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Some stuff in the test definitely does not feel right and based on the numbers don’t add up. Before we start in, they’re testing against WLTP range and claiming failure to meet that range. According to Which UK (July 2022) only 1 car since 2017 that managed to meet declared WLTP range. All other cars are well below. See info further down. We can discuss the value of WLTP or lack thereof separately …. Back to my value, last week in mild temperatures (AC/heating off, fan on), I was averaging between 3.4-3.6 miles per KW driving all week. My commute and general driving so far If as they claim the useable battery is only 62kw: at 95% SOC I have a range of 254miles – which would mean a 267miles at 100% - which in return would mean 4.31 miles per KW. And that would be a ridiculous number for a boxy SUV like the BZ4X For example, what I would consider direct competitors in size and weight: Skoda Enyaq is 3.2m per KW & VW ID4 is 3.4m per KW. I wouldn’t compare the BZ4X for a model 3 or Zoe or ID3 or other high efficiency cars. Unfortunately, software is where the car is currently let down. For example, I cant get a numerical value (%) for SOC from the car – only get it from the app and there the connectivity is very hit and miss for me. There is a lot of guessing and napkin maths going on when the car should be clearly displaying all the relevant figures I am fortunate enough that I get free access to lvl1 charging at work. (It’s a dedicated / purpose build set up – i.e. can safely use for 8h+) and I actually haven’t needed to charge at home on the wallbox or on the road. 2-2.5 days charging at work is enough to get me through a week worth of driving. Here, is where the numbers don’t add up, assuming that I am pulling steady 2.3kw per h on the lvl1 charge (?) and I “think” I get approx. 30% charge in a day (again would be nice if I could actually check this properly in the car) then that would in fact equate to a 61.3 useable battery. But that leads back to a stupidly efficient car and I rather believe that Toyota is not displaying the SOC correctly vs not displaying consumption correctly. Again software is the issue, a fixable issue, but unless I completely missed something - you cannot see the SOC displayed in a numerical value anywhere through the car. You have the bar on the “hud” and that’s it. Going back to my displayed average of 3.5m per KW, assuming the rule of thumb that car has realistic range of 80% of WLTP meaning for the FWD claimed WLTP range is 317.5m, 80% of that is 254m and if multiply my average from last week with the battery size (3.5*71.5) I come to 250.25 which puts me in the 80% of WLTP range and more importantly re battery size also very close to what I saw when I received the car with 95% SOC. Re rule of thumb. See link below which confirm my stated “rule of thumb” assumptions First, Which UK (independent tester) who states their tests show on average real world range is 18% less than WLTP. The article has a lot of info re range and is very worth reading. https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/revealed-the-truth-about-electric-car-mileage-aC1bt9t5jU50 Secondly, green.car confirms in their testing that cold weather driving removes another 10-20% range on top of the 20% reduction against original WLTP claimed values. https://www.green.car/guides/electric-car-range-and-how-its-calculated-wltp-and-real-world-range/#:~:text=A%20good%20(and%20cautious)%20rule,in%20the%20very%20cold%20conditions. Now this week the weather has been considerably cooler. I work morning shift and leave the house at 5am. Temps this week have been around 4 degrees in the morning. I have had temp control set to 21 degrees and heated seats in use and my range has dropped to 2.8-3.0 miles per KW. Using 2.9 as the average and again multiplying by 71.5 brings me to 207.35 range. That would reduce my range by another 17%, which I understand is relatively normal. I.e. real world range is 80% of claimed WLTP and then take off another 10-20% in cold weather. Quick note, looking online, the 71.5kw battery is claimed as useable rather than total battery size. Toyota also seemed to have updated some technical data The bottom one is the interesting one. 23.3kw/100miles equates to 2.67m per KW which is only a touch below my “cold” weather average of 1 week. EV database has the following range estimations based real world data of EVs vs claimed WLTP Toyota bZ4X FWD price and specifications - EV Database (ev-database.uk) Those numbers seem to confirm my very basic maths. Approx. 250-260 in summer and approx. 200 in winter. I think that Toyota is playing it very safe and has applied very conservative “settings” to the car while also is aiming to protect its battery. The warranty is 90% and 10 years which I think is one of the longest / best warranties available in the market today. I would like to think with more real world user data that Toyota, similar to MEB cars and for example Polestar 2 and relaxes these settings int ime. MEB cars, same as the BZ4X, launched with artificially throttled charging and relaxed that after about 8-12 months of cars in the field. Polestar range improved after software updates (see Which linked article) It comes back to what does mean for you. Here and now the worst case range of approx. 200 miles is still more than sufficient for me. Commuting is obviously no issue. Based on our location in the East of England we can drive to the in-laws, Stansted & Heathrow airports, our usual spots on the coast and more all without needing to re-charge. For me that’s no issue – “your mileage may wary”

Finance was all sorted fine so I picked it up this afternoon. Really happy with the choice of colour and spec, so far I have nothing but praise for the whole car. I've done a mix of urban, suburban and high speed roads and it handles it all rather well. I've attached some photos.

As far as I am aware, the only way to test the range to "battery empty" is to run the car until it stops. And then you need a tow truck or portable battery to put some charge back in. But it's a Toyota ... and If Toyota have designed the bZ4X in the same way that it designs it's other cars it will (and does) provide a readout of remaining range. This remaining range will be based on the amount or fuel in the tank / charge in the battery and the characteristics of the recent driving style - but with the best will in the world it is an estimate (and certainly not a guarantee). The driver is supposed to refuel / recharge before it gets to zero. But Toyota also assumes that drivers can be careless or stupid and is rather conservative in range estimation - so typically the car will go another 20-50 miles after it reaches zero range left before actually stopping. This model works pretty well for me - I nearly never drive to zero miles left, and usually fill-up at the start of a journey if I don't have sufficient fuel in the tank to get to journey's end. I'd want to the same when I switch to an EV. Which brings me to your other point - I'm retired, don't have a regular commute, most of my journeys are short so I could probably get away with recharging a bZ4X once or twice a fortnight! But some of our journeys are much longer than the notional 250-350 mile range of an EV. I certainly don't have confidence that the charging infrastructure in the UK, let alone across Europe, is anywhere near "good enough" yet ... 😉

One other point about range, IMHO for anyone looking to do 200 miles plus on a regualr basis, electic cars and charging infrastructure are not yet goog enough. For us , it will be mostly about town, school runs, shopping and 20 mile round trips to work. Plus the occasional long drive, maybe 3 or 4 times a year. The BZ4X will handle that no problem.

I never had a courtesy car from a dealer as I never owned a brand new car privately but here it is my funny experience. I had to give my two year old company Prius back in exchange for a new Prius plus in 2014, however when I gave my current Prius 12 reg they pass onto me even older 2010 Prius with 110k miles on the clock and not in great shape. I was furious, but surprisingly later that day they had called me to apologise and asked me to bring back the old Prius and that a brand new plus is waiting for me 😂👍, they had been done some major mistake and I was given a car that was about to be taken to a car auction for sale 😂 The good bit was that then I tried an older hybrid with high miles for a first time and to realise that the older hybrids drives as good as brand new ones.👍

Each model and year seems different. All my cars I ever had with drl always come on when engine starts.

Audi have just stopped sales of their largest SUVs: https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/audi-becomes-latest-carmaker-to-react-to-supply-chain-issues-as-firm-pauses-sales-of-its-largest-hybrid-suvs/274152

On the rear left light housing (see photo). Noticed this when washing the car today. And this is with it parked inside my garage most of the day and EVERY night (so far). So I'll be keeping an eye on it. If it persists, no doubt it'll be changed under warranty.

It my be anti-climactic, but it's still a good result 👍

Some insurance companies view a hard wired dash cam as a modification - with the potential for an increased premium.

No discount for me, got front and back dashcams.

Thanks for coming back Julie, and letting us know the outcome. I sincerely hope that this is an outcome for you anyway, and that you have not been had over. Ah well,if your car runs fine after you get it back tomorrow,all is well and good. Any further update on this appreciated,as it may help others with similar problems. Fingers crossed for you and your Yaris 🙂

Bob, I don't use local supermarket petrol stations but I saw you mentioned them marking up prices. As a family we are getting concerned how much money a week our shopping bill has gone up. These rises in gas and electric and food are really hitting us now.

Sorry Cyker, that was a bit graphic, but you know my sense of the extreme for comedic purposes.😁 The reality was more likely the Angel on the bridge,or the Argyll in Henley,in my wage slave suit and tie (loosened a bit of course) enjoying a glass of breakspears and canapes if there were any free ones on the bar. Ah the good old 80s

Yea I usually turn the HVAC completely off when it's cold until the engine gets at least 3 out of 8 bars of temp. I did try leaving it on last year but the engine is *really* obnoxious when it's running but not driving the wheels and that 3-port diesel hammer sound would drive me mad if I had it for the whole journey! The car didn't even get that hot, just lukewarm For me it's just not worth it with the mpg hit on top of it! It heats up a lot faster if I can hit a flowing motorway, but crawling through traffic just doesn't let it get hot enough - As soon as the heating is on all the heat gets sucked out of the engine and I'm down to 1 bar of engine temp within a few minutes! That's the good thing about a normal petrol engine, even that oil-gulping 1.33 in my Mk2 would warm up very fast compared to the diesels and hybrid! Ironically that car was the one with the smegged up AC system so while it was toasty and hot in winter, it was also toasty and hot in the summer! On balance I'd rather be cool than hot, as I can always put on more layers in winter, but there're only so many layers I can remove in summer!! Dear god that's a mental image I didn't need in the evening

You should be okay as the unattended law only applies on public roads, but I know what you mean. I'd have 4 layers on and a scarf round my face when it's proper cold because all the Yarisusesieses I've had (Apart from the Mk2) took so long to warm up! The diesel ones and even the Mk4 hybrid I have now basically don't warm up in winter when idling, so I have to drive them around to get any sort of heat generation going! I do envy the people that have PTC heaters and heat pumps... if only Toyota UK left in the heated seats and steering wheel options! Thankfully it doesn't get so cold down here that often, or I'd have to start thinking about the feasibility of connecting an electric space heater to the traction battery

I think condensation insists car lights it normal as long as it goes away when using the car. The lights has small wholes with rubber hose - vents to evacuate any condensation. On older cars these gets clogged and the condensation can not evacuate and may cause issues. There is nothing to worry about a new car and yes if anything it’s bad indeed they will change it under warranty 👍

To overcome this eventuality , we have a RAV4 PHEV on order too ( if / when it will ever arrive is anyone's guess.... )

Wow, didn't know that, thanks, it's massive difference. You would think driving faster would get you there quicker, hence the saving power, as battery is used for less time. Seems maybe not ... Bother ... I need to correct that since I didn't write quite what I meant ... travelling at twice the speed will consume energy at 4x the rate, but you will get there in half the time, so you'd only be worse off energy-wise by a factor of 2.

An interesting hypothetical example ... we actually 'started' in northern France and journeyed to Vienna in two day stages of 700km each. The hotel we stayed at en route boasts that: "You are able to park your car directly on site of the hotel. There are over 200 parking spaces and 4 charging points for electric vehicles - power points type 2 with maximum output of 22kW." So that's charging for 2% of their potential visitors. Assuming we were lucky we could have started day 2 with a full battery. (I'm ignoring the fact that I couldn't have started day 1 with a full battery and just assuming that I could ... 🙂 ) The weather was mild, but I was aiming for a cruising speed of 120 kph down the autoroutes / autobahns - so that's definitely 'highway' speeds. According to EVDB I might expect / hope for a realistic range of around 200 miles / 320 km. Starting with a full battery I could probably have ticked off the first 300 km before stopping at a DC rapid charger - and rapidly topped the battery to 80% charge so an equivalent range of 256 km. So the second, and subsequent, legs are probably limited to 230-240 km and so I would have had to 'refuel' three times each day as well as overnight ... That's neither impossible nor unacceptable, but you are really very reliant on the charging infrastructure being in place ...

Yes and no ... EVs are much more efficient that ICE vehicles - the ICE wastes fuel stopping, starting and idling while an EV does not. Both use energy accelerating; an EV may recover a proportion of that decelerating. But at a constant speed the energy cost is proportional to the square of the velocity - for both EV and ICE. So, ignoring gearing effects, if the car uses x amount of energy per minute at 30 mph, it will use 4x that at 60 mph and 9x that at 90 mph ... So, yes, your EV range around the city at 30 mph will be much better that your EV range down a motorway at 90 mph. And that is why they quote city, highway and combined figures (in cold and mild weather) to give you half a chance of estimating what you are really likely to get ...

No I don't, I'm up and out before any crims operate 😎

Am sure you are correct. But there is one out there, almost... It's big, and much more expensive than RAC membership https://www.zap-map.com/zipcharge-go-10000-pre-orders/ https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/technology-news/uk-firm-launches-portable-ev-charger-urban-drivers

As stated above, they only come on under certain criteria - from the repair manual DAYTIME RUNNING LIGHT SYSTEM OPERATION CHECK (w/ Daytime Running Light) Turn the light control switch to the off or AUTO position (with the low beam headlights not turned on via the automatic light control system). Start the engine. Check that the daytime running lights come on. Check the DRL fuse and relay - fuse is 7.5A and is in the main fuse box - relay is in the relay box on the passenger side below the headlight iirc if it's the same as the mk1

Don't sound proof your cars. Not worth it. Just buy an another car, a silence one. Quiet cars are not only better isolated=more deadening material, they are also designed to be quiet, considering bodywork, suspensions, aerodynamics, and that's expensive for manufacturers. You can make your car more quiet by deadening, a little, (most of the time it's placebo) but in real work, it's expensive and interior trims are not design to be frequently disassemblet and they don't hold the same as new. You muffle some noises but bring the whole new spectrum of squiking noises or worst, you can redirect original sound chanel directly to the driver position. Quiet tyre can help, and they will be also safer that old one, that's better investment. And as always, best noise deadening tool is volume button on your stereo 😄

🙂 ... sorry, I believe that AA and RAC breakdown vehicles are starting to carry such things ... e.g. https://www.rac.co.uk/breakdown-cover/electric-car-breakdown-cover or https://www.theaa.com/breakdown-cover/electric-cars I rather doubt that the average motorist could carry a 'spare'! 😉

Thanks. I went back yesterday to the ats garage to recheck balance on the rear tyres as been getting some vibrations recently and I saw now they have offer for Michelin £64 off four tyres. There were also Michelin tyres on display and I looked at cross climate 2 size 205/ 60 16 94H XL, tbh I think from looking and touching the tyre the Goodyear are way softer and more advanced made tyres with more interesting structure and profile of the the tread patterns. The cross climate look and feel very hard tyres to me. I also read a couple of reviews from people who had both Goodyear vector and Michelin cc and they prised vectors more. , but each to their own. I just found all seasons tyres not suitable for me and my hybrid. Will stay on summers and if ever need more grip will buy dedicated winter tyres which are super soft and cushy. 👍

I had them fitted last weekend, I have only driven back from Costco with them (rear seats were down to bring the other tyres back for them to be eBayed). I've been commuting in the Yaris (on Cross Climate2 tyres) this week so not really got a fair comparison noise wise. Grip, handling and ride were all fine, easily as good as the Summer Falkens. So not bad for an all season tyre.

Would have taken a GR Yaris over that anyday 😂

Eeehr, you have broke our hopes for a different car 🚗😂👍

Thanks Philip, one thing for sure is you need to have used the car for awhile and put the battery through a number of charge/discharge cycles before the ‘car’ lets you get the best out of the battery. This was what happened with the PHEV it was a few months before I got the best out of the car. I’m also always concerned about some of these testing reviews as driving style, load, acceleration/braking, weather and road conditions, topography etc., can and do impact significantly to the end results. As the car gets into ‘real owners hands, a few miles get clocked up and a years weather we’ll get a much better read out. I’m looking forward to see just how well the car really performs. Based on my experience of the PHEV and others with various Toyota models I’d be surprised if the WLTP figures are very much different to real life when driving style/usage is taken into account.

Be careful what you wish for, many years ago when our Peugeot 108 was having some warranty work done, we were given another Peugeot 108, but is was festooned with dealer stickers about deposit/finance offers and the inside was like our garden at the moment, covered with leaves etc. Thankfully they did the job the same day and when they rang I couldn't get down to dealership fast enough!

Don't even think about doing that. It would be a non valid condition and the invertor output could do something totally unexpected. It all happens in the blink of an eye. If the connection is broken and remade momentarily as you remove the connection, you risk spiking the vehicle electronics with a high voltage transient.

Excellent! Forget the wrap just get some go-faster stripes 🙂

I hope you gave them what for Steve! Talk about being muppets. Impressed you managed to find that as well!

Remember back in 1996 when I bought a new Corolla 1.3, I arrived at the dealer to collect the car only to find it wasn't ready as they were having trouble fitting the alarm. So they gave me the sales manager's Carina E 2.0 Executive for a couple of days til they sorted the alarm out.

It depends on how powerful the PTC/resistive heater is, but I suspect it's either quite weedy (just enough to stop you freezing but not output anywhere near enough heat to make the cabin actually warm), or it'll be so powerful it'd drain the traction battery very quickly; Either way I suspect the engine has to cut in to do the heavy lifting, so to speak. This is one of the biggest problems EVs have - The heat ICE cars get 'for free' is actually a huge amount of energy which the EVs don't really have to spare; The reason they're trying to moving to heat pumps is because it needs a lot less energy to 'move' the heat from somewhere else into the car than to actually make it. At the end of the day, burning stuff for heat is far more efficient than burning stuff to make electricity to make heat.

Definitely don't order and accept a car with half the functions missing because of the chip shortage. Before the R4P I'd actually ordered a Volvo XC60 PHEV T8 or something. Spec sent through, checked it with a fine tooth comb and all good. Then Volvo got in touch and said here is the final spec to check and sign. Pages of data. Fortunately I spotted "Driver Assistance" pack had changed name to "Driver Assist". Strange. Surely just a misprint. Nothing sent to me to say something had changed. No. Upon challenge it transpired that the blind spot warning was now no longer supplied so they subtly changed the name hoping no one would notice. I said to the Volvo North UK fleet manager, is there anything you now need to tell me about what else might be missing. He said, oh, well, the cross traffic alert was missing and something else I don't recall. A Volvo with half the safety features missing? Not much point in that. That's like Vienetta ice-cream without the chocolate layer. Imagine the disappointment opening that box at Christmas in 1982! No mate. I don't do business like this. That was deceptive. Order cancelled. Glad I got the R4P despite the dodgy 12V system. They are all going to be trying it on now.

Starlet? Gosh that got me thinking. The Starlet came well after my father's first Toyotas. I learned to drive in a Starlet! The last courtesy car our family had from Toyota ( I was in my teens then ) was a Cressida estate. That'd have been '79. There was a delay on my father's car arriving from the docks in Dublin ( for some reason they used to ship new cars from Japan to Ireland back then ) so they gave him the Cressida for a week. I just remember it being massive ( at least back then it was .) A new Corolla 1.3L saloon in 1979 cost £3499. Incidentally: His first car a 1.1L Corolla 3dr in 1973 cost £1300 His 2nd, a 1.2L Corolla Saloon in 1975 cost £1999 His 3rd, a 1.2L Corolla Saloon in 1977 cost £2600 and his 5th, a 1.6L Corolla Liftback, cost £5050 in 1981. You had to buy a new car every 2yr back then if you didn't want rust. 🤣

Pull the codes from the car, otherwise you're urinating in the wind

With a small flat blade push the tab down then wiggle/pull

It's a topic that's been discussed several times over the years. Some people just don't think it works well. I'm more in the camp of 'It mostly works but I'm always ready to intervene'. There is no known way of adjusting it. Personally I've only been flashed once and I think that was unnecessary from what I remember of it. The only time I have my doubts about it really is when there's a height difference, especially with HGVs approaching from the other side of a crest. But as I've noted several times now - just because your headlight are illuminating a vehicle doesn't actually mean they are being dazzled. If the Corolla's computer is well programmed with the beam spread and if the camera is properly installed it will have a better idea of exactly when dazzle is a risk. For sure I don't trust it like I used to trust my Jazz. But nor do I get the impression that the auto-dip is completely broken. It just might be a bit too clever sometimes. Some examples: A vehicle on a steep hill above you should not be dazzled until fairly close to you. A vehicle ahead of you on a right hand bend - should only be dazzled by you while they are between you and the apex of the bend. If it's a tight enough curve and they are oncoming they might never be dazzled.

Hello, Thanks for your advice everyone. It was a short after all 😒I had the car at the garage last week to replace a wheel bearing. They'd used a self tapping screw to secure a loose arch liner, and you can guess where the screw landed. It's all sorted now though. Thanks again 😃

Ignore the last part of the previous! im tired and have just finished a 13 hour shift! I’ve got it now. im all technology at minute so thought was technical code! 😂

A lot will offer a discount but keep in mind that if you slip up, they’ll want to see it.

Hi Mark, I think we are all seeing the change in prices now. Everyone I speak to is saying the same that there shopping bills are going through the roof. Trouble is will they ever come down.

Yeah. My first was a corolla 1.6L auto lift back!

Daughter has her Volvo back, looks great, drives like *******. Insurers sending an assessor to assess the repair. Hi

Thanks for this very informative post. These real world numbers are far more meaningful than the WLTP or from other trade reviews. I pick up my BZ4X Motion tomorrow so your ml/kE and range give me a good idea of what to expect.

Hi you can't turn off daylight running lights, they come on with the engine, so I imagine there's something amiss with them.