Sharp looks and great to drive
I WAITED quite a long time to get my hands on Toyota’s latest smaller coupe crossover the C-HR but it was well worth it.
Coupe crossovers have been around in larger sizes – think BMW X6 and Mercedes GLE – for a few years, but all the smaller and medium offerings are more family-orientated estates apart from the Nissan Juke and its styling and size are not to everyone’s taste.
Enter the funky and angular C-HR, which was developed specifically for the European market and comes with sharp and swooping lines more akin to a concept car than a production reality.
I covered more than 300 miles over all kinds of roads when I drove the 1.2 turbo petrol, and from what I can gather this is the one to buy if you enjoy your driving.
The other offering is a hybrid with the same petrol/electric/ automatic powertrain as the Prius, so it is going to be cheaper to run and better for company car drivers.
Some models – all with the same CVT automatic – are available with four-wheel drive, but I drove the twowheel-drive (2WD) model.
Strangely, there are no diesels in the range and none are planned, which seems a little like Toyota shooting themselves in the foot.
I thoroughly enjoyed the 1.2 turbo, which produces 113bhp and drives through a clever six-speed manual gearbox.
It has decent low speed pulling power, but the long sixth gear is not good for much under 35mph.
Equipment in the Dynamic Leather model I drove includes climate control, sat nav, alloys, Touch 2 infotainment system, rain-sensing wipers and an auto-dimming rearview mirror that worked better than many others. It also comes with leather upholstery, heated seats, metallic paint with a black roof, LED headlamps, traction control, parking sensors and cruise control.
The Toyota C-HR 1.2 Dynamic Leather I drove costs £27,100.