Tested: Is the 2026 Toyota bZ Good or Just Slightly Less Mediocre?

Has Toyota done enough to transform what was formerly known as the bZ4X into the 2026 bZ? We criticized the outgoing version of this electric SUV for its poor range, slow recharging, and bizarre interior layout (perhaps that’s what “bZ” stands for). For 2026, Toyota has attempted to address these concerns and has truncated the tongue-twister name for good measure.

Our First Drive of the 2026 bZ left us cautiously intrigued, enthralled by the extra range and power but puzzled by the interior changes. It was time to spend a couple of weeks with the Toyota bZ, strap on our testing gear, and figure out once and for all if the thing is worth buying.

The Critical Number We Don’t Know

Toyota frustrated our efforts by waiting to announce firm pricing. As we write this, the company has only told us the bZ will start around $40,000 including the destination charge, which would indicate a price increase of around $1,500 compared to the 2025 bZ4X.

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But that’s the basic XLE front-drive model, which in its reconstituted bZ form has less range and power for 2026. (Yes, that’s right, someone at Toyota figured out a way to make the basic bZ4X even less compelling. And people say innovation is dead!) The version we’re testing here is the Limited AWD model, which takes the bZ in the right direction with more power and range. But at what cost? We don’t know.

Enough equivocating; let’s look at some numbers. The dual-motor bZ gets a power boost over the old bZ4X , jumping 124 hp to 338. (Toyota has not published a combined torque rating, but summing torque values usually comes pretty close. In this case, that gives us about 323 lb-ft.)

We expected improved acceleration, and we got it. The bZ zinged to 60 in 4.4 silent seconds, much more in keeping with what we expect from a dual-motor EV than the old bZ4X’s 5.8-second run, and it delivered an action-packed launch as an unexpected bonus. With the VSC Off button pressed (stability control never entirely disengages), the bZ bolted from the gate like an ill-tempered stallion, and we could actually feel it scrabbling for traction. The eager bZ ran into its own speed limiter in the quarter mile, which it covered in 13.1 seconds at 101.7 mph, a nice improvement over the old bZ4X’s 14.5 at 95.9.

What effect does this newfound power have on range and charging? All bZs save for that pathetic base model now have a slightly bigger battery—74.7 kWh versus the prior 72.8 kWh—and that, combined with other improvements, brings a notable bump in range. Per the EPA, the all-wheel-drive bZ goes between 278 and 288 miles depending on trim level (278 for the Limited we drove), up from 222– 228 in the bZ4X. The front-drive Limited model, with the bigger battery, cracks the 300-mile barrier by 14 miles. Oh, and the base model’s battery shrinks from 71.4 kWh to 57.7, for an EPA-rated range of 236 miles.

We didn’t subject the old AWD bZ4X to our Road-Trip Range test, in which we run a steady 70 mph until the battery gets down to 5 percent, but its mechanical twin, a Subaru Solterra Touring AWD, managed 196 miles, while the new bZ returned 222 miles. Like the EPA rating, it’s an OK number but not a standout.

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bZ Can Dish It Out but Can’t Take It

Unfortunately, when it comes to getting power back into the battery, the Toyota bZ isn’t in as much of a hurry. All-wheel-drive models now fast charge at 150 kW, just like the front-drivers—with the old bZ4X, AWD versions charged at 100 kW—but many if not most of the bZ’s competitors juice up at faster rates of 240 kW or better.

The bZ has adapted the Tesla-style NACS charging port, which will make finding a charger much easier; still, bZ owners should expect to watch a lot of Teslas (and Hyundais and Kias) come and go while they wait. With the battery down to 5 percent, we added 115 miles of range in 15 minutes and 187 miles in 30 minutes; again, this is not a stellar performance. Toyota offers adapters for CCS-style chargers, so if you buy a bZ, we kindly request you stake out a 150-kW CCS charger and leave the 350s for the quicker-charging cars. That’ll be most of them.

With no major changes to the suspension, we weren’t expecting any major braking or handling improvements. The bZ stopped from 60 in 126 feet, a foot longer than the old bZ4X. It circled the skidpad at 0.78 g and ran through our figure-eight handling course in 26.7 seconds, both just a smidge better than the last bZ4X we tested.

The small steering wheel and quick ratio made for easy testing on the handling course, but the bZ’s steering feels a little hyperactive in real-world driving and offers little useful feedback. Combined with the overeager power delivery, the bZ felt clumsy and uncoordinated on a challenging curvy road. We did like the ride quality, but excessive road and tire noise spoiled the bZ’s efforts to sell itself on refinement.

And although regenerative braking is good, with multiple regen levels set by steering wheel paddles, there’s no true one-pedal driving mode that will let the driver stop the car by lifting off the accelerator.

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Awkward Interior Get an Awkward Fix

The bZ’s dashboard is probably its strangest element. The bZ4X originally had an instrument panel set right under the windshield, the idea being that the driver viewed the panel from over the steering wheel rather than through it. Drivers complained they had to set the column too low to see the screen. The 2026 bZ gets a new dash design, primarily to accommodate a new center screen—more on that in a second—but the wheel still sits too low, and the expanse between steering wheel and instrument panel is now a largely unadorned plastic wasteland.

For the climate and infotainment controls, Toyota adapted the more compact screen layout found in its Lexus models, which vastly reduces the button count. The problem is that on the bZ’s dashboard, the new screen looks exactly like what it is: a part pulled from an entirely different automobile.

In the recovered space on the center stack, Toyota added side-by-side wireless chargers. That’s great if the bZ owner and their co-pilot need their phones immediately at hand for some reason, but it blocks access to potentially useful storage space. Toyota should check out a Kia EV6 to see how useful a center console can be.

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You Can Do Better Than This, Toyota (Comma Optional)

Overall, the 2026 Toyota bZ AWD Limited struck us as a lukewarm effort to improve a lukewarm product, and it’s certainly not representative of the engineering genius that drove the Prius hybrid to win the 2024 MotorTrend Car of the Year award. The bZ is a bland, funny-looking electric SUV that is decidedly anodyne by nearly every measurement.

The exception is the 236-mile base model, which pegs the needle but on the wrong side of the gauge. If we can extrapolate from Toyota’s estimate, the bZ Limited AWD will start around $47,000. With options—and bear in mind that even on the top-of-the-line model, Toyota charges extra for any paint color that's not black—a bZ AWD Limited like the one we tested will sticker for around 50 grand. Maybe more if tariffs come a-callin’, as the bZ is made in Japan. For that kind of money, there are many better electric SUVs.

Sadly for the consumer, the answer to our initial question—has Toyota done enough to make the bZ competitive?—is a firm no. While its acceleration is now in the same neighborhood as that of its rivals and its range nearly so, the bZ fails to stand out in any notable way, with the exception of its ride quality and nifty parking camera that renders the car as transparent.

Like the old bZ4X and nearly identical Subaru Solterra, the bZ might be a reasonable buy if you can get a good deal. But rather than a refresh, the bZ really needs a do-over.

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