4 Things the 2023 Toyota bZ4X Gets Wrong
The all-electric 2023 Toyota bZ4X is the Japanese auto giant’s first modern entry into the EV market. Overall, it’s far from perfect. Toyota designed the bZ4X for the average driver, so it doesn’t provide much power. And because this small crossover can go only 252 miles on a full charge, it also doesn’t provide much range. Those are two major gripes about the bZ4X, but here are four other things it gets wrong.
1. Toyota didn’t give the 2023 bZ4X a glovebox
Despite Toyota’s desire to build a practical electric SUV, the 2023 bZ4X doesn’t have a glovebox. The automaker’s reasoning? Designers omitted the glove compartment to provide more legroom for the front passenger, Carwow reports. Toyota tried to compensate for that lack of storage by adding a cubby space beneath the center console.
The problem is that the cubby has open sides. That means potential thieves can look through the car’s front windows and see items sitting in that cubby space, whereas folks generally stash their belongings in the glove compartment, away from prying eyes. Though today’s tech-savvy thieves can still detect electronics hidden in cars, omitting the glovebox still seems like an odd choice.
2. The 2023 Toyota bZ4X charges slower than rivals
Another issue with the 2023 Toyota bZ4X is charging time. Most owners can charge their EVs at home with AC charging, but the bZ4X comes with only a 6.6-kW onboard charger, Carwow reports. Toyota will eventually upgrade that to an 11-kW onboard charger, but currently, the 6.6-kW onboard charger lags behind many competitors.
For example, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 already has an 11-kW onboard charger, and most EVs have a 7-kW charger. The bZ4X also can’t get the full benefit of fast charging because it can charge only at 150 kW at best. Many other EVs, such as the Ioniq 5, can already charge at 350 kW.
3. The phone tray is too small
A smaller but still-annoying issue with the bZ4X concerns the phone tray’s design in the center console. The bZ4X has Android Auto integration, but it isn’t wireless, so to use this feature, drivers must connect their phone to the car using a USB cable.
Carwow points out the phone tray is too small for some devices. That means some people can’t close the tray with their phone is plugged due to the cord.
4. The 2023 Toyota bZ4X fails to include a rear windshield wiper
Last, for some reason, Toyota didn’t give the bZ4X a rear windshield wiper despite designing the SUV to be practical. When driving, the airflow might clean some of the back glass, but it doesn’t replace the work a back windshield wiper would do. For example, if the car has been parked for a while, there’s no quick way to clean the window gunk other than by hand.
That said, the 2023 Toyota bZ4X isn’t the only electric SUV without a rear windshield wiper. For example, the Kia EV6 and Tesla Model Y don’t have one. However, the Ford Mustang Mach-E and Chevy Bolt EUV have one.
