3 October 2024

Not much spark from the new Toyota

6 October 2024 | Paul Gover

The bZ4X has a claimed range of 436 km. Photo: Supplied.

The first Toyota EV in Australia, the strangely named bZ4X, is not going to change the world.

It’s good enough for the young families wanting a new battery car, but not good enough to upset the showroom scorers.

Chinese contenders easily lead the field for bargain buyers, with the MG4 priced at $30,990 on the road until the end of October, compared with $66,000 for the starting sticker on the new Toyota.

There are also plenty of electric cars with more punch and range than the Toyota.

And there is Tesla, which still dominates the thinking and much of the selling in Australia.

Toyota claims 436 km for the bZ4X, which is acceptable but not great with the range for many rivals now beyond 500 km, while the sprint time of 6.9 seconds to 100 km/h is nothing special for an electric car.

Will the numbers matter?

Based on the waiting list for the Toyota LandCruiser, Prado and RAV5, probably not.

The bZ4X is very much like a battery-powered RAV, similar in size and with styling which is more edgy but still recognisable as a Toyota SUV.

It can carry five people, with some luggage space, but if you have a growing family then a RAV makes more sense.

Toyota makes two versions of the bZ4X. Photo: Supplied.

The real failure of the bZ4X, looking past the missing glovebox ahead of the front passenger seat which was sacrificed for cooling, is the number available for Australia.

Only 1500 will be delivered through calendar year 2024, with no promise from Toyota of improvement in 2025, at a time when Tesla can easily deliver double that number in a single month.

It’s often said that if you are late to a party then you need to be special, and the bZ4X is special. But it’s special because it’s a Toyota and not because it breaks any new ground.

There are two versions, both with a 71.4 kWh battery pack, one with a single electric motor and front-wheel drive and the other with all-wheel drive and two motors.

Stepping up to the flagship bumps the price, but not by much, to $69,900.

As you’d expect, the bZ4X is of high quality. Photo: Supplied.

For people with access to a novated lease through their job, the financial appeal of the new Toyota – like all electric cars – is impressive. You can pay with pre-tax dollars and also avoid luxury car tax.

The bZ4X is well equipped, with a 12.3-inch infotainment screen, front and rear parking sensors, 20-inch alloys and LED headlights across the range, with even the basic car getting heated front seats and a six-speaker sound system.

The styling is edgy on the outside and classy on the inside, with a bold new look for the dashboard layout including the infotainment screen, and a nicely designed digital display for the instruments.

Quality is everything you expect with a Toyota badge and as good as anything else in the EV world with a similar price tag, including the new Skoda Enyaq that trumps the Toyota on range.

The big advantage is in the ride comfort, even on secondary twisty roads. It is smooth, nicely plush, and also benefits from the quietness of an EV.

So the Toyota is nice, and good, but it is not the great leap forward that some people expected. There are plenty of electric cars which do more, and some which do more for less, which means Toyota will have to do more as it drives deeper into the battery-electric future.

Finally, in case you’re wondering and so you can tell your friends, the car’s name translates as ‘bZ’ for beyond zero, ‘4’ is the number for its size class, and ‘X’ marks it as an SUV-style ‘crossover’.