Home News Reviews Toyota CH-R Review and Test Drive

Toyota CH-R Review and Test Drive

Have Toyota finally got some design mojo back? I know plenty of TT readers will be aghast at me saying this but, the days of the old MR2, Celica and Supra are over (for now) and the compact SUV is king of the sales chart.

With Nissan having such success with the distinctively styled Juke, Toyota has turned this ethos up to 11 with their CH-R and made something that really gets noticed.

When you get quite a few cars to test drive then you learn to read people’s reactions and always take note of the cars that get a lot of attention. With the CH-R this happened a lot!

As you can image, there was a specific demographic who like the CH-R and that was women across a broad spectrum of age ranges. Despite internal space being at a premium (we’ll touch on that later) from families to pensioners, everyone seemed to love the look of Toyotas latest design.

Our car was a 1.2 ‘Excel’ in white with a manual six-speed ‘box and 114bhp. In terms of trim level, the Excel gives you: 18” alloys, part leather seats, Intelligent Park Assist with front & rear parking sensors, keyless entry and start and an upgraded 8” infotainment and nav display.

At just over £24,000, this does make the Toyota a few thousand pounds more expensive than the equivalent Nissan Juke, but it does feel a more premium product. Having said that, for this price you could get a 218PS Nissan Juke Nismo RS, so if going quickly in your compact SUV is important then you’ve got an obvious alternative.

The 1.2 petrol engine in our test car actually felt a lot gutsier than the 10.9 sec to 60 would suggest. With a nice shift from the manual gearbox, it was actually quite fun to navigate around town – certainly a lot better than some of the midsized SUVs we’ve tested recently.  While we at TT are always looking for performance and handling, sometimes it’s important to realise that ‘fit for purpose’ is what really matters. In this case, the Toyota CH-R certainly fits the bill as a fun alternative to something from the supermini segment.

The interior styling is another area where Toyota has excelled at with the CH-R. Compared to some of its stablemates, the it has a much classier interior (especially with the brown leather door cards) where the colours, layout and design really work.

Where the CH-R fairs less well is in the rear. In keeping the CH-R’s name meaning “Coupe High-Rider”, the rear seats are similar to those you might find in a coupe. Although legroom is actually OK, the doors and windows are very small meaning installing and getting a child into a car seat is a less than pleasant experience. Once children are in the back, they will not be able to see much out the windows which will lead to inevitable complaints.

Having said all this, we used the CH-R for an Ikea run and it managed to fit in a couple of large boxes that conventional coupes could never have handled.

If you’re after a premium alternative to the Nissan Juke, then the Toyota CH-R is worth a look. It’s well kitted out, looks distinctive and drives well in town.

Toyota C-HR 1.2 Manual Excel

PRICE: £24,065
ENGINE: 1.2-litre petrol
POWER: 114bhp
PERFORMANCE: Top speed 118 mph, 0-62 mph 10.9  secs
CONSUMPTION: 47.1 mpg (official combined)
CO2: 136 g/km

TT Rating:

Previous articleDriving test changes from Monday 4 December 2017
Next articleJaguar XF S Review and Test Drive
Tea maker, car tester and event organiser. I must do other stuff too...daddy and DIY #fail master