Take a seat

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Stick with us for a moment, while we slip into boffindom. We’ve just been looking at a diagram of the seating layout in Gordon Murray’s new city car and we’ve come over all mathematical.

Murray was the man behind the McLaren F1 road car and he’s a proper engineer – the sort of bloke whose ideas can creep into every corner of the car industry.

And the city car, named T25, is his version of the Toyota iQ or SmartForTwo. It's an idea he's been musing over since he first dreamt it back in 1993.

So although it comes after the iQ and Smart, you could say it's the of its kind. Sort of.

Anyway, back to those seats. Have a quick look at the diagram and you’ll notice Murray has positioned the driver right in the middle of the car – just as he did with the F1 – with a passenger either side, set slightly back towards the rear.

In theory, this simple layout means there’ll be genuine space for three people, as passengers won’t have to squash and fold themselves into teeny back seats. They’re more like side seats, which allow them to stretch out a little.

Neat, eh? It kicks the Smart into the weeds, as that can only seat two, and makes the iQ’s claim of ‘genuine three-passenger ability’ look a little hopeful.

Murray is still in serious discussions about putting the car into production (under licence through a big corporation, it it all goes according to plan) and on this evidence, we can’t wait to have a drive.

After all, all the best cars have their drivers sat right in the middle.