New Luxury model tops Toyota CH-R range

Johannesburg - Toyota has given its C-HR crossover an extra ‘touch of class’ in the shape of an additional range-topping derivative loaded with comfort, convenience and safety features.

It’s called (no surprise here) the Luxury model, and you’ll know it by its distinctive two-tone colour finish, with a black roof, pillars and side-mirrors over pearl white, metallic red, smoked silver or solid bluer lower body - or you can opt for a black body with a white roof.

It also comes with special smoked tail-light lenses and full-LED head and fog-lights, including daytime running lights, and shares the 18-inch alloy wheels of the Plus model.

New features include keyless entry and push-button start, self-folding mirrors, soft-touch leather trim with contrast stitching on the upper dashboard and textured leather seating with heated squabs for the front seats and electrically adjustable lumbar support for the driver.

And heading the list of gizmotronics is a new self-parking system that uses the standard-across-the-range parking sensors, together with a new intelligent parking assist routine, to find an open parking spot, measure it to make sure your CH-R will fit and then steer you neatly into the bay.

The Luxury has the same 1.2-litre direct-injection DOHC turbopetrol four as the rest of the CH-R range, rated for 85kW and 185Nm from 1500-4000rpm - but is only available with continuously variable transmission.

This also has a Manual mode with seven pre-defined ratios, and even provides a modicum of engine braking on the overrun, which conventional CVT transmissions can’t. Performance is quoted as 0-100 in 10.9 seconds and 190km/h flat out.

In addition to the active safety features found in all CH-Rs, the Luxury model also boasts a total of nine airbags - front, driver knee, side and curtain - in place of the lower-specced versions’ basic two front airbags.