While he's not necessarily wrong about viewing it as an ordinary car on the day-to-day, it is an absolute joke of an offering, especially at it's price point, lack of features, and clear lack of forethought in design with the steering wheel blocking the gauge cluster that's weirdly far away from you in pretty much every position. Wouldn't have even been competitive 5 years ago. Not much better than a Bolt on a road trip for double the price too as it doesn't realistically do that pitiful 100kw peak as seen in the testing other reviewers have done.
It’s going to sell well despite its lackluster on-paper comparisons, because Toyota has that magic sauce that makes it better than the sum of its parts that non-enthusiasts love.
@@StephenByersJ well it just doesn’t work anymore. Tesla is a newer brand than Toyota yet they currently outsell the corolla which was the worlds best selling car. But now that title goes to the model y. In ca the model 3 / y outsell the Camry
Totally fair review. Since June, I am driving the Premium FWD model in Europe and more than happy with the qualities that it has. It is a true allrounder, for business and family use. I can definitely recommend this car.
@@timaustin2000 nonsense. Only Tesla makes a good Bev, awful car regarding build and materials. All other manufacturers have Bev's like their Ice's, just with a big battery pack. That has nothing to do with engineering....not one Eurooean Bev comes near Wltp range, to heavy and very poor warranty. The Rz has a small battery pack, Lexus doesn't want you to fast charge to many times, kills the batteries. Because of these safety meassures they can give 15 years warranty. The only bev you can buy 2nd after a few years. Toyota will roll out their Bev's 2.0 starting from 2026, full line up will be presented by the end of 2025. Solid state plugin and latest generation batteries, affordable Bev's and less weight. We received a very detailed internal briefing from Toyota last week...... .
I have to tell you, I got myself a BZ4X (white with black trim) and it looks fantastic. I get a lot of head rolls with Tesla drivers trying to figure out what it is. With the new software update that just came out I'm getting about 40 extra miles per charge (likely transferred from the other side of the empty dash marks) but it is a psychological edge. I'm also finding that it charges a lot faster now. There is also now a percentage meter under the remaining miles display to allow you to get a better read on how many miles you have before empty. All in all, being a Toyota guy that just came from a RAV4 Prime XSE, I'm very happy.
You’re getting a lot of head rolls from Tesla drivers because they’re laughing at you. They can’t believe how dumb of a purchase you made. 😂 They’re going “man how dumb is that person who bought a bz4x? Thank god Tesla is better than Toyota”
I just bought a B Z4x after weeks of considering all the options as they pertain to my needs. One overriding issue with other makes I looked at is build quality. I was not impressed with Tesla at all, especially after seeing the rear window of one fall out on the freeway for no apparent reason. A KIA I saw had a handle break off in a reviewer's hand when he attempted to fold back a rear seat. A Volkswagen all electric had side sensors that stopped functioning after driving off the lot. Dependability weighs far heavier for me than charging times and range. Over the years I've come to trust Toyota for quality and I don't think I will be disappointed with my Bz4x.
@@naveenthemachineTesla's build quality is almost as good as a yugo. Guess you like that "feature" along with plenty of road noise and back jarring pain over potholes. Congrats 🎉
Co-worker has one and I'm in it once or twice a week for lunch runs. It's perfectly fine as a car. There are some things I like about it more than my EV6, like the heated/ventilated seats can be controlled automatically by the climate system while in Auto mode. The brand-new Toyota/Lexus infotainment system is much better than the very long-in-the-tooth HMG software (though feature customization is pretty limited). I like the radiant leg warmers for the front row though that removes the glove box. I do hate that the instrument panel and infotainment system look like they were designed by two different teams, which they probably were. it's also got much EV-specific data as in the EV6/Ioniq 5, which is not much. He also reports efficiency almost as good as my EV6, while having a more usable cargo area and rear seat headroom and foot room. The useable battery is almost 20kwh smaller than in my car which makes the total range much smaller. Obviously, the DCFC limitations make it basically unusable as a long road trip (400+mi) car except for the most patient of people.
I owned an EV6 and then a bZ4X and now to an Ioniq 6. I agree with pretty much all of that and I think I can best sum it up by saying the bZ4X is a great car and a mediocre EV.
With the recent software updates, the bz4x can fast charge 4x in 24 hours and charging is much faster as well..... . We had the software update this summer. Range improved considerably, 450km real world range. In a recent comparison test the bz4x was considered the far better choice above the ID4 and q4 etron......
@@dwilliams4558 Tax credits and inflated trade in values! Also some luck. Had a vehicle get totaled so I had a do-over thrown in there as well and got the Ioniq 6.
I actually seen one of these a few weeks ago on the road, so there’s a least a few customers who seem to like this car… That being said I think a RAV4 Prime SE (if one can their hands on one) is a better option if you consider the MRSP between them is only a-little over $1,000 difference. Great video as always though!
@goinwitdaflow the RAV4 Prime may only be $1000 different in MSRP, but out here in the California Central Valley, they are still going for a minimum of $5,000 over MSRP and are as rare as hen's teeth.
@@tjs114I was gonna say: given the difficulty in obtaining a RAV4 Prime combined with where someone is in the country, they might be trying to move the BZ4X that are out there?
Have A Toyota. B Z 4X. Brilliant car. Look at all the rest before Buying one great Boot Space. A quick charge for over 530 kM best guaranteed Last Toyota I had for. Over 16 years brilliant car space age. Five of my Friends have bought one. We do a lot of mileage no complaints
A "quick" charge is to 80%, which works out to 51 kWh's usable battery. Sorry dude, but you're not getting 530 km range even at 100% (64 kWh's usable). I mean, we really like ours, but even driving with a light foot and a full charge, range is about 400km - which is decent. It will be far less in winter.
@@pine111 Toyota fleet of hybrids can meet regulations for a few more years while these early times of EV iron out. They’re r&d’ing as much as any other company but it isn’t worth to change and retool any factories yet Obvious to say Toyota is a very big company paying very smart people lots of money to engineer, research and plan these things out
Alex, Toyota is so far ahead of the competition in the Hybrid sphere that it makes little sense to spend this much on a beginner's effort in the BEV space.🤨 The dubious exterior and wretched interior make me wonder if Toyota contracted out bZ4X design work to the firm of Holus and Bolus. 🤔
Toyotas far behind as a brand. No wonder they’re doing so awful in the market. They’re becoming the next infiniti. Both of which are going the way of Kodak
@@bitbat9 no they are. Look at them. They’re way behind like infiniti is. The latest toyota or Lexus products don’t rank any better than infiniti. For example the nx is just as bad as the qx50 and qx55 But in rare cases infiniti ranks better than Lexus. Especially when competing qx80 vs LX or qx60 vs TX
@@naveenthemachine the average buyer isn’t going to car-reviewer-guy’s ranking website and seeing ‘oh Infiniti X model ranks higher then Lexus Y model, let’s to get Infiniti” And what the TX isn’t out yet, who is ranking that in anything lol
@@chibbyylol the tx isn’t out yet. Exactly. It’s DOA already. Lexus once again phoned it in The tx is not attractive, the interior is one of the worst in class to the point where a Hyundai palisade or kia telluride offer nicer cabins. The tech is still useless on the tx. It lacks a lot of features for its price and I know because I saw the options sheet and it’s not looking good 😁 Sure interior space is great but it’s not like the tx has a new level of interior space. If the tx say had the space of an Escalade esv sure but it doesn’t. The powertrains are especially lackluster. The tx350 uses the same turbo as a base Highlander L. 0-60 takes over 8 seconds. So you’re not going to run away from a corolla or kia rio. You’ll certainly run away from a Mitsubishi mirage but cmon we’re comparing a Lexus tx to a Mitsubishi mirage in 0-60. Quite the lowest bar if you ask me. The tx500h f sport performance (yeah right on the performance part 🙄) uses the hybrid max setup. 366hp 400lbft and it’s still not quick. 0-60 in 6.5-6.7 seconds. So no faster than a telluride palisade pilot, or base explorer 2.3 or v6 grand Cherokee. But still significantly slower than the MDX type s, gv80 twin turbo base aviator, Explorer st / platinum / king ranch etc. and the tx has more power than the MDX and more instant torque than the MDX and gv80 The tx550h+ is the most interesting confusing and typical with Lexus, extremely underwhelming. The interesting part is that it uses a 3.5L v6 and makes 400hp. The confusing part is why does the phev get the v6 and not the other tx models? Didn’t Toyota just kill the v6 in the Highlander sienna venza or even the Tacoma? The underwhelming part is the 0-60. It’ll take 7-7.5 seconds. And it’ll cost 80k. All of a sudden that Cadillac xt6 that’s already overpriced sounds like a better deal compared to the tx… Handling will be awful. It’ll drive like a rav4 XL with lipstick since it’s based off a rav4 / Camry platform. Sure it’ll ride great but so does everyone else. It’s not like Lexus sets the gold standard for ride quality. It’s not gonna ride like a maybach or Bentley or anything with an air suspension. In fact those air suspension options will ride a lot better Quietness probably average. I expect around 70-71db. So no quieter than the average midsize sedan tbh. Fuel economy - does that even matter? It’s a luxury car. You can most definitely afford the low mpg if you can afford a luxury car in the first place
Hello Alex, Thanks for all your honest and true car reniews. I don't know if you have the last updated model of Toyota bz4x for 2024 in your test in June 2023. Some of the updates will only come on new cars orderer for spring delivery. According to Toyota we have got the same battery-type on both the FWD and AWD models with sinificantly faster charging curve than earlier models both in summer and winter conditionjsj with max 150 Kw charging speed, and they also have significantly better efficiency and real life range on the new road tests with among others the Norwegian El-Car Assosiation which got a consumsion of 1,3 Kw per 10 km which gave a range at aprox 500 km. This road test have no highway but a is the normal road test for the El-Car Assosiation with an average speed of 80 km/h, and was driven along with a Nissan Ariya e-4orce with some higher consumsion. In Norway we can pay extra to have 11 Kw charger at home, but in the new way to calculate the el-prices, we will get a higher price for the electricity based on the highest peaks and max total electric load we will have from the charging, and if possible its therefore better economy to charge at max 6 Kw or at 3-4 Kw that normally is enough if the battery isn't completly empty. There some people don't find a reason to pay extra for 11 Kw charging even then it's now possible. The bz4x also was the best car in two winter test by El-Car24 competing with some of the other best selling electric family cars at the Norwegian market. In the second half of 2023 and in January 2024 Toyota bz4x have been among the best selling cars in Norway. Best regards from Norway
Local VW dealer has so many bZ4X/Solterra's on their lot it's obvious people have been trading them in for ID.4s and the VW dealer can't seem to get rid of them.
@@KeeperOfTheSevenKeys. I seriously considered the ID.4, but had actually ordered the Mach-E while waiting for the wheels to not fall off the bZ4X, and it came in this summer. The bZ4X will make a decent used car at the right price. The question will be how low that price will be.
@@thekat-dg9fx Yeah I ended up with a Mach-E over my preference of an EV6 due to markup and loss of tax credit. It's a solid car and does have things over the EV6 like the glass roof and Ford being better at OTA updates (though not Tesla/Rivian/Lucid good yet). edit: oh and frunk! frunk has been useful a few times.
This is why I like Toyota. They feel refined. I would never pick a Model Y. It goes well and has good tech but the ride quality is not good and it just doesn't seem to be assembled with care. I do like the Ioniq/EV6 siblings.
Here me out. They built it for Toyota. They built a low demand vehicle that would give their production teams experience in building them without the worry that there would be so much demand that they would disappoint customers with long waits and quality issues. Similar to the Crown being released to gain production experience and customer feedback on the new hybrid max driveline.
I’ve been wondering if that be the reason. It seems to be designed to not create a lot of demand. My gut tells me this is more about Toyotas lack of interest in EV’s though.
Something I've noticed in reviews, they talk about the onboard charger speed in kWh, but don't explain about the EVSE charging speeds which are usually marketed by AMPS. So for this example, the Toyota has a 6.6kWh on board charger-- what EVSE would it max out? Breaker: 15amps, Output: 12amps, kWh: 2.8 Breaker: 20amps, Output: 16amps, kWh: 3.8 Breaker: 30amps, Output: 24amps, kWh: 5.7 Breaker: 40amps, Output: 32amps, kWh: 7.6 Breaker: 50amps, Output: 40amps, kWh: 9.6 Breaker: 60amps, Output: 48amps, kWh: 11.5 Breaker: 100amps, Output: 80amps, kWh: 19.2 So, a common 40amp circuit which is used by most EVSE installations would actually exceed the maximum draw of the Toyota. And honestly, how many people have enough overhead available in their breaker boxes to support additional 50, 60 or 100amp circuits?
@@AAutoBuyersGuide But when you have access to 11kW in an enviroment that offers a full charge in 3 hours while you do other things, this vehicle fails.
whenI look at the front it reminds me of a taller prius with the hammerhead headlights and the grill opening at the bottom and the way the hood comes to a sharp edge just above the bumper.
I like it and the Solterra, I like the ground clearance, AWD option and I don't care about the acceleration. But in my use case the range/charging would stop me buying it, even if it were $10k cheaper than it is.
I traded in my 2022 Lexus NX350 for a Tesla Model 3 performance. I wanted desperately to get the Lexus RZ450, but there were too many limitations for the price.
@@benjaminsmith2287 Well of course Toyota gave the car real door handles, and unlike Tesla, won't have issues with the doors not opening in an emergency. But hey, don't we all want vehicles that ditch buttons, stalks and everything you've ever used because....reasons?
Everybody....EVERYbody is complaining about this car efficiency, software and charging curve...tons of videos prove it... 3.3 miles/kwh ~ 303 wh/mile is high average
Not a fan of the huge black fenders, to me it just looks like they didn’t finish painting the car. Personally I don’t like this new styling and I see more black plastics in other cars to
More comfortable than the competition? Stop right there, that's all I need to know. In daily traffic, ground clearance and comfort are supremely important, and this car has it. I would pick this over the competition based on that fact alone. I just want a reliable, comfortable, easy to live with car.
A few critical issues: 1) no frunk, no glove box. 2) a very distant front display that is more suitable for a short person than a normal human in size. 3) an overly convoluted HVAC - thermal management system that is less efficient and a mechanical nightmare, 4) a style over function rear storage with an overly slanted rear window limiting usefulness of hatch design, 5) spartan software features such as navigation to fast charging and trip planning, and limited information concerning efficiency, 6) artificial limits imposed to supposedly protect the battery’s lifespan such as TWO fast charges per day (although Toyota supposedly will up that to 4 … how generous) and 6) No over the air updates? Yes, the base price for a 2 wheel drive is somewhat competitive BUT at what compromise? I’m keeping my ICE car for a very long time, for value propositions for EVs have yet to materialize- the EV offering from Toyota is a putrid mess.
“Whom,” actually. 😂 Thanks for the perspective, Alex! I’m a Prius Prime driver, but if the BZ4x is the best EV Toyota can make, then I will definitely have to switch my brand loyalties on our next car purchase.
Lexus getting their act together is as likely as Alex’s dodge Durango SRT will last over 300k miles with no issues 😂 both of which we all know will never happen
Toyota is historically 3+ years behind the tech leaders due to them waiting to see what works and what doesn't before implementing the changes. However, this paint job is right out of the playschool box. Still scratching my head.
But this is 2023. Every brand has become more reliable than ever. Look at Alex’s Durango SRT. He bought it new yet it hasn’t broken yet even though everyone jokes on fiat reliability
I feel like Toyota got some kind of huge discount on that gray hard plastic. it makes an appearance in so many of their new models and in excess in each of them. It makes their interiors look extremely cheap.
I agree; realistically it's a first generation EV from Toyota. Nothing more, nothing less. Is it going to sway the average RAV4 buyer? Probably not. But I don't think any EV is there yet.
I think the design of the Toyota is fine (the wheels are a bit of a buzz kill but whatever). The problem is, with the tax credit it really is up against a Model Y long range. That car has 330 miles of range, access to reliable chargers, and is very quick and fun to drive. On the lower end, 35k gets you about the same seating space and a smaller trunk with the Bolt EUV. It's also FWD and has the same range but gets the tax incentive and a free electrical hookup and most every option you could want (heated seats, wheel, cooled seats, leather, etc.)
As a daily driver of a BX4X, I don't believe this is a great vehicle for anyone who has longer daily commutes. I am driving an AWD limited trim so the 220 ish range is what is claimed. Reason I am saying claimed is that with climate control on, this drops down to roughly 185 miles on a 100% charge. Add that most EV's recommend that you only charge to 80% this brings the range down even more. The fact that it tells you that your range is down is actually good. All EV's get reduction with Climate control on and Toyota at least is up front with the prediction. The fact that the car does not tell you the charge percentage is annoying to me. I have to guess based on the Electric gauge similar to fuel counterparts. The comfort is actually pretty good and several people have given me compliments on the looks of the car. But that is subjective so everyone's taste can vary. I am curious how much better/worse it will be in the winter with heating. I have a 50 mile one way commute and have no issue today getting to and from work, but days that I have to go someplace else has brought me concern. And the slow Level 2 charging is real. I have not experienced DC Fast charging yet. OTA update is hit or miss. I have a notification to bring my car in to dealer for on OTA update. Why?
The 2023 bZ4X is a solid vehicle, but I wouldn’t quite call it the ultimate driving utensil. It's more of a perfectly balanced blend of efficiency, technology, and comfort for everyday driving.
The Toyota bZ4X is a reliable and efficient all-electric SUV that delivers a safe, smooth ride. It’s definitely one of the best electric SUVs for everyday use.
The only vehicle that looks better with a front plate. Looks like it was styled inside and out by like 52 different people who didn’t like each other. Too bad, this looks like a decent offering…mostly. Shame about the Level 2 charge level.
the way the colored panels on the headlights don't exactly integrate cleanly into the hood bothers me so much. That's the sort of gap that you see on poorly repaired hoods/trunks.
Alex, one thing you didn't mention is the DC fast charge throttling when you fast charge multiple times in a day, like when you're on a road trip. Check out Bjorn Nyland's 1000 km challenge videos on this. This is honestly a fatal flaw in my book that makes this car probably the worst EV to road trip, outside of maybe the Bolt.
Though not a home run, I don't think this is the wide miss that many media pundits suggest. Still, IMO, it's too "soft" of an effort to be a great contender especially re: charging times, and I'd not have it on my EV list.
Stylists at Toyota ran out of ideas on front end headlights, grill and bumper. The EV gives an opportunity for a new direction. Lexus went first with the “spindle” grill.
Thank you, Alex. Always love your videos. My two cents: Bad launch with reliability. Way overpriced. Cheap, hard plastic interior. Poor range. Ugly. Model 3 is way better on all metrics.
No grand highlander is no better. It too is a universally mediocre option over the telluride palisade pilot cx90 grand Cherokee L or even the new Traverse
It was just an attempt for Toyota/Subaru to get something out there to keep the brand loyalists from straying while they struggle to catch up. Still a coin flip if they will succeed. But they'll keep trickling out their "coming soon" stuff like future models and batteries to lead people on. A lot of people will look at other brands, and buy them, and all companies/industries know that once you lose a core customer and they're happy enough with the competition, then they probably won't be coming back.
It's ugly. Especially the interior dash. Didn't even want to finish the video once I saw that. Now I know why my local toyota dealer had a used one for sale with less than 1000 miles on it. You should have done better Toyota!
i drove the Solterra as a loaner and right off bat i was impressed by how well built, quiet and refined the drive was., however i found out later the cost of yhe battery was $45000 (us). it is all or nothing. that defeats the purpose of owning the car long term. makes zero sense., as good as the car drives
The battery is engineered for 10 years of use with no more than 10% battery degradation. I think we'll be able to put 300,000 miles on this EV...easy. We chose the BZ4X because it was about the only EV that fit in with our goal of long-term , very low Total Cost of Ownership
@@oilerlord7367 i hope it lasts that long (> 250000 miles). i am biding my time, and see what owners have to say after a few years. i do want the cars to succeed but why didn't they warranty the battery beyond 8 years if the degradation was only 10%?
I really want Toyota to come out with some good EV models, because I trust that they will tend to over engineer things for reliability, and some people want better build quality than Teslas or to avoid the company out of principle. I'm glad they didn't go with low profile tires, which are a bothersome trend overall. Beyond the VW Buzz, does anybody know when there may be more EV minivans in the US?
Bought mine in Alberta...it was a trade in from a person who moved from Quebec Got the fully loaded AWD model at 45% off original MSRP. Killer deal. My wife and I were driving a Lexus, and unlike Ford, Hyundai and Tesla offerings The XLE/AWD/Tech Pkg BZ4X blows them all away on Luxury alone, but also on overall build quality, fit & finish Keep your faster charging speed, we'll take the better BZ4X thank you.
Only problems I see is the steering wheel blocking the instrument panel, the weird cladding especially up front, no rear wiper, no opening sunroof and no glovebox. But a good refresh could make these changes possible. Toyota hasn’t been on the ball lately leaving room for the competition to move in on them.
Perfect for newly open minded elders whom still in there sim-luxry import saloons... The key is for us to give it to them with a pleasant minimum tech update...love will help those before us to enjoy now for another decade or more.. less backing in to a fire hydrant front of there garage...down there.... aye,.
You've copy/pasted this lie at least 1/2 dozen times. Inside EVs clearly shows BZ4X as #4, behind ID.4 and XC40 for 2023. Don't even bother looking at 2022 because of the recall.
Toyota fan boy here. I like the look, but the interior, ughhhh. No choice of regen, ughhh. This looks really like a appliance. Which is fine. But I’d shop around.
We need to do something to help the planet. Strip mining for precious metals and other materials needed for EV production, probably was not the best way to go about it. In fact it's misguided at best. I feel it's more about power and control. Not to mention I never knew a Democrat that did not like spending your money.
Are EVs better for combating CO2? Yes. Are they actually the real solution to the climate crisis? No. Do democrats actually care? No, because they are a center right wing party. The only political party that would care about solving that issue are socialists.
Lol damn right. Even you now acknowledge how right my harsh Toyota criticism is. Because you’ve said otherwise lately but you now agree Took you that long to acknowledge that I am right to criticize Toyota even though I own one?
@@naveenthemachinecriticize is a weak word. You quite frankly hate Toyota. I find it ironic you haven’t decided to sell your Camry for a Sonata, or even a Genesis or sone other brand that isn’t Toyota/Lexus.
@@arhamkhakwani5851 the Camry is the only Toyota so far that’s exceeded expectations I was expecting it to look sort of like the 2017 model. But when I first saw it I screamed. I was floored by the XSE especially with the black roof. When I sat inside one I was blown away by the red interior. When I finally drove one I was really impressed. It handled way better than I expected. I never thought a Camry can be fun around curves. It put a smile on my face. And the features were way better than I thought. And the 3.5L v6 was and still is silky smooth and on the highway it’s shockingly quiet. Before buying in 2019 I was prepared to give up some features that weren’t on the Camry at the time like CarPlay android auto cooled seats etc But the 19 model came and it had CarPlay. When the 2020 came out it was surprised to not only find android auto but also cooled seats So no i didn’t have to give up features since 2020 had it all.
This and the Mazda Ev i think are the worst Ev on the market right now , this is a complete joke and Toyota should be ashamed for this release , considering they are the #1 seller of combustion engine cars in the world , so they have the budget to massively invest on EV's research and development . I will go forward and say that Lexus EV's are not far from this failure ......
It's ok alex, we know you cannot say too many negatives about the bz4x. we know you dont want to be banned by the automakers. but for the rest of us out there. the bz4x is a letdown for a toyota. no one is expecting toyota to sell a model y. no one expects toyota to be fun. most of us expect toyota to be super efficient, super reliable and no frills styling. Is it the most efficient, even in fwd, there are tons of cars/suvs that are more efficient. Is it reliable? dont know yet, but there are wheel and software issues. Style? more polarizing than utilitarian. As a generic toyota, it doesnt do the generic toyota things very well. This is a compliance car and we all know it. It's not good at any of the toyota things cuz, well toyota doesnt want to sell these things. im not even talking about the range, or charging etc. Things that makes an EV good. those are mediocre too. Mediocre EV and a mediocre toyota. Thats my hot take.
I’ve been more negative on Toyotas too lately. Everyone even Alex calls me the internets biggest Toyota hater😂 I’ve been told I’m more harsh on Toyota than sofyan bey
If you are talking about efficiency, combined hgwy+city in SUV category. Only Tesla Model Y(AWD, Long Range AWD, RWD) gets more Le/km. If you are looking at whole bev category then only Lucid air touring and pure, Ioniq 6, Model Y and 3 are the only one more efficient than this, bz4x matches Model S, EV6, Bolt EV and EUV. It still more efficient than ID4, Ioniq 5, Model X, Mach E and everything from BMW and Audi.
As a former loyal Toyota customer, who had a bZ4X (North American AWD version, with the crappy slower batteries) for 8 months, yes, this bZ4X is a compliance car, or the North American AWD version is. It takes an hour or longer to fast charge to 80%. It restricts how many times the car can be fast charged per 24 hours (though last week, they finally announced the dealer installed update to fix what they insisted to me was nothing wrong, upping the cap from 2 cycles from 10-80% to 3.8 cycles). I have never personally seen it fast charge faster than 65 kW despite the claimed peak of 100 kW, and youtubers reviewing the car have only seen it hit 83 kW peaks, while most competition can at least hit their peak for a few minutes, if not sustain it. It's less efficient, has a smaller range, and charges more slowly than all of its competition. It is comfortable, quiet, and an easy transition from ICE to EV, but it really would only be a decent car for people who only intend to use it for shorter range drives and charge at home. However, most of the competition also would be great for that use, plus have the flexibility to drive further in a pinch.
@@RoneyThomas Efficiency is metric that you're using loosely. Sure a small single motor speedboat uses less fuel than a 12K TEU transport ship per mile traveled but the transport ship is much more efficient per unit moved. Considering the amount of space in a BZ4X is smaller than most of the vehicles you mentioned it has a disappointing efficiency for a 2023 vehicle. Effectively you're carrying around extra weight of batteries than will never see full utilization in the hopes that the car will have longer range in a decade. In a decade you can retrofit the batteries for 1/2 the price of the current batteries and most likely get 50% more range. Having 400+ mile range on vehicles that people never drive more than 50 miles a day is wasteful. Carrying 20% reserve for something a decade down the line is absurd. It has neither performance, nor charge speed, nor efficiency.
It's as if Toyota wanted you to drive around in a 4wheeled advertising billboard with the awful 2 toned color scheme. It's unnecessarily polarizing. The interior Designers also need a firm smack on the back of their heads for that stupid driver front dash.
I disagree. There is no evidence that this vehicle is actually any more reliable than any other car. They say that the battery pack is limited for range to prevent degradation. However, I haven’t seen any evidence that it actually prevents that. Also, the range is so limited that even a degraded Tesla is still better. The only goal Toyota had with this vehicle was to make full EVs look inferior to Hybrids. Toyota has convinced me that THEY can’t or won’t make an EV that is better than their Hybrids.
I think it looks great. Just hate electric cars because they come with inbuilt waste. Mining for those minerals takes a lot of gasoline and diesel. People are buying their own mouse trap when they buy these things. There is no reason electric cars have to be connected to home base but to enable the government to shut you down. The goal behind EVs is not to save the world but to subdue it. If EVs were "dumb" without connectivity and the fun was all about the electric torque, if they worked more like power wheelchairs I wouldn't distrust them as much as I do. All of this is my humble opinion. Obviously I can't confirm any conspiracies so I'm not actually spreading them just saying what i think.
Spoiler alert, every new car is "connected" and while yes, you have to mine for stuff to build them with, you also have to drill for oil to fuel a gas car. There is no such thing as a free lunch. And if you really care about phoning home to the gov, just disable the cellular radio on it....
It's possible we created some merch for the Ultimate Driving Utensil... www.aoamerch.com/product-page/ze-busy-forks-is-ze-ultimate-driving-utensil
Alex, Stick a fork in it, that joke is done. 🤣😂
@@rightlanehog3151 are you sure? I have more!
@@AAutoBuyersGuide You wild and crazy guy!
Interesting. Most reviewers dismissed the BZ4X out of hand, but you gave it a fair shake.
Because he’s biased
Nobody in their right mind would say anything good about the bz4x. Especially everyone’s favorite Toyota hater😂
While he's not necessarily wrong about viewing it as an ordinary car on the day-to-day, it is an absolute joke of an offering, especially at it's price point, lack of features, and clear lack of forethought in design with the steering wheel blocking the gauge cluster that's weirdly far away from you in pretty much every position. Wouldn't have even been competitive 5 years ago. Not much better than a Bolt on a road trip for double the price too as it doesn't realistically do that pitiful 100kw peak as seen in the testing other reviewers have done.
It’s going to sell well despite its lackluster on-paper comparisons, because Toyota has that magic sauce that makes it better than the sum of its parts that non-enthusiasts love.
@@StephenByersJ well it just doesn’t work anymore. Tesla is a newer brand than Toyota yet they currently outsell the corolla which was the worlds best selling car. But now that title goes to the model y. In ca the model 3 / y outsell the Camry
@@StephenByersJ Is that why it's selling poorly, getting such a bad reputation, and those that did buy it and ditching it within months?
Totally fair review. Since June, I am driving the Premium FWD model in Europe and more than happy with the qualities that it has. It is a true allrounder, for business and family use. I can definitely recommend this car.
Nice car, good bev. Nothing wrong with. 450km range, good, 10 years warranty battery, excellent.
As a car it's fine, as a BEV it's nearly 2 generations of technology behind and therefore, at the price they're selling it, awful.
@@timaustin2000 nonsense. Only Tesla makes a good Bev, awful car regarding build and materials. All other manufacturers have Bev's like their Ice's, just with a big battery pack. That has nothing to do with engineering....not one Eurooean Bev comes near Wltp range, to heavy and very poor warranty.
The Rz has a small battery pack, Lexus doesn't want you to fast charge to many times, kills the batteries. Because of these safety meassures they can give 15 years warranty. The only bev you can buy 2nd after a few years.
Toyota will roll out their Bev's 2.0 starting from 2026, full line up will be presented by the end of 2025. Solid state plugin and latest generation batteries, affordable Bev's and less weight. We received a very detailed internal briefing from Toyota last week...... .
Thank you for fair review. Many outlets say it sucks. With new $119 lease pricing. I took my wife out to see it in person and she loves it.
I have to tell you, I got myself a BZ4X (white with black trim) and it looks fantastic. I get a lot of head rolls with Tesla drivers trying to figure out what it is. With the new software update that just came out I'm getting about 40 extra miles per charge (likely transferred from the other side of the empty dash marks) but it is a psychological edge. I'm also finding that it charges a lot faster now. There is also now a percentage meter under the remaining miles display to allow you to get a better read on how many miles you have before empty. All in all, being a Toyota guy that just came from a RAV4 Prime XSE, I'm very happy.
You’re getting a lot of head rolls from Tesla drivers because they’re laughing at you. They can’t believe how dumb of a purchase you made. 😂
They’re going “man how dumb is that person who bought a bz4x? Thank god Tesla is better than Toyota”
@@naveenthemachineI like your persistent on trolling at every toyota /lexus videos 😂😂😂. Did you know Tesla lied on their range 😂😂😂
@@ju4121who cares? It’s still better than Toyotas. Not to mention teslas are faster and they drive better and charge faster
I just bought a B Z4x after weeks of considering all the options as they pertain to my needs. One overriding issue with other makes I looked at is build quality. I was not impressed with Tesla at all, especially after seeing the rear window of one fall out on the freeway for no apparent reason. A KIA I saw had a handle break off in a reviewer's hand when he attempted to fold back a rear seat. A Volkswagen all electric had side sensors that stopped functioning after driving off the lot. Dependability weighs far heavier for me than charging times and range. Over the years I've come to trust Toyota for quality and I don't think I will be disappointed with my Bz4x.
@@naveenthemachineTesla's build quality is almost as good as a yugo. Guess you like that "feature" along with plenty of road noise and back jarring pain over potholes. Congrats 🎉
Co-worker has one and I'm in it once or twice a week for lunch runs. It's perfectly fine as a car. There are some things I like about it more than my EV6, like the heated/ventilated seats can be controlled automatically by the climate system while in Auto mode. The brand-new Toyota/Lexus infotainment system is much better than the very long-in-the-tooth HMG software (though feature customization is pretty limited). I like the radiant leg warmers for the front row though that removes the glove box.
I do hate that the instrument panel and infotainment system look like they were designed by two different teams, which they probably were. it's also got much EV-specific data as in the EV6/Ioniq 5, which is not much.
He also reports efficiency almost as good as my EV6, while having a more usable cargo area and rear seat headroom and foot room. The useable battery is almost 20kwh smaller than in my car which makes the total range much smaller.
Obviously, the DCFC limitations make it basically unusable as a long road trip (400+mi) car except for the most patient of people.
I owned an EV6 and then a bZ4X and now to an Ioniq 6. I agree with pretty much all of that and I think I can best sum it up by saying the bZ4X is a great car and a mediocre EV.
With the recent software updates, the bz4x can fast charge 4x in 24 hours and charging is much faster as well..... . We had the software update this summer. Range improved considerably, 450km real world range. In a recent comparison test the bz4x was considered the far better choice above the ID4 and q4 etron......
@@Mildernwow you’ve been able to drive my top 3 evs i’d want to own. how’d you pull off owning 3 different cars on short time span
@@dwilliams4558 Tax credits and inflated trade in values! Also some luck. Had a vehicle get totaled so I had a do-over thrown in there as well and got the Ioniq 6.
@@Mildernwhy did you switch between the three? Especially the ev6 and i6 which are quite similar
Thanks for the time on a model a lot of people are discounting, it’s great to get all of the information so consumers can make an informed decision
Fair video of this car finally. Kudos to ya!
Thank you for reviewing the base model.
This is the best and most fair review I've seen on this car. Well done!
Seems like Toyota should trade that panoroof for a power seat, ventilated seat, and ...
I actually seen one of these a few weeks ago on the road, so there’s a least a few customers who seem to like this car…
That being said I think a RAV4 Prime SE (if one can their hands on one) is a better option if you consider the MRSP between them is only a-little over $1,000 difference.
Great video as always though!
@goinwitdaflow the RAV4 Prime may only be $1000 different in MSRP, but out here in the California Central Valley, they are still going for a minimum of $5,000 over MSRP and are as rare as hen's teeth.
@@tjs114I was gonna say: given the difficulty in obtaining a RAV4 Prime combined with where someone is in the country, they might be trying to move the BZ4X that are out there?
I bought my XLE/Limited BZ4X at 45% off MSRP.
Same price as an entry level RAV4.
The car has the same luxury as our Lexus. Great value!
Have A Toyota. B Z 4X. Brilliant car. Look at all the rest before Buying one great Boot Space. A quick charge for over 530 kM best guaranteed Last Toyota I had for. Over 16 years brilliant car space age. Five of my Friends have bought one. We do a lot of mileage no complaints
A "quick" charge is to 80%, which works out to 51 kWh's usable battery.
Sorry dude, but you're not getting 530 km range even at 100% (64 kWh's usable).
I mean, we really like ours, but even driving with a light foot and a full charge, range is about 400km - which is decent. It will be far less in winter.
Toyota's stop gap 'okay here's an EV so we don't get fined now shut up' attempt before the big guns come out once they get solid state batteries going
@@pine111
Toyota fleet of hybrids can meet regulations for a few more years while these early times of EV iron out. They’re r&d’ing as much as any other company but it isn’t worth to change and retool any factories yet
Obvious to say Toyota is a very big company paying very smart people lots of money to engineer, research and plan these things out
Alex, Toyota is so far ahead of the competition in the Hybrid sphere that it makes little sense to spend this much on a beginner's effort in the BEV space.🤨 The dubious exterior and wretched interior make me wonder if Toyota contracted out bZ4X design work to the firm of Holus and Bolus. 🤔
Toyotas far behind as a brand. No wonder they’re doing so awful in the market. They’re becoming the next infiniti. Both of which are going the way of Kodak
@@naveenthemachine saying toyota is becoming the next Infiniti is just delusional
@@bitbat9 no they are. Look at them. They’re way behind like infiniti is. The latest toyota or Lexus products don’t rank any better than infiniti. For example the nx is just as bad as the qx50 and qx55
But in rare cases infiniti ranks better than Lexus. Especially when competing qx80 vs LX or qx60 vs TX
@@naveenthemachine the average buyer isn’t going to car-reviewer-guy’s ranking website and seeing ‘oh Infiniti X model ranks higher then Lexus Y model, let’s to get Infiniti”
And what the TX isn’t out yet, who is ranking that in anything lol
@@chibbyylol the tx isn’t out yet. Exactly. It’s DOA already. Lexus once again phoned it in
The tx is not attractive, the interior is one of the worst in class to the point where a Hyundai palisade or kia telluride offer nicer cabins. The tech is still useless on the tx. It lacks a lot of features for its price and I know because I saw the options sheet and it’s not looking good 😁 Sure interior space is great but it’s not like the tx has a new level of interior space. If the tx say had the space of an Escalade esv sure but it doesn’t.
The powertrains are especially lackluster.
The tx350 uses the same turbo as a base Highlander L. 0-60 takes over 8 seconds. So you’re not going to run away from a corolla or kia rio. You’ll certainly run away from a Mitsubishi mirage but cmon we’re comparing a Lexus tx to a Mitsubishi mirage in 0-60. Quite the lowest bar if you ask me.
The tx500h f sport performance (yeah right on the performance part 🙄) uses the hybrid max setup. 366hp 400lbft and it’s still not quick. 0-60 in 6.5-6.7 seconds. So no faster than a telluride palisade pilot, or base explorer 2.3 or v6 grand Cherokee. But still significantly slower than the MDX type s, gv80 twin turbo base aviator, Explorer st / platinum / king ranch etc. and the tx has more power than the MDX and more instant torque than the MDX and gv80
The tx550h+ is the most interesting confusing and typical with Lexus, extremely underwhelming. The interesting part is that it uses a 3.5L v6 and makes 400hp. The confusing part is why does the phev get the v6 and not the other tx models? Didn’t Toyota just kill the v6 in the Highlander sienna venza or even the Tacoma? The underwhelming part is the 0-60. It’ll take 7-7.5 seconds. And it’ll cost 80k. All of a sudden that Cadillac xt6 that’s already overpriced sounds like a better deal compared to the tx…
Handling will be awful. It’ll drive like a rav4 XL with lipstick since it’s based off a rav4 / Camry platform. Sure it’ll ride great but so does everyone else. It’s not like Lexus sets the gold standard for ride quality. It’s not gonna ride like a maybach or Bentley or anything with an air suspension. In fact those air suspension options will ride a lot better
Quietness probably average. I expect around 70-71db. So no quieter than the average midsize sedan tbh.
Fuel economy - does that even matter? It’s a luxury car. You can most definitely afford the low mpg if you can afford a luxury car in the first place
Hello Alex, Thanks for all your honest and true car reniews. I don't know if you have the last updated model of Toyota bz4x for 2024 in your test in June 2023. Some of the updates will only come on new cars orderer for spring delivery. According to Toyota we have got the same battery-type on both the FWD and AWD models with sinificantly faster charging curve than earlier models both in summer and winter conditionjsj with max 150 Kw charging speed, and they also have significantly better efficiency and real life range on the new road tests with among others the Norwegian El-Car Assosiation which got a consumsion of 1,3 Kw per 10 km which gave a range at aprox 500 km. This road test have no highway but a is the normal road test for the El-Car Assosiation with an average speed of 80 km/h, and was driven along with a Nissan Ariya e-4orce with some higher consumsion. In Norway we can pay extra to have 11 Kw charger at home, but in the new way to calculate the el-prices, we will get a higher price for the electricity based on the highest peaks and max total electric load we will have from the charging, and if possible its therefore better economy to charge at max 6 Kw or at 3-4 Kw that normally is enough if the battery isn't completly empty. There some people don't find a reason to pay extra for 11 Kw charging even then it's now possible. The bz4x also was the best car in two winter test by El-Car24 competing with some of the other best selling electric family cars at the Norwegian market. In the second half of 2023 and in January 2024 Toyota bz4x have been among the best selling cars in Norway. Best regards from Norway
Former loyal Toyota customer. I had a bZ4X AWD, and traded it in for a Mustang Mach-E, because Toyota doesn't think EVs can or should road trip.
Local VW dealer has so many bZ4X/Solterra's on their lot it's obvious people have been trading them in for ID.4s and the VW dealer can't seem to get rid of them.
@@KeeperOfTheSevenKeys. I seriously considered the ID.4, but had actually ordered the Mach-E while waiting for the wheels to not fall off the bZ4X, and it came in this summer. The bZ4X will make a decent used car at the right price. The question will be how low that price will be.
@@thekat-dg9fx Yeah I ended up with a Mach-E over my preference of an EV6 due to markup and loss of tax credit. It's a solid car and does have things over the EV6 like the glass roof and Ford being better at OTA updates (though not Tesla/Rivian/Lucid good yet).
edit: oh and frunk! frunk has been useful a few times.
I’ve had some hands on with a solterra and I honestly love it. It drives like a baby Rivian. ( I work for Rivian)
This is why I like Toyota. They feel refined. I would never pick a Model Y. It goes well and has good tech but the ride quality is not good and it just doesn't seem to be assembled with care. I do like the Ioniq/EV6 siblings.
idk why but i’d prefer a Solterra over a BZ4X although both made by toyota lol
Here me out. They built it for Toyota. They built a low demand vehicle that would give their production teams experience in building them without the worry that there would be so much demand that they would disappoint customers with long waits and quality issues. Similar to the Crown being released to gain production experience and customer feedback on the new hybrid max driveline.
I’ve been wondering if that be the reason. It seems to be designed to not create a lot of demand. My gut tells me this is more about Toyotas lack of interest in EV’s though.
I like it can’t wait to be the 3rd owner
Something I've noticed in reviews, they talk about the onboard charger speed in kWh, but don't explain about the EVSE charging speeds which are usually marketed by AMPS. So for this example, the Toyota has a 6.6kWh on board charger-- what EVSE would it max out?
Breaker: 15amps, Output: 12amps, kWh: 2.8
Breaker: 20amps, Output: 16amps, kWh: 3.8
Breaker: 30amps, Output: 24amps, kWh: 5.7
Breaker: 40amps, Output: 32amps, kWh: 7.6
Breaker: 50amps, Output: 40amps, kWh: 9.6
Breaker: 60amps, Output: 48amps, kWh: 11.5
Breaker: 100amps, Output: 80amps, kWh: 19.2
So, a common 40amp circuit which is used by most EVSE installations would actually exceed the maximum draw of the Toyota. And honestly, how many people have enough overhead available in their breaker boxes to support additional 50, 60 or 100amp circuits?
I made that point in the video, I rarely charge over 3kw
@@AAutoBuyersGuide But when you have access to 11kW in an enviroment that offers a full charge in 3 hours while you do other things, this vehicle fails.
whenI look at the front it reminds me of a taller prius with the hammerhead headlights and the grill opening at the bottom and the way the hood comes to a sharp edge just above the bumper.
I’m starting to do a lot more along with solterras surprisingly
I like it and the Solterra, I like the ground clearance, AWD option and I don't care about the acceleration. But in my use case the range/charging would stop me buying it, even if it were $10k cheaper than it is.
“Someone’s gonna get a fork in the back”, 😂😂
What a good review, thanks!
Toyota really nailed it with the bZ4X. The car looks amazing, and with electric driving, it’s perfect for the eco-conscious driver.
Ha ha ha. Good to see you're a fan of Maintenance Phase
I mean, it’s a solid car. But why would I buy this when the Ionic 5, EV6, and Model Y exist?
Exactly. In a vacuum it's perfectly OK.
Because Hyundai and Tesla are not know for making reliable cars. Toyota is known for that, the BZ4X is going to last more than these you mentioned.
I'm sure there are some people who are brand loyal to Toyota. The question is, do these people want an EV?
@@AAutoBuyersGuideno in a vacuum it’s not okay. It’s absolutely awful. The only car worse than this is the mirage
@@naveenthemachine The only bad thing about the BZ4X is the range.
The steering column design reminds me of a xenomorph skull from Aliens
I traded in my 2022 Lexus NX350 for a Tesla Model 3 performance. I wanted desperately to get the Lexus RZ450, but there were too many limitations for the price.
Your Tesla is far superior to even unannounced Lexus Toyota evs we haven’t even seen yet
@@naveenthemachine Superior in what way? There a lot of areas where Toyota is superior but of course you'd never admit to any of them.
@@benjaminsmith2287 Well of course Toyota gave the car real door handles, and unlike Tesla, won't have issues with the doors not opening in an emergency.
But hey, don't we all want vehicles that ditch buttons, stalks and everything you've ever used because....reasons?
Everybody....EVERYbody is complaining about this car efficiency, software and charging curve...tons of videos prove it...
3.3 miles/kwh ~ 303 wh/mile is high average
Efficiency is not the issue, charging speeds are. I am not saying that the charging speed is good, I simply point out that other EVs are also slow LOL
Except Hyundai Kia who charge significantly faster
@@naveenthemachine yeah that's if your charging point isn't faulty
Not a fan of the huge black fenders, to me it just looks like they didn’t finish painting the car. Personally I don’t like this new styling and I see more black plastics in other cars to
Holy moly ioniq 5 is crushing it
I like the front on the new Prius. If the front wheel cladding was off this, it'd be a drastic improvement
It’s a non essential product 😢
More comfortable than the competition? Stop right there, that's all I need to know. In daily traffic, ground clearance and comfort are supremely important, and this car has it. I would pick this over the competition based on that fact alone. I just want a reliable, comfortable, easy to live with car.
A few critical issues: 1) no frunk, no glove box. 2) a very distant front display that is more suitable for a short person than a normal human in size. 3) an overly convoluted HVAC - thermal management system that is less efficient and a mechanical nightmare, 4) a style over function rear storage with an overly slanted rear window limiting usefulness of hatch design, 5) spartan software features such as navigation to fast charging and trip planning, and limited information concerning efficiency, 6) artificial limits imposed to supposedly protect the battery’s lifespan such as TWO fast charges per day (although Toyota supposedly will up that to 4 … how generous) and 6) No over the air updates?
Yes, the base price for a 2 wheel drive is somewhat competitive BUT at what compromise? I’m keeping my ICE car for a very long time, for value propositions for EVs have yet to materialize- the EV offering from Toyota is a putrid mess.
“Whom,” actually. 😂
Thanks for the perspective, Alex! I’m a Prius Prime driver, but if the BZ4x is the best EV Toyota can make, then I will definitely have to switch my brand loyalties on our next car purchase.
Alex I wonder if you would still give the bZ4x ride/ride quality an A plus after driving the Limited with the 20" wheels 🤔
I like the Versa being on the size spectrum
Got a Genesis GV60. When Lexus get’s it’s EV act together, going to trade the Genesis for the Lexus.
Lexus getting their act together is as likely as Alex’s dodge Durango SRT will last over 300k miles with no issues 😂 both of which we all know will never happen
Toyota is historically 3+ years behind the tech leaders due to them waiting to see what works and what doesn't before implementing the changes.
However, this paint job is right out of the playschool box. Still scratching my head.
But this is 2023. Every brand has become more reliable than ever. Look at Alex’s Durango SRT. He bought it new yet it hasn’t broken yet even though everyone jokes on fiat reliability
I feel like Toyota got some kind of huge discount on that gray hard plastic. it makes an appearance in so many of their new models and in excess in each of them. It makes their interiors look extremely cheap.
I agree; realistically it's a first generation EV from Toyota. Nothing more, nothing less. Is it going to sway the average RAV4 buyer? Probably not. But I don't think any EV is there yet.
It's not first gen. Toyota made a RAV4 electric over 10 years ago.
I think the design of the Toyota is fine (the wheels are a bit of a buzz kill but whatever). The problem is, with the tax credit it really is up against a Model Y long range. That car has 330 miles of range, access to reliable chargers, and is very quick and fun to drive. On the lower end, 35k gets you about the same seating space and a smaller trunk with the Bolt EUV. It's also FWD and has the same range but gets the tax incentive and a free electrical hookup and most every option you could want (heated seats, wheel, cooled seats, leather, etc.)
330 is definitely not achievable on a model y with a full charge. You will be lucky to get 300 max.
@@minghiy More like 270 ish on the hwy too. And you'll also look like a total dork in one.
Forks are pretty busy at All You Can Eat buffetts! 🤣
This for people who don’t understand EV charging speeds, range and why wheels fall off vehicles for no apparent reason.
I went to buy one but as soon as i got behind the wheel the dash wheel placement was a deal breaker.
As a daily driver of a BX4X, I don't believe this is a great vehicle for anyone who has longer daily commutes. I am driving an AWD limited trim so the 220 ish range is what is claimed. Reason I am saying claimed is that with climate control on, this drops down to roughly 185 miles on a 100% charge. Add that most EV's recommend that you only charge to 80% this brings the range down even more. The fact that it tells you that your range is down is actually good. All EV's get reduction with Climate control on and Toyota at least is up front with the prediction. The fact that the car does not tell you the charge percentage is annoying to me. I have to guess based on the Electric gauge similar to fuel counterparts.
The comfort is actually pretty good and several people have given me compliments on the looks of the car. But that is subjective so everyone's taste can vary. I am curious how much better/worse it will be in the winter with heating. I have a 50 mile one way commute and have no issue today getting to and from work, but days that I have to go someplace else has brought me concern. And the slow Level 2 charging is real. I have not experienced DC Fast charging yet. OTA update is hit or miss. I have a notification to bring my car in to dealer for on OTA update. Why?
As an owner with the update who has already experienced winter, it's easy to see your unnecessary worry.
The 2023 bZ4X is a solid vehicle, but I wouldn’t quite call it the ultimate driving utensil. It's more of a perfectly balanced blend of efficiency, technology, and comfort for everyday driving.
Alex, I wanna know where you got the charge plug shirt you were wearing!
Honestly, with a home charger, this is more than fine.
Busy F**ks! I thought Alex was an engineer. Turns out, he is a marketing genius too!
It's so odd to say, I was excited for this car but the design choices really make this one of my least favorite electric vehicles out there.
Questionable exterior/interior styling with subpar range and a goofy name.
The Toyota bZ4X is a reliable and efficient all-electric SUV that delivers a safe, smooth ride. It’s definitely one of the best electric SUVs for everyday use.
The only vehicle that looks better with a front plate.
Looks like it was styled inside and out by like 52 different people who didn’t like each other. Too bad, this looks like a decent offering…mostly. Shame about the Level 2 charge level.
Does Anyone knows that uk model BZ4X comes with Radiant leg warmer ?
Alex, a Murder fork utensil vs chef’s knife would have been more appropriate, no?!? 😅
the way the colored panels on the headlights don't exactly integrate cleanly into the hood bothers me so much. That's the sort of gap that you see on poorly repaired hoods/trunks.
Alex, one thing you didn't mention is the DC fast charge throttling when you fast charge multiple times in a day, like when you're on a road trip. Check out Bjorn Nyland's 1000 km challenge videos on this. This is honestly a fatal flaw in my book that makes this car probably the worst EV to road trip, outside of maybe the Bolt.
That has been solved
You can fast charge 4 times now and it charges faster with the latest update
Though not a home run, I don't think this is the wide miss that many media pundits suggest. Still, IMO, it's too "soft" of an effort to be a great contender especially re: charging times, and I'd not have it on my EV list.
Stylists at Toyota ran out of ideas on front end headlights, grill and bumper. The EV gives an opportunity for a new direction. Lexus went first with the “spindle” grill.
Alex need upgrade them jeans at get right size pair.😮
Thank you, Alex. Always love your videos. My two cents: Bad launch with reliability. Way overpriced. Cheap, hard plastic interior. Poor range. Ugly. Model 3 is way better on all metrics.
Alex could you provide the link on the inside ev charge testing? I've never ever heard of anyone getting 10-80 in 34 minutes.
The FWD and All Europe and Overseas Models Charge Faster only The North America AWD Suck
@@bigcraig4u Ahh. Got it. Tx
Yeah uh, inside EVs tested as being much worse than that lol.
No back wiper like the iconic 5 it's a miss in my books
Toyota should focus on producing more Grandhighlanders rathers let dealers charge 15K markups
No grand highlander is no better. It too is a universally mediocre option over the telluride palisade pilot cx90 grand Cherokee L or even the new Traverse
Which name is worse: Honda e:Ny1 or Toyota bZ4X?
The bz4x is worse because it’s on an uncompetitive Toyota
@@naveenthemachine and the honda is competitive?
It was just an attempt for Toyota/Subaru to get something out there to keep the brand loyalists from straying while they struggle to catch up. Still a coin flip if they will succeed. But they'll keep trickling out their "coming soon" stuff like future models and batteries to lead people on. A lot of people will look at other brands, and buy them, and all companies/industries know that once you lose a core customer and they're happy enough with the competition, then they probably won't be coming back.
It's ugly. Especially the interior dash. Didn't even want to finish the video once I saw that. Now I know why my local toyota dealer had a used one for sale with less than 1000 miles on it. You should have done better Toyota!
i drove the Solterra as a loaner and right off bat i was impressed by how well built, quiet and refined the drive was., however i found out later the cost of yhe battery was $45000 (us). it is all or nothing. that defeats the purpose of owning the car long term. makes zero sense., as good as the car drives
The battery is engineered for 10 years of use with no more than 10% battery degradation. I think we'll be able to put 300,000 miles on this EV...easy.
We chose the BZ4X because it was about the only EV that fit in with our goal of long-term , very low Total Cost of Ownership
@@oilerlord7367 i hope it lasts that long (> 250000 miles). i am biding my time, and see what owners have to say after a few years. i do want the cars to succeed but why didn't they warranty the battery beyond 8 years if the degradation was only 10%?
I really want Toyota to come out with some good EV models, because I trust that they will tend to over engineer things for reliability, and some people want better build quality than Teslas or to avoid the company out of principle. I'm glad they didn't go with low profile tires, which are a bothersome trend overall. Beyond the VW Buzz, does anybody know when there may be more EV minivans in the US?
I’d buy it in a heartbeat if it was available in Alberta.
Bought mine in Alberta...it was a trade in from a person who moved from Quebec
Got the fully loaded AWD model at 45% off original MSRP. Killer deal. My wife and I were driving a Lexus, and unlike Ford, Hyundai and Tesla offerings
The XLE/AWD/Tech Pkg BZ4X blows them all away on Luxury alone, but also on overall build quality, fit & finish
Keep your faster charging speed, we'll take the better BZ4X thank you.
Not a big fan of the grey/black fenders. Making them shiny plastic doesn’t really help.
The Solterra does have regen paddles, does the bz4x have it on higher trims?
Only problems I see is the steering wheel blocking the instrument panel, the weird cladding especially up front, no rear wiper, no opening sunroof and no glovebox. But a good refresh could make these changes possible. Toyota hasn’t been on the ball lately leaving room for the competition to move in on them.
No frunk, no sub frunk, pathetic AC charger, slow DC fast charging front wheel drive in 2WD form. Seriously, it's nothing more than mediocre.
@@zoltrix7779 like I said they have really dropped the ball lately. Good thing the competition is getting better and better.
Perfect for newly open minded elders whom still in there sim-luxry import saloons... The key is for us to give it to them with a pleasant minimum tech update...love will help those before us to enjoy now for another decade or more.. less backing in to a fire hydrant front of there garage...down there.... aye,.
I would take that power train give it more power and put it under the RAV4
bz4x outsold most other EVs other than Tesla in BEV haven of Norway bz4x outsold EV6 and Ioniq 6 in Canada
You've copy/pasted this lie at least 1/2 dozen times. Inside EVs clearly shows BZ4X as #4, behind ID.4 and XC40 for 2023. Don't even bother looking at 2022 because of the recall.
Toyota fan boy here. I like the look, but the interior, ughhhh. No choice of regen, ughhh. This looks really like a appliance. Which is fine. But I’d shop around.
We need to do something to help the planet. Strip mining for precious metals and other materials needed for EV production, probably was not the best way to go about it. In fact it's misguided at best. I feel it's more about power and control. Not to mention I never knew a Democrat that did not like spending your money.
Are EVs better for combating CO2? Yes. Are they actually the real solution to the climate crisis? No.
Do democrats actually care? No, because they are a center right wing party. The only political party that would care about solving that issue are socialists.
Way too much clutter in that interior, and looks miserable to detail.
4:11 - “… a very expeneive (?) VW!” -- 🤔 😉
We put an on-screen note there 😅
Here before the damned Naveen is here, though I’d probably agree with his opinion about the Buzy forks
Lol
damn right.
Even you now acknowledge how right my harsh Toyota criticism is. Because you’ve said otherwise lately but you now agree
Took you that long to acknowledge that I am right to criticize Toyota even though I own one?
@@naveenthemachine i only agree with you about the BZ4X so don’t get yourself excited
@@naveenthemachinecriticize is a weak word. You quite frankly hate Toyota. I find it ironic you haven’t decided to sell your Camry for a Sonata, or even a Genesis or sone other brand that isn’t Toyota/Lexus.
@@arhamkhakwani5851 the Camry is the only Toyota so far that’s exceeded expectations
I was expecting it to look sort of like the 2017 model. But when I first saw it I screamed. I was floored by the XSE especially with the black roof. When I sat inside one I was blown away by the red interior. When I finally drove one I was really impressed. It handled way better than I expected. I never thought a Camry can be fun around curves. It put a smile on my face. And the features were way better than I thought. And the 3.5L v6 was and still is silky smooth and on the highway it’s shockingly quiet.
Before buying in 2019 I was prepared to give up some features that weren’t on the Camry at the time like CarPlay android auto cooled seats etc
But the 19 model came and it had CarPlay. When the 2020 came out it was surprised to not only find android auto but also cooled seats
So no i didn’t have to give up features since 2020 had it all.
EV6 is $399/mo on lease now.
I can't get over Busy Forks LOL
This and the Mazda Ev i think are the worst Ev on the market right now , this is a complete joke and Toyota should be ashamed for this release , considering they are the #1 seller of combustion engine cars in the world , so they have the budget to massively invest on EV's research and development . I will go forward and say that Lexus EV's are not far from this failure ......
No Lexus evs are just as bad
The mx30 beats both because it looks better outside and inside and it drives a lot better
We have a 1st gen Leaf. Weird is ok by us
The thermo management is not well design. Affecting the claimed range.
It's ok alex, we know you cannot say too many negatives about the bz4x. we know you dont want to be banned by the automakers. but for the rest of us out there. the bz4x is a letdown for a toyota. no one is expecting toyota to sell a model y. no one expects toyota to be fun. most of us expect toyota to be super efficient, super reliable and no frills styling. Is it the most efficient, even in fwd, there are tons of cars/suvs that are more efficient. Is it reliable? dont know yet, but there are wheel and software issues. Style? more polarizing than utilitarian. As a generic toyota, it doesnt do the generic toyota things very well. This is a compliance car and we all know it. It's not good at any of the toyota things cuz, well toyota doesnt want to sell these things. im not even talking about the range, or charging etc. Things that makes an EV good. those are mediocre too. Mediocre EV and a mediocre toyota. Thats my hot take.
I’ve been more negative on Toyotas too lately. Everyone even Alex calls me the internets biggest Toyota hater😂
I’ve been told I’m more harsh on Toyota than sofyan bey
bz4x outsold most other EVs other than Tesla in BEV haven of Norway bz4x outsold EV6 and Ioniq 6 in Canada
If you are talking about efficiency, combined hgwy+city in SUV category. Only Tesla Model Y(AWD, Long Range AWD, RWD) gets more Le/km. If you are looking at whole bev category then only Lucid air touring and pure, Ioniq 6, Model Y and 3 are the only one more efficient than this, bz4x matches Model S, EV6, Bolt EV and EUV. It still more efficient than ID4, Ioniq 5, Model X, Mach E and everything from BMW and Audi.
As a former loyal Toyota customer, who had a bZ4X (North American AWD version, with the crappy slower batteries) for 8 months, yes, this bZ4X is a compliance car, or the North American AWD version is. It takes an hour or longer to fast charge to 80%. It restricts how many times the car can be fast charged per 24 hours (though last week, they finally announced the dealer installed update to fix what they insisted to me was nothing wrong, upping the cap from 2 cycles from 10-80% to 3.8 cycles). I have never personally seen it fast charge faster than 65 kW despite the claimed peak of 100 kW, and youtubers reviewing the car have only seen it hit 83 kW peaks, while most competition can at least hit their peak for a few minutes, if not sustain it. It's less efficient, has a smaller range, and charges more slowly than all of its competition. It is comfortable, quiet, and an easy transition from ICE to EV, but it really would only be a decent car for people who only intend to use it for shorter range drives and charge at home. However, most of the competition also would be great for that use, plus have the flexibility to drive further in a pinch.
@@RoneyThomas Efficiency is metric that you're using loosely. Sure a small single motor speedboat uses less fuel than a 12K TEU transport ship per mile traveled but the transport ship is much more efficient per unit moved. Considering the amount of space in a BZ4X is smaller than most of the vehicles you mentioned it has a disappointing efficiency for a 2023 vehicle. Effectively you're carrying around extra weight of batteries than will never see full utilization in the hopes that the car will have longer range in a decade. In a decade you can retrofit the batteries for 1/2 the price of the current batteries and most likely get 50% more range. Having 400+ mile range on vehicles that people never drive more than 50 miles a day is wasteful. Carrying 20% reserve for something a decade down the line is absurd. It has neither performance, nor charge speed, nor efficiency.
Tax credit makes BZ4X not competitive. That's why tons of these evs are seating on Dealer lots.
It's as if Toyota wanted you to drive around in a 4wheeled advertising billboard with the awful 2 toned color scheme. It's unnecessarily polarizing.
The interior Designers also need a firm smack on the back of their heads for that stupid driver front dash.
It just cost way too much. For the same price I can get a new Tesla Model 3 or a Hyundai Ioniq 5. So why would I get this?
I disagree. There is no evidence that this vehicle is actually any more reliable than any other car. They say that the battery pack is limited for range to prevent degradation. However, I haven’t seen any evidence that it actually prevents that. Also, the range is so limited that even a degraded Tesla is still better.
The only goal Toyota had with this vehicle was to make full EVs look inferior to Hybrids. Toyota has convinced me that THEY can’t or won’t make an EV that is better than their Hybrids.
Questionable exterior/interior styling
The Japanese are in trouble!!! Ouch!
It’s no surprise. The big question is why do the Japanese still exist
U know there are other Japanese brands not just toyota
I think it looks great. Just hate electric cars because they come with inbuilt waste. Mining for those minerals takes a lot of gasoline and diesel. People are buying their own mouse trap when they buy these things. There is no reason electric cars have to be connected to home base but to enable the government to shut you down. The goal behind EVs is not to save the world but to subdue it. If EVs were "dumb" without connectivity and the fun was all about the electric torque, if they worked more like power wheelchairs I wouldn't distrust them as much as I do. All of this is my humble opinion. Obviously I can't confirm any conspiracies so I'm not actually spreading them just saying what i think.
Spoiler alert, every new car is "connected" and while yes, you have to mine for stuff to build them with, you also have to drill for oil to fuel a gas car.
There is no such thing as a free lunch.
And if you really care about phoning home to the gov, just disable the cellular radio on it....