Changing Prius PHV for CH-R

[Phil T]

Hi all haven't posted for some time, must be Toyota reliability, not needing to find any answers😆. With my partner having need of new knees getting in and out of the Prius is not too easy, so I found an excuse to change cars, and to one I wanted in the first place. I nearly got a CH-R five years ago, negotiated a cracking deal, took her to see it and she hated the black interior. Bugger! So we ended up with the Prius PHV, and very good it has been, 30 miles on the Battery on mild days, 27 in cold winter, never less than 60 mpg on petrol. On a trip to Buxton it was returning over 120 mpg. It seems to love hills, can't work that one out. Pinkstones invited me to a new car event, so I thought why not. The Yaris Cross was in my mind, I tested one last year and was impressed. Anyway took my partner with me and while waiting in the showroom I said have a look in the Yaris cross. A bit small. The sales girl showed up and we discussed cars, I said not so sure about the Yaris Cross, what about the CH-R, and a test drive. "Ah that's the secondhand car section" and handed us over to a salesman. Well after a drive I was most impressed, and my partner was not complaining about the black cut your throat headlining, he had last years demonstrator on offer. I was thinking about a new one, but the sales girl was off with someone else. It was what I was after and there to be taken without the new car wait. After much haggling it was mine Satin Grey Design, swore I would never buy a grey colour. Walking out of the showroom I noticed a Yaris Cross, much different to the one we sat in, CH-R much more suited, then I noticed the one we sat in, it was a Aygo X. Did us a favour really, pick the CH-R up this week😁

[TonyHSD]

Nice story. Enjoy your new car 👌👍

[Hibird]

How are you getting on with your new CHR, has that 5 year wait been worth it ?.

Mine is in Decuma grey and after a year of ownership am more than happy and have nothing to complain about and still like the look of it probably more so now than when I bought it.

Your days of 120mpg are history now but any regrets or all good

[Phil T]

I’m enjoying every day, but I miss some of the feature of the Prius. Heater was blowing warm by the time I pulled off the drive, but the CHR seats get much hotter quicker, they have probably changed to carbon fibre elements with the benefits of  far-infrared on tired muscles. I feel the CHR ride height is much better, oncoming headlights aren’t so much of a glare. And it stands out from the crowd, I’ve always admired that Toyota is not afraid to add distinction to some of its models styling. It gets better every day. 

[Hibird]

56 minutes ago, Phil T said:

I’m enjoying every day, but I miss some of the feature of the Prius. Heater was blowing warm by the time I pulled off the drive, but the CHR seats get much hotter quicker, they have probably changed to carbon fibre elements with the benefits of  far-infrared on tired muscles. I feel the CHR ride height is much better, oncoming headlights aren’t so much of a glare. And it stands out from the crowd, I’ve always admired that Toyota is not afraid to add distinction to some of its models styling. It gets better every day. 

I have never experienced the Prius hot air delivery speed but it must be a plus. I have yet to turn on my heated seats, not really sure why but maybe today !

For me the only real omission is a heated front screen and a shortcoming is lack of turn indicator warning volume.

Auto Headlamp dip seems to get some poor press but I reckon it works as well as I could reasonably expect but it could be that performance is variable across the model range.

Anyway good to see you are happy with it so far.

[Phil T]

The Prius had a heat exchanger heater, I now know why the CHR ICE comes on when you turn the heater on, seems old school now. Still the heated seats make up for it, the leather on the Prius took ages to heat up, it was warming a frozen bum by the time it did get going, that's why I didn't go for the Excel, and on second thoughts, too late now. A heated screen sounds wonderful, never had one and waiting for the heater to warm up and heat the glass is a pain, always found it better that way rather than deicer which made constantly wiping the screen condensation necessary. The auto headlamp seems a bit slow to react sometimes, either blinding the oncoming or leaving you in darkness, even the Prius with the reactive lights left something to desire. Im happy to manually switch.

Keep safe

Now if we could just get a car with all the things we like..............dream on 🤣