bZ4X handling and ride

[philip42h]

I took the RAV4 in today for its fourth annual service and MoT. In lieu of the normal courtesy car the dealership let me have their bZ4X demonstrator for the day - they are quite keen to sell me one and I'm not entirely resistant to buying one.

I enjoyed my test drive. The bZ4X is not that different from the RAV4 in size or driving characteristics - both are Toyotas after all. I'm not a fan of the cave like black headlining; the piano black creates unnecessary reflections; and the drive selector knob is just a bit silly - but these are all things that I could get used to. And the bZ4X actually does fit into my garage (and comes with PVM to make the process reassuringly straightforward. All good ...

I returned the car, collected my RAV4 and drove back home - the handling and ride of my RAV4 is more assured and comfortable than the bZ4X that I had just returned. The demonstrator is a Vision grade (memory seats are a fundamental requirement) running on 20" wheels shod with Bridgestone Alenzas - my RAV sits on 18" wheels shod with Michelin Cross Climates.

So, to my question - what can be done to improve the handling and ride of the bZ4X? Would fitting good all season tyres in place of the OEM tyres improve the situation? What is the experience of bZ4X owners?

[G S]

I test drove a Vision on 20inch. I purchased a Motion on 18inch. The latter being so much more comfortable in my opinion

[philip42h]

3 hours ago, G S said:

I test drove a Vision on 20inch. I purchased a Motion on 18inch. The latter being so much more comfortable in my opinion

If I could get memory seats on a Motion I'd consider doing the same ... 😉

Hence my question ...

[SinglePointSafety]

Or.. or... you could buy the grade of car you want, buy some Toyota (very expensive) or 3rd-party (much less expensive) 18-inch wheels with, say, Michelin CC+, garage the original wheels+tyres, swap back when sell, then sell the 3rd-party wheels+tyres on this forum or eBay or 'somewhere'

Did this strategy with a previous car (Skoda) which came with hideously low-profile tyres in an unusual (=expensive) size, useless for the horrific cratered roads where I live, much better and quieter ride with smaller wheels and bigger tyres. Doing the same with my Yaris Cross, very successful outcome so far

I really, really don't understand the fetish for big wheels and low-profile tyres - my observation when driving in the EU is that it's mainly a UK disease, the EU cars seem to opt for sensible tyres, ironic given how bad our roads are compared to those I've encountered in the EU....

[philip42h]

That would be an option - though not ideal ... 👍

The ride on the 20" wheels isn't 'bad' - the reviewers describe it as a strong point of the car - I just wondered whether anyone had swapped to a different brand / style of tyre and what was the impact ...

[Cyker]

2 hours ago, SinglePointSafety said:

Or.. or... you could buy the grade of car you want, buy some Toyota (very expensive) or 3rd-party (much less expensive) 18-inch wheels with, say, Michelin CC+, garage the original wheels+tyres, swap back when sell, then sell the 3rd-party wheels+tyres on this forum or eBay or 'somewhere'

Did this strategy with a previous car (Skoda) which came with hideously low-profile tyres in an unusual (=expensive) size, useless for the horrific cratered roads where I live, much better and quieter ride with smaller wheels and bigger tyres. Doing the same with my Yaris Cross, very successful outcome so far

I really, really don't understand the fetish for big wheels and low-profile tyres - my observation when driving in the EU is that it's mainly a UK disease, the EU cars seem to opt for sensible tyres, ironic given how bad our roads are compared to those I've encountered in the EU....

The only fly in the ointment is you need to declare the wheel change to insurers, and if they're alloys it will almost certainly attract an extra charge (Some exceptions - Adrian Flux famously don't charge extra for things like 3rd party alloys).

That's partly why I went with steel rims, but downsizing the rims continues to pay dividends for me - I reckon I've saved nearly £500 in new tyres alone so far, and that's not counting the number of tyres I would have probably written off on potholes so far!  

[TonyHSD]

“ I really, really don't understand the fetish for big wheels and low-profile tyres - my observation when driving in the EU is that it's mainly a UK disease, the EU cars seem to opt for sensible tyres, ironic given how bad our roads are compared to those I've encountered in the EU...” 

This shows only one thing - the overall car audience understanding, likes, and preferences in uk , the dealers and manufacturers strategies to fulfil customers requirements. Full scale ultra stupidity. The cars looks ugly as hell in low profile tyres. The wheels will get damaged in a matter of time. The price of tyres can go as double as if on standard wheels, and there is no even one single positive benefit from ultra low profile tyres, not even a better handling or performance. A total nonsense 😅👌🛞

[Corolly Poly]

"The cars looks ugly as hell in low profile tyres"

disagree with that bit

[SinglePointSafety]

18 hours ago, Cyker said:

The only fly in the ointment is you need to declare the wheel change to insurers, and if they're alloys it will almost certainly attract an extra charge

Did indeed declare the change, the insurers are only interested if you go UP in wheel size (makes the car, er, 'more desirable', apparently) no charge at all

[Corolly Poly]

"UP in wheel size (makes the car, er, 'more desirable"

This is a well known fact🤣

[Cyker]

... except for all the people in here who want the top spec but get put off by the excessively big rims!!  (I thought I was the only person who thought like this so props to all you of similar mind!   )

3 hours ago, SinglePointSafety said:

Did indeed declare the change, the insurers are only interested if you go UP in wheel size (makes the car, er, 'more desirable', apparently) no charge at all

Ahh a sensible one! Yeah a few will only charge if the modification 'increases the value or desirability' of the vehicle so downsizing is 'free', but others are not so sensible (eSure, Churchill and AF noted it as a no-charge modification but MoreThan wouldn't insure me unless I put the 17"s back on and got super defensive when I enquired why!).

I've started treating that as a canary, as insurers who are unreasonable about that will probably be unreasonable in the event of a claim...!

[SinglePointSafety]

2 hours ago, Cyker said:

except for all the people in here who want the top spec but get put off by the excessively big rims!!

Indeed - so kudos to Hyundai for their Kona Electric, where the top-spec car has 19-inch rims but 17-inch can be specified as a no-cost option. An outbreak of common sense (perhaps people working for the UK arm of Hyundai have ventured out onto our UK roads and thought "WTF, you need tractor tyres for this, let's offer these poor people some defence, best we can do"

[SinglePointSafety]

And regarding insurers... I was at pains to point out that the smaller wheel size I'd fitted was in fact an option or default for the lower trim level(s), so not fitting anything that could be deemed to be 'unusual'. Person I spoke to (at LV=) actually knew something about cars, understood why I'd done it, and confirmed that they'd definitely consider an increase in the premium if I were to fit bigger wheels with rubber-band tyres, but smaller wheels, naaah, no problem, totally understandable as pothole defence.

Perhaps their underwriters also have data that suggests that people who fit big wheels are generally more of a risk... (just saying)😁

[TonyHSD]

I have same wheel change from 17 to 16 all with genuine Toyota wheels however some insurances previously were interested if the wheels were bought and fitted by Toyota official dealer. I answered the truth bought from Toyota uk and fitted in independent tyre retailer and they say it’s classed as modification.
Insurance should never be a factor if you went to change your wheels, just change the insurance after. This is what I did. 

[SinglePointSafety]

My insurer was totally relaxed about good quality (company probably supplies some manufacturers anyway) 3rd-party wheels on my YC, fitted by a branch of a well-known tyre retailer/fitter, and that the tyre size fitted is on the wheel company's approved list. I asked if the phone conversation was recorded, they assured me it was, so they can't say I didn't supply all of the information....

This wheel change (with photos) is described in the YC forum. Some people think the new wheels look great, no doubt some think they're ugly. I really don't care - I get much better cushioning against the road imperfections (which make up about 90% of the surface area in my locality!) and a generally better and quieter ride, also helped by fitting Goodyear all-season tyres

Coming back to the bz4x...in the distant past, Toyota used to offer a choice of wheel size for the top-spec Yaris, in those days to get CO2 output just below the magical figure for the TfL congestion charge. So I'd love to see some flexibility on wheel size and Toyota offer the option of 18-inch on top-spec bz4x: it would cost nothing apart from another WLTP test (i assume) so why not?