What?!!? Toyota was super late to the EV game and then had to recall the BZ4X in 2022 because the wheels came off!! They then halted EV sales this past September and had to recall a bunch more vehicles. I would not buy a Toyota EV personally. They do not have a good reputation among EV enthusiasts. No news outlet I can find even rates them at all.
I am not a Cadillac person, but I have read good things about the Lyriq. USNews and Edmunds and JD Power rate it well. If I was going to buy a new car (I am also not a BMW person) I’d take a good look at the Hyundai Ioniqs and the Kia EVs.
Yes, Toyota was late to EVs, and the bZ / Solterra / RZ were not standouts for their EV characteristics (efficiency, range, charging speed) when they first came out. But they got significant improvements for 2026, including a significant boost in efficiency and range.
The Lyriq is closely related to the Blazer EV, Prologue, and ZDX. However, the related but smaller and cheaper Equinox EV is a bigger seller than the Blazer EV.
Thanks. I don’t have a CR subscription, but when I searched for best EVs on the major car sites like Edmunds, JD Power, etc, no Toyotas were among the best.
If you want to list the Consumer Reports ratings I would be interested in seeing it.
Toyota first released the Rav4 EV in 1997 – nearly 30 years ago. Among major commercial releases, I believe Toyota was only 2nd to GM.
The post I replied to discussed EV/battery reliability in older Priuses and the earlier post mentioned an older Rav4. CR reliability ratings based on user surveys are below. These are extremely good ratings of EV related components (aside from blip in first year of new gen for Rav4), compared to norm for other makes/models. The BZ4X does a near negligible portion of Toyota’s overall sales, something on the order of 1% of Toyota sales. This relates to why you aren’t finding reviews/ratings for it. The new BZ4X is the exception, not the rule for Toyotas, and few people buy that exception. The primary issues with the BZ4X also were unrelated to the EV components.
I was specifically posting about EV reliability in 2024 model. Some people like cars that are not reliable or rate new models well in driving tests that don’t have good long term reliability. This is surprisingly common among Rivians – in surveys often one of the most loved and would buy again among owners, yet also one of the least reliable EVs (generalizing across make as a whole). Your JD Power link also rated the Lyriq as tied for last as an overall rating, with the lowest scores in the “quality & reliability” section.
I believe the first & second gen electric RAV was only in California in the US in very limited numbers. In the 21st century since the boom in EVs Toyota has been behind. That is just a fact. I would not buy a Toyota EV nor would I recommend one to anyone I know. They do make a good hybrid, though. Those Priuses are tanks.
Yes, Toyota has historically focused on hybrids rather than EV-only, and in past years that has worked very well for them. No EV/hybrid has had more millions of sales than the Prius. Toyota switched the Camry to hybrid-only last year, and still retained title as best selling car (not SUV or truck) in United States. Toyota also had the best selling SUV in US last year, with about half of the sales being Rav4 hybrids. Toyota still leads other makes in total EV+hybrid sales. EV-only instead of hybrid is a new focus for Toyota, and they have a long way to go on the new BZ4X.
Nissan had the very limited edition Altra EV in the late 90s. I think some were privately placed.
It used Lithium Ion vs. the GM EV1 which used Nickel Metal Hydride.
These were all sort of test cases. Obviously, Nissan came to the mass market later with the Leaf….but fumbled its lead given that product’s limitation.
Today - there’s so many strong ones from Hyundai to Benz - most of which rate higher for “niceties” than Tesla. Look around, for brands that can’t move them, you might find sweet leases.
We just got a 2026 Lexus NX350h and I love it! Agree about adapting to the fact that it gets better mileage in town than on the highway. Our other car is a gas Lexus RX-350 which gets pretty bad mileage, and I haven’t figured out the math to know which car to take for what trip.
Regarding some EV cars “bricking” due to battery issues, I believe the issue is with the small 12volt batteries that EVs have, not the big 10-year warrantied batteries that serve as engine. The 12volt ones sometimes degrade from sitting on the lot for months. They are easily replaceable and inexpensive, unlike the big engine batteries.
It depends on the car. The original “bricking” comment was in relation to the Lyriq. On this model owners report failures with both the 12V battery and the main battery, as well as various other electrical components. Example comments are below:
12V Battery
““VEHICLE BRICKED WITH ONLY 3,000 MILES ON IT””
Anonymous (2024 Cadillac Lyriq Tech Electric)
“12v battery failure disabled ALL onboard controls”
Anonymous (2024 Cadillac Lyriq Luxury Electric)
… EV Battery
“WITH ONLY 26 MILES ON IT BRICKED AND HAD TO CHANGE MAIN BATTERY”
Anonymous (2024 Cadillac Lyriq Tech Electric)
“Battery developed a short. It became hot. I pulled it out of the garage and drove around the block and seemed OK. Contacted dealer who said to bring it in if I could. Trip in transit was uneventful. Dealer indicated that the battery needed replacement but couldn’t tell when the new battery would come in. They rented a car from Enterprise for me, a Nissan Kick!. The battery came in 2 weeks later (about the same amount of time a steering wheel replacement lead time on a subsequent repair for supercruise button). I’ve not had problem with charging or the battery since.”
Anonymous (2024 Cadillac Lyriq Luxury Electric)
“The car stopped charging and they determined it needed a new EV battery. It was under warranty so there was no charge to us.”
