[Sonschr]

Just purchased a 2018 xle premium, blue... it’s a beauty... I’m hoping for it to be reliable for my wife to use it for a few years and hand it over to my son as his first car.... read so many reviews on how underpowered it is, how cvt’s are crap and how the visibility is lacking but one look and my wife and I loved it.., why so much hate for the chr in forums??

 

[zx10guy]

Because it's underpowered and the CVT is crap. Don't know how else to say it. There's a reason why there are so many complaints about these two things. It's not made up. If you don't feel these two things are a big deal, then you got the ideal car. For those of us that have complained about these two things, Toyota could have done so much better and made this car the total package. So it's not hate, it's reality. The C-HR is the slowest car in it's segment. Think about that for a moment. In a market segment where speed isn't exactly the main feature. 0 to 60 in 10.5 seconds is downright embarrassing. The HRV will do it in 8.6 seconds.

The reason I bought my C-HR is because I wanted a reliable daily driver that I can have room to haul stuff in along with having space for a car seat for my daughter. If I want speed, I have my BMW 135i and my two sport bikes. But doesn't mean Toyota shouldn't have done the proper thing to really make this car sell. Especially when the engine in the Corolla HB is an easy drop in as shown by the Lexus UX which is the exact same chassis as the C-HR.

Such as shame because Toyota markets this car as having been tuned on the Nurburgring. I can believe it because I can toss this thing pretty good into some tight twisties.

 

[Sonschr]

I see the point, maybe because I don’t drive it often I haven’t really paid much attention. It’s our fist Toyota and maybe it wasn’t the one we hoped it would be. I did test drove and it seemed fine but then again a test drive is not really indicative of a daily commute. Is there anyway (not having to spend a fortune) to up the 0-60 #s?

 

[zx10guy]

I test drove mine too and didn't think the complaints about the power/trans would be a big deal. But after living with the car for a few weeks, I understood why there are complaints. The biggest issue is that if you put your foot into the gas even part way, the fuel economy goes to hell and the engine just buzzes. To do merging activity or passing of vehicles on highways and such, you have to floor the gas to get it to move. I've gotten used to it as I have learned to plan my passing and merging. Things might be better had Toyota used a geared auto trans instead of the CVT. But it wouldn't be dramatically better. It's just plain physics. 144 HP trying to motivate 3400 lbs of car.

Unfortunately, there are no mods I feel are worth it to increase the performance of the engine. I've seen some intake kits and solenoids for the variable valve timing. After you spend about $700 or so to get maybe 10 or so HP, it's not worth it. In contrast, I spent about the same amount for a tune for my 135i. Picked up 55HP and 101 ft lbs of torque. That expenditure was worth it.

The one thing that is good about this 3FAE engine is that it's been around since 2008. So you'd expect every issue to have been addressed on it by now. The engine is also more simplistic compared to the current crop of engines so any needed repairs should be relatively cheap. The engine uses multi port fuel injection instead of the direct injection used commonly in today's cars. Direct injection engines have had carbon build up problems which require cleaning out periodically. And this engine has a timing chain so no issues with having to deal with periodic timing belt replacements.

 

[ElderJ]

zx pretty much nailed it. The engine is woefully underpowered and the CVT is notorious for being bad. However, this thing is a Toyota and it has a tried and true engine. My wife bought it because she loved the look of it (loved it), it was perfectly sized for her (not too big and yet roomy enough for hauling stuff), and it was a Toyota. She HATES car problems, so I told her to get a Toyota. She actually listened to me for once.
And yeah, for a mini-SUV, this thing handles very nicely, especially on corners. I was very surprised. Don't get me wrong, it's not like my Camaro, but for its size this C-HR has serious handles.