The 2019 Toyota C-HR is in its second year. At first glance, you are instantly reminded of the Nissan Juke but the C-HR is a bit funkier. It is a bulbous, tall/small vehicle that is sharply angled and steeply raked with bulging wheel arches. The C-HR’s total styling is, well, aggressive, expressive, and appealing. Even though the crossover’s target audience is Millennial, there are those in the Poligrip set who just might want to get in on some of the crossover’s fun factor appeal.
The C-HR is categorized as a compact vehicle, but don’t let its small size fool you because what it’s really hiding is a crossover with accommodating proportions inside. Besides the spaciousness for heads and legs, the crossover’s interior is well executed, and its standouts include road-trip-ready comfy seating, first-rate materials used throughout, soft-touch surfaces, and well-thought-out/logical controls. The C-HR, however, falls short in the cargo area by having one of the smallest maximum spaces in its class (19 cubic feet behind the rear seats, 36.4 when they’re folded). Another issue is the wide rear pillars that will make you lean forward to see what is going on around you (so blind-spot monitoring will be a necessity).
A new addition to the 2019 model year C-HR is that the Toyota Entune 2.0 system now comes with Apple CarPlay that is standard on all trim levels. The feature allows smartphone pairing to the vehicle’s 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system in order to access important features like your phone’s navigation and music.
Safety is high on Toyota’s list of must-haves. There’s an eclectic collection of driver assistance and safety features in the C-HR that includes forward-collision mitigation with automatic emergency braking and pedestrian detection, lane-departure warning with steering assist, and blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert.
What lies beneath the C-HR’s hood is a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder unit that cranks out 144 horsepower and 139 lb-ft of torque. On “go” the test vehicle, the XLE, got off to an anemic start and acceleration at times was an uphill battle but all was not lost! Overall, maneuvering the C-HR was easy, the ride quality was noteworthy, road thump absorption was admirable, and body roll was contained. The C-HR is pretty agile and fun to drive despite its 3,000-pounds-plus heft. Even though the compact’s fuel consumption is not exactly class-leading, it ain’t half bad with guesstimates coming in at 27 mpg/city and 31 mpg/highway.
The C-HR has attention-grabbing looks, a ride that’s compliant, composed, and is backed by Toyota’s rep for excellent build quality and reliability. So if you want to stand out and satisfy that youthful itch, the C-HR is your vehicle!
Pricing starts at $20,995. Need more info? www.Toyota.com