---
title: "Toyota ‘Considering’ C-HR With AWD but Can’t Make It Work As-Is"
description: "Toyota's spunky little crossover would need serious re-engineering to make all-wheel-drive work, though it seemingly might get it."
date: "2019-03-30"
modified: "2019-03-30"
authors:
  - name: "James Gilboy"
    job_title: "Contributing Writer"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/james-gilboy"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/27201/toyota-considering-c-hr-with-awd-but-cant-make-it-work-as-is"
categories:
  - "News"
  - "News by Brand"
  - "Toyota News"
tags:
  - "All Wheel Drive"
  - "C-HR"
  - "compact"
  - "crossovers"
  - "Denver Auto Show"
  - "scion"
  - "suv/crossover"
  - "Toyota"
---

# Toyota ‘Considering’ C-HR With AWD but Can’t Make It Work As-Is

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/09/c-hr-hypowerconcept-3-4top.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

A Toyota spokesperson revealed at the 2019 Denver Auto Show that the company has considered, but would be challenged to make an all-wheel-drive version of its subcompact C-HR crossover.

Originally a Scion project, the C-HR was appropriated as a Toyota product when the youth-oriented marque was deemed a failure and discontinued in February of 2016. It was envisioned as a small, affordable lifestyle vehicle with a crossover-coupe body style meant to appeal to a younger demographic. Most importantly, Toyota saw the C-HR as an exclusively urban vehicle and only sells it with front-wheel-drive which, compared to all-wheel-drive, is lighter, more efficient, and cheaper to produce. Nevertheless, [soaring consumer interest in AWD](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/27193/mazda-all-wheel-drive-availability-crucial-for-future-success-mx-5-to-remain-rwd>) has Toyota regretting that it didn't design the C-HR to be more compatible with the system.

"I guess \[in\] hindsight, it'd be nice to have an all-wheel-drive in one of those, and I know we're considering that—I don't know where we are in the process," said Toyota spokesperson David Lee on Wednesday, during the same presentation that he [confirmed a new generation of Toyota's full-size Tundra pickup to be in development](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/27192/toyota-confirms-new-tundra-in-development-says-to-expect-some-big-changes>).

"The engine that currently resides in that car is not compatible with our all-wheel-drive systems, so we need to either engineer the all-wheel-drive side of it, or figure a new power plant, or a different one, perhaps," continued Lee. "That is something we've had under study for a while, but I gotta be honest with you, I don't know where we stand in that situation, but being a Denver resident, here, I would hope we would have it at some point in time. It'd really broaden that car's appeal, it's a great vehicle."

C-HRs sold in North America are powered by a 2.0-liter, naturally aspirated 3ZR-FAE four-cylinder engine, which doesn't bolt up to any current Toyota AWD system. Some C-HRs sold internationally do have AWD, but only as paired with a smaller, turbocharged 1.2-liter engine, one unavailable in the U.S.

While nothing obvious stands in the way of Toyota homologating the 1.2-liter engine with American authorities, the combination of low displacement and AWD would make C-HRs equipped with this combo dreadfully slow; an acceleration test conducted by *Car Question* depicts this spec of C-HR doing 0-to-60 in about 12 seconds, and in a country where pizzas are free if not delivered in a half-hour, that's simply too slow to work. If only the [600-horsepower C-HR R-Tuned](<https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/19693/driving-the-toyota-c-hr-r-tuned-a-600-hp-compact-crossover-that-wants-to-kill-you>) was a showroom model.

https://youtube.com/embed/V1PtbPpHd78

## Author
James is a former staff writer for The Drive. He has changed the conversation around electrification, debunked misinformation online, and become a prominent hunter of what he calls "automotive cryptids."

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/jamesgilboy>)