Toyota bZ4X 2023 AWD: Why I Sold it and Moved on

Feeling bad for BZ owners - especially winter driving. Having been at the front of the line for the 1st Nissan Leaf (VIN... 000659) only to end up horribly disappointed - it really sours owner experience. Guessing it's a good thing it's such a whole low volume production - what w/ Toyota stills scrambling to source batteries. That low inventory perhaps will translate out to a lower quantity of disappointed owners.
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I’m surprised Toyota limits charging speed based on ambient temperature rather than the battery pack temp.

I am glad he went with another EV

 

When he mentions his stonewall resposnses from Toyota Canada, reminded me of my experience emailing them, with a question regarding spare tire on the 4th gen Prius levels, and this apparent gaff on their website. Their response was that the website info was correct as-is...

 

i feel this way about electric cars in general. there are so many new ones out, but the literature doesn't always tell you everything you need to know, and i would rather not be their beta tester at these prices.
let others lead the way, and i will read the reviews

 

Would be interesting to hear John's take.
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Why? Same old rock and roll

 

It's the same old nonsense. I find most reports incomplete & anecdotal. My own long term and detail data collection has begun. I'm working on video setup now for sharing what I discover. So far, the common observed theme is an absence of recognition for how Toyota approaches problem-solving. It is very familiar to Prius ages ago. Enthusiasts are baffled, many failing to see the bigger picture. The classic issue of want verses need is playing out as well. 4X will get updates as the effort to find balance progresses. The crowd currently complaining would have moved on, just writing Toyota off as a competitor. Meanwhile, I'll be enjoying what they found unimportant, stuck on the obsession with range & speed. We all know Toyota takes it slow and is quite capable of adaptation. That scares the others... those needing an antithesis to distract from their own challenges.

 

Since scared was never mentioned, not sure why it was injected. As for the other emotions, that applies to the industry as a whole. While Toyota is supposedly "kicking & screaming", we see others presenting a token effort to conceal their true dragging. It's the classic "bait & switch" enthusiasts still haven't caught on to.

With regard to challenges, that's rather blatant. Infrastructure isn't even enough to get a poor rating and political support remains a joke. Just like we saw with hybrids, transition will be painfully slow. Using Toyota as a scapegoat won't change any of that.

Read comments posted on EV articles written for ordinary consumers. That should be a wake-up call about priorities.

 

You used the present tense yourself, that is why it was mentioned.

As for ‘token effort’ I’d say others are working on their supply chains. Ford is accelerating quite quickly, Tesla is accelerating faster than anyone.
Toyota is building a substandard BEV. For what reason, we don’t know, but they aren’t competing on range, charge speed, price, or reliability (at this point).
I don’t see how anyone can see Toyota as doing anything but scrambling to catch up.

 

Off-topic, but as long as EV dashboards look like this:



I can't even begin to be interested.

 

You take a single example and apply it to all EVs?

 

What I'd like to see, is pretty much obsolete I guess, on cars of any ilk: H/V controls that can be adjusted easily, with eyes on the road. What I've started referring to as "negative progress".

Hey, I'm off-topic.

 

I was part of the 1st Gen Nissan Leaf "expirement". When range on a battery with 12% of brand new suddenly crawls down to half of what you'd expect just because of cold air temperature is not a great experience. (Car, with heat pump, dies 30 miles out of town after leaving with 100% and me only turning on the heater off and on as necessary to keep the windshield defrosted.)

I'm also with @Mendel Leisk with designs getting out of hand. Now my Avalon is phantom changing heating and A/C settings as I drive around. And those are "touch buttons" not even a touch screen. They still require me to look down even when they work correctly. Meanwhile, another neighbor got ran over just last week. That's like the 12th person I've known to get ran over. If you want to save the world from air polution at least make it safe for people to use their own two legs to get around instead of making these stupid ginormous SUV's with touchscreen everything!

I'm glad Toyota is doing something to get into the EV market. But their current offering here in the USA is as far away from the kind of thing I'd be willing to buy and own it's never going to happen unless someone gave me the bee-zee... bee-zed... bee-whatever the name is, for free.

 

That's easy. Some see the race as a sprint. Others see it as a marathon. Know your audience.