Smooth, comfy bZ4X is an EV for the Toyota faithful
ENCINITAS, California — Toyota pioneered the green auto segment 20 years ago with its egg-shaped Prius, expanding its customer base to include hybrid tree-huggers. These loyal green customers then watched over the past decade as Tesla stole Toyota’s green eco-mantle with the all-electric Model 3 and Model Y. The faithful have finally been rewarded with the all-new 2023 Toyota bZ4X, the first all-electric Toyota built on a skateboard chassis.
Stepping on the pedal, I surged out of a stoplight on Carlsbad Highway north of San Diego. Liquid smooth and quiet as a beach breeze, the SUV is pleasant to drive around town devoid of a droning CVT transmission or gutteral V-6. Toggle the regen button and you can one-pedal drive.
But the top-drawer, all-wheel-driver’s 214 horsepower pales next to the AWD Model Y’s neck-snapping 384 ponies — good for 4.4 seconds 0-60. My Toyota arrives two seconds later.
Like the Camry sedan and RAV4 SUV, bZ4X’s game plan revolves around reliability and room.
Borrowing design cues from an alphabet soup of
sources, it poses a coherent, premium design statement. A bigger issue is bZ4X’s mixed bag of tech beneath an appealing interior design package. I ogled the center console’s striking tidal wave of black trim cresting in a broad 12.3inch screen, then barked: “Hey, Toyota! Take me to Boulders Resort, Scottsdale, Arizona.” Confusion. The Tesla would have mapped the 504 miles to the destination, and included charging stops on the way. Not the Toyota. I turned to the trusty touchscreen keypad and located Boulders, but my e-guide hadn’t a clue where fast chargers could be found. Toyota says that charging station updates are scheduled for future over-the-air updates. Toyota has settled for a 355-volt platform that will fast-charge from 10-80% in 60 minutes.
BZ4X features a clever recessed, unshrouded instrument display behind the steering wheel. Unfortunately, it is obstructed by the steering wheel.
Ergonomic tics aside, the cabin is as comfortable. Letting the sunshine in is a premium panoramic roof. Under the glass dome is a palatial rear-seat couch with 47.1 inches of legroom with a heated seat option. Front passengers get heated/cooled seats — and a special space heater where the glove compartment used to be.
BZ4X ditches the glove compartment because it has a bottomless center console into which you can drop air gauges, insurance cards — it’s so deep Toyota offers a top bin so you can segment it. Under the electronic shifter is more space. The emphasis on space does not extend to a frunk, which is another Tesla-pioneered feature that Ford has embraced with the Mach-E and Lightning pickup. Mach-E was hell-bent on creating a Tesla clone to steal away Model 3/Y buyers. Toyota? Not so much. They’re content to make an approachable EV for brand loyalists.