When Toyota killed off the Scion brand you wondered, a bit, what they were going to do with the C-HR they had been showing off for eighteen months or so. Since they sell the car in the rest of the world as a Toyota, they decided to do the same in North America as well.
The C-HR (Coupé-High Riding) is a “B” segment crossover that is set to go up against the likes of the Mazda CX-3, Honda HR-V, Chevy Trax, Jeep Renegade, and Nissan Juke. In Toyota’s presentation for the C-HR, they talked about just how important this segment is for them, sighting that by 2020 they project 1-million sales a year of small crossovers in the U.S.
So what is the C-HR, why should you care, who is Gomer Pyle and what should be we surprised about when it comes to Toyota?
First and foremost, this is not your standard Saltine Cracker Toyota. In every way that the Corolla iM is different to the standard Corolla, that is C-HR to every other Toyota crossover. Within five minutes of driving it, you can tell this vehicle spent quite a bit of time in Europe being developed. Your first indication is the inclusion of SACHS damper on all four corners, and a double wishbone rear suspension. Well controlled is the best way to describe the ride quality of the C-HR. Yes it’s a cliché, but in this case it’s true, it rides like a properly tuned Euro car, it’s along the lines of the Golf in ride quality. Steering is also accurate with decent road feel. Personally, I would have liked a little more weight in in the wheel, but if you weren’t told this was an electric rack, you wouldn’t guess that it was. There was no on-center numbness and actions were quick and direct.
Driving in and around Austin, Texas we went over a number of different road surfaces. In some cases where the road was aggressively textured you did get a good amount of road noise, yet on smoother roads, it seemed to better than you’d expect in the class, certainly better than the Mazda CX-3. Being a crossover, no matter how well designed it is to cheat the wind, you do get some noise from around the a-pillars. You notice it because the rest of the cabin is rather quite. You don’t get the boominess from the rear hatch area that you do in some SUV and crossovers, Toyota has done a good job with the NVH.
Power for the C-HR comes from a two-liter four-cylinder engine making 144 horsepower at 6,100 RPM and 139 ft/lbs of torque at 3,900 RPM, and this is backed by a CVT transmission as the only option. Fuel economy is EPA rated at 27 city, 31 highway and 29 combined.
The C-HR will come as a front drive only, no all-wheel drive as an option, and while a hybrid version will be available in Europe and other parts of the world, there will not be one available in the U.S., which is really a missed opportunity to stand out in the segment.
Let’s talk about the CVT for a second. For a CVT it’s pretty good. Most “good” CVT’s are usually backed by engines that make a lot of torque down low. While the C-HR doesn’t have a high torque number, it does make its peak number in the middle of the powerband, rather than near the top, which is oh so very common in current small displacement, naturally aspirated engines. It also is VERY aggressive in it’s “downshifts” Now, it might not be Michael Caruso aggressive downshifting, but it’s not far from it. Coming up to a stop, it was fairly common to see the tach blip up to 4,000 rpm as it “changed down” on it’s own.
Materials on the inside are very good for the class. Sure there is hard plastic around, but there are plenty of soft-touch materials as well. One area that I usually look for when it comes to hard plastic is the center console, where often times your knees lean up against it. The lead engineer for the C-HR is 6’2”, and it was very apparent that the driving position was done with him in mind. My knee didn’t touch the center console, in fact, the leg area for the driver was much wider than is standard for the class. The seat has a large range fore and aft, and the steering column telescopes as well as tilts. The cockpit layout and design itself feels very inspired by the current Lexus IS.
The infotainment system is the seven-inch unit seen in the Toyota 86 and Corolla iM. It’s a good unit, but Toyota still does not offer Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. The system does have Bluetooth and comes with six speakers. It also has what Toyota are calling “Driver Distraction Secure Audio”. Things like album art are removed from the display when the car is in gear and other information is limited.
While the C-HR does have a rear view camera, the display is NOT in the head unit, rather it is in the rear view mirror. It’s an odd choice, and if you owned the vehicle you’d adapted quickly to it, but it’s not as intuitive as the industry standard of having it in the head unit.
Toyota is loading up the C-HR with safety systems. It will have Toyota Safety Sense with pre-collision and pedestrian detection, ten airbags, smart stop, and full speed range dynamic cruise control.
There is a diamond theme that abounds both inside and out. Inside there are diamond styling indents in the headliner, the speaker grills and door panels, on the exterior there are angles abound. Unlike with the new Prius, these are well done, not overly done. In the briefing Toyota said they wanted a “sensual shape”, I’m not sure it’s that, but overall its a decent looking car. The nose is a little too Corolla and the tail lights look straight off the latest generation of Civic, but from the side view and rear 3/4 view it looks good.
One styling option that looked very good in person is what Toyota are calling their “R-Codes” A Ruby Flare Pearl, Radiant Green Mica, or Blue Eclipse Metallic with a white roof. In person, it really stands out and should be a popular option.
Being a “coupé” design, there is no sacrifice in rear headroom, again six-footers should have no issues back there with head or leg room, however, it does cut into the cargo area. With the back seat folded down, and thankfully it does fold fully flat, the cargo area does open to a good sized space. According to Toyota, they put 768 cans of Red Bull in the back without having to stack them.
When Toyota announced a new crossover, most people who would call themselves car enthusiasts couldn’t run away fast enough. And give what Toyota has produced over the last number of years, they’d not be wrong. But here is the “Surprise, Surprise, Surprise”, the C-HR is as engaging to drive as the supposed driver focused Mazda CX-3. That is not hyperbole, as when I returned from driving the C-HR I picked up a CX-3 as my press car so this is all very fresh in the mind.
The value for money is going to be very solid as well. Toyota is keeping the Scion theme alive with the C-HR in that it comes in two trim levels XLE at $23,460 with destination and XLE Premium at $25,310 with delivery, and both will be almost fully optioned as delivered.
For some people the lack of an all-wheel drive option will be a deal killer for them, others will not like the styling and as we said earlier not offering a hybrid option when the car is built off the same platform as the current Prius is a big miss. That said, if you are shopping in this segment, you should at least drive the C-HR and decide for yourself where it ranks in your priorities. The C-HR will arrive in showrooms in April.
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