Toyota C-HR review

The C-HR is a more accomplished all-rounder than Toyotas of yore, and it also feels like it’s got a bit more flair to it than other cars in the range. Much more of a family runabout than a minicab, let’s say. It’s comfortable over long distances thanks to a supple ride, but it’s most at home around town where you can make best use of the hybrid tech.

The two petrol engine options offer different combined power outputs: 138bhp/136lb ft from the 1.8-litre and 193bhp/152lb ft from the 2.0-litre. The latter makes use of a slightly beefier battery and e-motor, while the PHEV version twins the bigger engine with a 16kWh battery for 41 miles of WLTP range. Naturally it’s the most powerful option - generating 220bhp - although torque is identical to the non-plug-in. Bargain on 30 miles real-world range.

Does it handle alright?

The C-HR gets through a corner… respectably. It’s not fun, per se, but surprisingly adroit for a small crossover that’s a Toyota. The steering wheel is big, but the car feels agile. It corners flat and mostly smothers out bumps and imperfections. As ever, it is susceptible to larger alloys, so the 20in rims of the GR Sport model are only for people who prefer style over substance.

The C-HR does feel wide on the move, though, and you’ll rely on the sensors and cameras for parking because the rear visibility is so compromised. The digital rearview mirror is a nice touch for the top-spec car on paper, but a bit of a miss in reality. The image just ends up filled with the car right behind you and you miss what’s happening to either side of you.

Is the CVT noisy?

All credit to Toyota here, it has plugged away at this hybrid CVT setup that’s been criticised over the years (although bad press didn't stop people buying hybrid Priuses and Corollas in their millions, of course) and made it work. 

Is there noisiness at high revs? Yes there is, that’s just how the CVT works – getting up to speed is aurally painful, but come off the throttle and the revs die back quickly. The engine doesn’t kick in at full song until you’ve really honked the accelerator, too: it’s not like before when you tickled the pedal and the engine bay exploded with whinging fury.

A virtue of the 2.0-litre engine over the 1.8 is that it requires less of a prod to get the car going (8.1 versus 10.2 seconds to get to 62mph from a standstill) and so makes for a more laidback drive. But it comes at the expense of consumption, which is marginally higher (57.7mpg versus 61.1mpg).

You can ignore the PHEV’s laughable 353.1mpg lab figure, although the benefit of running in EV mode is that you don’t need to put up with the noise. Until you run out of juice, anyway.

Anything you don’t like?

The C-HR is a very likeable car, probably the one Toyota in the whole range that brings together all the disparate strands of the company’s identity in a decent all-rounder. That said, there are some annoying bits. Like the fact that you have to reset all of your safety preferences and convenience features every time you start the car.

It’s a small thing that would be enough to put us off buying a car: why won’t it remember the settings you like? Which drive mode you last used, or the fact that you like driving with Auto Hold on?

The traffic sign recognition is particularly obnoxious, and a pain to switch off using the steering wheel buttons. One of the Design trim cars we drove made us accept a set of terms and conditions every time so we could use the infotainment. Gah.