C-HR Hybrid question

[bluerav4]

I had a test drive on a C-HR over the weekend as my Rav is getting on a bit now. 

The car wa a lovely to drive but the one question that’s been bugging me is speed. Is there a top speed for the hybrid before the petrol engine cuts in? My friend a has a Merc E  diesel hybrid and the engine cutis in around the 30mph mark.

The model I’m thinking of getting is the Excel and it comes with loads of tech as standard like reading the road signs etc and of course the sat nav. Is the Sat Nav a HDD similar to the Rav or is it offa memory card. When I went for the test drive I didn’t even ask some of the questions I had in mind 🤦🏻‍♂️

Finally overall how do your rear passengers like it? My kids were grumbling a little saying it was tight compared to the Rav but other than that they were ok but the test drive was for an hour or so. The youngest didn’t like the rear door handles mainly because he can’t reach them.

cheers

[Catlover]

In my Gen4 Prius the engine comes in at about 20mph if accelerating. However, at 40 or even 45 I can be running on Battery only if the conditions are good - a flat road is ok, so long as you get the speed in the first place with engine use.

re rear leg space, I have heard the same complaint about C-HR lacking space. Why not try the Prius, rear leg room is very good, the boot space is probably greater then C-HR, and fuel consumption will be better as the Prius is designed to have a low coefficient of friction.

[bluerav4]

18 minutes ago, Catlover said:

In my Gen4 Prius the engine comes in at about 20mph if accelerating. However, at 40 or even 45 I can be running on battery only if the conditions are good - a flat road is ok, so long as you get the speed in the first place with engine use.

re rear leg space, I have heard the same complaint about C-HR lacking space. Why not try the Prius, rear leg room is very good, the boot space is probably greater then C-HR, and fuel consumption will be better as the Prius is designed to have a low coefficient of friction.

Thanks Catlover. We did consider the Prius too but the C-HR got the winning vote in the end as the kids preferred it too. 

I think they’ll settle down as being used to the Rav it would make a difference when swapping over. So I think it’ll need getting used to the swap from a diesel to a hybrid and being lighter with my right foot too to achieve decent MPG figures. Saying that I think it would still be better than the current car.

thank you for your reply too

[Heidfirst]

8 hours ago, bluerav4 said:

The model I’m thinking of getting is the Excel and it comes with loads of tech as standard like reading the road signs etc and of course the sat nav. Is the Sat Nav a HDD similar to the Rav or is it offa memory card.

The Touch 2 with Go satnav uses onboard memory. To update it you download a file from the internet, expand that file to an USB memory stick which you then plug into the car & upload from that to the unit (thereafter you can unplug the USB memory stick).

New Corolla & RAV4 Hybrids coming soon (March for Corolla) & there has been a suggestion that their Touch 2 with Go systems may have had a hardware upgrade/new UI.

[bluerav4]

Thank you. I did consider going for a Rav again. I’ve had various Ravs since 1998 so need a bit of a change now. Is the Corolla a replacement for the Auris?

[Catlover]

Yes it is replacing the Auris. Apparantly the Corolla name was so popular (a good car) that they want sales to hit a high again in that sector. There is a thread on here about the new Corolla. Looks nice, especially the saloon (if UK gets it), but personally I much prefer the versatility of a hatch/estate, which they have as well.

 

[bluerav4]

Thanks for that it does look like a great car 

[Eddie G]

Always hated the Auris name, so a good choice going back to Corolla. 

[FROSTYBALLS]

The UK will be getting all three versions of the 2019 Corolla - hatchback, estate and saloon.

The saloon, as with the current Corolla saloon which was not sold in the UK, has a longer wheelbase (2700mm - same as the Avensis and Prius), and will continue to be built in Turkey. Presumably the saloon, together with the Prius, and Camry will fill the space left by the Avensis.

[bluerav4]

Has the Avensis been discontinued?

the Saloon does look quite nice. Going back to the C-HR I really did enjoy the test drive compared to the Auris. Compared to the prices a few years ago I’m quite impressed with the standard equipment even on the icon models. When I bought my Rav the extras were adding up like anything whereas now Toyota seemed to have thrown a lot of tech in as standard. Hope it stays like that too. The choice was between the excel and the dynamic but was strange that the Dynamic didn’t have leather seats but the excel has them as standard. 

[PeteB]

I drove a CH-R Hybrid a couple of years ago.  It has the same version of the Hybrid system as my Gen 4 Prius, and not surprisingly feels very similar to drive.

In gentle use it can run on electric only up to 60 mph (on the clock) for periods while cruising while not in EV mode.  If EV mode is selected (via the button), it will go all electric up to 25 mph is the system is cold, and 30, 35 or more if there's enough juice and the Battery temperatures are in a range the Hybrid software is happy with.  While in EV mode (which is only selectable if there's enough juice in the HV battery and various other parameters known only to the software are met) you can accelerate a bit harder without the engine cutting in (although firm acceleration will knock it out of EV mode) but don't expect more than a mile or so even if the Battery gauge is showing 7 bars.

The person who came with me and I both thought the ride comfort and seats were slightly less comfortable than the Prius, but not enough to put me off.  The electric parking brake with hold feature worked well.  We were going to see how the back seats felt, but when we saw the minimal legroom with the front seats adjusted as we liked them, we gave up the idea.  Might be ok for petite people and kids though.

Personally, after 19 years and some 350,000 miles in cars with digital instruments I hated the 1940s style speedo of the C-HR, but each to their own.

The road sign assist is almost useless, and most people (including me) turn it off.  I also find the auto headlights an accident waiting to happen (they come on randomly in shade and make people think you're flashing them at inopportune times) and cannot be disabled.  I find the auto dip is also a recipe for getting lots of people flashing at me, but at least you can turn those off.

[FROSTYBALLS]

52 minutes ago, bluerav4 said:

Has the Avensis been discontinued?

Yes. No direct replacement, but the Corolla saloon, Prius and Camry will fill the gap.

[bluerav4]

Oh ok. The Corolla saloon looks like the Avensis a little bit. 

So hopefully some nice cars from Toyota in the next few years 😊

[Heidfirst]

15 hours ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Yes. No direct replacement, but the Corolla saloon, Prius and Camry will fill the gap.

& the Corolla TS - a large chunk of Avensis sales were estates & the Europe-only Corolla TS has grown to fill the gap (like the sedan it also has a longer wheelbase than the hatchback).