C-HR aimed at ‘young adventurers’

THIS mad-looking machine, all bulges, curves and edges, is the Toyota C-HR.

It stands for Coupe High-Rider. And the skateboard and Gibson guitar on the wall behind the man from Toyota at its launch hinted at what he was about to tell us.

The C-HR is aimed at a young audience, he said. They’ ll be customers with an “active” lifestyle and a “spirit of adventure”.

That’s because car companies fantasise about young mountaineers and explorers buying their SUVs and crossovers when, actually, the buyers are people like you and me.

This new Toyota crossover sits somewhere under the RAV- 4, above the similarly unusuallooking Nissan Juke, and nearer to the Qashqai on cost. Really, it’s a sort of pound shop version of the BMW X6.

The C-HR is so covered in odd shapes, none more wacky than the rear lamps that stick out like gargoyles, that it’s rather hard to form an opinion on its looks.

Interesting, is my conclusion. The drawback with the coupelook is that there’s not a lot of space in the back. Tall adults (there’s space for only two) of around 6ft will not be comfortable. It’s pretty claustrophobic in the back, too, which Toyota C-HR Crossover might not go down well with the kids. Then there’s the interior. Toyota’s designers have used virtually every material and trick in the book on the C-HR’s cabin. It has fake carbon fibre, leather, satin chrome, piano black and blue illumination for the instruments and switchgear – plus a strip of blue trim that swoops down the door trims. Seem-