2017 Toyota C-HR (US Spec) - Small, Stylish, Sporty!

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2017 Toyota C-HR - interior Exterior and Drive
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SPECS
Price when new: £20,995
On sale in the UK: January 2017
Engine: 1197cc 16v turbo 4-cylinder petrol, 114bhp @ 5200-5600rpm, 136lb ft @ 1500-4000rpm or 1798cc 16v 4-cylinder with electric motor, 120bhp @ 5200rpm total system output
Transmission: Six-speed Intelligent Manual Transmission, front-wheel drive / CVT automatic, front-wheel drive
Performance: 10.9sec 0-62mph, 118mph, 47.9-47.1mpg, 135-136g/km / 11.0sec 0-62mph, 105mph, 74.3-72.4mpg, 86-87g/km CO2
Weight / material: 1320-1420kg / steel
Dimensions (length/width/height in mm): 4360/1795/1565mm

Toyota C-HR (2017) review
Clap eyes on the new Toyota C-HR for the first time, and you’ve got to think: that’s it – Toyota’s had enough.
Enough of being ‘the dull one’ of the group, enough of being the one everyone else expects to drive them home at the end of the night, the one who turns up on time, unflinchingly exact, unremittingly reliable, slightly badly dressed...
Ok, so the reliability thing will probably continue – after all, who wants to be a jerk? – but clearly a little more excitement and a frisson of rebellion is on the cards from now on.

How else do you explain the world’s most pre-eminent(ly sensible) car maker so completely missing the conventional brief with its oh-so-late entry into the family crossover segment.
It’s like someone sent the un-edited C-HR proof to the 3D printer, and Toyota’s ended up accidentally putting a concept car into production.

My, my – the Toyota C-HR looks… wild
There’s a little too much Honda Civic in the back end for our tastes, and hell yes, the overall design is surely going to date like carrot-cut trousers, but park the C-HR next to a Qashqai and it's clear who’s the rock and roller among the parents outside playschool.
And though Toyota is rather hoping trendy urbanites will represent the bulk of buyers, despite that sloping roofline there is still a reasonable amount of room in the back. What there isn’t, however, is much daylight, since the rear pillar is so big a grown adult can hide behind it like a VIP in the back of a Rolls-Royce Phantom. The kids, we’re strongly suspecting, will not like.

The interior presents other challenges up front. Infotainment screens that stand proud of the dashboard seem to inspire vehement dislike from certain quarters, and the C-HR’s is asymmetrical. This decision almost out-bolds the exterior – especially with the electric blue trim surround that comes as standard on the top spec Dynamic model – and again appears to come directly from the original concept sketches.

Which engine is best?
If you want a diesel, tough luck. There isn’t one, and won’t be. Instead the C-HR comes with the latest Prius hybrid system – combining a 1.8-litre petrol and an electric motor to the tune of 120bhp – or a 114bhp 1.2 turbo that’s got such clever variable valve timing it can swap between Otto and Atkinson injection cycles on the fly.

The hybrid’s ok, though as per usual the CVT auto diminishes the experience, heavy-footed moments exhibiting a curiously ghostly howl. It’s also 60kg heavier than the turbo, so doesn’t quite have the same sharpness of chassis.
We’d pick the 1.2. It’s not as positively torqued as some downsized tiddlers – meaning it can feel rather flat – but Toyota reckons having four cylinders means you should get closer to the claimed 47mpg and it even makes an enthusiastic noise when pushed.

More pertinently, in its most basic front-wheel drive form it’s the only C-HR available with a manual gearbox (CVT and all-wheel drive CVT variant are also offered; the hybrid is fwd only), which improves the driving experience still further. It’s a literal ’box of tricks, too, as it rev matches upshifts as well as downshifts for maximum slickness; Toyota calls it the Intelligent Manual Transmission.
Verdict

Toyota has built a genuinely interesting and engaging vehicle here – and while the Qashqai will hardly be quaking in its boots, the C-HR is certainly a breath of fresh air in the rather staid family crossover segment. Standard kit levels are keen, with an emphasis on safety and technology; only base-spec examples miss out on sat-nav, and you can have an intricately engineered JBL hi-fi system as an option.
Toyota took a risk, and it’s paid off.

2016 Test Drive
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