2022 Toyota BZ4X review: Can Toyota build competitive electric cars?

If you're scared of EVs and their newness, an electric car from a brand feted for its reliable products could be a powerful persuader.

But Toyota's first proper EV, the BZ4X claims just such traits, and while you can't buy one in Singapore just yet, read on to find out why it could be a big deal for future EV buyers (i.e. every car buyer).

As our conversations with attendees at EV Weekend 2022 showed, there's still a lot of myth-busting, fear-allaying, and general education about EVs that needs to happen here in Singapore.

This is the first BZ car, and arguably Toyota's first proper EV. No, you still can't buy one here: The BZ4X has been homologated in Singapore, but will not yet be offered for open sale. Instead, as CarBuyer reported, it'll be available for short-term lease at the new eco-town of Tengah.

Disclaimer: We're approaching this car as a one-off p/review, so take it primarily for insights on how Toyota's future EVs will be. The official Toyota answer to pricing, availability, options, and such, unless otherwise stated is: We don't know.

Also note that the BZ4X has not had a smooth birth. It's been the subject of recalls for its wheels, and in cold countries faces range problems.

Nonetheless it does offer us a preview of what to expect from Toyota's EV, and it also shows that the Japanese carmaker is serious about EVs. This, after all, is the first of seven BZ EVs slated to hit the global market by 2025, out of a total of 15 Toyota EVs.

In other words, BZ is Toyota going Big on EVs – and what we see here predicts Toyota's EV future.

Toyota BZ4X: Design and appearance

The styling tells us as much. In concept, it's like many other EVs, being a middle-sized, coupe-styled SUV – just like the Kia EV6, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Tesla Model Y, Audi E-Tron, Jaguar I-Pace…and on and on.

But it's quite a fascinating piece of design work too, and unmistakably not a European car.

The BZ makes reference to other Toyotas, with shades of the C-HR, the Harrier, and Yaris Cross in the wheelarches, the silhouette, and shoulder-line design motifs.

The spindle grille is implied, rather than obvious, and to our eyes, it looks more like a Lexus than a Toyota, which is a good thing.

Under the skin, the car runs Toyota's dedicated EV platform, E-TNGA. Like the skin that it's clad in, it takes the now common EV lessons, but puts a Toyota spin on things.

Abroad the car is available as a dual-motor all-wheel drive and single-motor front-wheel drive model – this is the latter with 201hp and 360Nm of torque.

It's a sea change (as our box shows you), but the really important thing is that the BZ4X feels, drives, and behaves like a proper EV, albeit a Toyota-ified one.

Toyota BZ4X: Driving experience / range and charging

This paragraph is going to be familiar to CarBuyer readers: Low-mount batteries means planted, stable driving dynamics at regular speeds, large 19-inch wheels and an approximately two-tonne kerbweight mean sometimes choppy suspension.

What are the Toyota-esque bits? It's a car that makes a commute melt away, since you don't really need to "drive around" anything.

It's very refined, with even less road noise than the Kia EV6, and while it isn't big on power it feels quicker than its 8.6-second 0-100km/h time suggests.

On the flipside, it's not very exciting to drive. It could do with more steering feel, and it obviously dislikes dynamic extremes. The not-so-impressive torque figure is classic Toyota: You don't get as much grunt, but our guess is it's been done on purpose so you don't stress the electronics/motor and tyres as much in the long run.

New of course, is fully electric range and charging. After driving the car over a few days, we covered almost 200km and 17.5kWh/100km, which translates to 400km on a full charge, which is exactly what a buyer should expect from a modern EV.

Standard charging is rather slow at 6.6kW (11kW is optional in Europe at least) which will take at least nine hours for a full battery. DC fast charging is industry standard, 150kw, meaning 30 minutes for a 10-80 per cent boost.

Toyota BZ4X: Interior and features

Toyota hasn't come out and said BZ is a premium EV sub-brand, but for all intents and purposes it is. Like the Harrier, it uses nicer materials and displays more design flair than something like the Toyota Sienta mainstream MPV.

The 7.0-inch digital cluster is mounted very near the windscreen, it's easy to read and negates the need for a HUD. The 12.3-inch infotainment is very familiar – we've seen it on new Lexus cars like the NX, and it looks, and behaves very much the same.

There's no app or navigation functions, since this isn't a fully for-sale car, but Android Auto and Apple CarPlay works.

The steering bears special mention: It's a refreshingly small wheel, with a quick rack, taking only 1.5 turns lock-to-lock, and a cool-looking yoke/F1-style steering wheel is an option in some markets – that's not something you'd normally find in a Toyota, but the BZ4X is obviously a blend of old and new.

The BZ4X we drove came loaded with options, including an all-round 360 view camera, a full suite of safety systems (adaptive cruise, lane keeping, FCAA etc), climate-controlled seats, a JBL sound system. It also came with the solar roof option – Toyota claims this can add up to 1,450km of range per year.

Our verdict on its true usefulness is unclear – during our mostly rainy test drive, it added a claimed 0.2km per day of range. It adds range while driving too, but it could be most useful if you park your car outdoors – a very YMMV situation, but it's still a nice to have option.

As noted in our first story on the BZ4X, it has a long wheelbase (2,850mm) and rear legroom is excellent but, surprise, surprise, headroom is just about okay.

The boot has space for 452-litres, slightly smaller than the competition (the Kia EV6 packs 490-litres, the Tesla Model Y has a massive 862-litres).

Kia's EV6 leads the game in charging tech – but watch our review to find out why that's not super important…yet.

Toyota BZ4X review: Competition and conclusion

Toyota is late to the EV fancy dress party, but judging from our drive of the BZ4X, it looks like it's brought the right costume and moves.

The BZ4X looks like an EV should (different and futuristic), it has the requisite range, features, space, and charging boxes all ticked, with something more from its cool solar roof and unique interior layout.

The overall performance here is decent, but not outstanding. Kia's EV6 GT Line has more pace, more power, better handling, is more efficient, and charges faster, not to mention the Tesla Model Y.

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Very theoretically, the car would've cost around $250,000 with COE in June 2022, meaning it would be more expensive now, roughly $260,000 with COE. That's less of a problem than a $280,000 Kia, considering the price of a Harrier is already $220,000-ish.

But Toyota does claim a classic Toyota trait built it: Longevity and good resale value. According to the company.

The BZ4X has been designed to retain 90 per cent of its battery capacity/performance after 10 years or 240,000km, following on its initial claims of building EVs with solid resale value. While it's of course impossible to test that out now, it does square with Toyota's established approach to car-building.

What's clear is Toyota is going to do EVs Its Own Way. Singaporean consumers already tacitly agree it's an approach that suits them since Toyota is very likely to be the number one selling brand here again in 2022. If it translates that to EVs the way it's done with the BZ4X, that trend could continue well into the electric age.

This article was first published in CarBuyer.