2026 Toyota bZ4X FWD review

The world’s largest car maker wading into the global electric-car market should’ve been a big moment, but the Toyota bZ4X arrived in Australia with a whimper.

Just over 1000 were sold in its first 12 months in showrooms compared to a modest target of 1500, itself lowered from earlier forecasts of several thousand. Meanwhile, its main rival, the Tesla Model Y, clocked up more than 21,000 sales over the same period.

Two years on from the bZ4X’s Australian launch, Toyota has treated it to a major update that brings mild exterior styling changes, but a massive boost in driving range, more power, and improved interior technology.

The best bit? Prices have dropped by up to about $10,000, so it now undercuts the least expensive Model Y by about $3000.

Does the bZ4X finally have what it takes to compete with Tesla, BYD, Zeekr, Kia, and myriad other rivals in serious numbers? We’ve tested the updated model to find out.

The Toyota bZ4X range continues to comprise two model grades: a front-wheel-drive base model and a better-equipped, all-wheel-drive flagship.

Prices have been chopped, now starting from $55,990 plus on-road costs for the FWD, and rising to $67,990 for the AWD – down a significant $10,010 and $6910 respectively.

The base grade, in particular, is now much more competitively priced than it once was. It undercuts the cheapest Tesla Model Y ($58,900), Zeekr 7X ($57,900) and Kia EV5 ($56,770), before on-road costs and special offers, and is $1000 dearer than the BYD Sealion 7 ($54,990 plus on-roads).

On test in this review is the entry-grade bZ4X FWD which, with no-cost Eclipse Black metallic paint optioned, is listed at $61,133 drive-away in NSW, according to the Toyota website.

While it’s now in the same pricing league as its rivals, the Toyota is not as well equipped.

Standard features include 18-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, a 14-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, a 7.0-inch instrument display, heated front seats, a power-adjustable driver’s seat, dual-zone climate control, cloth and synthetic leather upholstery, a power tailgate, a 360-degree monitor, and a suite of advanced safety systems.

A powered passenger seat, full-synthetic leather-look trim, ventilated front seats, and a panoramic sunroof – all standard on a base Tesla or Zeekr – are exclusive to the bZ4X AWD, along with a digital rear-view mirror, JBL premium audio, auto parking, and more.

New to the bZ4X range for 2026 are dual wireless phone chargers on both grades (previously one on the AWD only), while a heated steering wheel, kick sensor for the power tailgate, blind-spot monitoring and a 360-degree monitor, previously AWD exclusives, are now equipped on the base variant.

The wheels on the 2WD have taken a step backwards in size, from 20-inch to 18-inch, though the larger alloy remains on the AWD with a new design, plus new split headlights, a restyled front bumper, and gloss-black wheel arches across the range.

The bZ4X splits the size gap between a hybrid Toyota RAV4 and electric Tesla Model Y or Zeekr 7X, with ample room for five people without being too cumbersome to park.

Interior updates for 2026 have focused on the front row. There’s a new dashboard that ditches the fabric panel on the passenger side – but there’s still no glovebox – and introduces a larger 14-inch touchscreen (though we’ll explain later why it’s not actually any bigger).

A new centre console now includes two wireless phone charging pads similar to where you’ll find them in a Tesla, up from one stashed in a closeable compartment that was starting to feel small given the dimensions of modern phones.

Gloss black has been replaced by a harder-to-mark satin grey finish, the cupholders are easier to access, and the centre armrest has changed, so it now opens sideways towards either front occupant, though the space beneath it is still mediocre for the segment.

Toyota has also reworked the air-conditioning controls, deleting the touch-sensitive buttons and physical fan speed/temperature switches in place of two large rotary dials… and shortcuts on the screen.

Yes, they’re always pinned to the bottom of the display, but they are no easier to use than before, and in fact, the small slider for fan speed is harder to use while driving than the older bZ4X’s rocker switch. At least there’s now a volume dial.

What hasn’t changed, to the likely dismay of many who considered but decided against the old bZ4X, is the seating position. The steering wheel is still small, and the instrument display set high, so you look over the wheel to see the gauges, rather than through it.

It works for particularly tall drivers, but even at 186cm (6ft 1in) tall, I could not see the battery percentage readout in the bottom corner of the instrument display with the seat set low (as I prefer it), and the steering wheel up high (to reduce the weirdness of this interior layout), unless I leaned forward.

Others on the Drive team struggled even more. Our advice: take a long test drive before you buy, and make sure everyone in your family who will drive the car is able to give it a go.

The steering wheel itself is good – trimmed in a soft leather-like material, and with clicky physical buttons, though they take a beat to learn – and space for tall drivers under the headlining and in the pedal box is good, if a little compromised in terms of width.

The front seats are comfortable, with heating on both sides, and eight-way power adjustment (plus two-way lumbar) on the driver’s side. Leather-look trim is only used on the bolsters and headrests, but I appreciate the softness of the cloth centres in this grade.

The gear selector is also weird: a rotary dial that must be pushed in before it is rotated left for reverse, and right for drive. Park is a button above it.

Leather-look materials are used on the doors and dashboard, though they’re not as soft as they look, and the door armrests are rock-hard underneath the synthetic material used to finish them.

Storage space is also disappointing. There is no glovebox, and space under the front-centre armrest is limited, so the only place the owner’s manual fits is in the hard-to-reach tray under the gear selector. Small door pockets and cupholders also don’t help.

Amenities up front include dual wireless chargers, dual-zone climate control, and in the under-console area, a 12-volt socket and two USB-C ports.

Knee room for tall rear-seat passengers is generous, but there is zero toe room with the front seats set low, those 186cm tall or more will find their hair brushing the roof, and under-thigh support for long-legged occupants is among the worst of any new EV I’ve tested.

Rear passengers get the basics in terms of features: two USB-C ports, rear air vents, bottle holders in the doors, a fold-down armrest with two cupholders and a tablet holder, and dual map pockets.

The floor is close to flat, but not completely so, and the front centre console sticks into the middle passenger’s toe room. The high-pile floor mats also feel a bit too 1970s for my tastes.

Compared to the expanse on offer in a Tesla Model Y, boot space is also small for the class. There is some underfloor storage for the tyre repair kit, but not an incredible amount. You do get a cargo cover, handy bag hooks, a light, and a 1500-watt power plug as standard, plus charging cables that Tesla forces you to pay extra for.

The rear seats fold in a 60:40 split, and the tailgate is power-operated with a kick sensor, but there is no under-bonnet storage ‘frunk’.

The 2026 bZ4X has upgraded from a 12.3-inch touchscreen to a 14-inch display, similar to what is found in Lexus's luxury models.

While it’s bigger on paper, the additional size is taken up by the heated seats, fan speed, recirculating air, and other climate-control functions, which now occupy the bottom section of the display, rather than a dedicated panel.

The space accessible to navigation, phone calls, and media is the same 12.3-inch area as before, with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, in-built navigation, and AM, FM, and digital DAB radio included as standard.

The software does the job, but it cannot compete with Tesla, Zeekr, or even Hyundai/Kia EVs for response times and ease of use, with no clear home screen, and convoluted menus that block inputs while moving – useful to prevent driver distraction, but distinctly unhelpful for passengers.

The 7.0-inch instrument display has lost its jet-fighter surround for 2026, but the screen itself is unchanged, with below-average resolution, basic graphics, and quite a few menus to get your head around.

It does include EV charging station locations in its navigation system, as well as battery preconditioning that can be activated manually.

An instrument screen is better to have than not, but the Toyota’s example is a relatively simple one. There’s no head-up display, either, given the positioning of the main instruments.

A year of Toyota Connected Services support is standard, with a phone app allowing remote unlocking/locking, location tracking, and cabin preconditioning.

After the free trial is up, Toyota charges $9.95 and $12.50 monthly fees for all features bar SOS emergency calls, an auto collision notification, EV charging station location finder, and key app telemetry such as vehicle location and odometer.

The 2026 Toyota bZ4X is covered by a five-star ANCAP safety rating based on 2025 testing by sibling organisation Euro NCAP.

It is a fresh rating compared to the original 2022-dated five-star score held by the pre-updated bZ4X, and has seen the latest model assessed against more stringent 2023–25 criteria.

The facelifted bZ4X earned the same 88 per cent score for adult occupant protection, and increased its vulnerable road user protection score from 79 to 80 per cent, but it slipped in other categories: from 88 to 86 per cent for child occupant protection, and from 93 to 82 per cent for safety assist technology.

Still, it was not enough to deny it a five-star rating, matching rivals such as the Model Y, 7X, and EV5, which were tested against the same criteria.

A full suite of advanced safety systems is now standard in every Toyota bZ4X, including blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert in the base grade for the first time.

For the most part, they’re well calibrated. Adaptive cruise control is smoothly tuned, lane-keep assist does not tug at the steering wheel excessively when the car gets close to the white lines, and there were no false activations of the autonomous emergency braking.

If you don’t like lane-keep assist, there’s an easy shortcut to turn it off by swiping down from the top of the touchscreen.

The traffic-sign recognition system’s default mode does not beep at the driver when the car exceeds the speed limit it has detected, like many competitors, though it is still prone to misreading signs.

Other safety features have room for improvement.

While the lane-centring assist holds the middle of the lane well without bouncing off the markings, the steering wheel requires regular inputs so the system knows the driver’s hands are still on it.

Such a feature is not uncommon, but it’s the frequency – and strength – of the tugs required that grows frustrating on long highway drives, particularly given the system doesn’t need much help to follow curves in the road.

The driver attention camera is the most intrusive safety feature of the bunch, frequently demanding the driver sit up and look forward despite doing exactly that. Similar tech in other Toyotas I’ve tested in recent months and years has not been this overzealous.

The Toyota bZ4X is covered by a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty on the vehicle – the industry norm, but not on par with the seven years offered by key rivals from China.

There is a warranty of eight years/160,000km, whichever comes first, on the high-voltage battery. Should the battery have less than 70 per cent of its original capacity within the warranty period, Toyota will replace it free of charge.

Servicing costs remain capped at $180 for the first five visits, amounting to $900 over five years/75,000km, at 12-month/15,000km intervals. That’s one of the cheapest in the EV market, though not as cheap as Tesla’s lack of service intervals entirely.

A year of comprehensive insurance coverage with a leading provider is quoted at $1869, based on a comparative quote for a 35-year-old male driver living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.

The updated bZ4X has, surprisingly, made its biggest strides in range, efficiency, and charging.

The outgoing model claimed no more than 436km in WLTP lab testing, guzzled more energy than most of its rivals, and was no standout in the fast-charging department.

Toyota has boosted the battery from 71.4kWh (gross capacity) to 74.7kWh, updated the software, and fitted a new eAxle – the marketing name for the electric motor and its associated electronics – to boost the claimed driving range in the FWD version to 591km.

Granted, switching to smaller 18-inch wheels helps – the AWD’s rise from 411km to 517km is not quite as significant – but it now hands the base bZ4X a claimed range close to a long-range Tesla Model Y (600km).

Toyota claims energy efficiency of 13.8 kilowatt-hours per 100 kilometres. I smashed that figure, seeing as low as 11kWh/100km around town – better than any other electric SUV in this class I’ve ever tested, previously class-leading Model Y included – without any attempt to hypermile it or go easy on the accelerator pedal.

Trying to calculate a real-world range is tricky, as Toyota doesn’t quote the usable battery capacity – only the total figure, with upper and lower ‘buffers’ you and I can’t use in order to protect the battery – but my testing suggested about 70kWh is available.

It points to an around-town range as high as 630km – if you can match our efficiency – while even on higher-speed roads, efficiency I observed of 14kWh/100km would equate to a 500km range.

On a 110km/h highway test loop, I saw energy use of 16.5kWh/100km, trailing a Model Y (15.5kWh/100km) in the same conditions, but a lot better than a bZ4X AWD I tested on the same roads in 2024 (18.2kWh/100km), and enough for a solid 420km highway range.

On paper, the 10 to 80 per cent DC fast charging time has swelled from 30 minutes to 45 minutes, but my testing saw the bZ4X complete that feat in 31 minutes and 10 seconds, down from 34min 30sec in testing of the old model in 2024.

That is despite the charging power constantly fluctuating between about 60kW and 120kW on the 360kW plug selected for testing. We’re not sure if it’s an issue with the car or the charger, but our maths suggests you can wipe another five minutes or so off that time.

For context, Drive’s testing has found a Model Y RWD to need 23min 40sec, a BYD Sealion 7 to need 35min 35sec, and a Volkswagen ID.4 to need just under 30 minutes for a similar charge.

AC charging is now rated at up to 22kW, the category benchmark, enabling an empty to full recharge in a claimed three hours and 30 minutes on a plug capable of supplying that much energy.

The Toyota bZ4X is still not the benchmark in its class for performance, comfort or handling, but as with a hybrid RAV4 among its peers, it is well suited to the target buyer in most metrics.

A more powerful electric motor (up 15kW to 165kW) in the front-wheel-drive variant improves performance, offering enough punch to zip into gaps in traffic and merge onto motorways with ease.

It is not as brisk as a Model Y RWD or 7X RWD, though given the Bridgestone Alenza tyres can struggle to put down the power the Toyota does have – especially in the wet, or if you floor the accelerator with some steering lock applied – that’s not such a bad thing.

The FWD’s downsized 18-inch wheels give the tyres more rubber to take the sharp edge off bumps, though compared to a hybrid Toyota – or electric rivals for Zeekr, BYD, Volkswagen, and even Tesla – the ride is not as supple.

It can react sharply to expansion joints and potholes in the road, and bobble around on rough roads, though it settles at higher speeds, and it’s reasonably composed over undulations on country roads.

The steering is on the heavy side for a family SUV, though it’s not as weighty, nor as quick in its responses, as a Tesla Model Y’s steering rack, which makes it an easier car to get used to.

It does not tell the driver much about what the front wheels are doing, however, so on winding roads it can be tricky to judge how much traction the tyres have left to offer. Body roll is present but not excessive, and it is a safe and easy car to drive, rather than particularly fun – which, for the vast majority of customers, is no problem at all.

The brake pedal is well modulated between the regenerative braking of the electric motor and the ‘friction’ brake discs behind the wheels.

Borrowed from its Subaru twin, paddles are now fitted to the steering wheel to change the intensity of the regenerative braking between four levels.

There is still no one-pedal mode to bring the car to a full stop without touching the brake pedal – and the standard and high regen modes in the old bZ4X are essentially levels two and four in the new system – but the extra customisation is good to have.

Tyre roar is noticeable on poorly surfaced country roads, but wind rustle is reasonably well isolated.

The bZ4X is rated to tow up to 750kg, irrespective of whether trailer brakes are fitted.

Its payload – the maximum mass of passengers, cargo and accessories it is legally rated to carry – is quoted at 505kg, enough for five average-mass adults and a boot full of luggage.

The updated Toyota bZ4X deserves to make a much bigger splash in the electric-car market than the original.

The significant boost in range – and improvement in energy efficiency – is now a drawcard, not a weakness, mixed with a longer feature list and welcome styling tweaks.

Most important is the much lower price, which places it in the heart of the EV market in 2026, and in the same consideration set as the Model Y, Sealion 7, and other popular SUVs.

That’s backed by the quiet drive, respectable cabin space, and scale of the Toyota dealer network offered by its predecessor, backed by low servicing costs.

There is still room for improvement before it can be dubbed a ‘Tesla killer’. The driving position won’t suit everyone, the boot is modest, rear-seat under-thigh support is poor, and it’s not the most supple car to drive, though it is more refined and confidence-inspiring than a BYD, Geely or other Chinese car.

The technology also can’t match rivals for snappiness, but it leans into a character that is more conventional to drive and own – a benefit or a weakness depending on your view.

But before signing on the dotted line for any of its peers, we’d implore you to take the Toyota bZ4X for a test drive. It has more to offer than just a familiar badge.

Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner

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