Why I’m Trying To Convince My Wife To Buy The Toyota bZ4X, One Of The ‘Worst’ Modern EVs

Menu Home » Why I’m Trying To Convince My Wife To Buy The Toyota bZ4X, One Of The ‘Worst’ Modern EVs Why I’m Trying To Convince My Wife To Buy The Toyota bZ4X, One Of The ‘Worst’ Modern EVs By David Tracy October 19, 2026 6:13 pm 21 Comments My wife, a longtime Lexus fan, wants a bigger, newer car that’s electric, but there’s a problem: There are no 3-row EVs available from Toyota. So “larger” is going to have to wait; that means, if we want to go electric, we’ve got two “bad” choices: the Lexus RZ or the Toyota bZ4X. I’ve already written all about how we are considering going with the former, but now I’m pushing for the latter. Here’s why.

The three-row EV SUV space is bleak. You can buy a tiny Model Y, you can snag a Kia/Hyundai, or you can spend lots of money on a Rivian, Cadillac, Mercedes or Lucid. Choices from Ford, Toyota, Stellantis, VW, and on and on are non-existent. This is a shame because there are lots of families who want extra space and who want to go electric; we’re one of them.

I’m never going to get my wife (Elise, not her real name) out of a Toyota product given how happy she’s been with her family’s Lexuses, and frankly, I’d be a hypocrite to even suggest a different brand given that I own one of every Jeep built in 1992. So Elise and I have been looking at RZs.

If you look at reviews of the Lexus RZ, you’ll see that they’re not particularly positive. I reviewed the car myself and my headline was: Why A New Lexus RZ Is A Terrible Deal But A Used One (Or Lease) Is A Great Deal. The car used to cost almost $60 grand new and struggled to travel 200 miles on a charge; that alone led reviewers to basically call it a steaming heap in much the same way that they called my BMW i3 a steaming heap when it was new.

But a car’s reputation can be repaired once it has hit the used market, as we’ve seen with the i3. And that brings me to the bZ4x, because I’m really tempted by it:

When the “bizzforx” first hit the market, reviewers weren’t thrilled. My favorite tech journalist in the game, Frank Markus, wrote the headline “2023 Toyota bZ4X FWD Limited First Test: The Last Compliance Car?…Toyota grudgingly relents to producing a mainstream electric vehicle. We grudgingly review it.” Here’s what he concludes in the Motor Trend article:

If you’re a lifelong Toyota devotee ready to make your household’s second car an EV, and your body type affords you a view of the instruments, then sure, go for it. Everyone else will probably be better served by any of the more thoroughly optimized EVs offered by Tesla, Hyundai, Kia, and others. Under new corporate leadership, we expect the 10 new fully electric vehicles Toyota has promised to launch by 2026 on an all-new architecture to rectify these various shortcomings. And at a bare minimum, we all expect to be able to reach the wheel and see the instruments.

The biggest issue is the lack of range and the slow charging speed. But, given that Elise and I can charge at home, and given how little Elise drives daily, 200 miles is plenty. More importantly, her 2017 Lexus RX is worth over $20,000 (the local Lexus dealer seems eager to buy it), and she can snag a six-year-newer electric bZ4X for only $15,300!:

This blew me away. These things are trading for under $20 grand all day, with higher-milage ones down in the mid-teens! Sure, the silver car above has 100,000 miles on the clock, but that’s nothing for an EV. And more importantly, with the California EV rebate and our power company rebate, this $15,300 would actually cost us $12,550 plus tax. That’s dirt.

And then let’s talk about the running cost delta. My wife’s 2017 Lexus RX, shown below, gets about 17 mpg in town. I’d guess that the bZ4x will do about 3.5 miles per kWh given all the city driving Elise does. A kWh costs us probably 25 cents if we charge at night.

Let’s assume 8,000 miles driven annually and current $5/gallon gas prices. The RX, at 17 mpg, will cost us about $2,350 in fuel annually. The bZ4x? Just $571. That’s a delta of $1,779 per year!

That means that, in just 7 years, the bZ4x will literally pay for itself when compared with the Lexus. Obviously, there’s insurance costs, but given we’d only drop $12,550 on the vehicle, we’d probably not bother with the full coverage that’s on the Lexus and drop it down to the bare-bone minimum. We’d also save in maintenance costs (oil changes, brake pad changes, etc.), and it turns out bZ4X tires last a good while, too, which is never a guarantee with a heavy, regenerative braking-equipped EV.

On paper, this seem like a no-brainer. We sell the RX for $20 big ones, buy the much-maligned-when-new bZ for $12,550, profit the $7000 after taxes, then spend the next 7 years in a modern car with Carplay and various new safety features, saving the price of the bZ in running costs all the while. By then, Toyota’s/Lexus’s 3-row SUVs will have hit the market and depreciated; we can ditch the bZ and buy one of those.

It’s genius! Of course, Elise won’t go for it because she’s a Lexus fangirl, and frankly, spending another $10 grand on an RZ that’s basically the same car is hard for me to justify given that it means there’s more to lose on depreciation in the next 7 years (the biggest risk with buying an EV), but man is it tempting. One of the “worst” modern EVs is a heck of a used-car deal — a three year-old Toyota SUV for $12,500.

That’s pretty much the story of used EVs. They’re simply amazing deals when you compare their performance to similarly priced gas cars, but because they’re not right car for everyone, those who can charge at home or work stand to gain.

The tires will last as long as you take care of them. No fast corners, no launches from zero, keep them aligned.

My wife also preferred the Lexus. I showed her the difference in the prices (when new, it’s even worse), and she understood. New C-HR for us. A little smaller (fits better in the crowded garage), plenty of space in the back seat and trunk.

Yes, boring as hell. You know what I’m not worried about? Just about everything cuz Toyota.

0 Member Joshua Elliott 7 minutes ago It’s the most painfully boring car I’ve ever driven, would truly rather watch paint dry

0 Member Harvey Firebirdman 14 minutes ago Well you can always have her test drive one (or its Subbie twin) and see if she likes it. Maybe driving one will change her mind? If not well as you said you are awaiting for their futured 3rd row to come out a depreciate.

0 Member Fineheresyourdamn70dollars 17 minutes ago Engineer applies guy logic and spreadsheets to what the spouse drives.

1 Member Cerberus 19 minutes ago Would it be any easier to find a 2-row option? A small SUV with 3-rows is one half-step above a 2+2 for usefulness of those seats and that’s another row to move out of the way if you want to use more storage space. Personally, I’d either keep the present car until it feels EoL, though the Subaru and $7k sounds good, too.

0 Member Clear Prop 36 minutes ago You mentioned she doesn’t drive many miles and in a previous post mentioned she is a SAHM.

Keep the Lexus a few more years and let the EV market shake out some more. The fuel mileage on it isn’t a big factor since she doesn’t drive much.

A ten year old Lexus is barely broken in. It has many more reliable years left, especially since she has kept it serviced well.

1 Andy Individual 37 minutes ago “There are no 3-row EVs available from Toyota.”

??? Have you found time to breed, or is this a keeping up with the Joneses thing?

3 A. Barth 19 minutes ago Reply to  Andy Individual Three rows will allow the parents + kid + grandparents to travel comfortably in one vehicle.

0 Member Cerberus 17 minutes ago Reply to  A. Barth They might be able to travel, but not comfortably unless they’re all pretty small. Small 3-rows aren’t that roomy and, if you’re prone to motion sickness, the rear really sucks. Presumably, others have their own cars. too.

0 Citrus 19 minutes ago Reply to  Andy Individual Kids have this alarming tendency to attract more kids.

You’re rarely just transporting your own.

0 Member Cerberus 10 minutes ago Reply to  Citrus All those parents have their own rolling cruise ships they can use and the liability is all on them if anything happens. Where so many kid activities are defined, ruled, curated, rated, and supervised group activities intended to identify and cultivate some talent that might be able to be used to get some college scholarship down the line, the kids are generally driven by their own to and from the overpriced activity. Plus, if you don’t have the space, you aren’t going to be asked or expected to drag other kids around.

0 Member Autonerdery 37 minutes ago Okay, but how much of the Lexus devotion is about the service experience? Because with an EV…you’re basically never going in for service, so does it matter? Is there a meaningful difference in equipment levels between the Toyobaru and Lexus versions?

1 Member Jack Trade 39 minutes ago Could it be that Elise’s (NHRN shift pattern) auto enthusiasm takes the form of a smooth, calm ownership experience?

0 Citrus 42 minutes ago No matter what the deal is, a car you don’t QUITE want is always going to cost more because you’re going to want to get rid of it sooner.

It’s not out yet, but she clearly wants a Lexus TZ. If you get the bz4x you’re just going to be trading it in on a TZ as soon as is practical.

Don’t try to convince her to get a car she doesn’t QUITE want. Yes, the bz is Lexus-adjacent, but it’s not a Lexus. Yes, it has enough space to baby, it’s still not three-row. And even if it’s ALMOST there, she’s still going to want the extra Lexus amenities, and every time she goes out to the car she’s going to go “man, I wish this had the Lexus stuff on there.” Every time she goes to do baby things with the other parents she’s going to go “man, if only I had that third row, then I could give Jane and her baby Henry J (not their real names) a ride home.”

Just admit that you’re going to have a TZ in your driveway anyway and spend the time until it’s on the market to figure out how to make that happen.

1 Member Canopysaurus 46 minutes ago I’m with you, the BZ4X (unfortunately it’s real name) is the better deal of the two. And it doesn’t matter. IIRC, Elise really values the way Lexus dealers take care of their customers and that peace of mind factor may weigh more heavily in her decision tree than saving some bucks in the Toyota.

2 M SV 58 minutes ago I worked a similar deal on Solterra. Might be an easier sell. Interior like the Lexus. Could be $2k more but you are getting awd and a few other things.

0 Member Occasional Autopian 1 hour ago The three-row TZ is scheduled to come out later this year, with the upper trims next year. Sure, it’s going to run you at least $65k but it’ll check the box of being a Lexus, and a new one at that. If she might keep it more than five years then it’s worth it to buy new.

The new RZ gets a thumbs up from me. Slightly larger battery, 260+ mile range, fast enough to easily make speed getting on the freeway, native NACS, and it utilizes the tap-and-go technology so you don’t need to install five different charging apps.

2 Member DialMforMiata 1 hour ago If the brand you’re devoted to isn’t producing any vehicles that meet your needs why should you feel obligated to compromise just for the sake of the badge? It’s like if Mazda dropped the Miata, but you bought a CX-5 instead of driving to the Toyota dealer to check out an 86.

2 Anonymous Person 1 hour ago That Toyota and that stupid paint job is one of the ugliest vehicles out there. I don’t blame her for not wanting to be seen driving it.

0 Member Spopepro 1 hour ago I hear you… but the correct move is not to breakout the spreadsheets. It’s to ask “what color?” and be happy.

2 Admin David Tracy 1 hour ago Reply to  Spopepro It’s true. She’s gotta like the car!