The Toyota C-HR is back. Sort of.
If you didn’t know the C-HR was ever here, much less that it had gone away, you’re in good company. It was an oddly proportioned, kinda stubby-looking, kinda slow (0-60 in 11.0 seconds) 144-horsepower gasoline-powered subcompact SUV sold here in the 2018 through 2022 model years, never cracking 50,000 units sold in even its best year.
Toyota replaced it with the much more popular Corolla Cross (“On the Move,” March 2026) and most observers who had seen a C-HR thought they’d seen the last of it.
The vehicle, they had. The name, they had not. Toyota is giving the hyphenated badge one more go, this time on a new electric small SUV, the mechanical twin of the Subaru Uncharted.
For those who remember my lukewarm early reaction to the first fruits of the Toyota/Subaru EV partnership, the Toyota bZ4X (“On the Move,” June 2023) and the Subaru Solterra (“On the Move,” April 2024), good news. Both of those vehicles have been vastly improved in their second generations, and the lessons learned are on display in the C-HR and Uncharted as well.
The new C-HR is well-proportioned, crisply-styled and slow it is not, with 338 horsepower and 0-60 happening in 4.9 seconds. While not up to sport-sedan levels of enthusiasm, the C-HR achieves a decent balance of ride comfort and handling accuracy.
Its range per charge is decent, at an EPA-estimated 287 miles. On a DC fast charger, recharging from 10% to 80% should take about half an hour. With a Level 2 charger, the type most common for home charging, 10% to 100% should take seven hours.
The interior is modern and unfussy. Yes, there’s a big screen in the center, but there’s also a driver information pod where it should be and knobs to control temperature and audio volume. Material quality and workmanship are up to Toyota standards.
There are two trim levels, and our test vehicle was the top-of-the-line CH-R XSE – base price $39,000 ($40,450 including destination). The standard equipment list is too long to recite here, but highlights include all-wheel drive, a comprehensive suite of active safety features, 20-inch wheels, rain-sensing wipers, a power liftgate, a six-speaker audio system, two wireless phone chargers and heated front seats with a heated steering wheel.
Ours also had some extra-cost options – $1,000 for a panoramic glass roof, $600 for an upgraded JBL premium audio system, $500 for the Tandoori and Midnight Black two-tone paint job, $339 for carpeted floor and cargo mats and $90 for wheel locks. That brings the as-tested price to $42,979.
That’s a very attractive price for an EV with this much practicality and performance. You may never have seen the original Toyota C-HR. I think this one has a great chance of being a car you see in traffic every day.
