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  1. Five of the most significant cars of 2009
  2. Ford Focus RS, Hottest hatch
  3. Honda Insight, Frugal family car
  4. Lotus Evora, Coolest coupé
  5. Toyota iQ, Tiny tot
  6. Porsche Panamera, Four-door sportscar

Toyota iQ, Tiny tot

Toyota has called its latest city car the iQ for two obvious reasons: one, because it wants you to think the iQ is clever, which it is; and two, because it's trendy to put a lower case 'i' in front things, as in 'iPod'.

It's clever not because it does anything particularly revolutionary, but because it's a highly impressive feat of packaging. Squeezed into a body shell little bigger than a Smart ForTwo (which of course seats only two) are four seats and a feeling of spaciousness normally reserved for much bigger cars. It's done via innovations like a new differential that allows the wheels to be pushed right to the corners of the body. The heating system is compact too, liberating more leg room.

And because it's small, it's also light, so fuel-efficient low capacity petrol engines can be used effectively. The result is a 60mpg car with CO2 emissions of 110g/km from a 1.0-litre VVT-i. It's expensive though, at around £10k for a well-specced one - but if it turns out to be as fashionable as its i-prefix suggests it will be, that won't put buyers off.

Mark Nichol