Toyota C-HR Koba 2WD 2017 Long-term review - 4
Yes, yet another story about the C-HR's stylingMy wife and I are adjusting to a new way of life because our three daughters have all moved out of home in the last year or so. We’ve enjoyed the novelty of finding stuff where we left it – bliss – and not getting up in the morning to pick our way through a living room strewn with empty glasses and food containers to turn off the TV. “Girls, how many times do I have to tell you, switching off the Foxtel does not switch off the TV.”
I’ll admit to a little schadenfreude along the way. That’s a German expression meaning you quietly enjoy the misfortune of others.
Misfortune? Maybe ‘realisation’ is a better description … and by that I mean my daughters’ realisation that living out of home costs significant coin. Rent, food, power, transport and so many other things suddenly are no longer funded by mum and dad.
Who would have thought? Certainly not our daughters, blinded by the prospect of freedom from parental instruction and curbs.
So what has all this got to do with motoring.com.au’s long term Toyota C-HR Koba? Well, it’s about the exterior styling of course, because it’s the aspect everyone talks about.
To be frank there’s nothing else to really distinguish the C-HR from heaps of other Toyotas.
Sure it drives okay, maybe even above average, but history shows Toyota has long been able to produce pleasant-driving vehicles. Even ones which are fun to drive.
There’s nothing special about the interior either. The infotainment centre without Apple CarPlay and with a USB jack which connects right up high in the dashboard is just so annoying. So are the over-size cupholders which astonishingly make it difficult to actually retrieve a take-away coffee cup.
In an earlier review of our C-HR, our own Tim Britten enthused about fitting a bottle of red wine in there, but that’s no use to me when I’m looking for a wake-me-up on a 5am drive to the airport.
So, it’s back to the exterior.
No matter what you make of the C-HR’s looks, you can’t argue they don’t work.
There’s been more attention paid to C-HR’s exterior than, oh, about six generations of Corollas. Look, I’m writing about it again now.
The point is, it’s neither ugly nor good-looking – I’ll go for ugly combined with an annoying level of inconvenience because outward vision is restricted in most directions – but rather it is a Toyota which isn’t bland.
Clearly, there is a trend towards striking styling in the small cross-over segment. The Nissan Juke started it, the C-HR carried the tradition on and now the Hyundai Kona has taken it to a whole new level of ‘what-was-that-car?'
I guess these cars are aimed at snaring the interest of a generation of youngsters who see things differently to old farts like me. Like my daughters.
But there is a problem. My daughters and their contemporaries sure as hell can’t afford a C-HR, a Juke or a Kona. And judging by what we hear about wage stagnation, casualisation of the workforce and reduction in penalty rates, there’s plenty more youngsters in the same situation, barely getting by.
So small SUVs like this must surely be intended to also appeal to people who can afford to buy them. Maybe, like my wife and I, 50-plus couples whose kids have left home.
But the thought of walking out and seeing the C-HR in the driveway every day with its beady eyes, over-size snout, narrow stance and fussy lines just puts me off. Sorry it’s just not nice to look at.
So we bought a Mazda CX-3 instead.
From time to time, we also take the opportunity to spend even longer with a vehicle.
These longer-term tests can be as short as a couple of weeks, but more recently we’ve settled on a three-month period as indicative of ‘normal’ ownership.
Long-term tests give our staff writers and contributors a chance to get to know a car as an owner would. While the car is with us, we pay for fuel, the servicing, and generally use and live with the car as a new owner would.
We believe long-term tests give car buyers a deeper insight into the vehicle on test, but also the qualities behind the brand and nameplate. The extended period also allows us to touch base with the dealer networks in question.
It comes as no surprise that manufacturers tend to have a love-hate relationship with long-term tests. Three months is long enough to fall out of love with the latest and greatest, and start to nit-pick — just like real owners do.
2017 Toyota C-HR Koba (2WD) pricing and specifications:
Price: $33,290 (plus on-road costs) / $34,190 (as tested)
Engine: 1.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 85kW/185Nm
Transmission: Continuously variable
Fuel: 6.4L/100km (ADR Combined) / 6.7L/100km (as tested)
CO2: 144g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP
Tags
- Has a flexible torquey engine
- Handles neatly
- Decent fuel consumption
- The styling
- Hard to see out of
- Awful infotainment system
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