Toyota C-HR

Breaking Toyota’s modus operandi of producing safe, palatable cars for the mass market, the original Toyota C-HR turned the humble Corolla into a futuristic, exciting crossover with immediate payoff.

Toyota sold 53,271 first-generation cars in Australia; the second coming is made of the same stuff. With two-tone paint, sharp edges, and a low-sloping roofline, the new car looks genuinely sporty.

Nonetheless, the price has gone up substantially as well. Why you ask? One reason pricing for the C-HR has climbed so much when compared to the pre-update model is this new-generation model is now sourced from Turkey – which means it attracts import tariffs that don’t affect the outgoing, Japanese-made model.

C-HR GXL and Koba variants feature a 1.8-litre unit, while the GR Sport has a more powerful 2.0-litre setup with all-wheel drive. The 1.8-litre hybrid drivetrain in the GXL and Koba, shared with the Corolla, produces 103kW, up 15 per cent on the 90kW you get in the outgoing model. Meanwhile, the GR Sport gets 145kW of power and all-wheel drive thanks to an extra electric motor on the rear axle.