Toyota put a cat amongst the pigeons this week with the release of their first entry into the compact SUV segment and what a surprise packet it is – The Toyota CH-R SUV is most un-Toyota like with a style that in their words is a compact High-Rider –a radically styled compact SUV that will ignite the market – a break from the conservative style we’ve come to expect from our top-selling car company. The Toyota CH-R, is a real cross-over – a mix between a hatch, coupe and SUV – you’ll either love it or hate it but I personally think it’s an enormously clever piece of design. Three models – all with 1.2-litre turbo engines –a six-speed manual front wheel drive from $26,990, another $2,000 for continuously variable CVT automatic and a further $2,000 for CVT auto with the benefit of all-wheel- drive. On top of that the auto models come in higher-grade Koba variants.

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