Toyota BZ4X Touring 2026 review

Toyota’s electric BZ4X SUV-of-sorts has so far barely caused a ripple in the Australian sales charts.

For two years running, it’s achieved roughly 1000 annual sales, though Toyota Australia is confident that its recent upgrade – more power and equipment, hugely improved range – and the launch of this Touring wagon version will be enough to nudge 5000 sales for BZ4X in 2026.

Like the rest of the 2026 BZ4X range, the Touring scores a larger 74.7kWh lithium-ion battery (71.0kWh useable) and features a 165kW front electric motor (with torque of 268.6Nm). But it goes one better than the AWD SUV by fluffing up the rear electric motor to match the front motor’s outputs (boosted from 87kW/168.8Nm).

That gives the new Touring a healthy 280kW of total system power (up from 252kW), a 0-100km/h claim of 4.5 seconds (down from 5.1sec) and a 20km/h higher top speed (180km/h) for only a $2K price premium, though WLTP range does take a bit of a hit (488km versus 517km).

Yet the Touring is only incidentally about its bolstered grunt and straight-line shove – the main attraction is its girthy new booty and what that achieves for luggage space.

While the Touring shares its rear door shape with the regular BZ4X, it adds 140mm of length behind the rear axle, giving it a huge lift in both styling appeal and luggage space.

Boot volume inside its well-shaped cargo hold is an excellent 603 litres (up from 452L) – making a strong case against rival SUVs – while the Touring’s unique front bumper with lower bash-plate design, matching the even cooler rear bumper treatment, gives the Touring a distinct visual edge.

Its cleaner rear tail-light band and classy new colours (Ice Silver metallic and Daylight Bronze, replacing Feverish Red) further highlight its styling embellishment, while inside there’s a no-cost Khaki Green colour option which relieves the dash trim strip, centre front armrest, door inserts and perforated (synthetic leather) seat inserts of the tedium of charcoal grey.

All this really does argue a rock-solid case for choosing the Touring over its shorter (and dorkier) BZ4X sibling.

Even its 20-inch alloys look arguably better – a near-identical dark-coloured design but without the bright highlights – and it carries over the regular AWD’s ability to traverse Australia’s less-than-ideal surfaces without being crucified by its large wheel-rim diameter.

How does the BZ4X Touring drive?

Indeed, for an EV on 20-inch rims, the BZ4X Touring rides impressively well (for the most part) and feels devoid of the agitating abruptness that is way too common in EVs from brands the world over.

As for the rest of the Touring’s driving experience, it’s clearly much better than what the BZ4X offered at launch in 2024 but is still hampered somewhat by the ability of its architecture to apportion drive and torque to each end.

The Touring’s equally matched front and rear electric motors may neutralise some of the SUV AWD’s inherent front-end bias, but at the end of the day, this is still a predominantly front-biased EV that seems incapable of enlivening its driving experience by sprinkling some torque/drive-split trickery into the mix.

Apply full power exiting a tight corner and you’ll feel it pushing the front-end wide, though there’s a satisfying degree of fluency, neutrality and grip in faster corners, once you become accustomed to its steering. It’s consistent in its weighting and response – unlike the majority of Chinese EVs/SUVs – but doesn’t concisely convey the feel of the front tyres.

Either way, while the BZ4X Touring isn’t what you’d call an interstate express, it does a commendable job of covering distances in roomy, relatively relaxed comfort. And its overtaking punch is highly satisfying.

Where the Touring makes the most sense is schlepping about town. On our launch drive, it effortlessly devoured the hilly, unpredictable, tightly drawn lanes between inner Brisbane and the curvaceous joys of Mount Glorious.

It’s an easy car to place, easy to see out of, easy to modulate in terms of throttle response, and effortlessly smooth in its (adjustable) regen braking performance, though it’s quite gentle in its one-pedal driving flavour.

It also seemed to be fairly effective at feeding energy back into the battery when it can, though the uncharacteristic degree of hilly terrain on our launch drive saw energy consumption of 19.8kWh/100km – translating to a real-world 359km – which would go close to being at the bottom end of what it gets in normal driving.

The official number is 16.8kWh/100km (for 488km of WLTP range).

How is the BZ4X Touring’s interior

Inside the cabin, aside from the Touring’s unique trim-colour option, it’s identical to the regular BZ4X. That includes comfy eight-way electric sports front seats with heating/cooling, a good driving position, a 14.0-inch multimedia touchscreen with separate digital dual-zone HVAC controls below it, dual wireless phone chargers, and a nine-speaker JBL stereo.

There’s a panoramic glass roof with electric blind, excellent rear-seat legroom with adjustable backrest rake, outboard heating for the reasonably comfy rear bench, and near fold-flat ability to extend the vast luggage area.

When it comes to ownership, there’s now standard three-phase 22kW AC charging in the 2026 BZ4X, meaning just 3.5 hours for a 10-100 percent charge in a suitably wired home garage, or 28mins from 10-80 percent at a maximum of 150kW DC at a public fast-charger.

Service intervals are every 12 months or 15,000km – capped at just $190 per service for the first five years or 75,000km – which is cheap if more frequent than some rival EVs, though the price is razor-sharp and there is the appeal of having 270 nationwide Toyota dealers, not just 12.

So, apart from its more handsome appearance, its brighter interior, sexier colours and stronger performance, there’s also the practicality of having ladder-style roof rails (which are available with manufacturer-approved attachments) that can take 80kg dynamic, or 317kg static – meaning a roof-top tent is a possibility, once someone (or Toyota) develops or offers one.

There’s also the promise of 211mm of ground clearance, plus Subaru’s X-Mode AWD with Snow/Dirt and Deep Snow/Mud settings to make modest off-road camping excursions, or trips to Australia’s snow fields, doable.

And there’s a three-prong power outlet in the boot with a 220V/1500W inverter, which could prove highly useful outdoors.

The honest verdict

Yet there’s also a potential elephant in the room, which is the Subaru Trailseeker. It’s the joint-venture version of the BZ4X Touring for the Subaru faithful, just like the Solterra is to the regular BZ4X, and what the new Uncharted will be to the Toyota C-HR BEV when it launches … 12 months after its Subaru sister!

It could be argued that the Trailseeker looks more distinctive and is slightly better value, plus it also offers a lower-spec variant (for $63,990) with 18-inch wheels and 533km of WLTP range, as well as leather trim in the top-spec, erm, Touring.

But that’s for buyers to decide. As it stands, the new wagon-shaped BZ4X Touring is comfortably Toyota’s best electric variant offered so far.

It’s a commendably likeable all-rounder – something that would serve a family well as a great run-around, a decent mile-eater and a faithful camping buddy.