Stunning C-HR crossover
And the award for the 2017 Car That Most Resembles a concept car is... Many cars can be described as individual but Toyota's new crossover C-HR – which stands for Coupe HighRider – really is a head-turner in a “what that” style.
For the model, placed in the small SUV sector, stays remarkably true to the general features of the concept car which attracted a lot of attention when it was revealed at the 2014 Paris Motor Show.
A crossover between hatchback, coupe and SUV, it’s a futuristic blend of angles and curves with a style of its own.
Whereas Nissan’s Qashqai has got the small SUV market pretty much cornered now, it was Toyota’s RAV4 which paved the way in the 1990s for these uber popular cars.
The C-HR fits nicely in the tyre marks of the pioneering Rav 4 now that recent versions have grown bigger and bigger with the years.
This is a strictly 21st-century car. With its dramatic, scowling front end, heavily angled and indented flanks, severely tapering window line, big striking alloys, squashed rear end and prominent roof overhang at the rear - not to mention the rear door handles hidden in the frame of the door – it looks every inch a car that wouldn't have been out of place in Judge Dredd.
Inside, too, things are definitely 21st-century. A big glossy media screen dominates the dash, but all the buttons and dials are easy to operate. The seats are comfortable enough and the plastics are decent quality, all put together well, although there are some scratchy surfaces lower down in the cabin.
A lovely blue colour scheme lights up the edges of the dash, completing a stylish – and stylised – interior.
SUVs are normally bigger than your average hatchback but the C-HR does suffer a little for its dramatic styling.
Headroom’s a little tight in the rear due to that sloping roofline but it’s roomy enough in the front.
Entry into the rear might annoy gran and granddad but legroom’s not too bad. The boot’s a decent size, too.
Toyota are at the forefront of hybrid technology and the C-HR comes with a 1.8-litre petrol engine / electric motor, but it also comes in the 1.2 turbo petrol version which I drove, powered by the same engine that appears in the Auris.
0-60mph in around 11 seconds indicates that this isn’t a flyer, and indeed you're at times left wishing things there was a bit more grunt, but by keeping the revs high the 1.2 turbo engine provides decent performance, and will accelerate nicely when well timed.