Toyota C-HR Koba AWD 2018 review

People literally stopped me in the street to ask “what is that?” They were intrigued. It’s sportier than any regular SUV on the road, and almost looks like a rally car, which in an SUV is an interesting concept. It’s also really cool. You actually do feel a bit like you are driving a rally car when you’re inside.

The colour combinations (I drove the charcoal, but there is a bright yellow version that’ll get your heart racing) with the shiny black roof is of particular note. I mean, who or what is this car trying to be?

This is the kind of car that you get when you’re in between life stages. You might already have a baby, or have one on the way, or have very young children. You know you should be thinking about an SUV but you can’t quite bring yourself to plunge headfirst into a traditional 'family' looking vehicle, but a hatch is too small.

Fair enough. This car is for those people who haveone toe in the family car category, and the rest of the foot firmly out of the family car category. There’s no reason to give it all up just because you have kids, you don’t need a boring car. This car looks anything but boring.

When I first saw it, I was a bit concerned that my four-year old and six-year old would be squished, or wouldn’t find it comfortable. But climb inside, because the interior is surprisingly spacious. There’s enough legroom in the front, and enough space in the back for a whole family of four to fit comfortably. Even a third child in the back would be fine.

There’s no extra space like a Kluger, granted, but when you don’t need it, you don’t miss it. This is a small SUV and there is definitely enough room for the four us to fit without feeling like we’re in a too-tight jar.

Another big tick from the family car reviewer. If the fuel is cheap, everyone’s happy, right? And a small 1.2L engine uses less fuel than a bigger one. Toyota claims a 6.5L/100km on the combined cycle, and on the last two Cars Guide tests, we got 7.7L and 7.9 L respectively. That’s certainly on the cheaper end of good.

The C-HR has seven airbags, including side curtain airbags for the back passengers. There are two ISOFIX points in the back, plus three top tether points. It comes with Auto Emergency Brakes, which means the car will stop for you if you happen to be distracted (though it doesn’t work if you’re travelling under 20km/h, so watch yourself in slow traffic). Plus it comes with a bunch of other things - blind spot monitoring, a reverse parking camera, and front and rear parking sensors, active cruise control, and a lane departure system that will take over the steering if it can sense you’re drifting.

Now for the five things I thought could do with a bit more thinking on Toyota’s part.

Now, while there is enough space in the back, the way the car is designed and it’s sporty edge brings up the side panels at the rear to a point, which results in a triangular panel, right near the heads of the back passengers, where a bigger window would normally be. This brings a sense of darkness in the back seat.

While that’s cosy and certainly good if you want your kids to go to sleep, it takes away that sense of airiness, that sense of lightness. The back is not small, but those panels make it feel less spacious than it is.

They also provide some visibility problems - I found myself craning my neck out more than once to make sure there were no cars coming. It’s not poor visibility as such, but it’s not as good as it could be. So as long as you’re willing to sacrifice that for a sporty looking vehicle, you’ll be fine.

This wasn’t a huge problem, because the car is small, so the air does travel to the back quite well, but it’s just something Toyota could have done better than the competition.

Most of the other small SUVs don’t have rear air vents either, and this could have been one easy way to one-up them in their already established market foothold, but they didn’t. I’m voting yes to rear air vents because my children get hot in their car seats.