Best of Both Worlds?
ToyotaC-HRDynamicHybrid 1.8CVT,Model on test: £30,760 ROAD TEST BY TOBY AIKEN
I’ve driven a number of electric vehicles, andmany,many conventional petrol engined cars, but my experiencewith hybrid drive systems ismore limited. This Toyota would bemy third hybrid and, so far, I have been impressedwith the concept, but in reality there’s been something stoppingme fromsigning upwhole-heartedly. To date I’ve driven aBMWi8 hybrid
-more than £100k and only two seats, so not particularly practical… and a Lexus 4x4 hybrid,whichwas fantastic,with one or twominor reservations (butmore of that in a later review), sowhatwould Imake of Toyota’sC-HR? The design is
fantastic.Areal step up in the small SUVmarket inmy
opinion. It has some great features and sharp, angular-lines all over the body thatmake it look slightly space- like… as if it could dockwith the international space station and not look out of place. It is a car that Iwas verymuch looking forward to driving - not least ofwhich because itwould be a potential contender formy own carwhenmy current lease runs out. So, there is a lot riding on this test. Fromthe outside, it looks great, it
has a very spacious boot and room for five adultswithout issue. The cabin is a great place - some truly original layers ofmaterials in and around the dashboard that look good and on thewhole feel nice to the touch. There are a fewpointswhere the trimdoesn’t feel quite quality
enough for a car priced above £30k, but this could be forgiven andwas not thatmuch of an issue. The central touchscreen control
systemwas great - relatively easy to navigate,with some compelling graphics, especially around the energy delivery - graphics that change depending on howmuch engine versus electrical power you use, aswell as showingwhen you are driving economically enough to recharge the onboard battery packs. There’s a subtle blue lining around
the interior - blue is Toyota’s signature colour for their hybrid cars - and this offsets the dark greys nicely to set the scene. The blue line flows around the dash, and screen and gives a funky futuristic feel
42 JULY /AUGUST 2018 THECHELTONIAN
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