Toyota Gets Into the EV Game, Albeit Late
- Trim Tested: bZ4X Limited
- Price as Tested: $49,728 (including destination charge)
- What We Like: Toyota’s stellar reputation
- What We Don’t: Less horsepower, storage, and range than rivals; sub-par interior design; unfortunate name
As demand for EVs continues to rise, Toyota is getting into the electric car game, though its entry is notably late for the second-largest automaker in the world. The Toyota falls short by several metrics compared with competitors: available horsepower, available battery range, charging speed, and base price. And on top of all that, the interior can’t match the luxury of most rivals.
Then there’s the name: bZ4X. It sounds like a part number in a government manual or a robot from a bad sci-fi movie. It’s a name someone might give to a product that they don’t actually want to sell. Several related EVs are built on the same platform as the bZ4X, and they don’t have bizarro names: The Subaru Solterra and Lexus RZ sound like perfectly marketable vehicles.
In any case, the bZ4X has entered the EV fray for the 2023 model year, so we tested it for a week to see what’s what.
How It Drives
The bZ4X comes in two flavors: front-wheel drive (FWD) and all-wheel drive (AWD), which costs around $2,000 more. Despite an extra motor, the AWD bZ4X only has 13 more horsepower than the FWD model (201 horsepower vs. 214).
Competitors offer significantly more power in their EVs. The Hyundai Ioniq 5, for example, costs about the same as the bZ4X but has 50% more horsepower and 80% more torque. It’s not that the bZ4X feels slow. After all, almost every EV feels faster than a comparable gas car. But more power is available for the same money.
The bZ4X does enjoy fairly responsive handling and braking. The suspension keeps the vehicle from leaning too much in corners without introducing harshness to the ride. Though a Mustang Mach-E will feel sportier on twisty roads, the bZ4X inspires enough confidence for a little sporty fun. Unlike many EVs, the bZ4X doesn’t have true one-pedal driving, which means driving using only the accelerator pedal. It’s a feature I missed, though the paddles on the steering wheel did let me adjust the regenerative braking strength.
Interior Comfort & Quality
The simple interior has vast swaths of black plastic, a clear step down from the artful interiors available from Hyundai and Kia at this price range. It’s certainly not as striking as the exterior design, and some decisions seem more like oversights. There’s no glovebox, for instance, and the dashboard is made of a rough cloth that looks like it will collect dirt quickly. The panoramic sunroof has a support bar in the middle, so part of the glass is blocked. It’s as if Toyota designed the roof, then realized it didn’t have enough structural rigidity and added the bar as an afterthought.
The seating space is decent. The front seat is comfortable, but the passenger seat has no power adjustment – a disappointment in a $50K car. The back seat has enough headroom and legroom for a 6-footer, but only just, and the floor is high because of the battery, so my knees were at the same level as my chest. On the plus side, there were heated seats and USB-C chargers back there.
The cargo area is smaller than most competitors. As in the rear seating area, the battery takes up a lot of space, resulting in a high cargo floor. The cargo area is also short, and the rear hatchback has a shallow slant, further eating into cargo space. Unlike many EVs, there is no front trunk – the motor takes up most of the space.
Technology & Usability
The infotainment system has familiar Toyota buttons, with some hit-and-miss changes. In an interesting tweak of the traditional dashboard layout, the gauge cluster is positioned above the steering wheel rim. The main touchscreen is a large 12.3-inch display above the dashboard. There are touch-sensitive buttons for the climate control, and the temperature control is done with little toggle switches. The radio volume is a button, which is more annoying than a simple knob. The transmission shifter – also a knob – requires a combination of pushing and twisting that seems unnecessarily complicated. The wireless Android Auto is nice, though, and the wireless phone charger is pretty cool. It has a little plastic cover with cutouts.
The bZ4X has the regular Toyota suite of advanced features, including automatic emergency braking, lane keep assist, blind spot monitoring, and adaptive cruise control. However, there are none of the really cool features that competitors have, like Hyundai’s driverless parking feature or Chevy’s Super Cruise semi-autonomous driving.
Read our full 2023 Toyota bZ4X review for more specs and information about the entire bZ4X lineup.
Carfax vehicle reviews let shoppers compare a vehicle’s specs against its competitors. However, some aspects of a vehicle – performance, comfort, usability – can only be evaluated through actual driving. That’s why we evaluate as many vehicles as we can, so you’ll know what to expect.
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