Toyota bZ4X
GOODBYE
£54,410 OTR/£54,410 as tested/£519 pcm
WHY IT’S HERE
Is Toyota’s e-4x4 behind the curve, or better than we think?
DRIVER
Tom Ford
SIX MONTHS AND THE TOYOTA BZ4X NOW HAS MORE THAN 10,000 miles on the clock That’s roughly kWh of charging at an average of
miles per kWh I’ve spent a lot of time in this car on motorways and Aroads Broads and ‘roads’ that only feature as vague gleams in the eye of an OS map I’ve charged mainly at home the rest on a variety of public chargers all over the country And it charges like it drives acceptably
It’s the same for the drive There’s nothing wrong with it It’s stable and predictable has decent body control and linear but numb steering It’s fine
And you’ve guessed it the inside is also perfectly OK Kit is fine but not stunning the interior roomy It’s well put together But there are niggles The car bongs when you’re reversing squeals when you open/shut the rear tailgate chirps when you block the driver monitor for a millisecond There’s no rear wiper some of the buttons don’t light up at night and there’s precious little functionality or information when it comes to charging
The bZ X’s one quirk is that it’s quite good offroad We swapped the standard s for standard s added a set of samesized BF Goodrich Trail Terrains and found it good Then there was a set of rally graphics inspired by Toyota’s Eighties rally cars expertly applied by Lee Winstone at Mission Motorsport’s livery department A set of roof bars roofrack and massive light bar later and loads of people were suddenly interested
But at this price point there are a lot of cars to choose from most with more performance or range There are cars with more interesting styling cars with quirkier or more stylish interiors Cars that try a bit harder And that’s the bZ X’s problem It feels like Toyota didn’t try hard enough to impress Add to that the lifeless range figures in the wild and it’s a car that makes you want to sigh It’s not even bad enough to hate but you’d have to be a very beige thinker to fall in love