Toyota C-HR PHEV review | A plug-in hybrid option expands the Toyota C-HR range, but is it better?
The Toyota CHR has been a massive success for the company and now it’s back with a second generation model it features a much more striking design than before it’s also improved a little bit more in terms of interior space more importantly for the first time it’s now available as a plug-in hybrid in
Addition to the two other hybrid options that are available which are a 1.8 L and a 2 L the latter of which is also available with an all-wheel drive system the plug-in hybrid uses that more powerful 2 L engine and combines it with a 13.6 KW battery that sits below the
Car and that has enough energy in it to provide around about 64 km of electric only range now you won’t really be able to tell this is any different from the other chor other than the fact that it has an additional flap on the side which is where you charge the battery and
Because of the size of the battery and the fact that this has two 3.5 KW Chargers means it only takes about an hour to go from 0 to 80% and overall a little bit more than 2 hours to fully charge the battery so it is going to be
Quite convenient when you do need to top it up it has a combined power output of 223 horsepower and 190 newm and that makes it the most powerful of all of the current CH ORS now because of that plug-in hybrid system the boot space is slightly smaller because of where the
Charger is located you still get 310 L of boot space which isn’t bad but it is a step down from the 388 l you get in the 1.8 hybrid nevertheless if you do need more space you can fold down the rear seats they have a 60/40 split and that will give you
1,155 L of cargo volume on the inside of the CHR it is a totally new design and it is an improvement in many ways from the previous generation it is a very driver Centric setup and what I mean by that is how everything is sort of shaped and everything is angled towards the
Driver now that’s a good thing but it does mean the passenger in the front seat does get a bit of a raw deal for example this kind of whole setup here way this is all blocked off it seems a little bit unnecessary and it just kind
Of makes it feel a little bit more cramped when you’re sitting in the front seat it would be far better if this was just left open and the person in the front seat would have better access to things like this wireless charging pad and the storage area in the front
Nevertheless build quality as we’ve really come to expect for Toyota is Rock Solid here this is very well put together very nice materials the only thing is God they could just put a bit more color into this thing it’s just lots of kind of dry black okay
There’s a little bit of ambient light here and there’s a little bit more down the side of the doors but there’s really not a whole lot well it could just be a lot better inside a bit more bit brighter when you look especially how design focused the outside is and with
This kind of bright Goldy color it looks great and then when you get inside it’s just a little bit dull and boring but nevertheless that’s maybe what more people people will want in front of the driver you get a 12.3 in display it’s able to configure it a number of
Different ways it’s very clear and easy to read and this version also has a color head-up display in front of you so again stuff like your speed limit what sign to take next uh directions all that kind of stuff is all there very easy to see you do also have a front-facing
Infrared camera that detects eye movement so it make sure that you’re paying attention and it will alert you if not this car does have a lot of the latest driver assistance and safety related systems that means as soon as you creep over the speed limit that’s
Posted in that area it will start to beep at you it will give you a lot of alerts yes you can turn some of it off but by default it’s always on so maybe when you take this car for a test drive that’s something you might realize the
Driving position itself is very good there’s a lot of adjustability in this which is what I really do like this is an electrically adjustable seat you can adjust it a whole heap of different ways forward back up and down you can lift up on your legs here if you want there’s a
Manually adjustable steering wheel lots of positions there so very easy to find a comfortable driving position regardless of really how tall or how short you might be I do like as well the fact that yes you have a 12-in digital display here it’s nice to use it reacts
Very quickly but you do still have a bank of physical buttons here which is very very important it’s nice to see that Toyota hasn’t put everything thing onto this touchcreen stuff like your climate controls your heated seats in this case all the things you’re going to always kind of frequently want to adjust
Or use when you’re on the move is all there which is nice to see below that you have a second row of buttons as well including a camera display you’ve got a parking assist function heated steering wheel which is something that you can have on the plug-in hybrid version um he
The wind screen all that kind of stuff so nice to see there just some physical controls here you do have a pretty slender center console here you do a little kind of stubby Drive selector here you can also engage a b BR which is a brake regeneration function which is
Particularly useful in the plug in hybrid because it allows you to put a bit more energy back in and it will give you around about 80% the effect of engine braking great in urban on City use for example as well means you’re using the brakes slightly less you’ve
Got automatic hold for your handbrake a drive mode as well so you can go through like different versions you’ve got sport normal Eco custom most people are probably just going to leave it in normal and that’s fine you do also have an auto or an EV hold for the hybrid
System as well so if you want to maintain a certain level of battery charge you can do that and it will just act as a normal hybrid in between um speaking of the navigation for a moment this car is also equipped with a Geo fencing system that is available so you
Can set up and have a certain area maybe if you live in a low Mission zone for example and the car will know when it enters that and it will go into an electric mode only that’s great but there’s a bit of a caveat in that you’ve got to use
The navigation and you’ve got to have a rout active in order for this system to work and if I’m honest most people are probably not going to use Toyota’s native infotainment system they’re probably just going to use something like Google Maps or waves it’s a bit of
A Pity that there’s no kind of tie in or just’s no kind of linking between those but if you do want to use that function it is there you will just have to use it through the native built-in sat naav that’s the only thing you can also equip
The CHR with a digital rear view camera which is kind of handy because it doesn’t have a rear wiper so when your rear window does get a bit dirty you still have this to fall back on it does give a very clear display it’s great to
Use even at night and if you want to have the normal mirror you obviously you can just switch that and it goes right back very easy to use it’s a nice bit of Kit now that’s the front let’s have a look in the back seats in the back seats
Things aren’t so good in the CHR now in the previous generation we were quite critical about how claustrophobic it felt and yes Toyota did slightly improve it with this second generation CHR the window for example is a little bit bigger than before but it’s still kind
Of a little bit forward of where you sit and if I’m honest when you’re sitting in here it does still feel a little bit dark and a little bit drab okay this car does have the panoramic glass roof and that does make a nice difference that
Certainly helps you can see a little bit more out but other than that there’s not a lot of entertainment back here for those sitting in the rear there’s a single USBC charge port there there’s no vents in the back for anyone in terms of air conditioning backs of the seats
Don’t have a seat pocket only on the passenger seat so if you’re sitting behind the driver as I am you don’t really have a whole lot to do yes there’s a cup holder built into the door you do get an okay armrest but it’s not really the most generously equipped
There is a little bit of a hump in the middle because of how the hardware the architecture is set up middle seat is quite narrow but you can’t pull down a center armrest if you’re not going to use that so again it’s another thing that’s really pretty common to have in a
Lot of cars that’s not in this Toyota and other than that though okay the room is reasonable I’m of average height I’m about 5’9 and I’ve sort of got you know normal length legs and all that and I can get my feet in underneath the seat
In front which is good it’s nice to be able to stretch out a little bit and for reference this driver seat setup for my driving position and so I’m kind of sitting behind myself as it were and it’s not bad I’m okay I’ve do have actually pretty good amount of head room
So I’ll give it that that’s pretty good especially considering that it does have a glass roof and they normally ease into it but there’s no sun blind in here as well and that’s really what takes away some of the Headroom instead the glass is treated with a special coating that
Reflects sun in summertime but keeps a bit of heion and winter time other than that though it’s okay you don’t really want to be spending a whole lot of time in the back here it is just a little bit dull and drive and it’s a real pity
Because it could have been that little bit better the CHR is a comfortable car to drive that’s for sure and the suspension is nicely set up there’s a good balance between being able to be soft enough to soak up all the bumps but at the same time you can actually drive
With a little bit more enthusiasm through some of the sportier corners and it does stay impressively flat there’s not really a lot of lateral body roll with this car having that extra power from the 2 L engine and obviously the electric motor means that it is fairly
Quick to get up to speed if you do need to accelerate or to overtake for example it’s much more responsive than it was in the past yes it does still rev a little bit more but it’s that elasticity that was there in some of the older hybrid is
Gone this is a much more responsive of power train now to what we’ve had in previous Toyotas so that’s pretty good too and obviously it is still silky smooth as before when you’re driving around town now most people with their average daily commutes will probably be able to use the battery exclusively from
Getting from a Tob so long as you’re pretty diligent about charging it up now when you’re in in the move it does also have a couple of other features and tricks up its sleeve to help that for example it will use the navigation system and it will use the mapping
Information to detect when for example you’re coming up to a Bend or a curve and it will actually add a little bit of regeneration there and then to slow the car down for that bend rather than wasting energy it’s using that energy and putting it back into the battery
It’s all very small gains but these all do add up over a journey to make it a little bit more efficient that means you’re using that combustion engine even less now in some of these hilly mountainous roads I did find that that feature was a little bit jabby sometimes
On terms of how it scrubs off speed but in town and cities it’s really good very good and how it works in terms of detecting a car in front slowing down and using the electric motor of the car here to slow itself down and put that
Little bit of energy back in so it does have its benefits it’s not perfect but it is a welcome addition to the ch’s repertoire you won’t really notice any difference in terms of how the CHR rides with the plug-in hybrid versus the red reg hybrid model obviously the main
Difference though is that it will drive that bit further using only electric power and when you do have that battery charged up it is very nice to drive it’s exactly how you’d expect an EV to drive and while I wouldn’t say it’s all that
Fun to drive it does put in a very good account of itself true to bends and true Corners it does stay impressively Flash and the actual road holding is very very good this feels a very surefooted car and also you don’t really feel all that waste that you normally associate with
Larger and heavier electric vehicles this does still feel a little bit lighter on it Fe a little bit more agile when you want it to be the steering isn’t the most communicative but it’s accurate in what it does and it’s very easy to place this car exactly where you
Want it now of course plug-in hybd aren’t for everybody but for certain people they fall into the perfect use case and suitability for what their needs are for a car okay the CHR isn’t the biggest and it’s not the most spacious in the back but it’s nice to
Drive and if you’re only going to be in it and maybe have somebody with you in the front it’s not a bad option well that’s our first drive the Toyota CHR plug-in hybrid it’s very good and very smooth in a lot of ways and having that longer electric range will
Absolutely appeal to some people the only thing is this is also going to be pretty much one of the most expensive versions of the CHR prices are still to be confirmed but we reckon in Ireland at least this will cost around about 45,000 which is a lot more than what you get in
The normal hybrid and speaking of the normal hybrid it really depends on how you’re going to use this car for example if you spend a lot of your time driving in urban areas even Toyota says that the regular hybrid can spend as much as 50% of the time using only Hybrid Power so
You might kind of wonder why would you want a plug-in hybrid I guess if you really want to have more of the feeling of having an electric car but you still want to have that fall back safety net of having a combustion engine and not having to rely entirely on charging it
All the time especially over longer Journeys then yes it is does make sense but it is as I said a little bit pricey when you look at what else is available out there in the market in terms of similarly sized pure electric vehicles and even the two TOA bz 4X as well
Anyway that’s our first drive we’d love to know what you think about this car tell us in the comments below we always love hearing from our viewers and if you want to know more about this and indeed all of its Rivals head over to our website it’s completecar.ie you’ll find
It linked in the description below and it’s a great resource for finding your next new car thanks for Watching
The second-generation Toyota C-HR was launched with two hybrid options. Now, that range is expanding with the introduction of a plug-in hybrid powertrain that will significantly increase how far the stylish crossover can travel using only electric power.
Contents:
00:00 – Introduction
00:30 – Battery range
01:06 – Power output
01:17 – Boot space
01:41 – Interior
03:20 – Driver monitor
03:50 – Driving position
04:16 – Touchscreen display
05:48 – Geofencing
06:36 – Rear camera mirror
07:00 – Rear seats
09:12 – Driving it
12:44 – Verdict
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