rarer than a lot of Astons, and the sort of person who'd pull something like that off is usually someone you'd want to be around anyway.
Ah yes, about the same backseat legroom as an MkIII Supra. Probably more headroom in the Cygnet though 😂
more room than my sc430 haha
That flower design on the interior might be one of the most revolting things I've ever seen in a car. This puts even the Fiat Multipla's interior to shame
Haha it's so true. Simply dreadful
yeah, it doesn't fit at all.^^
Seriously though, whose ideas was to have those flowers designs there? My grandma? Yeah, that’s honestly the only legit explanation I can think of for such a design choice.
yea yea yea, your manhood is still intact, don't worry
It's absolutely awful, and I won't ever look back at any other interior design again until they all print flower pictures onto the panels.
First impression, and this car looks outstanding with that purple color.
@Heizou 🅥 Report this bot
No it doesn't. The only acceptable color for this abomination is British Racing Green.
It looks like a little plum
@@NoName-cn3cp people can have opinions jeez
Lol you actually like the way this car looks? Honestly?
Imagine being one of the Aston Martin designers that were thrown this project... working for one of the most prestigious car design companies in the world, only to be assigned to try to hide the cheap plastics in a Toyota IQ interior!🤣
I can see it being a job for several intern designers though, it's a fun and easy project to get them used to designing better things. I have no idea if they used interns for this project though.
@@yasirrosli4305 Would have been the smart way to do it. That's how we use interns at my company; instead of assigning them as menial assistants on larger projects, we give them smaller low-risk projects to run (mostly) themselves. Frees up more senior folks from having to spend time on non-critical deliverables, and gives the interns a better learning experience from the perspective of how a complete project or program actually functions.
@@its_clean ..and if they screw up, nothing much is lost...!!
Imagine being the Aston Martin designer that decided a stock image of a pink flower looked good.
@@masssssy I was utterly confused by that at first, but after hearing a bit more description about it being customized, I think that must have been a customer request. I seriously can't fathom that being an option to put into even a car ridiculous as this, stock.
Always wondered about buying an iQ and converting it into a Cygnet. A few people did it, but from what I remember, it was way more expensive to buy the kit/lights etc than you’d expect, nobody really made them.
It's a crazy idea, almost impossible. I'd suggest to try an Abarth mod on the iQ. Like an old Fiat Abarth 500. At least you can find the pieces and it'd be the only one on the planet
7:30 Only if they modified the doors on this car to actually open like their sports car's swan doors. That would've been sweet!
Glad for Torchinsky and Tracy finally doing their own stuff. Jalopnik has been on a down spiral for years.
Yeah. Jalopnik has been trash for quite a while. Tabloid articles and political nonsense.
I jumped ship from jalopnik years ago. I can only imagine how bad it has gotten in the last few years
Doing what where now?
@@mattuw82 what political stuff? I haven’t read it in a bit so idk what your talking about
@@bipbop3121 They started up their own site called Autopian, with a few other people. Full strength car nerd stuff if you like Torch and Tracy.
I've owned a 2012 Scion iQ for over 10 years now, and have loved every minute of it. Super maneuverable, easy to park, and gets looks everywhere I go.
Great video one thing you missed was the rear seat belts had hangers so they did not make rattling noises down the road. Also this is a supper car if you consider the power to weight. Problem with this car is it’s missing engine temperature gauge
I miss my Scion iQ, I filled up my tank and never even worried about how much gas cost. It’s a perfect commuter car. Easy to drive, easy to own, easy to maintain. The first car I owned that wasn’t a money pit. I save up enough to buy a Tesla. I gave the car to a family member, still going strong.
I have an IQ and it truly is a Toyota reliable car. Ours survived a tonne of snow falling on it and it cracked the windshield and popped out some stuff from the roof. One fixing session later, the car is going as if nothing ever happened. I don't even think we've had the AC go out on it in its 11 years we've had it
Toyotas outlive their owners 😁
It's also great on road trips! I frequently drive mine between Phoenix and various places on the coast in California.
I'm on my second one. Never gave an F about gas prices either 😂
I remember that they were trying to sell the Cygnet as a tender for people who already had a real Aston Martin. They idea was that, if you had to go to a city for business, you didn't want to drive your Aston in crowded city centers. So you could get a Cygnet, park it in a garage outside the city, drive to the garage, get the Cygnet and reach the city center.
In some ways it sounds like a good proposition. I’ve always had a city car that I drive the most miles in and a nicer car for the weekend.
Doug fails to mention there's no glove compartment because the front passenger seat track is actually placed a few inches further ahead than the driver's seat so the rear-right passenger can have more legroom. The iQ/Cygnet is more like a 3+1 as opposed to a 4 seater.
This actual model at the Geneva Motor show had a raspberry coloured luggage set and the clip at the front was to hold the matching handbag. Standard Cygnet came with a leather glove bag held by press studs.Bill Amberg did an optional set of luggage which was included with the launch models The iQ had an optional glove bag in Europe. That's.probably why he didn't mention your incorrect assumption.
@freepieanchipsgarage I'm a little confused by your reply. Do you mean that the glove bag that came with this car is stored in the compartment under the rear passenger's seat or that the tray under the rear seat is the glove box?
I have seen this actual car in Europe and it came with a raspberry-coloured handbag that fitted on the clip. There is no room under the front passenger seat to store anything as the wiring for the seat heaters and sensors are there. The interior of this car was a showcase for Q at the Geneva Motor Show and is unique. All other Cygnets came with a black leather glove bag which was attached in front of the passenger seat by 4 press studs.
I seen the Cygnet recently, As an IQ owner i lost count of how many times i fit into tight parking spots in London such a fun little car and keeps up on the highway although it feels like your in a empty pepsi can especially on windy days.
Ah yes the words every automaker dream of hearing about their car; "people are owning them and not ironically"
Finally after all the waiting we get to see easily the best car Doug has reviewed 🙏
That was awful brave of Doug to park next to the storm drain during his review. With a slight breeze, the car could have fallen through the grate at any moment.
Amazing comment
I live in the uk and my backup car/runabout is a 2010 iq with the1.0 3 cylinder engine and 5 speed manual gearbox.It cost me £2000(about 2300 dollars).If you leave the rear seats permanently down there is space for shopping.It will give about 65mpg at 70mph on the motorway,is zero rated for road taxes and ulez compliant in central London.Having seen your video I now feel wealthy.
I'd love to know how Aston Martin's designers felt. Just because a car's cheap doesn't mean it isn't thoughtfully engineered. So I wonder what their impression was given their experience.
IQ was designed masterfully. There's plenty of articles and videos showing just how amazing its engineering was, and how much effort went into making it all fit in something this tiny.
Probably better engineered than any Aston at the time.
I’ve been waiting weeks for this review! After seeing his sneak peek in a previous video…
they didn't design it,. toyota did,. and aston slapped an aston martin badge on it,..
@@PresidentCamacho2024 ONE THING ABOUT A TOYOTA, THEY ARE BASICALLY BULLETPROOF. IF TAKEN CARE OF YOU CAN DRIVE ONE ALL YOUR LIFE.
So something cool happened and I felt the need to come back to this video (the origin of my knowledge of the Cygnet) to express my excitement:
My mother travelled overseas to London and sent me a photo of a "funny looking thing" parked on the street. It was a Cygnet! What are the odds?! Obviously having only learnt about the car less than 2 months ago I was absolutely ecstatic to tell her everything I knew about it.
Just thought I'd share :)
That's neat! I never watched this properly the first time, coming back to it finally and it's actually cooler than I thought it would be
I found a Isuzu Vehicross at a local fire department.
I've seen two in my entire life now
Imagine how hard the salesperson was laughing when a customer took this home 😂
Laughing to the bank
Back when it came out, it came only as an option in the option-list of a DBS or Vantage. You couldn’t just walk in the dealership and buy this car.
@@aryan_dev Ah. I see. So basically, the dealers were just as ashamed to sell it as Aston was ashamed to manufacture it.
@@aryan_dev a salesperson still sold this car regardless of the absence of a dealership.
You see alan we live in a world full of exceptions. I just saw an old video a few months back of an old vantage which had this car on it’s option list. Some gentleman back in tha day took this car as an option
You have forgotten one of the weirdest things of the Cygnet and IQ: Because the head room in the back wa sso small their was a risk your head would collide with the back part of the roof when you get rear ended. Thats why the Cygnet and IQ are the only ever production cars that have a back airbag, sitting just upfront the trunk lid, spanning over the entire width of the interior.
Is that where my 11th air bag is? I have never been able to find them all.
I'd love one just for the ridiculous factor, as well as being able to say that I owned an Aston Martin.
The pauper's Aston. Probably the most reliable Aston ever.
The leather and Alcantara may help to deaden noise a bit. Hard to say if they added any extra sound deadening materials, but I doubt it.
They certainly had to deaden a lot of cows to make it.
@@stuarttupp3541 fake leather exists
@@ElectTheDesert not in this car, it doesn't. It's all 100% real leather.
@@ElectTheDesert Irelevant comments exist too 🤷♂️
@@stuarttupp3541 they don’t kill the cow just for the leather bruh, it’s already dead so might as well use every part of it
If I worked at Aston Martin at that time, I would try four things to improve the Cygnet to make it feel separate from a Scion/Toyota iQ.
One would be tweaking that center console so a proper radio with a navigation system can be implemented. They were options in a Toyota/Scion iQ, so why not standard on the Cygnet.
Two could be remove the rear seats to add more cargo space while saving a little bit of weight (a rich person would likely use a larger vehicle for carrying kids rather than this).
Three would be make the suspension a bit softer for more comfort while sharpening the steering to make it a bit more agile and responsive.
Four would be improve the engine a bit with some basic performance upgrades, maybe even toss on a small turbo or supercharger (and thus requiring those vents be functional).
Sure it would be a bit less fuel efficient from all the extra power (though still very much so), but it would make the Cygnet appear more unique from it's Toyota-Based siblings.
The Cygnet Doug reviewed was the 2012 Geneva Motor Show car and it featured Cherry Tree Raspberry paint which had been colour matched to the same hue as intense cherry blossom. The interior featured luxurious Deep Soft Kestrel Tan leather with both bespoke photograph based headlining and door inserts. Uniquely this car featured tan Alcantara. In addition, this particular Cygnet Q came with a three piece colour matched luggage set and folding Brompton bicycle. Even the wheels were custom made for this particular car. Unfortunately the wheels seem to have been changed and the Brompton bicycle is no longer present along with the three piece luggage set. The clip on the dashboard in front of the passenger seat was to hold the matching ladies handbag which came with the car instead of the leather glove bag that featured in all other Cygnets.
Sir Stirling Moss had a green one with the registration SM7 and his British Racing Drivers Club badge on the front grill.
These make an excellent city car that's economical to run and easy to park. It cost £35 per year to tax and does 54 MPG in London and the CVT gearbox is excellent in stop start city traffic. We also have 2 iQs which are 1.0 litre manuals which are zero road tax and get 66 MPG on a run.
I think the US spec Scion iQ is a much lower than the Toyota iQs that were available in the UK. All cars came the alloy wheels as standard and disc brakes all round. The iQ2 and iQ3 have keyless lock and unlock. Keyless start. Self dipping rear mirror. Electric folding and heated door mirrors. Auto lights. Auto windscreen wipers. etc.
Luxury cars have always been disproportionately expensive. David Brown Automotive produce the Mini Remastered Oselli Edition: yours for just £130k
I love watching Doug at 1.25 X speed. Gets my day going!
I’m so glad that Doug finally found one of these to review! These little rebadged Toyotas are absolutely hilarious.
I am surprised they didn't "try" at least and do something like this to something like a Miata. Would have sold a LOT more cars probably as it would be like a "cheap" Aston (kinda). Would offset the emissions quite a bit (not as much as this thing) and wouldn't have been a total embarrassment to have in the lineup.
Mazda already made that deal with Fiat/Chrysler. Kinda amazing since thay wouldn't make that deal with Ford in the 90s. When Ford wanted a 2 seat 4 cylinder roadster they went with the Capri, still Mazda based but they weren't allowed to share the Miata chassis.
Miatas are 1.6-1.8L unmodified & get 18-31 mpg depending on year and city vs. 1.3L and 36/37 mpg is why not miata for compliance. The Mazda 3 does better than MX-5, but not this Scion
Fiat did just that.
It would devalue the brand too much. If you make something a lot of people want and it’s moderately affordable, suddenly the mystique of Aston Martin to the ultra wealthy is a lot less
Because the Miata wasn't fuel efficient in comparison to this.
I remember reading about the Cygnet back when it was new in a german car magazine. The main reason for its existence given was not environmental regulations but rather the idea of giving Aston owners and especially their wives a small but luxurious car from the same company as their big Astons for daily driving, like doing grocery shopping and such.
Looking at this car i can totally see this intended appeal to wealthy women.
I'm thinking this could easily have been a super-Fiat 500 or Lancia Y. An exclusive small fashion car for non-car wives of rich Aston owners to comfortably take into the city and shop at Hermès without risk of smashing the Vantage into a bollard. From that perspective, the engine would have been just fine and the actual problem may be that they didn't finish the conversion job. Replacing the remaining plastic bits, adding more soundproofing, the Garmin thing, perhaps deleting the back seats and designing a bag set that fits in the rear, using a proper Aston keyfob and such shouldn't be that expensive compared to the hundreds of cows that died for the interior. It would cost some money, but that would be better than it flopping and the target audience doesn't care about price anyway.
And of course, you shouldn't actually tell anyone it's a compliance car.
Its a nice way to market it but the reason is still the same
@@DR61411 Course it is.
But I like to envision that statement of Aston in the current light of feminism and lbqtxyz movement 😄
Weird that the government can't make an except for a low volume producer like Aston Martin. The company probably didn't grease enough palms at Parliament.
@@billolsen4360 It was a European requirement, so the British Government wasn't to blame (for once).
Doug displaying the key with that storm drain in the same frame gave me anxiety
@@Lamdoe me too, hahahahahahahaha
Actually, with an EV drivetrain and a bit more effort put into suspension and steering, the idea of a small city car with an ultra luxurious interior does seem to be able to present a solid business case...
We had two of these, one silver one green. Mum and dad ended up using them a lot driving around London.
I used to live in Central London, and taking a short walk through Belgravia you'd be constantly tripping over these things. I have a few pictures where you can see at least three of them in the same photo, some parked next to each other, some just down from each other, everywhere!
Considering their low production numbers, I just assumed the entire Cygnet population lived in the Knightsbridge area! xD
The Cygnet should have been used in a Bond film. Government environmental policies force MI6 to issue this to 007.
What madlad went to Aston Martin, saw a Cygnet, and not only said, "I want that," but also, "does it come with a V8?"
Honestly seems like a fun comfortable city car with a really cool interior. It's a shame it was so expensive.
Buy the Toyota instead lol
@@porrito66 but that wouldn’t be comfortable.
@@Jiangcool9 lol it would. Same car....AM badge don't add comfort 😜😂
It looks like a toyota IQ or whatever that tiny car is! Amazing
Haha, it is an IQ
@@elvistwatty the leather and trimming does tho
I fantasize about telling my family and friends that I bought an Aston Martin and then seeing their faces when I pull up in this. It's a lot of money for a joke but I think it would be worth it 😅
Buy a tractor and say you got a Lamborghini
I'm sure that a 'proper' Aston Martin of the same time would cost much less.
Strangely enough... I've seen one driving around here in Grimsby (Grimsby UK), yeah, GRIMSBY.... the 'Bum hole' of the East coast! 🤣🤣🤣 Also, while 'Daddy' gets the V12, 'Wifey'/Daughter gets THIS!🤣🤣 😎🇬🇧
I love this car. I love how you talk about cars. The best thing is that used Cygnet still costs the same, i.e. about 30k GBP. Each Cygnet was made to individual order, so there are probably no two identical Cygnets. That’s why is amazing and special for me
This car is shit
It’s garbage what you mean lmao
@@oogs9114 your opinion is garbage
I love the Cygnet for this reason!
69 likes ayo
The biggest "incompleteness" to me here actually isn't the stuff borrowed straight from Toyota, but rather the clumsy leather wrapping of small items like the seatbelt buckles. I don't know if actual Astons were still using Ford switchgear in this era, but I feel like the interior would have looked much better if Aston interior parts were used more extensively. I mean, was it really that hard to adapt an Aston steering wheel?
Steering wheels are part of crash testing, which makes it incredibly expensive to fit a different wheel. That's why you typically see rebadged identical wheels in different brand versions of identical platforms.
Check out Tavarish's video about the leather wrapped Volvo key on the proper Aston Martins... Just peel off the leather and a Volvo badge lurks beneath. I also remember lots of 90s Astons like to Vantage v550 with the Ford airbag steering wheel. All they did was take off the badge but the oval indent it was glued into remained clearly visible!
Yeah, I was thinking that too
@@mxc2007 Wait, does having the same steering wheel exempt this vehicle from further crash testing? Because if not, I don't think making it look different and doing the Cygnet's mandatory crash testing would be that much more expensive. Just set some design constraints to avoid any possible need for a retest and voila
@@energymc22 That's pretty funny! That said I forgive the Blower Vantage from Hell because that car itself was not a rebadge
Bizarrely, these things have held their value really well, at least here in the UK. You can buy a decent, low mileage DB9 for less money than one of these.
That’s sad IMO. Overpriced at sticker and overpriced at used market
@@drippgxd still the most reliable Aston martin of all time 😹
Also likely the most economical too …
Which would YOU rather own and *maintain*?
10-year-old Toyota, or 10-year-old DB9? :D
It's rarer, that's probably the reason. And also, except the tailor made Smarts and Goodwood Minis, not much competition in the small luxury car market
I thought it was a Toyota IQ at first glance, so they did a good job in imitating the looks
95 hp is actually good for that car when you compare it to other superminis even today. Even larger cars like the Fiat 500 have about 70-80 hp depending on model.
I agree. Despite having a slightly larger displacement, the entry level engine of the contemporary Mercedes A-Class had 98 hp and it was a much heavier vehicle. So I suppose that 95 hp in the IQ had to feel more than adequate.
Yes comparing slow cars to other slow cars will always make something seem good
@@BMWROYAL Guess what, cars don’t need to have all 500 hp. A city car is small, light and agile. It doesn’t need a huge power output to move quickly in a crowded city center.
for 'Murican anything below 300hp are slow
@@emmedigi89 you are 100% correct. That doesn’t mean it’s not slow
An important detail of this car that he didn't mention is that even though it is a compact car, it is still quite wide with a lot of leg room with high seats which makes it easier for people with limited mobility.
Indeed, it is very wide. Add the long doors to that and now it's a pain to get out in European-sized parking spaces.
I gotta be honest, if I was Aston Martin at the time, I would have gone above and beyond for this car. Boost the power by 10hp, add an actual auto transmission, redesign the dash really go all out and sell for $40,000. Younger buyers would eat this up which could have been marketing for Aston Martin so hopefully one day the buyers of the Cygnet could get a DBS or a Vantage
Honestly, Toyota’s cute lil 3-cylinder motors take turbo pretty well. If they could somehow cram in the Prius powertrain and dump in a tiny hybrid turbo system, this’d be a hilarious little efficient race car. In eco mode, just run the turbine as a generator for the hybrid powertrain and maybe get 100-120hp, then have a performance mode where it runs that lil turbo spool-less to its limits along with the electric motor to 150-180hp.
…why hasn’t Toyota made this powertrain option already LMAO
@@romannasuti25 you're guess is as good as mine. That in another version of the Yaris would sell like crazy
Younger buyers? 3 years after an economical recession?
@@fenn_fren Look my idea is assuming no GFC
It's win win situation, you get the British exclusive 'Aston Martin" car, but it will work all the day without malfunction because it's a Toyota. :D
I had a Toyota IQ and it was a great car! I’m 6 foot 3 and it was very roomy up front. Also the front passenger seat was designed to be able to slide much further forward than the driver which meant you could quite comfortably fit one adult in the back. Me and my two brothers, both also 6 foot 3, could all fit in the car pretty easily. I usually left the rear seat behind the driver folded down to give regular cargo space while still keeping the other three seats available. I find two seater cars pretty limiting if it’s you’re only car but having the one extra seat made such a difference. We even did a few journeys with 4 adults but admittedly these were short trips and the person behind the driver had to put their legs at an angle behind the passengers seat!
I still have my Toyota iQ, 1.33L 6sp MT, discs front/rest. Also being 6'3" enough room to dit in and small enough to park everywhere😁
Aston Martin had to stop because Toyota stopped producing.....
I have slept in the back seat of my IQ before. Was actually fairly comfortable. 😅
I've been waiting for this review for 7 years. I drive the US Scion branded version of the Toyota IQ, I've owned it for 7 years and I've put 200k miles on it. I love it. I know that to most people it's just a ridiculous novelty, but for me, it's the most efficient way I can get around (at least back when I bought it, 40mpg was a lot), it fits anywhere, and as just a commuter vehicle, I've never needed any more space. It's fun to see this crazy import luxury version. Thanks for this. I never imagined flowers on the inside, that's something I never saw from just the surface exterior pics available online. And I noticed there's some kind of body kit, most of the panels are different from the IQ, there's even a different hatch door arrangement. I have no idea what's going on with the radio because my Scion just has a regular unit in addition to the steering wheel controls, which I never use. Maybe they figured the dash redesign took priority over having a regular head unit? This is just the silliest thing I've ever seen. Thank you so much for going out of your way for this.
The Cygnets I found for resale on the internet don't have the flowers and pink trim. I think someone had a Cygnet made for their daughter.
I'll never forget I was working as a tech at a Toyota dealership when the iQ came out. Me and 3 other guys(all of us were larger fellas) and we got in (yes a little cramped) and did circles in the service drive. It was hilarious but awesome.
I have a scion IQ as my daily driver. After a rear seat delete its surprisingly practical.
Oh, and the IQ did come with leather seats. I hate them. They are super slippery and the seats are nearly flat with no bolsters at all.
As an owner I can only say thank you for not burning it down 🙂 Btw it has a 6-speed manual not 5. Also in Europe IQ was available with SatNav and half leather interior. A bit more than 800 build and I believe the car in the video was sold originally in Belgium.
The only reason he didn’t burn it down is cuz it’s a European car, Doug is bias towards american and Japanese cars
@@god8347 if you mean a negative bias, not really. He’s owned a lot of cars from all three of those continents. The only reasons it may seem that way is because Europeans make a wider range of cars (including the quirky ones that he likes and you don’t get so many of in the US), and whether you like it it not, Europe has a richer car history. Aston Martin and Land Rover have a lot of history, the Germans are famous for performance sedans and have some of the most iconic brands on the planet, Italy owns the super car history and then you’ve got everything weird in between; Saab, Bugatti, Alfa Romeo etc. For a long time the US made simpler cars just focused on the US market, pretty much up until the last decade or so. Also he literally raves about all the new US electric cars so I don’t know what you’re talking about.
@@god8347 Doug did buy a Ford GT
its been awhile since we've seen doug try and squeeze himself in a comically small back seat. good times
Love that interior. I unironically want a manual transmission one with an aftermarket radio
Later ones did get a more reasonable stereo setup.
for the $55k large, AM really should have spent more on what is under the skin- upgrading the suspension, adding both acoustical noise suppression and electronic noise cancellation, a turbocharger or supercharger, upgraded motor mounts, hydrolastic suspension bushings, thicker window glass etc.
"One of the stupidest cars of all time." Wholeheartedly agree, Doug.
@Heizou 🅥 r/woooosh,bot.
Of all the Toyota cars to slap some Aston Martin badges on. A Corolla or a Camry would have been a much better choice
@@taelorwatson9822 Probably because it was the smallest engine available. A Camry or Corolla might not’ve gotten them to the average the needed to or they would’ve had to increase their projected sales by a lot.
Lol
not really ztupid coz the point waz to bring down the fleet'z emizzion average. they did exactly that and didn't loze money on making theze. win-win for them!
I saw one of these in Amsterdam a few years back and everyone I was with thought I was so stupid for how excited I was to see it. It looked like it was daily driven with all the dings and scratches you’d expect on a street parked toyota.
A Sygnet or an IQ?
@@cjeam9199 I guess it was an Aston, as here in Europe it is not unusual to see the iQs 👍
@@cjeam9199 A Cygnet 👍🏼
This car is the absolute definition of "malicious compliance," and I am so happy that it exists lmao
The sheer amount of joy in Doug’s voice is such a delight!
21:33 they did though. That center console is different from the iQ’s
This is probably the most interesting car review I've ever seen. How does Doug find these gems? Incredible. Seriously.
its a cool car! I have the iQ in purple
Poor Doug had a run of bad luck after an exotic auto dealer sold customer cars without divesting the profits
I’m dreaming of the day I will be driving this car while listening to the song “Dupe- International “ all the way loud 🥶🥶🥶
Fun fact: The Cygnet name could also be interpreted as a reference to the 1910 Brooke Swan Car, that literally looked like a swan and had an identical looking little electric sidecar called the Cygnet. Look it up it‘s super cute
I thought the name was a reference to this car being the "Ugly Duckling" of the Aston Martin range.
That couple is owned by the Louwman museum in the Netherlands.
You can visit the museum on RUclips
AND .........
Louwman imports Toyota’s in the Netherlands.
Well, at least Aston truely did their best to make it look good.