I pronounce it as "car". Don't know where that came from.

I think this pronunciation sounds right because it comes from "character", which doesn't have the "ch" sound.

'Car' has a different (longer) 'a' to that in 'character', though, is I think the point above.

I meant to agree with the point above, I pronounce it ‘car’ as well. For some reason ‘care’ doesn’t sound right either.