AWD Toyota bZ4X Touring
You could look at this car as either a Subaru E-Outback with Toyota emblems and lights, or – perhaps a bit more charitably, given how much work Toyota did on the platform itself in the first place – an estate version of the existing bZ4X electric SUV. At any rate, it’s the new Toyota bZ4X Touring, an off-road-focused, EV wagon with a massive boot and some amazing power/performance stats in its top trim.
Test Vehicle Details
Model: Toyota bZ4X Touring AWD Excel, 2026
Cost: AWD Excel as tested starts at £51,695, while bZ4X Touring starts at £45,995.
Motor: two 280kW electric motors
Battery: NMC lithium-ion, 71kWh (usable)
Transmission: all-wheel drive, single-speed automated reduction gear
381 horsepower
Torque: 269 Nm per motor; no specified system maximum
0g/km of emissions
Range: up to 297 miles
4.5 seconds from 0 to 62 mph
Maximum speed: 112 mph
Boot space: 1,718 liters when the back seats are folded down and 669 liters when all seats are in use
1,500 kg is the maximum towing weight (braked trailer).
2,095 kg is the kerb weight.
Styling
With its ‘Hammerhead’ front lights and slightly neater rear lamp coast-to-coast strip, the Toyota bZ4X Touring is a gorgeous vehicle but almost (except for the aforementioned nuances) visually similar to the Subaru. This means the plastic-clad, high-riding estate has a nice, robust sense of purpose about it, with probably better balanced lines than the ordinary bZ4X model which before it. Shame that the colours for the Touring are quite bland, although there’s a gorgeous blue (Sapphire) and the handsome Brilliant Bronze you can see in images, which make the most of the Toyota’s geometric lines.
Interior
The fascia of the bZ4X Touring resembles both the bZ4X (obvs) and the C-HR+ in that it features a large 14-inch touchscreen (which includes a combination of physical and digital climate controls) in the center, with a high-mounted seven-inch TFT display for the driver’s cluster to one side. Toyota has a preference for a specific dash layout in its EVs. It’s a decent setup, with acceptable ergonomics and respectable screen visuals (which you can override with wireless Apple CarPlay or Android Auto if you choose).
However, this results in a pretty uniform appearance that doesn’t elevate the bZ4X Touring’s cabin above those of its relatives, despite the fact that this is meant to be the company’s most luxurious EV. Additionally, the Toyota’s passenger compartment feels a little gloomy unless you have the top-spec Excel car with the khaki interior colorway, and the little cluster appears a little “plonked” in place rather than integrated.
We can overlook the bZ4X Touring’s few cabin-related flaws because the material quality is generally excellent and the cheapest plastics are saved for the dash-top directly beneath the base of the windscreen and on the A-pillars, two areas that most people will hardly ever touch.
Realisticness
Providing more internal room was a primary goal of the bZ4X Touring variant, and that goal has been successfully achieved. The second-row cabin legroom is plenty, and the floor is nearly flat (with the exception of a tiny bump in the middle of the footwell region), so it doesn’t appear like sitting three people across the bench would be too much of a stretch.
Additionally, the boot officially measures 669 liters when all seats are in use. Even if it doesn’t extend to the ceiling, it does reach the lower window line, making it quite a monster in terms of volume. However, it does feature some storage space beneath the floor. Plus, it’s 36 liters more than what Subaru says for the E-Outback. And if that isn’t enough space for cargo, you can free up up to 1,718 liters by lowering the 60:40 rear seats.
But this aside, the Toyota isn’t perfect when it comes to functionality. While there are several practical and ample in-car storage options, the bZ4X Touring does not have a glovebox. No front boot either. Pop the bonnet, and there’s a profusion of electrical apparatus beneath there, almost the point it looks a bit like an engine lurking underneath. It’s not, of course, but still.
Performance
There are two powertrain possibilities for the Toyota bZ4X Touring, based on a solitary battery pack. This is a 74.7kWh CATL-sourced nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) unit with a useable capacity of 71kWh, which makes it ever so slightly larger than the 73.1kWh gross/69kWh net item in the bZ4X.
A 165kW front-wheel-drive Touring, which mounts a single 224 horsepower/269 Nm e-motor on the leading axle, is your first option for motive power. Despite a kerb weight of almost two tonnes, the single-motor bZ4X Touring will nonetheless go 0-62mph in 7.3 seconds and go on to a top speed of 99mph.
That acceleration ought to be more than enough oomph for most people’s acceptable everyday performance needs, but then there’s the dual-motor AWD we’re evaluating here. This puts another e-motor on the back axle to go with the front, raising overall output to a staggering 381hp, with both motors delivering 269Nm each – Toyota won’t officially state that you therefore have 538Nm at your disposal, but with a 4.5-second 0-62mph time, we have no reason to doubt that such meaty maximum torque is on offer. Especially considering the AWD Touring weighs five kilos shy of 2.1 tons.
While the FWD Toyota is absolutely fine for performance, then, it’s the AWD which gives the more spectacular showing that’s suitable of a top-end EV in a manufacturer’s portfolio. It has effortless muscle and is properly, properly swift, while its dual-motor nature does away with the weird traction concerns which beset the single-motor car. In that, with the latter, you can disengage the electronic control systems and if you then use too much throttle, its motor does a peculiar staccato on-off-on-off-on-off power delivery. This is exacerbated if you’re on gravel, which we were for a portion of the test drive, and in its own way it’s amusingly wayward behaviour from a Toyota, but even with the traction control engaged you’ll often see the little yellow warning light in the cluster blinking away at you if you’re even only moderately aggressive with the throttle.
There’s no such issue deploying the full grunt of the AWD, though, and it doesn’t even appear worse on power use either. Officially, the dual-motor bZ4X Touring will only do up to 297 miles on a charge, but the front-driven variant can improve that range to 366 miles. Yet having driven the AWD around some hilly roads in Slovenia, while the single-motor car performed more motorway running and open-roads cruising, we actually noticed superior efficiency from the 381hp former of the two. It turned in an indicated 15.4kWh/62.1miles (which is 4 miles/kWh), but the FWD only gave back 19.1kWh/62.1 miles (3.25 miles/kWh). Naturally, if we’d taken the AWD on a longer motorway run, we’d have expected a lesser return – but even a later route in the dual-motor bZ4X Touring, again over the mountains and down the other side, driven at a somewhat more exuberant speed, still only saw 16.7kWh/62.1 miles (3.7 miles/kWh).
Incidentally, charging speeds are 11kW AC max for the FWD and 22kW for the AWD, with both capable of 150kW DC. At their fastest, 10-80 per cent should take 28 minutes, while the AWD can do a 10-100 per cent cycle at 22kW in 3.5 hours; with an 11kW connection, and also for the FWD, that duration increases to seven hours, while either ver
Ride & Handling
Even if neither version of the Toyota bZ4X Touring excels in the corners, the AWD once again prevails in this competitive race. It has the same feel-free steering as the FWD, which is the main obstacle to any driver delight, but it has less tendency to understeer than the single-motor Touring and clearly shoots out of bends more quickly due to its superior traction. Although it lacks weight and a significant bite off the dead-ahead, it is a decent setup in many aspects, such as accuracy and consistency in reaction. As a result, the AWD’s handling is passable but not very enjoyable.
But the reward is that the bZ4X Touring has an amazing ride and level of smoothness. The Excel-spec AWD’s ability to shrug off major lumps in the road is excellent, even on its larger 20-inch wheels. The only times it loses composure are on the worst possible terrain. It’s incredibly quiet and comfortable at all speeds and on all kinds of routes, which is exactly what a family-friendly electric SUV (especially an estate-shaped one) has to be, above and beyond being some sort of masterful vehicle.
Value
Toyota has maintained a relatively basic lineup for the bZ4X Touring. The single-motor drivetrain with its 366-mile range, 18-inch alloy wheels, part-fabric upholstery, and 224 horsepower output is available for £45,995 if you prefer the lower Design standard.
If you decide to go with the Excel, which costs £51,695, you will benefit from the AWD setup, which has a lower range of 297 miles but 381 horsepower, as well as luxuries like a panoramic roof, 20-inch rims, heated and ventilated front and rear seats (the Design only has heated chairs in the front), a synthetic leather interior, a digital rearview mirror, and 22kW AC charging capability. The Excel-grade flagship is the only vehicle with the nine-speaker JBL premium sound system, which is the only other option.
Although it seems sense that neither of the Tourings can be considered “cheap,” Toyota benefits from the fact that, other from the Subaru E-Outback, no other electric estate has an off-road flavor. And Toyota has the advantage over Subaru in this regard because we anticipate that the E-Outback will start at around £55,000 for the 381 horsepower AWD (since Subaru is committed to all-wheel drive and thus lacks a single-motor substitute for the less expensive bZ4X Touring). Even at $52,000, this Toyota-badged version is less expensive than its equivalent Japanese cousin with a six-star badge.
Verdict
Even if it weren’t an estate car, the Toyota bZ4X Touring would be easy to recommend as a large EV that is spacious, comfortable, highly refined, and enjoyable to drive. The handling is a bit buttoned down, and we might reasonably expect more than 300 miles of claimed range from a £50,000+ electric model these days, but other than that, the bZ4X Touring is a talented EV that is a far cry from the completely unimpressive product at the other end of Toyota’s zero-emission lineup. The bZ4X Touring is a talented EV in every way, and a far cry from the completely unimpressive product at the other end of Toyota’s zero-emission range. However, it is by no means perfect, as the cabin is quite plain to behold, there is no glovebox or “froot/frunk,” the handling is a touch buttoned-down, and we might reasonably expect more than 300 miles of claimed range from a £50,000+ electric model. Actually, regardless of size, style, cost, or format, the bZ4X Touring is one of our favorite EVs.
