New Toyota C-HR Review: 2024’s best small crossover?
This is the new Toyota CHR and well you’re not going to miss it are you you know it doesn’t seem that long ago that Toyota seemed incapable of making interesting cars I mean things like the AIS and the Avensis and the Yaris they were good in their own way you know they
Were reliable and economical but in terms of Interest well they were about as interesting as a wheelie bin now though now Toyota is really on top of its things like the Supra the grars the gr86 and even the bread and butter stuff like the Corolla they’re really good cars in
Terms of design though this new CHR well this takes it to a whole new level looking like it’s driven straight off the set of Blade Runner the new CHR is a compact crossover to rival the likes of the Nissan Juke and Volkswagen Tross Toyota isn’t new to this part of the
Market of course in fact this is the second generation of CHR the first one which went on sale in 2017 was kind of one of the cars that kickstarted Toyota’s more adventurous design streak and it’s still a really good car it drives well it’s very reliable and
Because Toyota offers a warranty of up to 10 years it can still make a great used buy today click the link in the description to go and have a look at some used examples today though we’re going to focus on this and to start with
Well should we just look at it up front is what Toyota describes as a hammerhead design although being pedants we’d say it’s more like a tiger shark sticking with the fishy theme the LED headlights Cur hurl around the metal work like eels and aren’t so much on the front of the
Car as halfway up the Bonnet as we come down the side of the car you will see there are more creases in this than a shirt that I’ve tried to iron and look at this quite small glass house as well particularly when you have the two-tone paintwork that really tries to emphasize
The coupe like styling that Toyota talks about with this car another neat design Heil we could go on for days about the design of this car pop out door handles that’s very on Trend but another neat design detail look at this how the rear doors there’s no body work here actually
Go straight into the lights and then you follow this all the way around here again ends with the light no body work there it comes all the way around into this light bar here and you will see when I unlock the car it lights up
Toyota CHR how cool is that um note no rear wiper on the CHR Toyota says that the aerodynamics mean that you don’t need one because the water just runs off and it does when you’re driving along it does run off but when it’s been wet overnight and you’re in your driveway
Need to reverse out it doesn’t run off automatically so that is a bit of a pain right boot space for the CHR actually the first thing to note here is depends which engine you go for because whether you go for one of the self-charging hybrids which are 1.8 or 2
L all the plug-in hybrid the boot space varies so if you get the 1.8 you get 388 L of boot space if you go for the 2 L which this is It’s 364 L of boot space and if you go for the plug-in hybrid it’s 310 l um so quite a big difference
Actually between between the 1.8 and the plug-in hybrid the boot space itself it’s a nice square shape there’s a bit of a load lip to come over and there is no adjustable height boot floor the other thing really to note about it is if you want to fold the rear seats down
You can’t actually well you can just reach over but there’s no release in the boot you have to do it from there and then there you goes 60/40 if you’re looking at those door handles snapping in and out and worried about children’s fingers getting trapped fear not they
Are spring loaded so your pinkies will be safe right into the back of the CHR first thing to knowe doors don’t open all that wide in this car and once you are inside it’s quite dark in here um if you had a previous Geno to CHR you’ll
Probably remember that the back seats um are a little bit claustrophobic feeling quite small Windows this isn’t quite as bad but it’s still you know you do notice there’s quite a lot of body work up here it’s not quite as open as some of this car’s Rivals this one has got
The optional panoramic roof it’s fixed it doesn’t open um but it also doesn’t have a blind instead it’s got coatings on it to stop it getting too hot to stop the UV coming in so actually you get more head room when you have the roof than when you don’t and head room is
Fine leg room also not bad at all so I’m 5′ 11 this one’s set for me um loads of room under the seat as well to put your feet oh there go those door handles they do Funk when they close um you can get three across it’s a bit yeah it’s quite narrow
Um but you can do it you also get cup holders in the doors here that’s useful and in this particular spec this is a top spec model we’ve got one charger here as well so enjoy it when your kids fight over that right so in the front of
The CHR obviously this is a crossover um it feels pretty raised up perhaps not as high as some of its Rivals but you certainly you know you do get that slightly elevated SUV driving position it does feel a little bit narrow I think partly because of the design here it’s
Sort of these lines swoop into the front almost that shark noose thing again um but the design itself is actually really cool it’s a bit like the outside just looks a bit different and material quality as well no real complaints there’s some padded stuff there’s some harder Plastics lower down but all very
Well screwed together as you’d expect of a Toyota I quite like this stubby little gear selector here as well um storage is decent so it’s got a big bin under there it’s narrow but very deep and a charger in there as well wireless charging pad on this top spec model couple of cup
Holders big glove box and then a second shelf there um and you get physical buttons for the heating we like that um so those are really easy to operate door handles again um probably too many physical buttons on the steering wheel if anything does get a little bit
Overwhelming to operate some of this stuff um the dials meanwhile they’re a 12.3 in setup on this High spec model if you go for an entry level one there a 7in setup the size of the central infotainment screen varies according to trim lower spec models get an 8 in unit
While higher spec cars like our Premier Edition come with a 12.3in screen all come with Wireless Apple carplay and Android auto this screen is really good it’s quick to respond easy to navigate some of the settings menus are a little bit fiddly to get to but the main
Stuff’s all super easy and again when you think of older Toyotas they really lagged behind Rivals for touchscreens not anymore um you also in this car I just want to point out you get 64 color ambient lighting again very nice touch and you can have it there’s one setting
Where it goes through 24 hours of the day it changes shade slightly as the day goes on so it’s brigh in the morning and calmer in the evening it’s still not quite up to Mercedes-Benz level of luxurious ambient lighting but it’s a nice Touch as mentioned we have the 2 L hybrid in this car the self-charging hybrid it makes 193 horsepower it’s actually quite a big upgrade over the 1.8 which makes 138 horsepower so one of the benefits of that is the na 62 time drops from 10.2 seconds in the 1.8 to
8.1 seconds in this it’s quite a bit faster and it’s not just in the N to 62 Sprint you just feel it every it just feels like a more muscular engine now we’ve been driving these Toyota self-charging hybrids as they’re now known for a long time now um ever since
The first Prius and they they really refined it it’s it’s a good drivetrain you still get if you put your foot down the revs you know you still get the revs from the CVT but all in all it’s just a a really easy smooth car to drive another thing familiar to Toyota’s
Hybrid systems is the B mode on the drive so you get more regen brake regen if you put it in that mode it’s quite good and then you also get different Drive modes for sport normal Eco um which just change throttle response and steering weight and things go for the
Plug-in hybrid CHR and you get 22 20 horsepower plus a pure electric range of up to 41 M thanks to its 13.6 KW lithium iron battery that’s mounted under the rear seats in terms of visibility in the CHR again not perhaps the strongest point of this car’s predecessor and in
This car it’s a similar story it’s pretty good like out the front it’s fine um this a pillar is quite chunky but it’s not too bad um but it’s over the shoulder visibility that really is the biggest um complaint with this car is quite chunky the pillars you do however
Get an awful lot of Safety Systems lots of these are now mandatory as we all know from 2024 speed warning signs speed warning um beeps and things like that you have to have now I think what’s key in cars now is how easy it is to turn
Them on and off and in the CHR not necessarily that easy so you go in through the settings using this steering wheel button but it’s acronym bingo in here there are so many different Safety Systems so if we want to turn the road sign one off RSA that one’s done it’s
Just it’s such a big distraction and the systems are just a bit too sensitive in this car as well so for example one of them is front cross traffic alert which will quite often beep just when you’re pulling out of a junction which you know is a lot so all
In all it just does beep and Bong at you a bit too much walk away from the car sometimes it beeps at you I don’t know handily the Toyota safety sense Suite of acti Safety Systems in the CHR includes over theair software updates so that they can be enhanced throughout the
Car’s life Toyota enhancement request number one is for a lot less beeping please the original CHR was actually one of the first of these small crossovers that was pretty decent to drive as well and this car takes over from that basically so the steering is well weighted it’s pretty direct um the body
Doesn’t lean over too much in Corners it’s generally I think it’ be a stretch to call it great fun to drive but it’s pretty satisfying and similarly the ride is perfectly acceptable I think with a a car like this where it’s got quite a short wheelbase um there’s always going to be
A limit to how smooth you can make it particularly without adaptive dampers but generally speaking CHR just rolls along quite nicely indeed I’d be very happy with one of these as for fuel economy the standard hybrid model returns 60 m per gallon on the official cycle if you go
For the 1.8 or 58 m per gallon for this 2 L the plug-in hybrid mile has an official 353 MPG wltp figure although you’ll have to charge it an awful a lot to achieve that in the real world in our tests we have averaged pretty much bang
On 50 MP gallon which is really pretty good actually um and on the money saving front don’t forget Toyota offers a 10-year warranty so long as you keep getting the car serviced at one of its dealers it’ll warranty it for 10 years that’s outstanding in terms of price the CHR
Range starts from just over £31,000 for the entry level icon trim this top spec Premier Edition is just under £43,000 if you go for a plug-in hybrid the price range is from between about £ 39,000 and £44,000 depending on trim so it’s not a cheap car by any stretch in fact I’d
Argue it’s probably a bit too expensive however overall it is very good and I really take my hat off Toyota for being so bold with the car’s styling I think if you can find a good deal on one you’re going to be really happy although just check you can live with
All the beeps first if you love the idea of a CHR but would prefer the first gen model there are loads of great examples for sale at car gurus. as well as checking those out please do subscribe to the carar UK YouTube channel thanks for Watching
The second-generation Toyota C-HR must be one of the most striking crossovers that’s ever been launched. In fact, it looks every bit like a concept car that’s somehow slipped through to production unchanged, with more swoops and creases than Paris Fashion Week.
It is available as either a self-charging hybrid or plug-in hybrid, and all models will comfortably return 50mpg while offering decent performance. In this CarGurus UK review, Chris Knapman tests the 2.0-litre self-charging hybrid C-HR to see if it offers just the right blend of style, space, quality and performance.
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