TOYOTA BZ4X TOURING

Electric family SUV extended and cladded to create cross-country estate

- ALEX WOLSTENHOLME

New cars are getting ever harder to categorise, as exemplified by Toyota's bZ4X Touring. I'd pretty confidently call the existing bZ4X an SUV, looking at its proportions and decent ground clearance, but its heavily raked rear window gives it somewhat of a coupé-crossover vibe. Its Touring sibling, however, successfully gives the impression of a jacked-up estate car. It has the same wheelbase but is 140mm longer in total, giving it a proper wagon-esque overhang and a bluff rear end. Chunky roof rails and faux skidplates complete the outfit. It seems to me that Toyota has successfully injected some personality into the five-year-old family EV. I say Toyota, but much of this makeover was down to Subaru.

But while the Subaru E-Outback with which this car is twinned is sold exclusively with dual-motor four-wheel drive, Toyota also offers a cheaper and rangier single-motor version, which I’m testing here.