The plug-in hybrid Toyota C-HR has proven to be a great family car over recent weeks as I put it through a long-term test.
Charging it has been simple and easy, either on my Pod Point home charger or on more powerful chargers at the office, and it has ensured that suburban commuting can be done emissions-free and very peacefully – this is a very refined, premium-grade car.
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With a real life capability to cover 30 miles on a charge, it only needed hooking up two or three times per week on average for a few hours each time. And on longer journeys, more reliant on the petrol engine and hybrid system, typically it would still achieve almost 60mpg on the trip computer.
The C-HR’s premium positioning is reflected in its design features too, like the clever pop-out door handles and the bespoke C-HR lighting on the rear. This car has thoughful aspects that get it noticed by the neighbours.
Right from the first glance, the C-HR PHEV makes a strong statement. Toyota has taken a sharp departure from the usual mundane crossover SUV designs, delivering a car that looks futuristic and dynamic. Its coupe-like roofline, aggressive angular shapes, and sporty accents all make it seem like a concept car in a sea of conservative crossovers, which is one of its most appealing features.
Of course, this bold design comes with trade-offs. The sloping roof and smaller rear windows reduce visibility a bit. Thankfully excellent driver assistance systems fitted as standard, such as blind spot monitoring and a 360-degree camera view, negate this and ensure that manouvring the car is not a challenge.
Overall the comfort levels in the Toyota C-HR are superb. Teenagers have been perfectly content in the back on long journeys from Cambridgeshire up to Yorkshire, and this is certainly no car that makes you want to stop religiously for a stretch every couple of hours, even if its driver monitor might occasionally accuse your attention of waning.
The most obvious negative for this car is its boot space. If potential buyers are swayed more by absolute practicality than its style, they should be guided elsewhere in the showroom to a self-charging hybrid version, as I found that the weekly shop for the family couldn’t quite fit in the boot, due to the PHEV system taking up some capacity, and so it had to overspill onto a spare passenger seat.
This Toyota C-HR scooped both the dealer-voted Hybrid Car of the Year trophy and the New Car of the Year trophy at the AM Awards in May this year, and from my experience it’s a deserving winner. It’s a compelling proposition for Toyota dealerships, even more so with the headline PCP offer for the PHEV combines a 1.9% APR and a £2,500 deposit contribution plus a Toyota Homecharge supplied and installed for free.
Toyota C-HR PHEV Excel Auto
Price: £42,920
Efficiency: 313.8mpg (WLTP), 19g/km CO2 emissions
All electric range: 40.4 miles
Top speed: 111mph
0-62mph: 7.2secs