Toyota C-HR
The Toyota C-HR has been completely re-vamped for 2024 and the Japanese marque hasn’t disappointed when it comes to following in the footsteps of the original model. The 2024 Toyota C-HR is just as exciting to look at as the outgoing version was on release and it’s just as hi-tech. It’s also a fantastic option for business car hire customers.
Cast your minds back a few years. Toyota has always made great quality, reliable vehicles which might not necessarily have always turned heads and inspired the passions of keen petrolheads, but they didn’t break down much, didn’t cost much and just worked without giving their owners too much trouble. Then came the Toyota C-HR. A hybrid hatchbacked small to medium sized SUV which had some very daring (for the time) design features and plenty of kit. It was an instant hit, despite detractors, somewhat unfairly calling it a ‘Prius on stilts’. Of course, while the original C-HR ‘is’ built on the same platform as the Prius, you’re unlikely to find one trundling along at 50mph in the middle lane of the motorway, or driven poorly with a private hire plate – it’s always been far more exciting than that!
Times move on though and now that the C-HR has received a complete update, Toyota have doubled down on the daring design, while shoehorning in the very latest technology and as a result, the 2024 Toyota C-HR is a truly great car and looks way more upmarket than the price would suggest.
No longer based on a Prius chassis (which will be important to some of you), the highly capable Corolla has lent its underpinnings to the new C-HR. As mentioned previously, the C-HR is a small to medium SUV with a petrol electric hybrid arrangement and a CVT gearbox. Still available as a self charging hybrid as before, it’s now also available as a plug in hybrid. There are two engine sizes available, a 1.8 litre powerplant and a 2.0. We’ve opted for the higher powered option as well as the PHEV system, which in our opinion provides the best combination of handling and frugality, it’s also the fastest version clocking in at a seriously zippy 0-60 speed of 7.4 seconds, yet still managing to return real world MPG of over 50mpg. The WLTP ‘official’ combined figures say 353 miles per gallon…. but for hybrids these figures don’t bear much relation to what you’ll actually get.
353 Miles Per Gallon? Seriously?
So why the massive difference between maximum mpg and actual mpg? Essentially plug in hybrids can run on electricity alone and aren’t fully reliant on braking or coasting to re-charge the batteries (as in self-charging hybrids). Naturally they’ll still grab back electricity that way, but they can also be charged by plugging them into a wall. The PHEV C-HR can run on electric power for just over 40 miles without using a drop of fuel if you fully recharge. If, hypothetically speaking, you keep doing small trips and plugging it in you could in theory drive without ever troubling the petrol engine, so ‘technically’ you’d be getting INFINITE miles per gallon!
Essentially, the actual mpg you’ll return from the Toyota C-HR PHEV depends entirely on how you drive it and whether or not you make use of the plug-in capability. So anything from high 30’s upwards. In practice, you’d have to drive the C-HR pretty hard to get below 45mpg though, but you’d certainly have plenty of fun trying!
Plug In Hybrid Car Hire – The Best Of Both Worlds
If you want to rent a car that’s cheap to hire, cheap to run, but not boring (either to look at or to drive) you’d do well to add the hybrid version of the new Toyota C-HR to your shortlist. It really is that good. Form, Function AND Fun, what’s not to like?
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