2026 Toyota C-HR Review — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:00] This is the new 2026 Toyota C-HR, and it's a fully electric small crossover. The old Toyota C-HR, several years ago, was a kind of a hatchback wannabe crossover, and it was not a success.

[00:18] The new one is here now, and it's made some big improvements, but I'm still not compelled. Today, I'm going to review the new CH-R and explain why, and I'll show you all of its quirks and features.

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[01:12] All right, time for the quirks and features of the new Toyota C-HR. And let's talk through the basics. So, this is the second-gen C-HR that's been sold here in North America.

[01:25] The first-generation model was a gas-powered small hatchback that was sort of masquerading as a crossover. It didn't offer all-wheel drive, but it had kind of crossover-like looks, and that's what they were going for,

[01:39] and it didn't sell tremendously well. Toyota took it off the market after 22, and it's only now just returning for 26 in a totally new, redesigned, and now fully electric package.

[01:53] And there are some pretty significant improvements. The biggest is undoubtedly in the realm of performance. The original CH-R had only 144 horsepower and did 0-60 in 11 seconds.

[02:07] This new electric C-HR has almost 340 horsepower and does 0-60 in under 5 seconds. The improvement from 11 seconds 0-60 to 4 point something 0-60 has got to be one of the single greatest 0-60 time improvements in one automotive generation in the entire history of the car.

[02:31] That is the situation here. The new one, a bit of a performer, at least in a straight line. Another big benefit of the new C-HR is it comes standard with all-wheel drive. Like I said, the wannabe crossover C-HR from before didn't even offer it.

[02:45] This new one doesn't offer anything else. All-wheel drive only. But despite the improvements, the new C-HR certainly has some drawbacks.

[02:57] Call them weirdnesses or maybe even quirks. The CH-R rides on the same platform as the Toyota BZ, which used to be called the BZ4X, and which I have mercilessly mocked on my YouTube channel and podcast for being a terrible vehicle.

[03:14] It was a terrible vehicle when it came out, but Toyota has made some pretty compelling upgrades to the BZ. They've given it better performance, a longer range, more reasonable pricing, and that is now actually a pretty competitive electric vehicle.

[03:28] And the CH-R's relationship with the BZ is weird, to say the least. For one thing, this is a lot smaller than the BZ. The CH-R is over a foot shorter in length.

[03:41] So, while the BZ is the compact electric Toyota SUV, this is the subcompact. However, that isn't reflected in the pricing. The CH-R starts around $38,500, whereas the BZ starts around $36,500.

[03:59] So, the CH-R is smaller than the BZ, but more expensive. And part of the reason for that price difference is that the BZ offers base trim levels that the CH-R doesn't.

[04:11] So, there are BZ models that have sub-200 horsepower, whereas every CH-R has the full 340. And that, too, is weird, because, again, this is the subcompact, the smaller one, the entry-level, and yet it has better standard performance than the larger BZ.

[04:32] It's all a little weird. And to make matters even more complicated, the BZ actually offers more available range, up to 315 miles of range, whereas this doesn't even crack the 290-mile range barrier, even in its most range-ified version.

[04:52] So, it's all a little odd. But, regardless of all that, let's talk through the perks. The new C-HR, on the outside, isn't quite as quirky as the old C-HR,

[05:05] where its quirky styling kind of defined it as a vehicle. That's what it was primarily known for. The new CHR sort of looks like the old one but grown up which makes sense because indeed it a newer kind of more modern more high version of the old CH Now the new version does retain probably the most notable design element of the outgoing model

[05:26] which is that vertical rear door handle for the back door that's actually integrated into the trim around the windows, rather than stuck on the door panel itself, like basically every other car.

[05:38] Some vehicles have done this, including the original CH-R and now the new one. Beyond that, nothing too quirky about the CH-R. Up front, it does have Toyota's new kind of signature front-end design, where you have this kind of beak-painted body panel that separates the headlight design in the middle.

[05:57] More and more Toyotas are switching to this design. In back, you have a light bar going across the entire rear, but even that isn't particularly quirky. A lot of cars are starting to adopt rear light bars, now including the CH-R.

[06:10] Not quite as funky on the outside as it once was. But if you're looking for quirky or funky, the interior of the new C-HR is definitely a little weirder than what you'll find on the outside. You climb inside, and one of the first things that you'll notice is the gauge cluster is mounted on the dashboard in an odd spot.

[06:28] It's far back, like almost up against the windshield. And that's because you are intended to view the gauge cluster of this car from the driver's seat looking over the steering wheel and not through the kind of upper half inside the steering wheel, which is how virtually all other cars are.

[06:45] That is definitely an interesting quirk, but it's one that Toyota seems to be adopting in all of its electric vehicles. Saw it in the BZ Woodland. You see it in the regular BZ. I guess this is something that they're switching to for their EVs.

[06:59] Beyond that, though, the interior definitely does have some interesting quirks. In the center, you have this rather odd gear selector. You can see it's this sort of mostly complete circle. To shift the car into drive, you put your foot on the brake and then push down on the circle and twist it to the right, and that's drive.

[07:16] Reverse is down on the circle and then left, you're in reverse. And neutral, you just push down on the circle and sort of hold it there, and then you're in neutral. To go into park, there's actually a button at the top of the whole gear selector area that switches you into park.

[07:29] Now, another interesting quirk of this whole gear selector situation, the center console itself. You can see there are two wireless cell phone chargers side by side here, which is kind of a nice feature.

[07:41] Driver and passenger can stick their phones here and charge them while they drive along. You're not just limited to one wireless phone charger. Also kind of nice at the center console is that there is a hidden storage compartment below everything that you see.

[07:55] So to look down, and there is an extra storage compartment down here where you can store stuff in case you can't fit it elsewhere in the interior. And actually, that's pretty useful, because strangely enough, this car does not have a glove box, which is also true of the DZ Woodland.

[08:11] No glove box in here for storage. And so that under console area is nice to have, as is the center console itself, which is kind of a weird trick magic thing. You can see it opens from one side, the driver's side, so you can get at your stuff that's in here.

[08:27] But you can also open it with a button on the other side, and then the passenger can open it. Or it can open from either side, depending on your personal preference at that exact moment, which is, of course, magic.

[08:39] Another interesting quirky component of this interior is that the climate control vents are very small. The ones in the center you can see are maybe an inch tall in total, and the ones on the dashboard at the outer edges are even smaller than that.

[08:53] Very, very tiny climate down the passenger side. They just are not that big. They're not hidden like they are in some cars like Tesla, but they're not much larger than hidden. I guess that's all you really need to cool or heat this interior.

[09:06] Interestingly, also, to the left of the steering wheel, there is a dedicated button to wash the headlights. You can press this button, and then, as you can see, headlight washer fluid squirts out onto the lights in order to clean them in case they've gotten dirty.

[09:21] Very unusual to see headlight washers on mainstream, non-high-end luxury cars like this one, but especially weird to have, like, a separate button for it. So you can just drive down the street and wash on your headlights, if that's what you choose to do.

[09:35] And speaking of button controls, kind of an interesting one here. In the center console, you have a few separate buttons, including drive modes. You'll see there is an eco mode and a snow mode, but that's it. There's no sport mode, which is kind of strange because this car is fast.

[09:50] 340 horsepower, big power, 0-60 in the 4s, and yet no sport mode. Probably not too many cars that run those kind of acceleration numbers and don't have any sport mode to speak of. But that gives you an idea of how sporty Toyota thinks this car is.

[10:06] More on that stuff in the driving portion in a little bit. For now, let's talk infotainment. Like a lot of new Toyota models, this has a large central infotainment screen, and it works great. It's simple, like in other new Toyota models, but it's also responsive, intuitive, easy to figure out.

[10:23] Just a good overall infotainment system. Now unlike in some other new Toyotas the climate control is completely integrated into the screen but I will say it not as big of a drawback as it seems The physical buttons are lost but the entire lower third of this screen is all climate

[10:41] controls, and they don't go anywhere. You don't have to go into some menu just to turn on the air. It's all really easy to see, laid out for you right there, so it's easy to turn stuff on, turn stuff up, change directions, all that.

[10:53] Plus, there are two nice benefits of the climate controls here. And number one, you actually have buttons for the windshield defroster and the window defogger, which is important because that stuff you might want to get in the car and get going really quickly without having to deal with the screen.

[11:09] Also worth mentioning, you get these cool trick dials for the climate control that are sort of mounted right on the screen, and they change the temperature. And they're kind of cool to move around. They feel nice.

[11:21] And when they're changing the temperature, they look kind of cool, too. It all works out. I wish I could say the same positive stuff about the gauge cluster screen, the one located above the steering wheel area. It's just not all that good.

[11:33] It gives the information that you need, but it's not configurable enough. A lot of automakers can show a full-screen map here, or the radio, and the map, and your phone all at once. Toyota just does not give that much configurability, despite having a screen.

[11:48] I'm not really sure what the point is of the screen, if you're not going to make it super configurable, but they haven't. And so, that's the situation. You got a gauge cluster, but not really a great information screen. By the way, one other feature I like in here, in the center console,

[12:02] there's a button that you can press to smart view with a little camera. You push it, and it pulls up your camera system instantly. Some cars, you can't get to the camera unless you go through different menus, or you shift into reverse, and the backup camera comes up.

[12:15] Here, you just tap it, it's up. It's nice to have that easy access to the camera, in case you're trying to park in a tight spot. And then there's the back seat, which is actually roomier than I expected. It's still fairly tight back here with the driver's seat where I would sit.

[12:29] My knees are kind of pushing up against it. My head is kind of just hitting the ceiling. You're kind of tight if you're like a full-sized adult, but for a vehicle this small in size, I am actually pretty surprised at how much space there is. Even if it's not huge, it's better than you might expect.

[12:43] One weird quirk of the back seat is that the center seat is leather or Toyota synthetic leather. I don't think they use real leather anymore. Regardless, the center seat is leather. All the other seats in this car are cloth.

[12:55] So the driver and passenger seat in front and both outboard rear seats are cloth, but the center seat is leather, which is especially weird because that's the nicer material, and it's on the seat that no one is ever really going to sit on.

[13:07] But that's the decision they made. Now, I will say the cloth in this car, the cloth seat material, is actually really comfortable, really nice cloth upholstery. I mean, cloth is kind of making a comeback in general.

[13:19] and so some people might prefer it, but you get your cloth and leather back here. Now, in the back of this particular CH-R, you also have some nice equipment, specifically rear climate vents, which are nice to see, along with rear heated seats for both sides, rear seats, which is cool,

[13:33] and two separate USB-C ports, which is nice to have for charging devices. Also back here, you don't have a giant hump in the floor where a lot of all-wheel drive cars have a driveline going through.

[13:46] That's because it's electric, no hump is needed, And so there's more foot space for rear center passengers back here if you do want to sit three across in the back. It'll be tight, but it's a little more doable than in other kind of non-electric cars this size.

[14:00] And finally, we move on to the cargo area. If you pop open the power tailgate, you can see the cargo area. Pretty standard back here for a vehicle this size, and especially an electric vehicle. You get the sloping roofline kind of stealing some space in the back,

[14:14] but that's pretty typical of EVs in this size segment and price point. Beyond that, you do have extra storage under the floor, which is nice to see. You can put smaller, more fragile, breakable items down there, charging cables, whatever you want, a little extra space.

[14:28] And it is nice to see that you have a power port back here, a household-style power outlet, so you can plug in, like, regular stuff to charge. I always prefer to see those household power outlets in the interior instead of the cargo area, but it doesn't matter.

[14:44] It's just nice to have one household power port in the car because it can be extremely useful on road trips or tailgating or for a wide variety of reasons to have a household port in a vehicle.

[14:56] Now, on the subject of cargo space, one interesting thing, no glove box in this car. There's also no front storage compartment. A lot of EVs have a trunk in front since they don't have to have a big gas engine in there, but not this one.

[15:10] You don't get any storage up there either. Most people don't use the front trunks at EVs. It's still sometimes nice to have, but it's not here. Anyway, those are your quirks and features, and now I might be curious what it's like to drive the new CH-R with all its extra power.

[15:26] Let's go find out. All right, driving the CH-R. I must say I am certainly a little confused by this vehicle and by its positioning in Toyota's lineup, like I mentioned.

[15:38] Just drove the BZ Woodland the other day, and it was excellent, and made a little bit more sense. This one, the subcompact or compact crossover, but powerful and a little bit pricey I will say it drives reasonably well and I have the same experience with the Woodland It felt solid In fact I feel that these electric Toyota SUVs

[15:59] I haven't driven the BZ since it's been updated, but these electric Toyota SUVs seem just a little bit more solid and sure-footed on the road than, say, a RAV4 or a Corolla Cross or any of the gas

[16:12] power vehicles. I'm not exactly sure why that is. I'm not sure if it's the extra weight of the battery or if there's a little bit more engineering or sound deadening that goes into these cars, but they feel just a little bit more kind of luxurious and solid on the road.

[16:24] This particular car, the CH-R, is quick. I mean, it's relatively big power. It's not a particularly large vehicle. And unlike the BZ, they don't offer those, like, lesser powertrains. And so you get one kind of hot hatching type turn level.

[16:36] And so on paper, it looks like a pretty impressive vehicle in terms of performance. The drawback is that aside from the acceleration, it's not particularly adept or athletic. You know, it's kind of the situation with Tesla, too. Their cars are really quick in a straight line, and so, you know, a lot of the Tesla people are like,

[16:51] oh, it's the fastest, well, it may be, but that doesn't make it necessarily fun. You do acceleration a few times, and this car does not have a particularly strong, precise steering, particularly quick steering. The chassis is not giving itself to really abrupt handling maneuvers.

[17:07] There's a little bit of body roll when you even start to go hard just a little bit. So despite the performance level and the relatively compact size, I wouldn't consider this something like a GTI in terms of, you know, hot hatch performance car-ness.

[17:21] With that said, I mean, it's a nice driving car. Like I said, relatively solid, short-footed. It feels a little bit more luxurious than I would expect given the price point in the low $40,000 range. Materials are pretty nice. The sound is pretty nice in here.

[17:34] You don't hear a lot of road noise, not much wind noise, not much sound from other vehicles. It's a relatively quiet thing. And, you know, it feels nice, comfortable seats, etc. You also sit up pretty high, which is nice.

[17:46] You know, not a lot of cross-overs. Some cross-overs, you're starting to get kind of lower and lower with their seating position. This one is sort of in the middle of that. It's not, like, amazingly high, but it's good enough. I think most people will be kind of used to it and accept it.

[17:59] Really, there's not that much to say about the driving experience. I think it's pretty much exactly what people would expect. It's more powerful. It certainly is more powerful and sporty, and acceleration is better than the old CH-R. and it's also just a generally nicer car.

[18:12] If you're coming out of the previous CH-R, like this is obviously a different price point, but beyond that, it's just nicer. Like it is a more luxurious, higher quality experience with more power and a more comfortable ride. However, you know, the old CH-R came out around 10 years ago

[18:27] or around 10 years ago. You know, the things have moved on since then and I think this car is pretty much in line with where it should be for its price point. I'm just not sure compared to the regular BZ and the Woodland, I'm not exactly sure how this makes sense in the lineup.

[18:39] It would make sense to me if there were sort of lesser levels that had lower price points as opposed to just one high-performance version. Personally, as much as I've complained about the BZ4X, when Toyota updated it to make it into the BZ and added a lot more compelling components,

[18:54] like better range, better acceleration, etc., it became a decent vehicle, at least on paper. And I'm not entirely sure what would compel someone to buy this over a BZ4X unless they really, really liked how it looked

[19:07] or unless they really wanted the performance, the BZ4X at this price point isn't quite the performer. But again, with this performance level, you're not exactly getting like crazy, you know, fun handling, etc. You're just getting pretty good straight line,

[19:20] which is fine, but not fun for that long. Overall, it's a good, competent car. Toyota does a good job making good, competent cars. I'm not sure how compelling it is compared to rivals, some of which are larger, better range, similar acceleration,

[19:33] you know, more affordable price points. This is not a class leader in really anything, but it does have a little spunk and a little funk to it, and there's definitely people who are into that, and I think they'll find some buyers for this,

[19:45] even though I don't expect it to be, like, a really big success, especially as the market moves away from EVs, at least here in North America. So that's the new 2026 Toyota C-HR.

[19:59] Toyota has been slow to enter the electric vehicle space, And now that they're here, this doesn't really feel like a big seller, particularly with the more compelling BZ also in Toyota's lineup.

[20:12] Nonetheless, if you want a little electric crossover with some flair, that's the CH-R. And now it's time to give this car a Doug score.

[20:25] And the Doug score is here, 49 out of 100, which puts the CH-R here, Actually, above a lot of its rivals, despite my proclamation that it's kind of mediocre. However, it earns a 6 in acceleration here, which is better than everything else,

[20:37] and that elevates it beyond what it deserves. Yes, it's fast, but I suspect that won't matter much to CHR buyers, and otherwise it's not incredibly compelling. And it's competing in a world that isn't especially fond of EVs right now.

[20:59] you