It Sure Looks Like Toyota Just Made The bZ4X Electric Crossover Actually Competitive

If you’re buying an electric vehicle today, a Toyota bZ4X probably isn’t your first choice. It sports a mere 228 miles of range in all-wheel-drive small-wheel trim, offers just 214 horsepower on the high end, and its arrival was delayed by a stop-sale due to wheel bolts coming loose. It’s just not a competitive product on paper, and that’s before we get into the other annoyances.

Setting aside range, charging limitations, and the lack of battery preconditioning, the bZ4X also had some big issues just as a car. The dashboard packaging was weird, with a ton of space being essentially wasted for an enormous phone charger cavity covered in shiny black plastic. At the same time, the jog in the center stack crowded passenger knee room, the wings coming off the digital gauge cluster resulted in a very strange view, the lack of a volume knob was infuriating, and while I normally like fabric on dashboards, the textile Toyota chose looked and felt quite cheap. At the same time, a pronounced whine from the high voltage system cut through the serenity of an electric drivetrain, leaving a rather poor impression. I just couldn’t recommend the car to anyone, and Toyota isn’t taking widespread criticism of the model lying down.

Yep, the Toyota bZ4X just got a facelift, and it’s a big one. We’re talking updates to the interior, the styling, and the high-voltage system itself to make this electric crossover less of a last resort and more of a genuine option. Let’s dig into what Toyota’s done to give the bZ4X the specs and cabin it should’ve had from the beginning.

While an entry level model with a 57.7 kWh battery pack is available, we probably won’t see it in North America. Instead, the new long-range 73.1 kWh battery pack seems better suited to our landscape, promising 356 miles of range on the admittedly optimistic WLTP cycle. Want all-wheel-drive with that? Toyota touts a WLTP range of 323 miles for the dual-motor model, which seems competitive against the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Volkswagen ID.4. By the way, those drive units are also new and feature silicon carbide semiconductors, sending all-wheel-drive horsepower from 215 all the way up to 337 horsepower. Now that’s a serious jump.

While DC fast charging is still capped at 150 kW, battery preconditioning finally joins the party, and that ought to make a serious difference on long road trips. Best of all, it can be manually activated if you prefer to use Apple CarPlay or Android Auto for navigation rather than the native system, something GM executives are probably only now learning is possible. Also on the plus side, an available 22 kW onboard charger sure seems like a faster Level 2 option than the standard 11 kW Level 2 charger. Add in retuned suspension and additional measures to quiet the cabin, and suddenly the bZ4X seems a lot more competitive on paper.

Oh, but Toyota isn’t just focused on spec sheets. The brand also seems to have fixed the interior of the bZ4X by designing a completely new dashboard and center console while porting over some very Lexus-y infotainment. Those rotating physical on-screen climate control temperature knobs are pure Lexus, and would you look at that? Toyota’s put a volume knob in the bZ4X. It’s about time.

That new 14-inch touchscreen gets set into an entirely new dashboard that ditches the wings off the cluster, slims out the lower portion of the center stack, replaces cloth with more traditional materials, and brings in a healthy dose of Prius inspiration. The console’s new too, with matte finishes replacing glossy ones, conveniently exposed wireless phone chargers instead of covered ones that just bake your devices, and driving-related controls moved closer to the driver. It all seems more user-friendly and likely to age far better than the outgoing cabin.

Toyota saw and heard that further effort was needed to make the bZ4X competitive, and its designers and engineers put in the work. While the updates probably aren’t great for resale value of existing bZ4X models, the facelifted electric crossover should now be more competitive in its segment, not just as an EV but as a crossover. Needless to say, we’re excited to try the updated bZ4X once it makes the trip across the pond, likely as a 2026 model. If Toyota holds the line on pricing, it could be a serious candidate for the most-improved car of the year.

Top graphic credit: Toyota

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