Toyota bZ4X SUV (2022 - ) Electric review

Electric cars have traditionally cost more than equivalent petrol, diesel or hybrid models but the market is increasingly competitive and the bZ4X is similar money to the plug-in version of the RAV4. It also looks good value against rivals like the VW ID.4, Skoda Enyaq iV, Kia EV6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5. In terms of costs even with rising energy prices there are potential savings running an electric car like the bZ4X compared with petrol or diesel, especially if you have facility to plug in at home. To that end Toyota throws in a complimentary British Gas charging point and six-month subscription to a wide network of public chargers through a dedicated app. Toyota also offers different ways into the bZ4X, including a flexible, all-inclusive leasing option where all costs are covered in a single monthly payment. More conventional finance packages are also available, including one geared to business users, but the goal of creating more accessible ways for drivers to go electric is laudable.

While this is its first all-electric model the fact Toyota has been honing its electrified powertrains for 25 years (and sold 20 million hybrids in that time!) should offer some confidence, likewise that if you commit to regular health checks for the battery it will guarantee at least 70 per cent retained performance for 10 years or one million kilometres (620,000 miles), whichever comes first. It's worth noting there have been two significant and well-publicised recalls for the bZ4X for a weakness with the wheel fixings and for a fault with the side airbag installation. Both should have been corrected before any cars reached UK owners, though.

The bZ4X comes with a formidable array of systems designed to keep you and those around you safe, wrapped up under Toyota’s T-Mate branding. Highlights include a sophisticated automatic emergency braking system that intervenes if it thinks you’re about to turn across oncoming traffic or into a side road with unseen cyclists or pedestrians. Best of all the tech seems generally unobtrusive, with the exception of the nagging driver attention alert that scolds you for as much as glancing down to adjust the climate control. It’s worth noting, however, that the basic Pure trim does without things like blind-spot alerts and parking sensors we’d consider essential in a car of this type and standard across the rest of the range. You still get a reversing camera, though.

Given electric SUVs are still a new thing it’s amazing how quickly the industry has settled on a common format, the bZ4X give or take similarly proportioned to its rivals here. We appreciated the lower bonnet, which reduces the height of the dashboard for improved forward visibility, driver and front seat passenger have plenty of space and those in the back get loads of legroom. The flat floor means anyone sitting in the middle has space for their feet, though headroom with the panoramic roof was a little limited. While the boot isn’t as big as that of an ID.4, Enyaq or Ioniq 5 it does at least have a handily low loading lip and useful stash space under the floor to stow your charging cable. Ride comfort was impressively refined, too, especially on the bumpy city streets where big wheels like those on our top spec test car often feel harsh. Nor does it wallow about on twisty roads, the steering a little heavier than average but feeling more precise for that. The only thing we’d mark down would be a bit of tyre noise on the motorway, the absence of engine sound perhaps accentuating that.

If perhaps a little monotone compared with some of the funkier interior options offered by the likes of VW and Skoda we liked the interior styling, the fabric top to the dashboard lifting the ambience while the big storage box between the front seats has plenty of options for stashing your bits and bobs. Like Peugeot, Toyota puts the instrument cluster above a tiny steering wheel, which we had to have in our lap to see the speedo. A big central screen meanwhile takes care of your infotainment needs, the sharp graphics and commendably simple menus a huge improvement on equivalent systems in other Toyotas. The basic Pure trim doesn’t get this, and also misses out on quite a lot of the convenience and assistance functions found on the rest of the range, so we’d advise going up at least one grade to Motion to do your bZ4X justice.

There’s something of a horsepower arms race in some corners of the EV world but we rather admire Toyota’s decision not to play along, concentrating instead on maximising range and offering enough performance to be getting on with rather than more than you can realistically use. You can get the bZ4X in single-motor front-wheel drive or twin-motor all-wheel drive forms, the latter with a modest sounding 218 horsepower. On the road this feels more than healthy enough, with effortless acceleration and commendably smooth throttle response and integration with regenerative braking. Where others like Kia offer a confusing array of modes for this Toyota has a simple on/off switch that leaves the car to figure it out for itself. And it does a good job, charging when you lift off the accelerator for junctions or corners, even if it’s not a true one-pedal system. If range is a priority the front-wheel drive models on smaller wheels are the only to go over 300 miles on a charge, though the efficiency we got on a mixed city, country and motorway drive suggests Toyota is being conservative in its claims and the bZ4X is smart about the way it uses its battery power. One point worth noting is the bZ4X will initially launch with 6.6kW onboard charging while cars coming later will be able to charge at 11kW, which could make a reasonable difference to how long it takes to top up the battery.