Toyota C-HR review - stylish and efficient, but lacks rear space

Verdict - Is the Toyota C-HR a good car?

The Toyota C-HR is very efficient without sacrificing driving appeal, comes with lots of kit and benefits from Toyota’s reputation for reliability and a long warranty. However, it’s also not all that practical, with a small boot, tight rear seats and limited towing ability. If you can look past those issues, and the C-HR’s rising price in higher trims, there’s certainly plenty that appeals.

Toyota C-HR models, specs and alternatives

With its fashionable SUV-coupe styling and affordable running costs, the C-HR has proved to be a smash hit in Europe, with more than 840,000 sales so far. Toyota has been careful not to change the recipe too much for this all-new generation, improving its design to bring it up to date, adding tech and ushering in a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) for the first time.

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It certainly isn’t short of rivals in the important mid-sized SUV class, from hybrids like the Honda HR-V to all-electric models such as the Volvo EX30 and practical family picks including the Skoda Karoq. There’s arguably more choice of powertrains, shapes and sizes on the market than at any other time in history. If you want an EV, Toyota offers just one model at the moment, but the bZ4X is more expensive, costing from just over £46,000.

The C-HR is seeking to cover more bases than ever, spanning from the relatively affordable 1.8-litre hybrid all the way up to the PHEV in top GR Sport and Premier Edition trims that don’t look quite such good value. In every case, the C-HR is efficient and sends power to its front wheels via an automatic gearbox. We also found it handles with aplomb, but that its CVT transmission is best suited to a fairly relaxed driving style – if you want a performance SUV, the Cupra Formentor is a better bet.

Inside, the C-HR boasts a well-designed interior that’s appealing to sit in and offers a decent level of technology. It also earns point for sustainability, with lower trims featuring upholstery from recycled plastic bottles. It’s less rosy further back in the cabin, though, with less room in the back and boot than most of its SUV rivals. In fact, the C-HR offers little advantage over a family hatchback in terms of practicality.

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Toyota C-HR alternatives

SUVs

• Skoda Karoq
• Cupra Formentor
• Hyundai Kona

Electric SUVs

• Volvo EX30
• MG4
• Hyundai Kona Electric

The Toyota C-HR is well-known for being a hybrid model, with only a small number of non-hybrid petrol cars sold in the UK early on as part of the first generation model lineup. While the choice of hybrid petrol engines continues into this second-generation car, the big news is the arrival of a PHEV option for the first time.

While we’d still recommend one of the hybrids for buyers looking for an affordable urban runabout, the PHEV will rightly appeal to buyers considering an EV, but not sure if they (or the charging infrastructure) are quite ready to make the switch. In many ways it offers the best of both worlds, providing an EV range of up to 41 miles for zero-emissions driving near home, along with a petrol engine for those occasions where you need to travel further afield at short notice.

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Unlike some of the latest PHEVs with rapid charging, it’s a shame the C-HR’s battery pack only accepts peak charging speeds of 7kW. There won’t be much point using a public charger to add range (unless it’s very convenient to do so), but plug it in at home and the battery will be fully replenished in around 2.5 hours.  

Insurance

While insurance groups haven’t been confirmed for the new model yet, ratings for the hybrid versions are unlikely to differ much from the outgoing car, spanning 15 to 24 out of 50. We do, however, expect the plug-in hybrid to sit in a higher band, both because of its extra performance and its higher value and complexity.

While we expect the C-HR’s handling to be fairly similar across the range, how it goes will off course depend on the powertrain you pick. We’d recommend the 1.8-litre we’ve tested for short hops and town driving, where it excels. If you want to stick with a hybrid, the 2.0-litre has a more convincing turn of speed for joining motorways, overtaking and driving in hilly areas, while the plug-in hybrid has its own unique personality.

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We were impressed with the C-HR’s road manners, with a supple feel from the suspension over bumps, without it feeling soft enough to lack control or composure. It’s a trait that should work well in the UK, where the roads are both lumpy but also demanding, with lots of twists and turns. We’d avoid the biggest alloy wheels, though, because we found the ride got worse the bigger they were – measuring up to 20 inches for the GR Sport.

Hybrid models

The range kicks off with a familiar hybrid packing a 1.8-litre petrol engine, electric motor and small battery. It doesn’t appear very quick on paper, but the linear power delivery of its CVT automatic gearbox helps it to keep up with traffic around town. It’s also able to switch off its petrol engine an impressive amount in urban driving, considering the small size of its self-charging hybrid battery. Like before, it’s also a car best suited to calm driving, because heavy acceleration will see its engine revs flare.

With a good dose of extra power, the 2.0-litre hybrid should feel considerably more speedy when we get a chance to test it. If it’s anything like the outgoing C-HR, don’t expect it to be an overly sporty SUV, just one that’s better able to keep up with faster-paced traffic. 

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Plug-in hybrid models  

Toyota is synonymous with hybrid models, so perhaps that’s why it has been rather slow to introduce PHEV and battery electric models. Now a C-HR with a plug has arrived, it should broaden the appeal of the already-popular SUV to even more buyers, particularly company car drivers thanks to its cheaper Benefit-in-Kind (BIK) taxation.

Its 0-62mph dash certainly makes it the quickest C-HR too, although that likely won’t be of concern to the drivers looking to squeeze a few more miles out of the battery before the 2.0-litre petrol engine kicks in.

Electric models 

There’s no fully electric version of the C-HR on the cards yet, so if you want a zero-emission (at the tailpipe at least) Toyota, you’ll need to step up to the Toyota bZ4X. There are quite a few electric small SUVs to pick from too, including the Hyundai Kona – our favourite small family car – and models like the MG4, Peugeot E-2008 and Volvo EX30.

There was a time when Toyota interiors were known for being functional and rather stark, but the original C-HR was one of the first to buck that trend. The new model continues this upward trajectory, with a sophisticated interior design and plenty of squishy materials, as well as upmarket suede-style upholstery on top trim levels.

Lots of the materials are sustainable too, with Icon and Design trims featuring upholstery using recycled bottles, and only the very top trim getting leather seats. 

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Infotainment and navigation

We’ve tested the Design trim so far, which is expected to be the most popular seller in the UK. Despite being towards the lower end of the versions on offer, you still get two 12.3-inch displays. These are mounted high on the dashboard, so they’re easy to see at a glance and it’s not too much of a stretch to reach the touchscreen. Some of the menus aren’t the most user-friendly, but the system's responsiveness is quite snappy.

It’s worth noting that the entry-level C-HR gets a smaller eight-inch touchscreen, which we’re yet to test, but still comes packing Android Auto/Apple CarPlay and its own navigation.

There’s plenty of room for front occupants, but we were slightly disappointed with the second row given the C-HR’s SUV billing. Its back doors are pretty small for a start, making it harder to access the back seats or load in a bulky child car seat than in a rival like the Skoda Karoq. 

Once in the back, head and legroom is only average, and the dark headlining, small windows and integrated headrests of the front seats all add up to a fairly claustrophobic feel. It’s a shame, because it makes the C-HR’s rear bench feel smaller and less accommodating than it actually is.

The C-HR’s coupe-style design also affects rear visibility to an extent, because while the rear windscreen is actually reasonably deep, the small rear side windows hamper your over-the-shoulder view.

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Boot space

If you’re coming to the C-HR from a hatchback, its 388-litre (364 litres for the 2.0-litre version) boot will likely prove to be a sideways step in terms of practicality, but it’s quite a long way down on SUV rivals. We suspect the PHEV will get an even smaller figure owing to its larger battery pack, and its official figure is still TBC. If you need an SUV for shopping trips and weekends away, the C-HR should be fine, but it may prove frustrating for family holidays or moving bulky items around.

The Skoda Karoq might be in the same class, but it can carry 521 litres behind its rear seats, while the SEAT Ateca is only around 10 litres smaller. The C-HR’s boot also seems lacking in clever features, with a fixed height floor and rudimentary 60:40 split and fold rear seats. Some rivals offer sliding rear seats with 40:20:40 folding and reclining for added convenience and comfort, along with an adjustable floor to optimise the load space and handles inside the boot to flip the rear seats down.  

The signs are promising that the C-HR should prove reliable. Despite being on the market for a number of years, the outgoing model was still ranked in a respectable 25th position out of the top 75 models in our 2023 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey, with solid scores for build quality and reliability. Toyota also performed fairly well, coming 12th out of 32 manufacturers overall, and a strong fifth for reliability, with only 15% of owners reporting a first-year fault – compared to 19% and 27% for Peugeot and Volvo respectively. 

There's added reassurance thanks to Toyota's long warranty, which can last for up to 10 years – so long as you don't mind keeping it serviced by Toyota.

Safety

Toyota doesn’t skimp on safety kit either, with every trim level getting features like autonomous emergency braking (AEB) and blind-spot warnings as standard, along with kit like automatic high-beam headlights, road-sign warnings, adaptive cruise control and lane-keep assist. There’s more equipment as you go up the range, with Design adding useful tech like rear cross-traffic alert to avoid prangs as you reverse out of parking spaces or driveways.

While it’s an impressive roster, we found some of the systems overly intrusive on our first test drive, which could lead drivers to turn them off. The traffic-sign recognition is the biggest offender, producing an audible bong if you stray slightly over the speed limit, and each time the limit changes. It can be disabled, but the process of doing so is rather irksome.