Honest opinions please

[steve01723]

Hi first of all i'm all new to EV cars i'm a EV virgin 😀i've had the bz4x twice now on a 24hr test drive and loved it i very rarely do any long journeys but would like some owners opinions/advice tips /tricks before i'm seriously thinking of putting in an order for the motion spec on the 31st oct .the dealership told me the range could be as much as 350 miles but i think in more reality i would get 250miles if i didnt use the heaters/aircon.

all opinions/advice greatly appreciated

[flash22]

Check your insurance costs first !! You may have to sit down

[steve01723]

It’s on motability so insurance is included as part of the package thank god😀I’ve seen the insurance group is 36 😮

[Guest]

If you're only going to keep it a few years, not go far and part with it for a new trade in down the line (via Motability) then I'd say go for it, would be an interesting change. And you won't be left with the financial burden of a potential dead vehicle around 6-7 years like a private buyer might. 

Also look at the price of home chargers - does the scheme cover that?  

Might need to look at your home electric tariff. Some will charge you a lot less to plug it in and charge overnight I think

[flash22]

i would check the charging in your area, even with a home charging you may still need it, it's a big old barge of a car, it will not fit in some garages

advanced payment is £2-3k not sure on order times but i would think 6-12 months, assuming you have off-street parking there is a lead time to get a charger installed too

[steve01723]

Thanks for the advice guys I would get a free home charger installed currently I’m with British Gas on standard tariff pay as you go 26.1 p kWh so if I’ve worked it out right would cost me approx £16.50 to fully charge it and British Gas do free half days on Sundays but I would look at finding a cheaper tariff .i live in a new build and my electricity supply is on front of house and I’ve got a driveway so it shouldn’t be an issue to get a home charger installed 

[bZ4xSupra]

Great car

BUT (note - AWD 20")

You will use the heaters and aircon. I tried not to last year and it's miserable. I can't be bothered trying to be economical anymore.

If you regularly drive motorway or A roads, the range will be low. The range calculator on the Toyota website I think is fair for my car as it shows sub 200 mile range with motorways and temps. 

Love the car but there are times I want to drive down the country and I regret not having a petrol car. A personal circumstance though. 

I think it looks great and is so easy to park. Still pretty rare on the roads.  

 

 

[steve01723]

Thanks Matthew I live on the coast in Scarborough I very rarely do any long journeys and  I would be going for the FWD motion spec which as got a slightly better range I think than a vision spec i think the longest journey I would be doing is a 210 mile round trip  no more than twice a year to visit family and friends 

[Gray86]

55 minutes ago, steve01723 said:

Thanks for the advice guys I would get a free home charger installed currently I’m with British Gas on standard tariff pay as you go 26.1 p kWh so if I’ve worked it out right would cost me approx £16.50 to fully charge it and British Gas do free half days on Sundays but I would look at finding a cheaper tariff .i live in a new build and my electricity supply is on front of house and I’ve got a driveway so it shouldn’t be an issue to get a home charger installed 

It my be worth looking at switching energy providers - octopus intelligent tariff ‘smart charges ‘ your car on a schedule that gives cheap energy. This is often during the day, you just say how much range you want adding & by when, and leave the system to work out when to charge. You will pay 7.5p /kWh (and you also get 6hrs cheap energy for whole house at night, as well as when the car is smart charging). 
 

you will need an Ohme home pro wall box (£1,000 inc standard install). 
 

we have just ordered the charger for fitting a week on Friday, as we now have Seat Mii Electric as a replacement for the wife’s Yaris. On these electricity rates, it costs us around £1.10 to charge it, that’s for around 100 miles. 1p / mile running costs aren’t to be sniffed at.

 

[Empty Sea]

Great car - with most of the technical issues now sorted. Great to drive; range is a major drawback but hopefully things will improve as charging points become more accessible. And good news: British Gas have an Electric Driver tariff, so even if you have a 'dumb' charging point, you can use the MyT app to tell the car when to charge.

[ChrisON]

I think it comes down to whether or not it suits your needs for a car. If you do a lot of regular long trips then a full EV may not be the best choice; but you could apply that to all electric SUVs and not just the bz4x. I'm retired, I'd say 90% of my journeys are less than a 50 mile round trip; many much shorter than that. I have off road parking, charging point (Zappi 2) and solar. That is probably as good as it gets for an EV owner; not everyone has that which may contribute to owning a full EV being a less attractive proposition. I've used public charging 4 times since getting the car in May with no issues and it does force a 'rest stop' which l think is no bad thing.

In terms of the bz4x l have no complaints: the 'Infotainment' system can be odd, it drives well, is comfortable to be in as the driver and there is loads of room in the back. I can't make any valid comparisons to other EV's because the bz4x is the only one l have ever driven. Yes, turning the heating on does have a major impact on the range but is manageable. I like it a lot. I also got mine for a VERY good price with only 154 miles on it which helped my decision to buy a bz4x.

Chris

 

 

[bZ4X]

On 10/23/2023 at 2:23 PM, steve01723 said:

Hi first of all i'm all new to EV cars i'm a EV virgin 😀i've had the bz4x twice now on a 24hr test drive and loved it i very rarely do any long journeys but would like some owners opinions/advice tips /tricks before i'm seriously thinking of putting in an order for the motion spec on the 31st oct .the dealership told me the range could be as much as 350 miles but i think in more reality i would get 250miles if i didnt use the heaters/aircon.

all opinions/advice greatly appreciated

I tested all EVs almost. I went with Toyota because of the worry free warranty. Drivewise is very comfortable. Only problem sofware is still has bugs at the car. Toyota is currently working on it I was informed by multimedia engineers at the Toyota. 

See my list:

1) Nissan Ariya (3 years warranty)

2) Toyota bZ4X (10 years warranty)

3) Ford Mustang Mach-e (3 years warranty) 

4) Kia EV6 (7 years warranty)

5) Hyundai Ioniq 5 (5 years warranty)

6) VW ID 5 (3 years warranty)

7) VW ID 4 (3 years warranty)

8 ) Kia Niro (7 years warranty)

9) Peugeot 2008-e (3 years warranty)

10) Skoda Enyaq (3 years warranty)

[steve01723]

On my first 24hr test drive I thought I would give the charging thing a go  so called in at my local Lidl (pod point) plugged it in and followed the instructions on the app put in my bank card number and accepted the £30 authorised bit and pressed start charging and got nothing apart from I heard 3 clicks so I thought that’s what it did I checked on my bank app and 2 lots of £30 had been taken out so that was £60 down in less than a minute and no charge so I went back to Toyota to ask salesman if it was me what was doing anything wrong and he couldn’t understand why it did it so he told me to try the the 1 at McDonalds (insta volt) I went and 7 different credit cards declined 1 after another this almost killed my excitement level and put me off EVs for life so I thought well I might aswell try the charger next to it and it worked perfectly and very easy to use so all in all it cost me just over £76 to get 82 miles more range and the charger that declined my cards is still doing the same to people it’s been like that now for over 2 weeks.it too a week for my £60 to appear back in my bank but after all that it hasn’t put me off and I’ve got an appointment with salesman next Tuesday to put my order in 😀

[G S]

I would say in summary

AS A CAR: Very good drive, handles well, infotainment is ok (nothing special and a few glitches), Warranty and dealer network good, seats comfortable, nice turn of speed

AS AN EV: Seriously lacking, range and charging speeds are poor.

Also, in Summer a much better vehicle than Winter. I have to wear so much clothing to even try and stay warm otherwise the range is so poor it is unusable

 

I am sticking with it as a company car, with 2% BIK and it is not me having to stump up for this years insurance increase. I very much doubt I will keep it after the 3 years are up

 

[wivenhoe]

11 hours ago, steve01723 said:

On my first 24hr test drive I thought I would give the charging thing a go  so called in at my local Lidl (pod point) plugged it in and followed the instructions on the app put in my bank card number and accepted the £30 authorised bit and pressed start charging and got nothing apart from I heard 3 clicks so I thought that’s what it did I checked on my bank app and 2 lots of £30 had been taken out so that was £60 down in less than a minute and no charge so I went back to Toyota to ask salesman if it was me what was doing anything wrong and he couldn’t understand why it did it so he told me to try the the 1 at McDonalds (insta volt) I went and 7 different credit cards declined 1 after another this almost killed my excitement level and put me off EVs for life so I thought well I might aswell try the charger next to it and it worked perfectly and very easy to use so all in all it cost me just over £76 to get 82 miles more range and the charger that declined my cards is still doing the same to people it’s been like that now for over 2 weeks.it too a week for my £60 to appear back in my bank but after all that it hasn’t put me off and I’ve got an appointment with salesman next Tuesday to put my order in 😀

When you get try the ZapMap App - it’s excellent. It tells you if chargers are available and users keep it dated with problems like you had. It is fully integrated into CarPlay so can be used whilst driving - you can see local chargers, see if they are available and then get it to navigate to the available charger. It’s free although if you pay a small subscription you get more functionality.