Toyota bZ4X review (2022-present)
Toyota bZ4X cars for sale
4.0
Expert review
Pros
Roomy rear seats
Comfortable ride
Incredible warranty packages and reliability
Cons
Boot is small by class standards
Questions over real-world range in cold weather
Not a cheap option
The CarGurus verdict
The Toyota bZ4X is a consummate family car; quiet, comfortable, spacious and well equipped. A market-leading battery and vehicle warranty will also deliver peace of mind even if the brand’s long-lived reputation for reliability isn’t enough on its own. Yet, it is a shame that the boot is noticeably smaller than on some rivals, while the disappointing real-world range in cold weather is another tricky issue, and there are rivals out there that do better on both of those fronts that also cost less to purchase.
Ultimately, if you can find a good deal on the bZ4X – used or new – then we recommend it. But those frustrations do mean that the Toyota doesn’t quite take the top spot in the increasingly competitive electric SUV class.
What is the Toyota bZ4X?
Right, let’s get this out of the way sharpish: what’s with that overly clumsy name? Well, bZ stands for ‘beyond zero’, while 4X alludes to the size of the car, apparently. Ultimately, the bZ4X is a mid-sized, all-electric family crossover that’s similar in size to the Toyota RAV4. It’s offered with either front- or four-wheel drive, and has a host of rivals to contend with ranging from the Skoda Enyaq iV and Hyundai Ioniq 5 through to the Tesla Model Y and Volkswagen ID.4.
This is the first zero-emissions, battery-electric vehicle from Toyota (although its premium brand, Lexus, did launch the UX300e electric car in 2020) and it shares its e-TNGA platform with its sister car, the Subaru Solterra. Toyota is late to the EV party, then, having focussed more on hybrids up until now. The bZ4X comes complete with a 71.4kWh total capacity battery pack, which results in an official WLTP combined driving range of 286 miles in the slightly more powerful all-wheel drive versions, or up to 318 miles in the front-wheel drive variants.
As for styling? Well, to our eyes the bZ4X manages to be peculiarly forgettable despite having angles to spare. It’s not offensive or ugly, just rather easy to overlook and perhaps a bit derivative of lots of other alternatives. Still, the same critcisms could be levelled at plenty of cars in this class, and the Toyota looks smart and modern, and has an edge of interest to it with the swathes of contrasting black plastic cladding smattered around the wheelarches and sills, giving a rugged off-road look.
How practical is it?
The Toyota bZ4X is decent for practicality even by the high standards of this class, but it is overshadowed by the Skoda Enyaq iV, VW ID.4, Ford Mustang Mach-E and Tesla Model Y, all which have usefully bigger boots.
Even so, the Toyota’s boot is big enough at 452 litres, so you’ll get a couple of big dogs in quite comfortably, or there’s plenty of space for a chunky double buggy. The rear seats also fold flat in a 60/40 split, leaving a smooth if slightly sloped extended loadbay. There’s no storage up front in the nose of the car, as you get in the Tesla Model Y and BMW iX1, but there is underfloor storage in the boot for the cables, and for your fabric load cover.
The Toyota has one of the roomiest rear seats in the class, with masses of leg- and headroom; it really is limousine-like passenger space. You also get a central rear armrest with cupholders, a couple of USB charging points and two sets of Isofix points. The floor feels a little high, so those with long legs may feel like their knees are bent upwards, but that’s our only quibble. There’s no seven-seat version planned for the bZ4X; you’ll have to look to the Mercedes EQB for that capability at this price.
Up front, there’s an intriguing cabin that appears to have hints of fighter plane to the pronounced instrument binnacle that sits a long way back from the steering wheel. A high centre console - topped with the central infotainment screen - bisects the driver and passenger seats, emphasising the ‘cockpit’ ambience that you get when you sit up front in the Toyota.
The materials feel durable, and there’s some aesthetic interest in the tactile textiles that line the dashboard, but it does feel rather dark and drab next to some rivals. It’s also a bit short on cubby space. There’s no glovebox, which is very odd, but there’s a storage space below the ‘floating’ console for the handbook, and a big, deep cubby between the seats.
A touch-sensitive panel offers air-con controls, but the fact that they’re separate from the touchscreen and straightforward to use is a bonus over the many rivals that house the climate controls in the screen.
What's it like to drive?
The Toyota bZ4X is one of the most relaxing and cohesive cars in the class to drive. We’ve only tried the front-wheel drive model on the standard 18-inch alloys, in which form it has a really pleasing blend of smooth ride comfort matched to light, confident handling.
The steering is very short on any real sense of connection, but it responds predictably and is weighted well whether you’re on a fast country road or winding through town. It actually feels quite light-footed and responsive next to rivals like the Nissan Ariya, and is one of the most comfortable and responsive of the big electric SUVs despite not being offered with adaptive dampers. Only the Skoda Enyaq iV rivals the bZ4X it for balance of ride- and handling.
The powertrain is just fine, with the lovely, seamless ebb-and-flow of the electric motor making the bZ4X feel very smooth, while the 201bhp motor delivers hearty acceleration of 0-62mph in 7.5sec, or 6.9sec if you opt for the 215bhp AWD model.
We had no traction issues with the single-motor FWD car even in wet conditions, and it gets the longer driving range, so is our pick of the range.
Regenerative braking is very mild in the Toyota, so if you hop behind the wheel without any prior experience of an electric car then you’ll likely find that it feels just like normal engine braking when you lift off the throttle. You can increase the brake regen’ at the push of a button, but it’s a long way off the one-pedal driving that you get in the Nissan Ariya. We favour the greater control that’s offered by more varied brake regen’ modes such as those on the Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5, which allow you to toggle through the levels brake regen’ via paddles on the steering wheel.
Technology, equipment & infotainment
Toyota has suffered with below-par infotainment systems for many years, but the bZ4X finally brings a new touchscreen system that has clear graphics, all the features you want and is easy enough to use. As with all in-car interfaces, it takes a little while to figure out how the system works, but the menus are logical and the screen responds quickly. Some of the icons are a bit small, but generally this is an easy system to get along with. It also has in-built satnav, as well as wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, digital radio, Bluetooth and over-the-air software updates. However, it’s worth mentioning that the entry-level Toyota bZ4X Pure gets a smaller 8.0-inch touchscreen, while the rest of the range gets the higher-definition 12.3-inch touchscreen pictured here.
The Pure model does at least get a reversing camera, LED headlights, 18-inch alloy wheels, adaptive cruise control, semi-autonomous drive mode and autonomous emergency braking that can sense a pedestrian or cyclist as well as a car. A heat pump is also standard, which should offer better efficiency and real-world driving range in winter, but scroll down for more on that in our Running Costs section.
Motion trim adds heated front seats, upgraded part-leatherette upholstery, electric seats with lumbar adjustment for the driver, wireless phone charging, a 360-degree parking camera with front and rear parking sensors. An upgraded safety system also brings a blind-spot monitor and an ‘exit monitor’, which will warn if there’s a cyclist or car approaching when you’re parked up and about to open the car door. As of a 2024, these also get automatic flashing rear hazard lights, aimed at reducing the chances of a rear-end collision.
Top-spec Vision trim gets a handsfree powered bootlid, heated steering wheel, heated and ventilated front seats, full leatherette upholstery, a panoramic glass roof and a semi-autonomous parking function that’ll steer the car into a space for you. It also gets 20-inch alloy wheels, which look much better than the standard 18-inch wheels but also reduce your potential driving range.
Toyota bZ4X running costs
The bZ4X isn’t the cheapest mid-sized electric family SUV you can buy; the Skoda Enyaq iV and Volkswagen ID.4 are both cheaper on list price, or you could even look to the MG ZS EV, which is smaller yet is still a really fine, spacious, electric family SUV that offers a similar range and makes just about everything else in the class look astonishingly pricey. Having said that, the Tesla Model Y and even the Subaru Solterra - which is a badge-engineered version of the Toyota bZ4X - are noticeably more expensive.
With that underwhelming cold weather real-world range to consider, it’s fair to say that other EVs will be more efficient and a bit cheaper to ‘fuel’. For instance, if the Toyota bZ4X is only doing 2.6 miles per kWh in winter, it’ll be costing 15p per mile assuming you’re charging at home for 40p/kWh. If you’re in an EV that’s doing 3.0m/kWh, that drops to just over 13p per mile. Small amounts, but it makes a difference, especially if you charge at public rapid chargers, which are more expensive so the difference in cost will be greater. For some context, a petrol car doing 40mpg will cost around 14p per mile to fuel, while a diesel doing 55mpg will be costing 16p per mile.
At least the Toyota bZ4X has respectable warm weather efficiency, and it’s also well equipped as standard. The excellent warranty is also likely to keep used prices buoyant over the years.
Toyota bZ4X reliability
Toyota has a great reputation for reliability, which has been well established for many decades now. Whether analysed as an overall brand or when looking at individual models, it is routinely rated as one of the most reliable car manufacturers by owners of both new and used vehicles.
Having said that, the Toyota bZ4X is a new vehicle and the brand’s first full electric vehicle, so there is an aspect of the unknown to it. Toyota clearly has faith that it’ll live up to the company’s reputation for impeccable reliability, though (despite a very widely publicised recall on the bZ4X at its launch, which has now been resolved). As with every Toyota, the bZ4X comes with a three-year warranty that is then extended for free each year when the vehicle is serviced at a Toyota dealership. With that proviso, the warranty continues for a whole 10 years and 100,000 miles, making it the best warranty in the industry. Not only that, but the high voltage battery in the bZ4X is warrantied against failure, or if the range drops below 70% of its as-new performance, for 10 years and 600,000 miles, which is the best battery warranty in the industry.
- The Toyota bZ4X charges via the CCS and Type 2 sockets that are located at the back of the car, where you’d expect the fuel-filler cap to be on a petrol or diesel vehicle. These are the European standard socket types, and are compatible with the vast majority of public charging points, or with every home charger. The Toyota bZ4X comes with the cables you need to plug into a home charger or slower public charging station, while DC rapid charging stations always have the charging cable built into the unit. Plug into one of the ultra-rapid charging stations that are becoming common across the UK’s road network and the Toyota bZ4X will charge at up to 150kW, which is capable of delivering a 10-80% charge in under 30 minutes, or a 100 mile top-up in some 15 minutes. Rapid charging is naturally slower in colder temperatures, so as part of a 2024 update, and new heat exchanger was added to help speed it up a bit. Charging at home will take around ten hours to fully charge the 71.4kWh battery.
- The cold weather real-world range of the Toyota bZ4X is surprisingly poor. All electric cars suffer a drop in their potential range in cold weather, but the Toyota’s seems more noticeable than many others despite coming with a standard heat pump (an expensive option on a lot of rivals, it’s supposed to bring more energy-efficient cabin heating, and therefore better driving range in cold weather). We got real-world efficiency of 3.1m/kWh in the front-wheel drive model, in middling temperatures of around 12deg and varied driving, equating to a real-world range of around 195 - 220 miles, which is very comparable with other EVs. But, in colder conditions of around 5deg, we found that the range dropped to closer to 150 miles per charge with the heater using up a fair chunk of that battery power. That’s not a great range even by the standards of those rivals that don’t have a heat pump. Summer conditions, especially if you’re not doing lots of motorway miles, will likely see the bZ4X’s range creep up to around 250- to 280 miles per charge.
- Towing isn’t a strong suit with the bZ4X, which can only tow up to 750kg even with a braked trailer – regardless of whether you have the front- or four-wheel drive model. The Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6 and Tesla Model Y can all tow 1600kg, so promise to be much better if you do need to tow.
- If you want the best value: The entry-level bZ4X Pure is the one to go for if purchase price is a priority, as it still gets reasonable comfort- and convenience. Mind you, the blanking plate around the smaller touchscreen on Pure models looks unsightly, and the more generously equipped Motion trim (which gets the bigger screen and plenty of other extras, as detailed above) will hold its value better as well, so if you’re a cash buyer then make sure that you really are saving money by opting for the more basic car.
- If you want the best company car: While top-spec Vision is tempting if you’re a company car user, given that Benefit in Kind payments will still be low, we’d still go for the mid-spec bZ4X Motion. It gets all the luxuries and comforts you want, plus it gets the smaller wheels that will bring the best ride comfort and efficiency, not to mention lower costs for you and your employer. The same goes if you’re leasing or financing the Toyota bZ4X through your company.
- If you want the best family car: Again, go for the Toyota bZ4X Motion, but consider adding the panoramic glass roof, as the rear seats are really dark and gloomy without it. Otherwise, keyless entry, charging points in the back seats and excellent safety standards means that the Toyota bZ4X Motion should tick all of the family car boxes, even if you do get a bigger boot in the Skoda Enyaq iV.
- If you want the best long distance commuter: Again, stick with the front-wheel drive Toyota bZ4X Motion, as it gets the longest possible range thanks to its small wheels, yet also has the comfort and convenience that you want.
