Toyota wasn't a big player in the early-2020s all-electric game. It only launched one EV: the bZ4X.Suddenly, there's an influx of Toyota EVs for 2026, when competitors are leaving the market.I drove a new entrant to see if it works — and I think I'm in love.Let's go back to 2023. GM is rolling out a dozen EVs, Ford has borrowed the iconic F-150 and Mustang nameplates for all-electric vehicles, Polestar looks like a potential up-and-comer…And Toyota — long heralded as one of the more environmentally conscious automakers after the runaway success of the Prius hybrid — isn't really competing. Its single EV, the bZ4X, is a little weird-looking, charges slowly, and won't reach 300 miles on a full battery.AdvertisementAdvertisementToyota's slow approach surprised industry watchers. Environmentalists blew up my phone at the time, complaining that the world's largest automaker was leaning heavily on hybrids that still got most of their power by burning dinosaur juice.Fast-forward three years. The industry's rosier EV predictions have succumbed to billion-dollar write-downs, a big graveyard of discontinued models, and Polestar's removal from the US market.Simultaneously, and almost inexplicably, Toyota's consumer EV lineup in 2026, fresh off a partnership with Subaru, has more nameplates than Tesla.That reversal is what made me particularly curious about the new C-HR.Handsome. Efficient. Kinda… super sporty?The C-HR is more of a looker than its bigger sibling.Ben Shimkus/Business InsiderI drove about 200 miles through New York City traffic and New Jersey's highways in a 2026 Toyota C-HR XSE. And man, oh man, did I like my time in the driver's seat.AdvertisementAdvertisementLet's start with pricing. Starting at $37,080, the C-HR isn't Toyota's most affordable EV — that distinction goes to the bigger, $34,980 bZ.The C-HR is, however, the cheapest way to get into an all-wheel-drive Toyota EV. AWD comes standard on the base $37,080 C-HR, while it's a $5,000 upgrade on the bZ. My tester, with two-tone exterior paint, oomph-ier speakers, and some other goodies, topped out at $43,429.The car was wildly efficient. The EPA says the XSE can squeeze 273 miles from a full battery.I would have easily outperformed that during my week. I grabbed the EV with its battery at 89%, and after driving about 170 miles without charging, it never dropped below 40%. That suggests I would have gotten around 400 miles on a charge.AdvertisementAdvertisementOn several drives, the car reported efficiency in the high-5s and low-6s in miles per kilowatt-hour. Those numbers, if true and consistent, are phenomenal. It reminded me of my time in Lucid's cars, a high-end EV maker practically obsessed with engineering every possible mile from a battery.The C-HR's interior was comfy and airy. Its storage was a little cramped, though.Ben Shimkus/Business InsiderEfficient is not a synonym for boring, and the C-HR makes that super clear. Toyota says the car can jump from a standing start to 60 mph in 4.9 seconds, which would make it the third-quickest car in Toyota's lineup, matching the time of the sport-oriented GR Corolla.Once it merged onto the highway, though, it acted more Toyota-like: composed, comfortable, and whisper-quiet.A Tesla Model Y owner joined me for about two hours, riding mostly in the back seat.AdvertisementAdvertisementThey entered the C-HR deeply skeptical that an EV from a legacy automaker could hold a candle to their Tesla — and also walked away impressed with the airy interior and back-seat comfort.Lastly, aesthetics. I think the C-HR looks like it's about to pounce, even when parked. Its smoothed-out edges make it easier on the eyes than Toyota's larger bZ, without falling into the look-at-me-I'm-a-weird-EV styling trap that has befallen plenty of battery-powered cars.The C-HR's curved roofline makes it look like it's about to pounce. It's also a headache for tall backseat passengers.Ben Shimkus/Business InsiderMy demerits list was small, though potentially substantial for some buyers. There's no glovebox, cramping front-seat storage. My Model Y-owning passenger is about 5-foot-8 and had plenty of headroom in the back, but anyone who regularly lugs tall adults around may have to do some cramming. The trunk is smaller than the bZ's, there's no frunk, and the infotainment occasionally lagged while the car booted up.Still, by the end of the week, I did something I've rarely done after reviewing around 75 cars in my career: I imagined my own life with the C-HR.AdvertisementAdvertisementI was genuinely sad to see the car go. That's not common.Was it worth the wait?Toyota's C-HR smooths the jagged edges found in other modern EVs.Ben Shimkus/Business InsiderShowing up late did have advantages.The biggest is charging: The C-HR comes standard with a NACS charging port, the widely accepted charging standard developed by Tesla. That lets Toyota skip some of the awkward charging port transitions other automakers have had to navigate.It also helps Toyota avoid some of the costly EV bets that led rivals to their billion-dollar write-downs. The C-HR, like all of Toyota's other EVs, was jointly developed with Subaru, allowing the companies to share development costs in a period of auto industry decluttering.AdvertisementAdvertisementMost of what makes the C-HR so good feels very Toyota: strong efficiency, a comfortable ride, solid initial quality, and an easy-to-live-with interior. Those are not new competencies for the company.The wait paid off with a great EV.Did Toyota need to wait this long to build it? Maybe not. I'm still glad we got here.If you enjoyed this story, be sure to follow Business Insider on Yahoo.
