toyota

Think of Toyota's new C-HR electric car as the sports car sibling in a practical family—it's smaller and punchier than Toyota's other electric SUV (the bZ), but sacrifices the boring reliability Toyota is known for. At $37,000, it starts cheaper than the bZ and comes with two electric motors (one on each axle, like all-wheel drive on steroids) that deliver 338 horsepower, making it genuinely quick off the line. The problem: it's still not actually small—just 6.7 inches shorter than the bZ—so if you're genuinely looking for a compact EV, you'll probably still feel cramped, especially in the back seat, which feels dark and tight. (Ars Technica)

On paper, the C-HR promises 273 miles of driving per charge—that's roughly the distance from New York to Boston. In a week of real-world testing during hot, humid weather, the car only showed 149 miles of usable range, a massive gap that suggests Toyota's official range estimates may not hold up when it's actually hot outside. This matters because buyers need to know whether an electric car will actually get them where they're going, and vague promises undermine trust faster than a pothole undermines a tire.

Toyota has launched a fleet of new electric vehicles in the last year—the redesigned bZ, the bZ Woodland wagon, the all-electric Highlander coming soon, and now the C-HR—showing the company is serious about competing in EVs. Yet small annoyances pile up: the car forgets whether the air conditioning should be on when you start it, and the charging port sits behind the front wheel arch where Tesla's older cables can't quite reach it. These aren't deal-breakers, but they suggest Toyota is still learning how to make electric cars feel like finished products rather than beta tests.