Has Toyota Redeemed Itself? | NEW 2026 bz4X
What’s up, elra heads? Welcome back to the channel. If you’re new here, my name is Alish and I am an electric vehicle reviewer and welcome to sunny Spain and I am here to test drive the brand new Toyota BZ4X. Now, if you’ve been keeping up to date, then you’ll know that they had released the BZ4X original back in 2022 and 3 years on they decided it was time for a refresh. So, they have many updated features and specs about the car which I’m going to go into. Now, I only have about an hour before I go off to dinner because we just arrived not long ago. So, I thought I’d quickly grab one. We can have a quick look around, see what’s new, and we’ll go from there. Let’s do it. >> And don’t forget to hit that subscribe button if you love EV news and reviews because Electrods has got you covered. >> The Skiddy is basically this car now has more power. It’s got greater efficiency and also there are now two battery options available which can deliver up to 353 miles of range on one charge. Plus, they’ve also tuned the suspension for some added comfort. The exterior has also had a refresh as well with an updated hammerhead frontal design for enhanced aerodynamics with this new central light bar right here and slightly thinner headlights here as well. There’s also a kind of new piano black gloss finish on the wheel arches here. And you’ve also got some new alloys for the 18 and 20in wheels depending on which spec you go for. The whole powertrain has been updated as well. Now, I’m not going to get too deep into the technical terms, but essentially it means this car is going to be more compact, more lightweight, meaning shorter overhangs and a lower center of gravity for better efficiency, plus more cabin and load space. Available in either frontwheel or all-wheel drive, the latter, of course, only offering the bigger battery. Frontwheel drive can deliver up to 242 horsepower, whilst the all-wheel drive 343. I’ve actually very handily got an all-wheel drive variant parked up right next to me, and this is able to tow up to 1,500 kg, whereas the front-wheel drive can tow up to 750. This all sits on Toyota’s ETNGA modular platform, which has been designed for all of their battery electric vehicles, and they’ve actually increased the size of it with a wheelbase of 2 850 mm. It’s gone bigger, which means better cabin space. And if we come around to the boot, we have in total, hello, electric tailgate, 452 L in the back here. This is a good size. Let’s take that off just to get a bit more headroom. That’s a decent amount there. And that isn’t even including under here. You have all of your safety stuff. And you can even put your charging cables in there as well. Easy peasy. Wow. With those mid row seats down, there is a lot of room in here. Not flat though. You can see it slightly angled up. And let me tell you more about the new batteries in the BZ 4X. They can now pack more cells. 26 per module to be precise. So the smaller battery has 78 cells whereas the newer highcapacity battery has 104 and this compares to the previous unit which had 69. So that’s a big improvement. Toyota’s battery care package guarantees to retain 70% capacity for either 10 years or 1 million km and that is subject to a yearly battery health check. And charging times have improved. So, you can charge from 10 to 80% in just 28 minutes. And that is with a 150 kW DC rapid charge. And they’ve also added a new battery preconditioning function, which is key to reducing those charging times, particularly when it’s cold, which hello UK. You can activate it at a certain time or if you put it into the navigation that there’s going to be a fast charge, then it’s going to automatically do it for you. And for an additional cost, Toyota are going to be offering a solar roof. Sure, this might not be so helpful if you live somewhere like the UK, but if you are in a place like Sota Grande, where I am today, this could actually really help you with your mileage. The actual range provided by the solar roof depends on location and light conditions. But testing in Nagagoya, Japan, where there is 2,200 hours of sunshine per year, the roof generated enough energy for up to 1,800 km of driving. Now, I’ve just noticed that we have a digital rear view display, not mirror, digital display to see behind, which in the UK the front-wheel drive variant will not have. So, I’ve definitely been given a kind of hybrid or at least none spec. So, I’m not going to hone in too much on exactly what this car has as the trim because it’s not going to be the same as the UK. But, let me give you a quick overview of what you will find. What will be the same is inside there is this slim horizontal dashboard and you also do have this brand new 14in screen here plus a digital island. essentially the center console uh which is set 10 cm lower than it was previous to give that feeling of separation. Do we feel separated? Oh, and actually this is quite cool. This guy not only opens up from this side. Oh, hello phone. That’s not mine. Free phone with the car. It also opens up from this side. That is very handy indeed. I think that’s a great feature. They’ve also installed a new ambient lighting into the cabin, which there are about 64 different colors that you can choose from. It’s just absolutely unbelievable amount. And what I really like about this is the fact that if you are about to open your door and the car deems it is not safe to open the door, the whole cabin will turn red. Haven’t tried it yet, but as a cyclist, we need more of these features, please. Well done, Toyota. Well done. Well done. Well done. Well done. Depending on which spec you go for, you can get new upholstery materials. So, there’s a recycled pet yarn, or you can also get, which I seem to have here, is this kind of synthetic leather, no fingerprints, and not really that scratchy either. The steering wheel now has heating around its full circumference, and it also has new paddle controls at the back here, so you can control your regen braking with a selection of four different levels. Now I want to show you more on the actual digital display itself. But for some reason whatever camera I use. The screen is flashing. The frame rate of my cameras doesn’t seem to be complying with the screen. So let me just try and show you a bit. I mean sorry it’s so flashy. Okay. It’s not looking too bad. So let me just give you a quick run through. And I’m sorry if this is very stroby for you, but we have the navigation system that you can use which is Yeah, it’s pretty responsive there. Uh, and you can select through your music, your phone calls, the vehicle itself. It’s giving us the uh efficiency, which I will have a another look at tomorrow. And then you’ve also got Oh, web browser. Okay, nice. Um, voice control. And then you can go through all of this as well to tweak all your settings, your driver assists, blahy blahy blah. So, you’ve got your climate control down the bottom here. You’ve got a deicer. Lovely. Eco heat cool. So that means basically you can put air con or heating onto the driver and no one else to save on your energies. You have your volume control here. And this will be your climate. That is that’s lovely. That can you hear that? Lovely. You’ve also got an instrument cluster at the top here, which is right underneath your eye level of the road, which is great. So, you can see exactly all the information that you need. Oh, and there’s windscreen wipers. Okay, trying the passenger area up front. It’s all very comfortable. These seats are lovely and plush. You can see there there’s just like a little bit of an overhang. I mean, sure, I can push it back more. Yeah, actually that’s a bit better. The passenger seat has definitely been raised. This is all electronic, so I can bring it down if I want to. I’m missing a sunroof. I’ll say that much. Gives just gives more light, doesn’t it, when you got a sunroof. Nice size wing mirrors here as well. And I know this isn’t passenger focus, but I really do like this selector. That’s Yeah, that’s nice. So, thanks to the controls here, I can actually change up the front passengers positioning very easily. But how does it feel in the back? So, this is where I’d have the chair if I was in a bit more of a relaxed position. Let’s see. Let’s go around. Yeah, it’s really spacious back here. I’m very pleasantly surprised. I mean, I know obviously they’ve made the wheelbase bigger, so it’s bigger, more comfort, yada yada yada yada, but actually when you get in here, it’s um ample room. For reference, that’s where I would have had the seat if I was being comfy. And that’s how much leg space I have remaining. So, this could come way back if I wanted it to. Oh, something’s telling me to pull this cup holders. We love to see it. There’s a cheeky little phone holder here. Put your tablet in that, right? That’s cool. I mean, yeah, I’d probably be using my tablet, but And in the back here, we’ve got a couple of USBC charge ports, which I know they have actually upped the voltage, so you can charge your devices even quicker than previous. And we also have some heated seats. Wow, lovely. Got storage. Got electric windows. A little bit of storage. You could Oh, actually, yeah, you could get a couple of bottles in there. I tell lie. That’s a nice bit of storage that And of course, head room. 5′ 10 girly. Yeah, plenty. Let’s go in the middle. Go up a little bit, but it’s not obvious. Yeah, not bad. Very spacious. You could comfortably have three adults in the back here. Okay, guys. So, the light is dropping, so I’m going to leave that there for today. That’s the quick look around the car, what it has to offer, and tomorrow we’re going to go for a drive around the beautiful scenes of S Grandee. See you in the morning. It’s a new day, and not only have I got my hands on the frontwheel drive, but I’ve also got an opportunity to switch to the dual motor later, too. My journey today takes me 209 kilometers to the southernmost point of Spain, Puna Darifa, with sandunes and views of Africa on a good day. I’ll then hop in the all-wheel drive to journey onwards through stunning landscapes to a Spanish hilltop town, Veadilla Fronta, which is next to a stunning natural park before heading home. This is going to be a great test on the range and efficiency of the BZ4X. I’m really enjoying driving this car. frontwheel drive. It’s responsive, very comfortable. The suspension is lovely, at least being up at the front here as a driver, and I feel very cocooned. And that is down to the soundproofing that they’ve done with this car. So, not only do they have acoustic glass fitted in here, but they’ve also put materials in the wheel arches and also the platform as well to basically muffle the sound of the motor. And as a result, it’s just very peaceful and lovely in here. Now, I will say that being on the motorway, I have heard a bit of wind noise at the higher speeds, but put some tunes on. That’s not going to be a thing. >> Gosh, all I can say is I’m so glad I’m not in this traffic. We are going the right way today. I’m loving how I’m getting real time feedback about the efficiency of the car and I think Toyota have really listened to the general public about the efficiency the battery yada yada yada so in real time it’s telling me right so currently the way I’m driving oh it was 14.7 kw hours to 100 km but it just went up to 14.8 8 kwatt hours to 100 km there. So, you’re able to just kind of keep track in real time. And then there’s a gauge that’s going up and down as well. So, that’s super interesting. But, I can really see how this can be an excellent family car. It’s spacious. It’s comfortable. There’s lots of room in the boot. You feel nice and secure in here. Big screen. Navigation’s working great. Buttons good to use. The lane assist has actually not been too intrusive either. You can find with some cars that a slight variation and it really tries to tug you back to where it thinks you should be, but I’ve actually not had an issue with this at all. I actually really like the amount of give that it has. And obviously, you can turn these things off. I’m really interested to see how the all-wheel drive performs. Now, as we know, the all-wheel drive will obviously be made to order in the UK. Um, that’s probably not going to be the biggest seller. It’s most likely going to be this one with the bigger battery. And seeing as I’m driving uh about three and a half hours today, I’m really interested to see how the battery holds up as well because they wanted to make sure that these cars had more range. So that’s what I’m testing today. Oh my god, I think I’m in the dunes of Tarifa. I’ve never been in anything like this. Wow, this is so cool. Look at this. I’ve never seen anything like it. This is stunning. And that’s Africa over there. And this is the amazing thing about these trips. You get to explore parts of the world that you never even knew existed. And get to test drive the cars and their capabilities in somewhere sunny, warm, and glorious. This is just so amazing. What a place. First key stop done. It’s time for me to take the next leg in the all-wheel drive variant. The front-wheel drive will still be tagging along so we can compare efficiency of the exact same journey at the end of this trip. All right, into the all-wheel drive variant, which from the interior, you can’t tell, but I promise I am. It’s exactly the same interior, isn’t it? This has got some punch to it. It’s a noticeable difference, actually. when I had to come out onto a very fast road and it required quite a tight left turn as well. It had some oomph to it. So yeah, allwheel drive I can see this definitely being able to bring the torque when you’re on the rougher terrain. So the all-wheel drive variant has been enhanced with a new driving control system. And what that means is when you’re taking these winding turns, what it’s able to do is almost predict the line that you’re going to take, it can see what’s ahead. And as you take the corner, the steering wheel, the motors, they all compensate to basically give you the best delivery of power possible and control. And I can feel it already as I’m going through these winding corners. The car is giving me the power from the rear when it needs it. Like now, here we go. Another corner again. I can just feel the car. It’s just predicting that line for me. And then as I come out of it, it knows give some acceleration from the rear. But what I want to do is try and get this on some more off-road terrain just to see how this X mode handles as well. So, if there’s time for that on my 3 and 1 half hour drive, then I absolutely will do that for you guys as well because I think that’d be super interesting to see. But I’m just really intrigued to see the uh overall efficiency and the remaining range at the end of this drive as well. It’s been such a gorgeous, gorgeous route. I’m so pleased that we went on this one. It is the longest route available, but there is just so much beauty to see over here. Okay, so we’ve hit our halfway point and in terms of mileage in the allwheel drive variant, there is 63% left and we have been absolutely hooing it. The total kilowatt hours per 100 km at the moment it’s saying 15.8. So we’re going to head on the way back to the hotel. I was hoping to go and do the off-road course, but it looks like it might be a bit too tight for time cuz we got to fly back. So we’re going to head back to the hotel now. It’s about another hour and a half drive and then let’s check out the range and the efficiency altogether. Final leg completes. Straight back along the motorway and I can reveal that the all-wheel drive ate up 18.8 kW hours per 100 km with 24% battery remaining. And the front-wheel drive had 34% battery with 16 kW hours per 100 km. It’s pretty obvious that the allhe drive is going to consume more energy than the front wheel drive. But it’s just really interesting to actually see the numbers in the metal, but also it’s quite clear to see that the battery capacity has absolutely improved. There is confidence with the range with these vehicles. So, if you guys are looking for a family SUV that’s comfortable, that’s spacious, it’s got a good bit of power and is capable, then this could be an option for you cuz it is fairly competitively priced against its competitors in the same segment. But anyway, I would love to hear your thoughts, guys. Let me know down in the comments if you’ve got any thoughts, questions. Would love to hear them and I will do my best to answer them. Of course, if you have enjoyed this video, please make sure to give it a big fat thumbs up. And if you’re new here and you haven’t yet subscribed, make sure to do that. Click that subscribe button. Thank you so much for watching. It’s time for me to head on back to the grilled old UK. Until next time, ciao.
Join me as I take the updated Toyota bZ4X on a 200km+ journey across Southern Spain, from scenic motorways to the windswept Sands of Tarifa. After feedback on the first model, Toyota promised improvements, but how does it perform in real-world conditions?
In this video, I test:
🔋 Real efficiency and range over a long-distance drive
🚗 How the bZ4X handles hills, highways, and coastal roads
🛜 Whether the latest updates really make a difference
If you’ve been curious about the Toyota bZ4X’s improvements, practicality, comfort, and real range then keep watching!
#bz4x #toyota #electriccar
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