Family Car Review: 2026 Toyota bZ4X Touring

How much does the Toyota bZ4X Touring cost and what are the options?

The Toyota bZ4X Touring is available in one variant only, priced at $69,990 (excluding rego, stamp duty, etc.). Optional metallic or pearl paint adds $575. There's no cheaper version to trade down to and no more expensive variant to upgrade to, so this is your only option.

For that price, you get a lot of technology and creature comforts! The bZ4X Touring is very powerful, with all-wheel drive and 488km battery range, a 14-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a JBL nine-speaker audio system, heated and ventilated sports seats with synthetic leather trim, a fixed panoramic sunroof, ladder-style roof rails with 80kg carrying capacity, a power tailgate with kick sensor, dual wireless phone chargers, and a 220V household power outlet in the boot.

The bZ4X Touring's all-wheel-drive system has different modes (Normal, Snow/Dirt, Deep Snow/Mud) with downhill assist control and crawl mode for tricky surfaces, plus front and rear skid plates. If your family likes getting off the beaten track for camping weekends and it rains, making the way out all slippery, these touches should help confidence!

Toyota offers a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty. The battery has an 8-year or 160,000km capacity warranty if it falls below 70% of its original capacity. The standard five-year battery warranty can also be extended to 10 years with annual dealer health checks if you're planning to keep the car long-term.

How big is the boot of the Toyota bZ4X Touring?

The Toyota bZ4X Touring is 140mm longer than the standard bZ4X SUV, and that extra length goes straight into the boot. I didn't have my range of prams and shopping bags with me for this first drive, so I'll be updating this review with shopping bag counts and all the pram fit results in the coming weeks. Watch this space!

The boot door opens and closes at the touch of a button, and there's a kick sensor underneath so you can open it hands-free when you're carrying your kids or your shopping. There's also a lock button on the boot door itself, so you can press that, walk away from the car, and it will lock the whole car automatically. Fantastic.

Now, the boot door does beep as it opens and closes, which may wake your little ones if they're asleep in the back. Something to be aware of if you're doing the supermarket run with a sleeping baby.

Underneath the boot floor, there's a puncture repair kit rather than a spare tyre. This is common with EVs because the battery pack takes up the space where a spare would normally sit, but it's worth thinking about if your family does remote road trips where you might not have phone reception to call for help. Apparently in some countries you can get a spare tyre for this car, just not Australia at the moment.

A fantastic feature for families is the 220V/1500W household power outlet on the right side of the boot. You can plug in a portable fridge, charge your camping gear or power laptops or other work equipment. For families who head off on weekend camping trips, this is brilliant.

There are hooks in the boot for hanging shopping bags, which I love, and a retractable roller blind to cover the cargo area.

For reference, other wagons I've tested include the Subaru Outback which holds 18 shopping bags, and the Subaru WRX Sportswagon ts which holds 16 shopping bags. I'll have the bZ4X Touring's shopping bag count and full pram fit results up soon. If you want to check whether your pram will fit in different family cars, keep an eye on our pram fit guide for updates.

The boot space and its functionality are really important. I like to have a big boot space and little side wells or areas I can divide things into. So something I don't want to move around while I'm driving such as my daughter's lunch bag or her wet swimming gear can be sectioned off in a little well where it's not going to spill or get squashed by the rest of the things in the boot.

Hooks for securing shopping bags to are also favourites of mine, I like being able to secure the bag containing more fragile things like eggs so they don't move around on the journey.

I measure the boot space in freezer shopping bags, prams and dogs. Not because I think all there is to a mum's life is food shopping, prams and dogs. (Although it can feel like it sometimes!!) But because these are visually measurable items we can all associate with. For me, the car company boot measurement of litres is not an amount I can easily visualise and 400L in one car may differ in usability to that in another due to the configuration or shape of the space.

How good is the storage in the Toyota bZ4X Touring for families?

Storage throughout the Toyota bZ4X Touring is well sorted for families.

In the front, there are two cup holders in the central console. In front of them is a dual wireless phone charging pad, so both driver and passenger can charge their phones without faffing about with cables. There are also two USB-C ports underneath the central console bridge for the front passengers.

The centre console box opens from both the driver and passenger side, which is a nice practical touch for grabbing your sunglasses or snacks. The front door bins have bottle holders, so your refillable water bottle has somewhere to live.

For rear passengers, there are two cup holders in a fold-down centre armrest and a slot for phones. Two USB-C charging sockets in the back of the central console box so older kids can keep their devices topped up on longer drives. The rear door bins have space for water bottles and there are map pockets on the back of both front seats.

The 14-inch touchscreen dominates the centre of the dash and is clear and easy to use. It has wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, embedded satellite navigation, and the JBL nine-speaker audio system sounds great for keeping the family entertained.

There are front and rear carpet floor mats as standard. I'd have loved to see all-weather rubber mats given the Touring's adventure-ready marketing, as families with young kids and sandy beach outings might find carpet mats harder to keep clean. Aftermarket rubber mats would be a worthwhile addition.

How many child seats will fit in the Toyota bZ4X Touring?

There are ISOFix points in the two outer rear seats. They're not within plastic guides, but they're really nice and easy to connect to.

There are top-tether anchorages for all three rear seats. They're on the back of the seat backs and easily accessible through the boot, which makes installation nice and straightforward.

The good news is I could fit three child seats across the second row, which is brilliant news for families! Three forward-facing or three rear-facing child seats all fit. If you're looking for other five-seaters that can manage this, check out our guide to which five-seat cars fit three child seats across.

With forward-facing child seats installed, at least a 186cm or taller driver can fit in the front seat, which is excellent.

With rear-facing child seats, about a 182cm driver can fit in the front, possibly slightly taller. For families with tall parents, have a look at our EV legroom guide for more comparisons.

There's only a slight hump in the central seat footwell, which makes it easy for passengers to get in and out of the middle position. The rear seat has a 60/40 split-fold for added versatility when you need to carry longer items.

Being the Touring model, the roofline is nice and flat with 48mm of extra headroom compared to the standard bZ4X. This is excellent news for your lanky teenagers who are outgrowing everything!

By comparison, the Subaru Outback can also fit three child seats across, though it's a tighter squeeze. The Subaru WRX Sportswagon ts only fits two.

How comfortable is the Toyota bZ4X Touring for families?

All members of the family will be kept comfortable in the Toyota bZ4X Touring.

Rear passengers have air vents in the back of the central console box, so you can keep little passengers the right temperature while you're driving. The front has dual-zone automatic climate control with NanoeX air purification, which helps parents of kids with allergies and reactive airways.

There are handles above both rear doors that can hang a toy for rear-facing infants to keep them entertained on long journeys. And there's a light in the central ceiling so you can see what you're doing when you're fastening your kids' harnesses in the dark.

I have found our daughter does not like travelling in the dark in the car so if it gets dark whilst travelling then I reach back and turn the interior light on for her. So it's really important for me that I can reach the rear ceiling light.

Also if I am traveling home and it is getting near to bed time and I DEFINITELY DON'T want her to fall asleep in the car as even a 5-minute nap in the car means bed time is all over!!!! I lean back and pop the light on so it's not dark and try to keep her awake!! Along with screaming/singing at the top of my voice!!!

It is also useful when there are lights situated above the doors where the handles are usually positioned. These are good for when putting baby into their child seats when visibility is poor, so you do not have to reach across them to a light situated in the ceiling centrally etc.

The fixed panoramic sunroof lets lots of light into the cabin and gives rear passengers a great view of the sky and the treetops. Kids will love looking up through it! Good to see a proper blind for the glass roof to protect everyone from blazing heat in summer too.

The front sports seats have 8-way power adjustment with heating and ventilation, and the driver gets power lumbar support too. The upholstery is synthetic leather in a choice of khaki or black, which is much easier to wipe clean than fabric when your toddler decides to share their banana with the seat.

Being fully electric, the bZ4X Touring is whisper-quiet inside. There's no engine rumble to contend with, which is fantastic for keeping babies asleep on drives. The only things to watch are the boot door beep and the various safety warning chimes, which can be adjusted through the settings.

Becoming a parent I soon realised there are some noises and sounds I feel are unnecessary and I could happily live without if it meant my baby stayed asleep!!

That often the distraction of my screaming, distressed baby is more dangerous when driving than not having a lane departure warning for example.

If it is the lane departure warning beeping that creates distress with my baby then which is safest?

It's where I think we need to be able to strike a balance and choose when we can mute the warnings or swap them to a vibration in the steering wheel or flashing light perhaps?

The 14-inch touchscreen is large and clear. It has wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, built in satellite navigation (good if you're on a road trip and out of phone signal meaning your phone's navigation app stops working), and the JBL nine-speaker audio sounds awesome. I found it easy to use and get around the menus without taking my eyes off the road for too long.

There's also a digital rear-view mirror, which gives a much wider view behind you than a traditional mirror. This is handy when the boot is loaded up with gear or when child seats in the back block the rear windscreen.

When you put the bZ4X Touring into reverse, you get clear camera views, and the front and rear parking sensors plus the panoramic view monitor make parking in tight school and supermarket car parks nice and easy.

One thing I have noticed since being a mum is I hate it when I reach a destination or get home from being out and the kids have either done really well in the car or she is screaming her head off and I have done really well to keep it together for the entire journey (usually the latter!!) and it takes 10 minutes to park the car! It can be really stressful.

The steering wheel is heated and leather-wrapped, with manual tilt and telescopic adjustment. Audio, phone, and other controls are all on the steering wheel.

How safe is the Toyota bZ4X Touring for families?

The Toyota bZ4X Touring has a five-star ANCAP safety rating, scoring 86% for child occupant protection and 88% for adult occupant protection. It also scored 80% for vulnerable road user protection and 82% for safety assist. Fantastic news for families.

The bZ4X Touring comes with eight airbags as standard, including dual frontal airbags, front side chest-protecting airbags, side curtain airbags that extend to the second row, and a driver's knee airbag.

Standard active safety tech includes autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian, cyclist, and oncoming vehicle detection, plus intersection collision avoidance and emergency steering assist. There's also active cruise control (ACC) with curve speed reduction, lane trace assist (LKA), lane departure alert (LDW), and an emergency driving stop system.

The driver-assist features also include blind spot monitor (BSM) with safe exit assist (which warns you if a car is coming before you open your door, great for when you're getting kids out on a busy street), rear cross-traffic alert (RCTA), front and rear parking sensors with front and rear parking support brake, a panoramic view monitor, adaptive high beam, road-sign assist, a driver monitor camera, vehicle stability control (ESC), traction control, anti-lock brakes (ABS) with brake assist, and hill-start assist.

Some of these safety features are also features that drive me crazy as a mum! Like the lane departure and forward collision alert or the parking sensor beeping sound. I want all the safety technology AND to be able to mute the sound when Bub's asleep!

What is the Toyota bZ4X Touring like to drive?

The Toyota bZ4X Touring is a great electric car to drive.

It feels like a solid vehicle first and electric second, and it doesn't have that flimsy spaceship feeling that a lot of EVs can have. You're not overrun with tech, and everything is easy to use, which I appreciate. The last thing you need when you're wrangling kids into the car is a dashboard that needs a PhD to operate.

The battery range is 488km (WLTP), which is enough for most families' commutes, school runs, swimming lessons, and all the extracurricular commitments for a week without needing to recharge. When you do need to top up, DC fast charging from 10% to 80% takes about 28 minutes. That's roughly the time it takes to get the kids fed at a highway rest stop, so it fits into the family road trip rhythm without too much fuss.

Being fully electric you have all the benefits of being able to drive your little ones to sleep without churning through fuel and sitting while they nap or at school pick up with the aircon running on battery power alone.

The dual-motor AWD system produces 280kW and gets the bZ4X Touring from 0 to 100km/h in 4.5 seconds. You won't need that kind of acceleration on the school run, but it means there's loads of power for confident highway merging with a car full of kids and gear.

The AWD system features three-mode X-Mode (Normal, Snow/Dirt, Deep Snow/Mud) with downhill assist control and crawl mode. Combined with 211mm of ground clearance and front and rear skid plates, the Touring is capable of getting your family to more adventurous camping spots on unsealed roads. It's not a proper off-roader, but it can handle gravel tracks and fire trails with confidence. But a spare tyre would have been a great addition for this.

The bZ4X Touring can tow up to 1,500kg braked, which is enough for a small camper trailer, a jet ski, or a box trailer loaded with bikes and camping gear. The standard roof rails with 80kg carrying capacity give you even more options for hauling the family's adventure equipment.

The regenerative braking has four deceleration levels, so you can choose how much the car slows when you lift off the accelerator. When driving EVs I find it handy for managing speed through school zones without having to constantly dab the brake pedal. It can make some kids feel motion sickness though, in which case you can change it to the mildest setting.

Visibility is good from the driver's seat. The digital rear-view mirror gives a wider view than a traditional mirror, which helps when child seats are blocking the rear windscreen. The turning circle is 11.2 metres (tyre), which is manageable for tight car parks, and the parking sensors and panoramic view monitor will make it nice and easy to squeeze into those narrow supermarket spots.

Additional Information:

Toyota offers a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty for the bZ4X Touring, with service intervals managed through the Toyota Connected Essentials system. The connected services include SOS emergency call, automatic collision notification, stolen vehicle tracking, remote charge management, and cloud navigation.

The bZ4X Touring features khaki or black synthetic leather upholstery and is available in six exterior colours.

Compare the Toyota bZ4X Touring:

The wagon segment is slim in Australia these days, but if you're considering the Toyota bZ4X Touring as a five-seat electric wagon for your family, here are some alternatives.

The Subaru Outback is the closest competitor in terms of concept. It's an AWD wagon built for active families, holds 18 shopping bags in the boot, and can fit three child seats across (though it's tight). It has a five-star ANCAP rating with 91% child occupant protection. The Outback is petrol-powered and sits in a lower price bracket, so it's worth considering if you're not set on going electric or if your budget is tighter.

The Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo is the only other electric wagon I've tested, but at over $229,000 it's in a completely different price bracket. It holds 13 shopping bags and fits two child seats (not three), so the bZ4X Touring wins on family practicality by a wide margin while costing a fraction of the price.

For sporty wagon fans, the Subaru WRX Sportswagon tS holds 16 shopping bags and has AWD, but it only fits two child seats across and is petrol-powered.

If you're open to electric SUVs and crossovers rather than wagons, it's worth looking at five-seat electric models in a similar price range, as plenty of families cross-shop between these categories. Have a read of our guide to why electric and hybrid cars are great for families for more on the benefits of going electric.

BabyDrive Verdict on the Toyota bZ4X Touring

The 2026 Toyota bZ4X Touring makes a strong case as a family EV. Being able to fit three child seats across the second row is brilliant, and the legroom is generous, with a 186cm driver fitting in front of forward-facing seats and about 182cm in front of rear-facing seats.

The five-star ANCAP safety rating with 86% child occupant protection, eight airbags, and a full suite of active safety tech gives families great peace of mind. And the 488km battery range means most families won't need to think about charging more than once a week.

I loved that it drives like a proper, solid car rather than a gadget on wheels. The AWD with X-Mode adds real weekend adventure capability, the 1,500kg towing capacity opens up camper trailer and boat options, and that 220V household power outlet in the boot is a fantastic feature for camping families. The extra 48mm of headroom from the Touring roofline is a welcome bonus for growing teenagers too.

The boot looks generous thanks to the 140mm stretch over the standard model, and I can't wait to put it through the full BabyDrive pram and shopping bag testing with my family in the coming weeks. Watch this space for the updated results.

Where it falls down slightly is the lack of a spare tyre (common for EVs but a concern for remote trips), the beeping boot door that could wake sleeping babies, the carpet floor mats that would benefit from a rubber upgrade, and the fact that there's only one variant at $69,990, so you can't trade down on specs to save some money.

Key Pros:

• Fits three child seats across the second row
• 5-star ANCAP safety rating (86% child occupant protection)
• 488km battery range with approx. 28-minute DC fast charging
• 220V/1500W household power outlet in boot
• AWD with X-Mode for unsealed roads and camping trips
• 1,500kg braked towing capacity
• 48mm extra headroom over standard bZ4X
• Whisper-quiet cabin (great for sleeping babies)
• Wireless Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and dual wireless phone chargers
• Synthetic leather seats are easy to wipe clean

Key Cons:

• No spare tyre (puncture repair kit only)
• Boot door beeps when opening and closing