From £31,3008

Second generation of Toyota's smash-hit crossover gains sharper styling and a new plug-in hybrid powertrain

The interior is much improved over the previous C-HR. It’s all built around the driver and makes you feel cocooned despite being airy (in the front cabin, at least), even more so with the optional panoramic roof fitted. The seats are comfortable if lacking a bit in upper back support, yet there’s plenty of seat and steering wheel adjustability to find a nice driving position. 

As before, rear leg room is far from the best-in-class, and that sloping roofline cuts into the head room a little. Still, that didn’t exactly put off buyers before, and for those with young families it should be less of an issue. Besides, Toyota now offers the slightly larger Toyota Corolla Cross in mainland Europe (although not in the UK) for those who want to trade some style for space.

At its price, the fact the C-HR lacks some space in the rear and has a smaller and less usefully shaped boot (it’s oddly narrow) than larger crossover rivals cannot be overlooked.

Engineers have also made efforts to improve the perception of space in the back: there’s a new tinted panoramic roof that doesn’t need a shade (adding 30mm of head room) because it reflects the sunlight back out, and new window cut-outs in the C-pillar are designed to improve the view out.

On the subject of those C-pillars, you'll no longer find the rear door handles hidden in them. Following feedback from customers, they're now in a far more traditional position on the rear doors, although all of the handles now sit flush to the bodywork and pop out when you push them in. They make quite the racket in doing so.

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The boot remains on the small side, mind you – up to 388 litres for an HEV, but only 310- for the PHEV (which loses most of its under-floor storage to hybrid gubbins).

For infotainment, there’s a new 12.3in digital dial display and a new touchscreen (8.0in as standard or 12.3in on pricier models, like our test car) running Toyota’s latest infotainment system, while enough physical controls remain for the key functions to keep most people happy. The materials in the cabin are generally nice to the touch, while the graphics on the 12.3in touchscreen are clear and crisp. The screen itself runs quickly and smoothly with no lag.