Roughly three-ish years into a new car’s on-sale period, a mid-cycle refresh is customary to keep things fresh for another few years before the next-generation model rolls around. There are exceptions—the Chevrolet Express van will stick around until the heat death of the universe, and the 2012 Honda Civic was so widely panned, it was updated again for 2013—but generally that’s the way the business goes. Press launch, pats on backs, figure out how to keep buyers rolling in a few years down the line. However, sometimes a mid-cycle refresh is more do-or-die. The 2026 Toyota bZ holds a heavier burden than most facelifts, because it’s not just trying to keep Toyota’s EV competitive, it’s trying to make it competitive in the first place.
When the 2023 Toyota bZ4X first launched, it wasn’t a great EV. All-wheel-drive models were capped to a measly 100 kW at DC fast charging stations, rated range was barely more than 200 miles, and it felt like Toyota was at least five years behind the rest of the game. What’s more, the bZ4X wasn’t great at being a car. From strange ergonomic impedances to a grating powertrain whine to an initial stop-sale and recall due to wheels literally falling off, the launch of the bZ4X was an embarrassing moment for Toyota, and it launched a serious rebuilding period.
Toyota’s now had three years to catch up to the rest of the mass-market EV pack, and its electric crossover just received a facelift heavy enough to come with a new name. We’re talking new powertrain options, a new dashboard, and dropping “4X” to simply make it a bZ. Spoiler alert: It appears to have actually worked.
[Full disclosure: Toyota Canada brought this bZ to AJAC TestFest, an annual event put on by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada as part of the run-up to and evaluation for Canadian Car of the Year. Food and lodging were provided by the Association.]
The Basics
Battery Pack: 57.7 kWh on the base XLE FWD model, 74.7 kWh on all other models.
Drive: Single-motor front-wheel-drive or dual-motor all-wheel-drive.
Output: 168 horsepower on the base XLE FWD model, 221 horsepower on other FWD models, 338 horsepower on AWD trims.
EPA Range: 236 miles (380 km) for the XLE FWD, 314 miles for the XLE FWD Plus, 288 miles (468 km) for the XLE AWD, 299 miles for the Limited FWD, 278 miles (436 km) for the Limited AWD.
Peak DC Fast Charging: 150 kW.
Base Price: $36,350 including freight ($47,920 in Canada).
Price As-Tested: $41,825 including freight ($55,670 in Canada).
Why Does It Exist?
A few years ago, it became obvious that Toyota needed a global mass-market EV as the tide of emissions regulations kept rising and consumers warmed to battery electric vehicles, and a compact crossover makes a ton of sense for a worldwide vehicle. It’s the sort of package that should sell in every market, which explains why just about every mainstream automaker under the sun makes one. While the first shot didn’t go so smoothly, consider the bZ the mark II. Actually, hang on, there’s another Toyota literally called the Mark II. Oh well, you know what I mean.
How Does It Look?
On first glance, it’s difficult to tell this bZ XLE AWD apart from the old bZ4X. The shiny, swirl-attracting black fender inserts are just so out there that it’s easy to miss how the front ones are slightly smaller, and how the whole front end is just subtly different. The grille silhouette is a bit sharper, split headlights allow for a more Prius-like down-the-road graphic, and the cladding on the bottom of the bumper is simpler. Around back, the story’s much the same as before because fundamentally, this isn’t an all-new car. It’s a refresh, and it’s what’s inside that counts.
What About The Interior?
Many people who’ve experienced it will agree, the cabin was a notable weak spot of the old bZ4X. To confirm that I wasn’t crazy, I managed to convince my Toyota-driving cousin to climb into a bZ4X at an auto show a couple of years ago, which elicited the incredulous grumbling normally associated with suddenly realizing the oatmeal cookie you’re eating has raisins in it. A huge console meant that the front of the cabin was oddly cramped, the dashboard was seemingly upholstered in long johns, and the general ergonomics conspired to make half the gauge cluster unreadable due to its relationship with the steering wheel. Guess what? Toyota fixed all of those complaints. A reworked digital gauge cluster means you’re actually able to read all of it, a lowered console means there’s finally room for your inboard knee, and the whole cockpit is simpler, cleaner, and less of a clash of materials.
How Does It Drive?
I know the bar is low here, but the bZ genuinely drives better than its predecessor. Granted, I had to stop driving the old bZ4X after about 15 minutes due to a powertrain whine so loud, it simulated tinnitus, but the AWD 2026 bZ I drove showed no signs of this whine, even if it isn’t the quietest EV in the segment. The suspension felt a bit firmer than in a RAV4, but never harsh, and the steering is nicely weighted with great on-center accuracy. Of course, the big figure everyone’s looking at is how far Toyota’s electric crossover will go on a charge. The old bZ4X AWD managed a disappointing 228 miles of range, but the bZ XLE AWD claims 288 miles of range, and that feels quite accurate. Sure, it can’t crack the 300-mile barrier in dual-motor trim, but it’s right in the ballpark of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and only 12 miles off of the big-pack dual-motor Ford Mustang Mach-E.
Speaking of competitive, let’s talk pace. The official claim is a zero-to-60 mph run in a hair under five seconds, and I suspect Toyota’s being a bit conservative in its rating. The all-wheel-drive bZ might actually be the second-quickest Toyota-badged vehicle sold in North America right now. At the same time, 150 kW DC fast charging is competitive with other 400-volt EVs and a 50 percent improvement over the old bZ4X AWD’s maximum rate, and Toyota’s fitted a Tesla-style NACS port for adapter-free Supercharger compatibility.
Does It Have The Electronic Crap I Want?
Almost certainly. Every single 2026 bZ comes standard with a 14-inch infotainment screen, Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a heated steering wheel, a power liftgate, four USB-C charging ports, including two 60-watt ones, a 1,500-watt household power outlet, 64-color ambient lighting, a power driver’s seat, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, and a perfectly adequate six-speaker audio system. That’s a lot of stuff, and Toyota’s even had the common sense to throw in a volume knob. However, while the standard dual wireless smartphone chargers are nice to have, they do compromise center console storage. Still, if you like gadgets, the bZ has one of the best standard equipment lists in the segment.
Three Things To Know About The 2026 Toyota bZ
- There’s actually passenger space up front now.
- No more pervasive whine!
- Yes, it comes with a NACS port.
Does The 2026 Toyota bZ Fulfill Its Purpose?
In one fell swoop and about three years, Toyota’s turned its first mass-market electric crossover from egg-on-face to actually competitive. Every trim except the base model now has the range, charging, and power to be a reasonable choice if you get a good deal, and the automaker’s even managed to keep pricing reasonable. For the Toyota loyal who can charge at home and put up with the decreased cargo room over a RAV4, the new bZ is genuinely worth a look in its punchy all-wheel-drive trims. Would I still rather have a Ford Mustang Mach-E or Hyundai Ioniq 5? Sure, the Mach-E is more fun and upscale than the bZ and the Ioniq 5 is more refined than the bZ. However, if the bZ lives up to the remarkably solid reliability record of the bZ4X, I can totally see why someone would choose it.
What’s The Punctum Of The 2026 Toyota bZ?
It’s amazing what a heavy refresh can do.
Top graphic image: Thomas Hundal
Grumbling about oatmeal cookies with raisins? You probably don’t like your butter tarts with raisins either! 😉
I wish they changed the taillights too, they look like they belong on something from the late 2010s but this is a 2026 model.
While it’s a large improvement, can this really be considered better in any way to a launch Nissan Ariya?
When we’re discussing EV charging, since this is an enthusiast site, can we take a step deeper than peak charging rates? (At least for the longer form reviews.) Assuming we have the data to go on, it’s helpful for buyers to discuss it in more detail, and I don’t think it’s inherently inaccessible for the average reader.
For example, in this article, the area under the curve matters a huge amount: a 50% increase in peak rate might be far more or far less than a 50% increase in overall kWh delivered per period of time. If the prior car could maintain that 100 kW rate for most of its curve, it wouldn’t be a huge shift; on the other hand, if the new curve drops off quickly, it also might not be a huge change. Or the inverse of both of those statements. Reading this article, I have no idea which is the case.
This is of course also ignoring other variations, like temperature. I run into this a bit with the Polestar, where practically speaking, it’s slower than most 150 kW capable cars on a good day, but on a bad (read: cold) day, loses a bit less of that. Of course, I also can’t preheat the battery through an app or menu unless I’m actively navigating to a charger, so…ymmv.
Alls I’m saying is, in practice, especially for those of us dependent on our public (read: private) charging infrastructure, these are actually really important considerations to think about, and not just small details. With more folks in apartments and urban areas who are in the same boat switching to EVs (lots of lower income Uber drivers here in the bZ4x dependent on those chargers), I’d love to see this site get a little deeper on EV charging rates in reviews.
This is a good point. Peak charging rate isn’t as useful as some other metric might be. Something like 20% to 80% charge time would probably be more informative.
Personally I think two metrics, 10-80 combined with the mileage gained, and 50-90 combined with mileage gained, are most useful for me in practice.
10-80 is the every day, around town, charging as I go sort of metric; I’m in some part of that curve when I’m stopping at a charger before work. Knowing it’ll take me 20-25 minutes to get from 25 miles of range to 200 miles (so 175 total) is helpful for planning my week and when I want to charge or not worry about it. I think going slightly lower than 20% SoC is helpful, as in practice in urban driving (which are the folks most dependent on fast charging rates), it’s pretty easy to get down to 10 or lower without concern.
On the other hand, despite what folks say about 10-100 or 0-100 being most useful to know for road tripping, I definitely find that 50-90 is actually where I often find the most frustration and need to plan around. This is because our infrastructure isn’t good enough yet for me to always guarantee I can skip a charger in my route planning, and I’ll need to ‘top off’ before aiming for the next one.
The 10/20-80 tells you how easy it’ll be around town, whereas the 50-90 gives you a strong sense of how annoyed you’re going to be sitting at a charger while knowing that the next Electrify America station has (at least) 2 out of the 4 broken, lol.
These all make sense to me. I generally pay very little attention to my EVs mileage estimate, I just focus on the % charge instead, but I know lots of folks rely on that mileage guess
It sounds like the author didn’t have enough time to test that kind of thing given the event they were at in the disclaimer. Definitely agree for long-form reviews whenever possible.
Ah, totally missed that – thanks for pointing it out. Definitely fair for a quick test article. And no shade to Thomas, the folks here already do a way better job than most sites!
Mark II? Really, they didn’t go with the bZ-b?
Its fucking hideous looking.
This may be better, but the first one had four times the buzz.
They can change the name all they want. It’s still Biz Forkie to me.
But does it got what you need?
The front looks cribbed from the refreshed Tesla Model Y. Not my favorite, but I could live with it.
I think we will be looking for a used EV in about 2.5-3 years when our youngest turns 16 and inherits our current wagon. I’ll eagerly awaiting all the (hopefully heavily depreciated) Q3 2025 EVs coming off lease at that time. I was thinking we would probably be shopping the Mach-e, Ioniq5, maybe ID4. This will get added to the list, the XLE AWD seems about right for us.
If you want to splurge, the Audi A6/Q6 e-trons should be coming off lease by then too. I think the Nissan Ariya is a somewhat underrated option if the company’s chance of death doesn’t scare you.
Great points, I hadn’t thought of the e-Trons. German cars make me nervous for some reason. I agree, I also think the Ariya is underrated, so much so that I even forgot to include it in my mental list!
That could only look halfway decent in black. Those wheel arch treatments are just hideous.
Have you seen the new ones in white? Where they got rid of the wheel arches?
Why they didn’t do it across the board I don’t know. Night and day difference.
I have not. But I would take a new gen RAV 4 over this. Not that I hope to be buying anything soon.
Still looks like a little kid who got into Mom’s makeup drawer and went nuts, but at least the specs aren’t embarrassing anymore.
Not nearly as bad as when grab what you think is a chocolate chip cookie, bite into it, and it’s oatmeal raisin. That’s when you know that this is just going to be One Of Those Days.
I loled at the “MUCH IMPROVED” topshot. Not because it isn’t true. But it’s ludicrous looking at the refreshed version of this car and believing that there was something worse that came before it. It’s still very ugly.
That being said, glad it’s shed it’s compliance car label and is now at a minimum, a useful EV.
Finally, Toyota got the memo on EVs. Congrats on breaking 300 miles of range. The price appears to be just decent. Those huge black plastic surrounds? Not so much.
Sounds solid. How does it compare on space utilization to other EV’s?
Long Johns – the thermal underwear or the creme filled donuts? discuss…
Underwear. Never heard about that name for the donut. New to me.
Mmm, chocolate-glazed dashboard!
As long as we’re not talking creme-filled long underwear…
Is a long John donut a southern thing? In Michigan long johns always meant long undergarments used in winter activities.
Life-long Michigander here. Long undergarments for sure, but the name for the baked confection may be regional in the state. I’ve heard the term Cream-Filled Long Johns when living on the west side of the state, and sometimes in SE Michigan. Maybe rural/suburban variation?
I like the non-grill front end. Unfortunately the hideous black plastic theme has been wrapped around to the sides instead. I honestly can’t say it’s now better than the bZ4x this is replacing. Definitely a lost opportunity there.
It was one thing to do fenders like that on the Element, as those were the entire fenders, but even with that vehicle Honda eventually had the sense to paint them.
Why Toyota thought it was a good idea to keep going with this concept, I have no idea. It’s bad enough on my RAV4, but at least those are mostly symmetrical. This thing (to my eyes) is just an eyesore.
You can have painted fenders, Toyota just won’t let you have them in any color that isn’t black, white, or grey.
That’s way more generous than Henry Ford. 🙂
With the angular sides, I still see what they’re trying to do there. Which I still don’t like. I am trying to come up with anything other than S. Korean that I think looks half-way attractive anymore. That’s not true. I think the latest Prius looks decent. I’m just glad to not be in the market for a new car at the moment. Or a recent used one.