… Toyota C-HR 1.2T Excel …
Smooth and svelte it isn’t. Striking and good looking it is. It would have been so easy for Toyota to take the well trodden route of styling another boxy looking SUV/Crossover, whatever it might be, but they didn’t and the C-HR is all the better for it.
The car generated quite a bit of interest at the Pirelli Rally and that’s something coming from folk who normally get excited about R5s and old-school Escorts. Quite a few stopped to ask what it was and if I liked it.
But competition car it isn’t, we’ll leave that to the Yaris WRC boys. The C-HR might look a bit futuristic but underneath the bonnet there is a much more modest 1.2 litre, 4 cylinder turbocharged petrol engine pumping out all of 114 bhp. There is also a 1.8 litre hybrid option but despite the extra power it’s not really that much quicker.
So stick with the wee engine and enjoy the fun. It actually feels quicker than it is. The nought to 62 mph time is a bit disappointing, barely beating 11 seconds from a standing start, but on the move the turbo keeps things interesting. At no time did I feel I needed/wanted more power, I just enjoyed the ride.
Ride quality is good, no doubt aided by the 225/50 section Michelin tyres on the 18 inch rims adding an extra amount of bump and pothole absorption and the seating is excellent. Even tracking across the Kielder ‘B’ and ‘C’ roads, the seating and suspension were both kind to the driver’s posterior.
This an engaging and entirely likeable practical car, but, and there is always a ‘but’ isn’t there? I didn’t like the tablet style touchscreen high up in the centre of the dash. It looked as though it had been stuck on as an afterthought. Naturally, it hadn’t. It had been placed just to the left of the driver’s sightline so it had been well planned at the design stage.
Of course, that’s the best place for it, and Toyota is not alone in sticking tablet style screens on their dash, but that still doesn’t mean have to like it. I suppose the main thing I dislike is having to search for functions and that can be distracting. In fact, the dashboard itself is sculpted to flow around the steering wheel and the driver, like a sports car, and results in an entirely comfortable cabin
On the other hand, I’ve never had a car equipped with touchscreen controls for long enough to become familiar with menus, options and stabbing the right area. Speaking to other drivers, familiarity does come with use. However, there is a decent selection of buttons on the dash and the steering wheel to ensure that most regularly needed functions like heating and radio controls fall readily to hand.
There is a CVT option, but I’m no fan of these either. They’re Ok for city use but I find them disconcerting when cutting about the countryside. However, the test car had the 6 speed gearbox and was all the better for it, able to exploit its modest power output and enjoy the drive.
Toyota claims a combined fuel consumption figure of 47.1 mpg and I think that could easily be bettered by sensible drivers. On the motorway run to Carlisle and back, plus the hacking back and forth round Kielder Water I averaged 45 mpg which I thought was pretty good.
On the Motorway it’s as fast as anything else around it – provided you stick to the 70 mph speed limit – and there’s enough power and torque on the back roads to keep you smiling.
Prices start from around £21,000 which pitches it nearer the top end of the Crossover market, but then you have to pay a little more for style, eh? The Excel specification test car also had a pearlescent paint finish costing £795 extra and the Premium pack at £1595 which included full leather and a superb JBL sound system.
I liked the looks, I liked the car and I liked the options, so would I have one? Yup, and happily so.