2026 Toyota C-HR

For the first time in 11 years, I bought a new car^[1].

Back in 2015, my Suzuki Reno gave up the ghost while I was driving to work. It being kind of a crap car and the fact that fixing it would have cost nearly as much as the car was worth meant that I scrapped it and bought a Mazda 3 hatchback.

Then 11 years and 110,000 miles passed. And gas hit $5/gal…

Car Shopping

I knew from the start that I wanted an EV. Even before gas prices went nuts, I had planned for years to replace my Mazda with an EV. It made sense for me since we have the van for long trips and I don’t commute^[2]. Gas prices spiking really just accelerated the timeline.

The problem was always the available options of EVs in the US: they were either very expensive, very large, or both. But recently that has started to shift and now smaller, more affordable EVs have become available. Here’s what I was looking for:

• Price: under $40k
• Size: not much larger than my Mazda^[3]
• Modern EV architecture (battery temperature management, etc)
• CarPlay

So let’s go over some options and why they didn’t work out.

• Chevy Bolt - missing CarPlay and Chevy doesn’t seem committed to the car (“limited run” nonsense)
• Hyundai Ioniq 5 - too expensive and too large (but just barely too large)
• VW I.D. 4 - too expensive and too large
• Kia Nero EV, Hyundai Kona EV - just a bit too expensive and I wasn’t too thrilled about sharing the platform with gas cars
• Tesla Model 3/Y - no

Lots of options got ruled out leaving one clear front-runner: the Nissan Leaf.

The Leaf

The 2026 Nissan Leaf shares nothing with the older models except the name. It’s a completely modern platform and architecture, and the SV+ trim is priced around $36k. It’s also surprisingly compact despite being a crossover^[4]. My wife and I managed to find one, took a test drive, liked it, then were just unable to buy one.

Turns out Nissan is (was?) really struggling with the new Leaf. The first problem was availability. There were 4 (yes, four) SV+ models in all of Ohio and none were in the color I wanted (blue). Apparently Nissan has been having issues ramping up production and there just weren’t many cars being delivered to dealers.

The bigger problem was the stop sale. Even if I could find one that matched the trim/color I wanted, the dealer wouldn’t be able to sell it to me. The details are pretty light online, but it appears as if there was a battery recall issue with some Japanese models and the US models need a software update to enable some detailed diagnostics before they can be sold. But for whatever reason, that process is happening very slowly.

It’s a very nice car for a very good price, but the issues with production and the stop sale made me uneasy about getting one. I intend to keep this car for 10+ years and this isn’t a good start in terms of reliability.

But then I found a new option.

The C-HR

If you even know what a Toyota C-HR is, you probably remember the funky looking crossover from a few years back. The 2026 model is not that in any way (except for the placement of the rear door handles). The new one shares a platform with the updated Toyota bZ (formerly the badly-named bZ4X) and is part of Toyota’s (late) push into EVs.^[5]

The C-HR had two issues: price and availability. A top trim XSE model is about $41k, which is higher than what I wanted, but Toyota had a financing deal going on for 0% interest for 72 months. Without interest, the monthly payments were barely higher than the $36k Leaf. But I had to find one.

Toyota was making them as fast as they could, but the cars were just being scooped up from lots as soon as they arrived. I managed to get a test drive in one before it was sold which convinced me it was an excellent alternative to the Leaf, but getting one in a color^[6] was tough. The dealer I was working with offered to order one, but they fumbled it and just couldn’t make it happen. Eventually I did find one and was able to buy it.

Some thoughts in no particular order:

It’s fast. The Leaf drove like a normal car, if a bit quick when you put your foot down, but the C-HR is something else. It does the “EV party trick” where it can launch like nothing else and it’s quite the experience. But if you don’t floor it, it drives like a normal car and that’s awesome. It’s a little softer and roll-ier than my Mazda, which is to be expected from a car that is both larger and taller, but it still handles pretty well. It’s not a race car, and I won’t be pushing it around corners, but it’s nice to drive.

There’s no one-pedal-driving. The Leaf is like this, too, which is odd, but it won’t stop itself with regenerative braking. There are paddles on the wheel to adjust the off-throttle regen, but even at the highest level (where I usually keep it) it won’t come to a complete stop. Something about Japanese regulations not allowing it? Whatever, I can press the brakes at lights.

The dash screen is odd but works fine.

The infotainment screen is very nice, but I miss the knob from my Mazda. See, Mazda has this fixation on driving where they want you to be able to do anything without moving your arms very much, so you control the infotainment screen from this little knob below the shifter. It even worked to control CarPlay^[7]. Now I have to reach out to touch a screen while driving which is just shit. I do like that CarPlay can push the default sidebar away and fully take over the screen (minus the A/C controls at the bottom).

Having to use the screen to control the A/C sucks, but I mostly leave it on auto and then only need to use the knobs to control the set temp, so it works out ok.

I wish the seats were leather (or similar). Alcantara/Suede is fine, but leather is nicer. The seats are comfy, and the back seats are roomy enough for a kid. The trunk space is not great with the battery/motor making it rather shallow. It has some floor pieces that lift off to reveal some more space, but those pieces are just loose and annoying to re-align when putting back.

The sun visors suck. No other way to say it, they’re just garbage. Worst part about the car by a mile.

So there you have it. It’s a new car and for the most part: it’s a car. And that’s part of what I wanted. EVs are great, but they can just be cars and not weird, futuristic nonsense^[8].