Overview
The name may be a dyslexic’s nightmare but in all other respects, Australia’s sole Toyota battery-electric passenger car features clarity and simplicity that even many Chinese can’t yet master.
For a company long harangued for not having an EV, Toyota stepped up to the mark quicker than many rivals. The bZ4X (and remember that after a few wines) is Australia’s mainstay EV from Toyota and may remain so for a while yet.
Which is a shame. The alphabet-soup wagon is fun to drive, easy to manoeuvre, comfortable within and has sufficient distinctive styling to be able to be found relatively easily in a carpark sea of EV silhouettes.
And it’s a Toyota, which implies it has reliability on its side, quality engineering and more explicitly, guarantees a dealership or service centre close to home.
The bZ4X Touring, reviewed here, is the long-body variant of the ongoing bZ4X that, to differentiate it from the Touring, calls itself the ‘SUV’. They are, of course, both SUVs.
The Touring is exclusively all-wheel drive thanks to two motors (each on the front and rear axles) that are substantially more powerful than the two-motor SUV equivalent. Despite this, the claimed range is only 3km difference.
Above all, the Touring is only $2000 more expensive. At $69,990 (plus costs) the bZ4X Touring isn’t the cheapest SUV (or whatever it’s called) on the market but it’s one of the best.
Toyota hasn’t followed anyone’s template with this car, allowing the parameters of safety regulations and car-park sizes to slot it into the mid-size market with ease.
It’s an all-Japan effort that isn’t actually born and bred in Toyota hallways, but has the majority input from Subaru, in which Toyota has a majority shareholding. That is why you can buy pretty much the same car from Subaru with a Trailseeker badge.
There’s a difference between the bZ4X and the bZ4X Touring in the profile, with the latter being longer – 140mm and only from the rear axle back – and having a vertical tailgate compared with a raked tailgate.
As a distinguishing feature, the Touring also has roof racks, rear wiper/washer and rather pronounced black-plastic wheel arches and side skirts.
The car sits on Toyota’s e-TNGA platform – the architecture for the BEV models – with MacPherson struts at the front (same as the standard bZ4X) and trailing-arm and double wishbones with coils at the rear (slightly different than the shorter version which has multi-links and coils).
It adds front and rear skid plates and sits on 20-inch alloy wheels with 235/50R20 tyres.
Inside it’s a great compromise between contemporary EV cabin design and the sensible approach taken by Toyota in the use of manual switchgear for the high-use functions, including HVAC.
The dashboard is dominated by the 14.0-inch touchscreen for infotainment, and complemented by a secondary 7.0-inch screen pushed back towards the windscreen that becomes the driver’s information panel. This panel is, however, difficult to view given the placement of the steering wheel.
The centre dashboard holds the gear selector, cupholders, lidded bin and two phone wireless charger panels, along with two USB points. The audio is a JBL unit with decent sound.
Front seats (finished in synthetic leather) get electric adjustment, heaters and ventilation; there’s a heated steering wheel; a panoramic roof; Apple CarPlay is wired and Android isn’t; the Toyota Connect connectivity suite is standard; and there’s a 1500W inverter and three-pin plug for powering small appliances (V2L).
Cabin room is excellent for five adults and although there’s a fixed panoramic glass panel, there’s still plenty of headroom for adults in the rear.
The Touring is 25mm higher than the standard bZ4X and has a different roof profile that gives it a bit more ceiling height.
Boot space is up to 603 litres, but it’s more about the excellent access to the boot. The standard version of this car has 150 litres of boot room less.
Toyota has a five-star crash rating from ANCAP on all models of the bZ4X including the Touring.
The Toyota Safety Sense inventory includes AEB with pre-collision safety system including pedestrian, cyclist and oncoming vehicle detection; active cruise control with curve speed reduction; lane following; lane-departure warning; intersection collision avoidance alert; emergency steering assist; emergency driving stop system; speed-sign recognition; auto and adaptive high beam; blind spot monitor; rear cross-traffic alert; front and rear parking sensors; panoramic view monitor; multi-terrain monitor (when X-mode active); eight airbags; and two outboard rear Isofix child restraint anchors and three top tethers.
ANCAP gave it an 88 per cent rating for adult occupant protection; 86 per cent for child occupant protection; 80 per cent for vulnerable road user protection; and 82 per cent for safety assist features.
Toyota has a five-year, unlimited distance new-car warranty program. The car also has an eight-year, 160,000km warranty on the traction battery but through Toyota Warranty Advantage, can extend up to 10 years and unlimited distance if the battery health is checked by Toyota when serviced at a dealer.
The roadside assistance is free for the first 12 months. Toyota’s capped-price service program costs $190 a service for a period of five years. The schedule is 12 months or 15,000km.
Driving impressions
EVs are rarely as much fun, are so easy to steer and reward the driver with great road manners as this one.
There’s some solid suspension and chassis engineering in this, keeping the vehicle taut and low so it enjoys the road curves. That’s helped by two motors packing a decent power and torque output.
The bZ4X Touring is the extended body version of the well-mannered bZ4X ‘shortie’ and has most of the same things under the skin.
Except: The Touring gets two motors (the shortie has a choice of a single or dual-motor drivetrain) with a load more power. It has 167kW each (for 280kW combined) and 268.6Nm of torque each. This compares with the shortie’s 80kW motors (each) with 168.5Nm each.
It has a slightly different rear suspension and all up, the Touring weighs only 10kg more. The high power:weight makes it a very sprightly machine, far more than its family-audience intentions. The acceleration time to 100km/h is a respectable 4.5 seconds, compared with the shortie’s 6.9 seconds.
So it is dynamic off the mark and also has a strong bank of torque waiting under the right foot for loads of mid-range acceleration and extra grunt through corners.
This grunt also makes it better for towing, with the Touring capable of hauling a 1500kg (braked) trailer or caravan. The shorter model is only rated at 750kg.
There is a bit of understeer when cornering quickly but it’s on par with peers and certainly nothing unexpected. The steering feel is very good, brakes are strong and the ride comfort really good – occupants confirming that the 2065kg (without load) wagon is smooth and compliant over bumpy roads.
The car is easy to enter and exit, and the seats are good – but not great – with plenty of leg and headroom up the front of the cabin.
From the driver’s seat the only disappointment is the placement of the steering wheel, which is too low to see much of the instrument panel. This is after trying adjustments to everything except the seats (which makes it better but the driving position becomes awkward).
The upside to the dashboard is the physical controls that make changes on the go so much easier than searching through a touchscreen.
The drivetrain has three modes – normal/snow-dirt/deep snow/mud – which use programming developed from Subaru’s X-mode system designed for varying road surfaces and used on its Forester and Outback models.
The bZ4X has some off-road ability but perhaps more limited on gravel or limestone roads than attempting to plough fields or chase beachside waves.
Toyota claims 488km range from the 104-cell lithium-ion battery and states that this is a laboratory figure. True. However, it could flag 420km when driven smoothly – good but a lot of rivals are better.
As always noted, owners should have a charger at home with some decent current behind it because standing in a queue for a bit of electricity is no fun.