New Toyota bZ4X Touring 2026 review: electric estate is fun and practical
The new Toyota bZ4X stands out thanks to its estate-like styling and impressive practicality
Verdict
While the smaller Toyota C-HR+ and standard bZ4X struggle to stand out in a crowded field, the Toyota bZ4X Touring adds an estate car-like blend of practicality and fun-to-drive road manners offered by relatively few other electric cars. Plus, in AWD guise, even its most obvious rivals from Skoda and Volkswagen can’t match its impressive power and acceleration.
As its name implies, the new Toyota bZ4X Touring adds an estate-style boot to the more hatchback-like bZ4X. There are a few other differences, including a more powerful rear motor, but for the most part, the Touring’s greater ability to carry stuff is the headline addition.
It addresses one of the bZ4X’s main drawbacks and, in the process, makes it more competitive against the popular Skoda Enyaq. To see if that translates in the real world, we got our hands on a car in the US, to deliver an exclusive verdict on the new off-road estate car.
Adding 140mm of length and 20mm of height behind the back seats sees boot space swell to a very generous 600 litres – plus a bit more under the floor – eclipsing the Enyaq (585 litres) nearly beating the roomy Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer (605 litres). Plus, thanks to the Touring being co-developed by Subaru (its version will be known as the Trailseeker), there are sturdy roof rails that make fitting cargo boxes, bike racks, or other outdoorsy accessories that much easier. Should you need it, the bZ4X will tow up to 1,500kg.
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Lengthening and raising the bZ4X’s roof also adds 33mm of rear headroom, which addresses another drawback of the standard car – especially compared to the Enyaq. There’s a caveat to that, however; opting for the panoramic sunroof all but erases that gain. The seat bottom is as close to the floor as it is in the standard bZ4X, too, limiting under-leg support and comfort. Sitting with your knees pointing up in the air is never a great way to travel, though the literal space between rows remains excellent, which is good news when fitting large child seats.
It’s not all practical gains, though. The all-wheel-drive bZ4X Touring gets a bigger electric motor, which sees power jump from 338bhp to 375bhp. The 0-60mph time (UK-relevant 0-62mph times are still TBC) also drops by half a second to a blistering 4.4 seconds. That’s a second or more quicker than the Enyaq vRS and ID.7 GTX, and it feels just as rapid as that time suggests. Overtaking power is immense, and there’s not a whiff of torque steer thanks to both the front and rear motors being of equal output.
That said, the car isn’t locked into a fixed 50:50 power split. While cornering, the rear motor puts out more power than the front to minimize understeer and provide a push when powering out of corners. It’s subtle but effective, and along with a relatively light kerbweight and a suspension that nicely controls body motions, the Touring is surprisingly balanced and rewarding when driven quickly on country roads. The steering’s hardly rife with feedback, but it’s precise, appropriately weighted and no worse for not offering a sport mode.
The all-wheel-drive Touring also gets an X-Mode off-road setting (another inherited trait from its Subaru co-parentage), but the UK market won’t be getting the no-cost all-terrain tyre option that’s offered in the US. No loss there, unless you intend to head well off the beaten track.
The standard, front-wheel-drive bZ4X Touring obviously forgoes the rear motor, which slashes output to 221bhp. Toyota hasn’t published a 0-60mph time, but considering the standard bZ4X completes the sprint in 7.4 seconds, it’s safe to say the heavier Touring will be slower still while also missing out on the handling-enhancing benefits of the AWD car.
Regardless of motor count, both versions of the bZ4X Touring come with the same 74.7kWh battery. Toyota has said that the Touring will return “up to 357 miles” using the WLTP test procedure, which presumably refers to the front-drive model. That’s actually five miles more than the standard bZ4X, suggesting the AWD Touring’s range could stand at around 300 miles – though this is yet to be confirmed. Either way, that’s well short of the Enyaq and ID.7 Tourer, even if it can still be considered an acceptable amount in this class.
The interior features the same design as the standard bZ4X , but a new City Moss (brown) option adds a pop of much-needed colour to what we lamented is an awfully dour environment in the conventional car. In terms of functionality, the Touring gets two wireless phone chargers up front, big cupholders and a useful amount of centre-console storage, though there is still no glovebox.
A standard 14-inch touchscreen features Toyota’s familiar, user-friendly interface. It’s not as big as its measurement makes it sound, though, as nearly a third of the screen is exclusively devoted to the climate controls. The Touring also inherits the odd instrument panel that’s meant to fall just above the steering wheel rim in your line up sight. Emphasis on “meant” here; in reality, the rim will block at least part of the screen or force you to drop the wheel lower than you’d prefer.
UK pricing has yet to be announced, but depending on where it falls, Toyota’s EV lineup could finally have a stand-out offering on its hands thanks to the bZ4X Touring’s class-leading performance and practicality. We’re looking forward to trying one in more familiar surroundings, once specifications have been confirmed.
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| Model: | Toyota bZ4X Touring AWD |
| Price: | £51,000 (est) |
| Powertrain: | 74.7kWh battery, 2x e-motors |
| Power/torque: | 375bhp/438Nm |
| Transmission: | Single-speed automatic, four-wheel drive |
| 0-60mph: | 4.4 seconds (est) |
| Top speed: | TBC |
| Range: | 300 miles (est) |
| Max charging: | 150kW (10-80% in 30 minutes) |
| Size (L/W/H): | 4,831/1,859/1,674mm |
| On Sale: | Spring 2026 |
