Should you buy one?

We really need to run the Toyota bZ4X over a longer period to answer this question effectively. It’s been highly impressive over shorter periods, but our experience with early cars off the line was that its extremely poor efficiency made it hard to recommend.

However, Toyota claims its software upgrades have improved the situation by making its range more competitive. We’ll see, but for now. there are still plenty of things to recomment.

What we like

It’s very comfortable, with a high-quality interior that’s just unconventional enough to be interesting. It drives well, especially all-wheel drive models, and the price compares favourably to premium EV rivals.

We also like the infotainment, as well as Toyota’s commitment to reliability and aftercare – 10 years of warranty cover and a million kilometre warranty for the battery is unheard of so far, and very welcome.

What we don’t like

Unfortunately, the poor inefficiency and therefore low range and high running costs of the early models mean we struggle to recommend this SUV over cars like the Skoda Enyaq or Kia EV6. We’re looking forward to seeing how effective Toyota’s improvements prove to be.