Toyota C-HR - Boot space, comfort & practicality

The sleek roofline of the Toyota C-HR can fool you into thinking it’s a much smaller car than it actually is. In terms of length, it’s a little bit longer than a Hyundai Kona, and just shy of a SEAT Ateca. The C-HR is also taller than a Kia Niro, but doesn’t quite reach the ‘lofty’ heights of the Renault Captur. 

Get inside, and you’d think that you were driving something more akin to an MPV. The windscreen's base seems to be in a different postcode from the driver, stretching beyond a very deep dashboard. The bonnet ahead of the windscreen slopes away, making gauging the car’s extremities difficult. That’s why we think going for a mid-range Design will be worthwhile to get front and rear parking sensors to help you. There are big side door mirrors to assist when changing lanes on the motorway, and blind spot monitoring is standard to inform you of anything hiding in your blind spot.

Dimensions and size

At 4,362mm long, 1,832mm wide, and 1,564mm tall, the latest C-HR is longer than a Hyundai Kona, but slightly shorter than a Skoda Karoq. The C-HR is a little taller than the Kona, but not quite as tall.

Seats, leg room, head room & passenger space 

Space in the back is good and compares well with what you’ll find in many small SUVs, such as the Jeep Avenger, Peugeot 2008, and Vauxhall Mokka. Two ISOFIX points are provided on the outer rear seating positions, although parents may rue having to put children in the back because the angle of the rear roof pillar means you’ll need to duck down in order to lean in. The door opening isn’t the largest around, making installing a child seat difficult. If you need more practicality, you’ll need to look towards the more conservatively styled Nissan Qashqai with its near 90-degree rear door openings, or step up to something like the Toyota brand’s larger RAV4 SUV.

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Boot space 

The 1.8-litre C-HR’s 388-litre boot is much more generous than the 319-litre Honda HR-V, but trails the 466-litre Kona and 479-litre Qashqai. It doesn’t come with the latter’s clever dividing panels to stop items sliding deeper into the boot, meaning you don’t need to lean in quite so much if you’ve only packed a couple of shopping bags. 

One word of caution, just like in the regular Toyota Corolla hatchback, choosing the 2.0 Hybrid means you’ll pay a practicality penalty. That’s because the 12v battery has to be placed in the boot, robbing you of 24 litres of capacity. Hardly a deal-breaker, but it’s something worth considering.

What’s more of a concern is the nearly 80 litres that are lost with the battery pack of the 2.0 plug-in hybrid, reducing overall capacity to 310 litres – much less than what you’ll find in similar PHEV versions of the Cupra Formentor and Kia Niro. Indeed, it’s even smaller than one of our favourite superminis, the Renault Clio.

Towing

Something else worth considering if you’re interested in towing is that no version of C-HR can pull more than a 750kg braked trailer. If you need something more capable, a Kona Hybrid can lug up to 1,300kg, or you could go back to traditional petrol or diesel power and get something like the Volkswagen T-Roc 2.0 TDI, which can pull up to 1,700kg.