2026 Toyota bZ

Hey, welcome back. I'm Keith Barry. I'm Michael Croson and I'm Mike Monticello. And this week

we are talking about the Toyota BZ. You know, this is a new, slightly updated, slightly

renamed version of the car that used to be known as the BZ4X. They dropped the 4X. It has more

horsepower. It has a bigger range. It has a Tesla style charge port. And, you know, we're very

interested in seeing what happens because the BZ4X was surprisingly popular despite the fact

that it wasn't that great of a car. So we just purchased one for our test program and all three

of us was spent, you know, I know you spent a lot of time in it. We spent some time in it. So, you

know, what do we like about it so far? I think exactly what you said, the increased power,

the increased range, and it's just a nice thing to drive. You'll forget all the other stuff or any

kind of maybe range anxiety that you had in the cold weather. We might find out about here in a

minute. But it's just sort of a nice thing to drive. It drove really well. Got in here just

through on some music and had a nice drive home. So just it's just sort of a car. There's nothing

about it, which is a lot of these newer EVs have something that's sort of finicky about them.

We'll get to that. I think a couple of my dislikes. But overall, it was just a pleasant

thing to drive. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. Actually, I mean, I think one of the best things about it is,

is the name change, believe it or not. I mean, I know that sounds silly. But BZ4X was just such

a strange name. And, you know, I can't imagine what it meant to customers, right? Like, what a

weird thing to call a car. I mean, do you know what the BZ actually stands for? Beyond zero.

That's correct. Yeah. What are the four X stands for? Is that what you, you were testing me on?

I was just curious if you knew. Because we actually, when we were doing our electric vehicle, 70

mile an hour highway range test, we were trying to come up with a name that was better than the

70 mile an hour electric vehicle highway range test, believe it or not. And beyond zero had come

up because we were driving the cars to zero and beyond. And then we realized that that's what the

BZ and BZX4X, whatever they used to call this thing was. So we're like, oh, we can't use that

name. So can't use that. So I do think it's smart that they changed the name. I should have never

called it that in the first place. Although now it's actually weird because if you think about it,

it's a Toyota, right? And of course, we know it's similar to the Subaru version. But, you know,

Subaru has a car called the BRZ, right? The sports car. So now you've got this. Couldn't be more

different. Right. So you've got this Toyota BZ and a Subaru BRZ. And it was just a little confusing

for dum-dums like me. And to make it even more confusing, there's another BZ called the BZ

Woodland, which is a totally different car. It's six inches longer. And that's the same as the

Subaru Trailseeker. Correct. And then there's another Toyota EV called the CHR, which is kind

of similar to the Subaru Uncharted. So there are like six cars with similar names that are similar.

Okay. So I take back that the name's an improvement. It's actually gotten worse, I guess.

When you think about all the different weird names that mean nothing. And yeah, it's all over the

place now. But I totally agree with Mike that it's just a pleasant powertrain. You know, like,

we have driven some EVs that have had some issues in terms of, you know, the power delivery,

whether it's too abrupt or whatever. This one is just very pleasant. And it's nice to have that

extra horsepower. 338, I think it had 214 before for the all-wheel drive models. And it just felt

very weak before. Now it's got plenty of power from the stop, right? And even some lower powered EVs

when they get up to about 60, 65 miles an hour and you punch it, there's hardly anything left.

This still has some good sauce left. So I mean, from that perspective, and when you're on the

throttle, it's smooth. When you back off the throttle, it's smooth. So I think there's some

real positives. And then it's nice. There's nice things like the fact that you can, they've made

it very easy to adjust the regen levels. I love that it has the pedals. Right. It's great. There

some real positives to that. And then, like you said, the next charge port, you know,

North American charging standard, I think you mentioned that that now comes standard with,

so now it's very easy to go to a Tesla supercharger. It opens up a lot of possibilities.

You don't need an adapter to use that. And so there's, I think there's a lot of real positives.

Yeah, it kind of used to be the BZ4X was a car that people bought kind of, I think from what I

saw, it was sort of a price sensitive kind of thing. There were some really good deals on it.

It's a Toyota. So a lot of people sort of go and buy a Toyota by default.

This feels like even if they go and buy it by default, they won't be disappointed.

The other thing is also the charging that the old one had some of the slowest charging of any car

on the market. And this one still isn't super fast, but it is certainly an improvement. Yeah.

And I think probably with the extra range and this increase in charging speed,

you could get away with road tripping this car where the Solterra or the,

whatever the old BZ was called, you wouldn't want to do that because it was so slow to charge and

the range was so low. I feel like a lot of people bought them just as their commuter as an appliance

to and from work charge. You know, while you're sleeping, that makes sense. But as far as waiting

for the thing to charge, you know, wasn't a good use of time. But I think you're right though,

Keith. It was a, it's, Toyota is a known quantity, right? So even though maybe electric

Toyotas aren't a known quantity, I bet a lot of the people that bought them,

that bought the BZ4X has bought it because, well, it's a Toyota, at least it's going to,

it has a good chance of being reliable. Whereas there's a lot of EVs out there that

you're just not sure, right? And we know that they've been working on,

they've been working on regenerative brakes for 30 years. They've been working on,

you know, they've been working on the components of this vehicle, aside from the actual,

you know, battery for, you know,

almost longer than anybody really. Exactly. Exactly. Because of all their hybrids.

Because of all their hybrids. And they can take all of that, all of that knowledge or

learnings, as people would call it nowadays, and put it into a new, into, you know, an all-new

electric vehicle. Now, I would say some of the issues with the car have to do with Toyota's

attitude towards EVs in general, which has been, I generously describe it as, you know,

kicking and screaming, being dragged into the 21st century. Like even the original

BZ4X kind of. Even originally. And this one here is, I mean, I would not say that it is a class

leading EV by any chance. And when Toyota enters a segment, they tend to, they tend to dominate it.

And it does not feel like that's the case here. Can I, before we kind of get to the dislikes,

can I just mention two other things that I wanted that I think are real positives about the car?

And this is, again, it's going to sound silly, like, like my positive that the name has been

changed. Exterior door handles. They're conventional. Oh, yeah. Yeah. To find that in an EV is so rare

these days. And so refreshing that you, there's nothing wonky about having to, does it have to

pop out? Or how do you, does it lift up? You know, you just pull out like a normal thing. And I think

that's a very positive thing that they're very Toyota of them, just something simple that's

going to work. And going away from the trend that everyone else seems to want to do. Oh,

it's an EV. It has to have these retractable, you know, flush door handles, which nobody wants.

Exactly. We even, we have a literally a petition that people are signing to try and get rid of

these things. Right. Yeah. And then the other thing I think that is kind of a positive, but

will also end up being a negative that I'll bring up later is because of the way they have the,

the instrument screen in front of the driver, kind of this high instrument screen, it means you can

have the steering wheel in as low of a position as you want without blocking anything. And that,

you know, we've seen more and more cars that you're, you're, when you bring the wheel down to a

lower position, now you're blocking some important stuff like the turn signal icons or

headlight icons in the driver screen. And that's not happening here. So I mean, that's a real positive.

It is crazy to me that we have to call out as positives door handles that work and gauge clusters

that you can see. Okay. That's a fair point. But I'm glad you did because it just shows how

ridiculous some designers have gone. And it's not an EV thing. It's a fact that

designers think that people want futuristic when they buy an EV. There's nothing inherent about

an EV that means that you have to have a digital dashboard that's blocked by the, by the, by the

steering wheel. So can we talk about negatives now? Yeah, please. I feel like you want to start.

I know there's one that I think I'm going to steal your thunder. So I'm going to steal away.

So we all at CR have kind of our pet peeves with vehicles. And I know yours is one of mine.

One of yours is not just me, but it's, it's, it is something you call center console intrusion.

And this is one of the worst center. The whole car is a center console.

Yeah. I mean, this was my number one complaint with the car. Yeah. And it would keep me from

buying the one for sure. Because you're a big guy. I don't really fit this car. It's very narrow.

You have a lot of door panel intrusion, a lot of console protrusion. The console is very wide,

nice phone charging situation there. But yeah, I just don't fit in it. And I would not buy it

because of that. So like your right knee is totally scrunched up against the console, right?

And even with you as well, right, Keith? Yeah. When I first sit in the car, I say, oh,

this is great. I have so much room. This is wonderful. And then, you know, as you drive,

you kind of settle into place and you reach for something. And then I found, and it isn't just

that the center console is there. It's that it has all these kind of lumps and bumps.

Very uncomfortable up against whatever part of your leg is making contact.

None. None at all. And also, I know, you know, it's nice that it has, you know, a place to put

your phone, but that's all it has. It has these two giant wireless phone chargers. And, you know,

between... I've never been able to figure out why you would want a wireless phone charger.

I'm partially... It's because I have this case here that I have my, you know, my wallet... It's a

wallet case. So I have my, you know, all my credit cards and IDs and stuff. Got money in there?

You know, and I keep it on my personal. It's all in one place because I don't want to carry the

George Costanza wallet. So I have it all in one place. But that means I can't use the charger.

Every time I take my phone out of the case and I put it in a wireless charger, the phone gets hot,

it doesn't work, it slides around. And that's all there is. And there's no way to turn it off.

So you can't just throw stuff there. That annoys the heck out of me. I want to be able to choose

what I do with a center console. And this car is telling me, nope, there are two... What if you

were very alone in life? And you... And there are two of these chargers and it's just reminding you.

What if someone... What if you just got dumped and you're driving home and it's like, oh no, I only...

There's no... I need someone to put their phone in my second charger. So this is not a car for

heartbreak. No, it is not. It is not. It will remind you of it. Anyhow. This has really taken a

dark turn. It has. Yeah, I'm sorry. If we need to talk after we can talk. Yeah, no, no, I'm fine.

100% get what you're saying. At the same time, I do... I have enjoyed seeing more and more vehicles

come with dual phone charging pads. And of course, it's always interesting where they put them.

And 100%, this has taken up some real valuable space. But I happen to have a girlfriend whose

phone somehow is never, ever charged. Ever. It's never charged. And so the first thing she's going

to do when she gets in the car is, can I plug it in? Or can I kind of use the phone charger?

Now there's two, so I don't have to worry about that. But I will also say that to your point,

they typically don't charge as fast, right? So it's like you have it on there. It's like,

wait, it really didn't gain that much. So to your point of, okay, it doesn't charge that quickly.

It's taken up a lot of space. Maybe not the best use, right? She's texting her friends about how

great you are. And all the cool cars that you bring home. That's what it is. Like electric

Toyotas. Yeah. And I sort of like it as well. You like it? I spend usually less time in cars and

anyone sort of go. I'm usually in them for a day or maybe two. I cycle through a lot of the cars

that, you know, have problems. You know, Monty will have a car and say, this car is a problem.

He gets out of it. I jump in it to check it out. And then it has to go to the dealer.

So I'm a problem. I'm in and out of cars. So I rarely sort of like get set up like I'm at home

in the car. I never have the right cable, that sort of thing. So I always like having a wireless

charger that works. Some cars, they just don't work in ever. Yeah. And I like the two because I also

tend to carry two phones. I have my phone, but I also have a consumer reports phone that I often

carry that has all the apps and stuff like that because that phone never shuts up. It just ding,

ding, dings all the time. But I like to have it, especially on the weekend, because our people are

out in these cars and they have problems and like I can unlock the car that they like. That's the

I've charged somewhere and you get a notification. I don't want to lose apps on my phone because

it never shuts up. So I do often carry these two phones. So it is kind of nice to have the

wireless chargers that way. Neither one is dead and I never ever have the right cable.

I don't know. I just I just think the real estate could be better used by something else.

No question. Yeah. You know, put it in a shelf, put it somewhere else, put it underneath. But it

just doesn't it just feels and I'm sure that that has something to do with the battery design

and the packaging. But it just feels like the car is vertical in like a pocket or something like

that. And yeah, like the Volkswagen what is it that Tiguan has that with the vertical and it's

awesome. I even think the Prius had a slot for your phone. So I mean, Toyota's done it before.

Exactly. This may be the longest three people have ever talked about wireless phone charging

phones. Dave will fix that. Oh, yeah, I see him over there. Yeah. I see a hand in like segments

going. Yeah. Yeah. All right. What else do we not like about it?

The longer driving range is great in theory. But it's very cold right now. It's very cold

in Connecticut right now. And so we are seeing and we're talking about like single digit cold

in the morning. We're seeing and again, this is not a busy problem. This is an EV problem,

right? But we're seeing what should be a 288 projected predicted driving range.

Testers are seeing 200 miles. I swear you said I said 180 something when I got in and it said

100% charge the longest I saw while I had it was 246 predicted. So again, we will do we will

fully test this in the summer, right? Yep, it'll be part of the highway range to do with all of the

EV. So we'll we'll see what how it really does how close it does get to or even potentially exceed

its its EPA estimated 180. Will it go beyond zero? Exactly. We'll find out. So but as of now,

that's very disappointing, right? What we're seeing that's a huge drop. And for anyone,

whether it's this car or any EV to see it drop that much is is definitely something you just

don't get with a gas car, right? So that's a real downside. 280 miles is as far as modern EVs go,

is is not anywhere near top of the class. It's way better than it was. I think it was 22 or something

before. So it's way better. But you're right, it's still we're at a point of three, four years ago

range. We're at a point where if it's not over 300, it seems pretty weak. Yeah. So and people are

saying who drives 300 miles in a single day? Well, that's not it's it's that cold day. It's that,

you know, I'll give you an example. I had a car with it with a short range. I had to go to the

airport. I get to the airport. It's incredibly cold outside. Flight's canceled. So I drive home.

And, you know, that on a single charge, I thought, oh, I don't have to charge before I go, whatever.

And and I and that's I was getting close to it. That's kind of the the sort of edge case that you

might come across and why you'd want that 300 or more as opposed to you're not gonna

because on that cold day, that 300 could become 220 or even even worse. I was in an EV this morning

and losing five miles per every mile I drove on highway. I was the point I had the heat turned

off. I was slowing down because you're in that sweatshirt. Yeah, I didn't want to not make it

because I knew we had this to do. So um, yeah, it was, you know, slow down and conserve where you

can, which is unfortunate. Yeah, that's why you buy the most trains you can because then

you won't miss it if it's gone. Yeah. Oh, another thing is, is related to the powertrain as much

as I did say that I find it very pleasant and it's nice to have the extra power that it has now.

But and while it's nice that you can adjust the regen braking with the paddles, it doesn't have

any kind of a true one pedal drive and even have it at its maximum regen level, it's not one pedal

driving. And I assume hopefully most people know what that is. But that basically means you can

control both the acceleration and the braking with the throttle pedal, including coming to a

full stop. And you just simply can't do that here. And that's a real oversight because apparently

a lot of, you know, EV people do really enjoy being able to do that with just one pedal. Yeah.

And so to not have it here is a little odd. And also, the regen levels don't latch, right? So I

found that and what we mean by that is, so I typically when I get in, I like to hit the left

paddle and it goes to second from the strongest. Yeah. The strongest, I believe if I remember

right, is strong enough that it puts the brake lights on, I typically don't like that. So this

way I don't have to worry about putting brake lights on for people behind me, but I'm still getting

some regen braking. When I turn the car off and then turn it back on, it's not going to be back

at that level. So that we typically like to see something like that, what we call latch,

meaning that it's you don't have to redo it each time, right? Yeah. And you get used to a certain

level of regen. So if you have to do it every single time, you could have been used to,

you know, as close to one, if you had to turn up all the way, it gets pretty close to one

pedal driving. It does. And it's like the Leaf has the E-Step, which gets close, but it's not

true one pedal. And do you guys know why there's no actual one pedal? Yeah, Japanese law. Yeah,

there's a law. The car has to come to a stop with a brake pedal. Interesting. So no EV there has

true one pedal. They could give it to us for the North American market. They just choose not to.

Interesting. One other thing about the powertrain, which is when it gets down to its

down low and it's predicted driving range, I'm talking like 40 miles of predicted driving range,

the power drops off dramatically. Yes, interesting. Like shockingly weak. Like I've never experienced

an EV with still 40 miles of predicted range left to have, you know, you're basically flooring it and

it's barely doing anything. Yeah, I mean, it comes back to that conservation. They're trying to

help you conserve, you know, in case that has the driver, maybe you're just not aware that your

right foot is attached to how much power you use. But this was more than more of a drop-off than

most, right? Yeah, it's very significant. Did the old one do that? I don't remember. There,

we test, we didn't have the first BZ, we had a Solterra. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I believe there

was a warning for reduced power and I do believe there was reduced power. I just think it was so

dramatic because the car didn't make a lot of power to begin with. I'd have to go back to the

notes off of our range test. Yeah, exactly. I think there was a drop and a lot of EVs do that as

you get low, but with 40 miles to go, that's still significant. That could be definitely someone's

total round trip commute to work that you're now underpowered for. Yeah. So okay, so this is,

you know, we're in this sort of weird moment for EVs where the rest of the world is buying them.

They're being sold everywhere else. They're still being sold here, but with tax incentives gone

and automakers having fewer incentives to build them, it's a weird moment.

That's all just put it that way. It's a strange moment, but there are more EVs than ever.

So if you were shopping, was this something you would, I mean, it starts in the high 30s,

goes up to 50,000. In this range, is this something you would consider? And if you were

shopping for an EV, what would you get instead? I mentioned it earlier. I think I would get the

new Leaf over this. They're similar in size, similar in price. The Leaf might be a few dollars

less depending on how you option it, similar in range, similar in sort of everything, but

I find the seat more comfortable. There's way more space for the driver. This console isn't

as big. You kind of have one of those like diving board consoles with a storage space underneath.

And I also like on the Leaf that you get the dual charging ports. You have the next port for fast

charging. And then you have the sort of standard port that we've sort of known forever for just

level two charging. And I like that because I wouldn't have to buy a new charger at home.

So you'll be knowing if I had to spend a couple hundred bucks for a new charger if I bought a new

EV. But it gives you, again, a little more flexibility. If you're going to fast charge,

you are going to be using a Tesla network, or you could use an adapter. So yeah,

you carry an adapter with you. But I think it gives more flexibility, where this just,

the BZ just has the one port. Yeah, I'd probably go with a Hyundai Ioniq 5. Now, the downside there

is that the reliability hasn't been stellar. But of course, that's the case with a lot of EVs,

so but it does just about everything better, I think, than the BZ. It's, you know, more

technologically advanced, it drives a lot better. And it doesn't have the BZ's goofy instrument

or driving position, even though I sort of praised it for the ability to bring the steering wheel

down wherever you wanted. The fact that it has this weird in between driver screen where a normal

driver screen is right is right here, this one's here, and a head up display is up here.

It's trying to like bridge the gap between the two. But what I find is that now it has this

giant screen that I feel like I have to look up and over, and I actually can't see the hood

directly on the other side of that. And I just, I find it disconcerting and I don't like that.

It's basically the same screen as in modern Lexuses. They basically took the exact screen

out of like the Lexus NX. And the pre-use was that way, and even this will tear in the first

BZ was very similar. Right there. When you look at the way the Ioniq 5 drives compared to the BZ,

and like I said, the BZ is totally fine. It's just a good everyday EV. But if you look at the

Ioniq 5's road test score, it has the highest road test score of any two-row EV SUVs. Probably more

usable space to the vaccine cargo area as well. It's got that nice sort of open front where they

take advantage of the battery packaging, having that low floor. I would, if I weren't buying one,

I would probably do the same as you. But like you said, you know, reliability on these newer cars

is difficult. So I would choose the one that's been around for the longest in this sort of bunch.

And I'd pick the Mustang Mach-E in this range. And I might get one that's a couple of years old

and get that, hit that depreciation curve. Yeah, you're smart. I definitely think you used EV,

like a certified pre-owned is a good idea. They've all taken a hit in the resale value, right? So

you spend, however much you spend on new EV, you're taking a hit from the moment you sign the

paperwork. You've already lost some money. So I think a used car that still carries warranty,

things like that, is a smart move. We might be talking about that later on as well.

EV reliability. Yes, exactly. All right. So if you want to learn more about it,

we're going to have our full road test available in the future. If you sign up for our newsletter,

you can be notified when this full road test comes out. So head over to cr.org to learn more

about it. And we're going to get its many siblings and cousins. We'll have the whole BZ

Solterra Trail Seeker Uncharted Woodland family. I imagine we'll be very used to those cars.

Which I don't want to understand the names and which one is which, but yeah. Oh,

that'll, this will be one of those ones where you go out to the keyboard and someone's taken the wrong

one. Right. I hope they're all different colors. We need to make sure that happens. We have that

and the Land Cruiser and the Forerunner are the same color. You're right. Well, that's problems

that we have here with our big fleet of test cars. We're going to go to your questions,

which you have sent to talkingcarsaticloud.com. You too can get your question on here if you

send it to talkingcarsaticloud.com. Are we still giving out swag or if we run out of swag?

We're still giving out swag. Great. So Peter is going to get some swag and you could too,

again, if you send your question in. Peter asks, I am considering an electric SUV for my next car,

specifically the Kia EV9 Wind. Your 2026 buying guide has the EV9 is the top rated three row SUV

with average reliability and it is recommended. However, your most recent rating has the Kia

EV9 with a lower overall score and worse than average reliability. Why did the score drop in

reliability go from average to worse than average in such a short time? Now, we all kind of, for

about 10 seconds, tried to discuss our statistics and weighting and all that sort of stuff and then

decided we're just going to throw it over to Steve Ellick, who's one of our statisticians here who

can answer it. He does math way better than any of us. Way better than any of us. He does a lot of

things better than it. It's kind of annoying those people who are good at too many things.

I don't like them. Yeah, I know. It really is. So off to Steve.

So about this EV9, that is a great question and it's a good observation, honestly. And the reason

that you see different scores over the years is because every time we get new reliability information,

it is updated for that survey year. So the 2026 buyers guide was actually using last year's

reliability data. And for that reason, the EV9 had pretty good initial data and it looked like

it was reliable. This year, the 24 and 25 EV9, the owners reported that there were some pretty

substantial issues with it, with the EV battery, with charging problems, electrical accessories,

just to name a few. Because of that new data that we have, the prediction for the 2026 EV9

is actually below average reliability. It's one of the least reliable models in our survey.

And that is the reason for the discrepancy. So the most up-to-date information based on the most

recent 12 months that our members reported on is the new EV9 data that shows that it is unreliable.

I hope that helps and clears some things up. And Steve is even good at podcasting.

He is. Yeah, that's the right answer. And that'll happen, especially with these

newer vehicles where we're starting to get this information. So I guess if Peter is buying it,

what do you think he should do? So I, first time, I tried to not make eye contact with you,

so that I wouldn't have to answer. I know. You didn't want to answer it first?

No, I'll answer it first. So first of all, every three-row electric SUV currently has a below

average reliability rating other than, of all things, the Tesla Model X. Which I guess if you

think about it, it's not that surprising because it's been around a while, it's been around a long

time, right? So, and we don't recommend any of them. So that's the first thing to...

And some of them we don't recommend a lot more strongly than others.

So true. Yeah. So because of that, if you still want one of these, I'm going to go with the one

that is actually the best driving of all of them. And that's the Hyundai Onyc 9.

Again, if you look at the road test score, it has by far the highest road test score of any of

these three-row electric SUVs. It's actually eight points higher than what the Kia EV9 scored,

even though they're actually very similar in a lot of ways. So I mean, I do think it is a great

driving vehicle, period anyway. But yeah, but the reliability, it's a big if, right?

It is a question mark. Yeah, and I'll put my mechanic hat on for a minute. The Onyc 9 underneath

is basically the EV9. So you're probably going to run into some of those same kind of reliability

issues. The one I'm going to pick, definitely not any more reliable. I don't know where it stands,

but if you say Volvo EX90, you're going to explode his head. Absolutely not. No.

That's when he talked about driving a car back and forth to the dealership,

that was the one he was talking about. I have a lot of time going through from the

dealer in that car. Yeah. I would go with the Cadillac Vistic. Oh, yeah. That's a nice one.

It's a really nice car. It drives fantastic, heaps of power in general from what we've seen

in our test fleet. We have a lot of these Altium vehicles, no matter whose badge is on it. It's

all kind of the same guts, if you will, just different size batteries. They've been pretty

decent. We have had a couple of issues with the Vistic in particular. I think some of that

is due to the fact that it's very fast and the brakes are a little undersized and it's a big

heavy EV. We've had a couple of brake warnings and things come on during testing. But I just think

it's a great vehicle to drive. Some usability, some of the screens aren't the best.

But no car play. Yeah. It's a downside. I still, I think I would go with the Vistic.

I'm answering last because I'm going to take the privilege of the person who can answer last.

I would say whatever you want to buy, lease it. That's good. Because with an EV, we talked about

that depreciation. We talked about some of the early build. And this isn't that electric cars

are bad. This is new cars have bugs that need to be worked out. For sure. And the more new stuff,

the more bugs. So you're just early on here. We're in the bag phone era. We're in the

StarTac era of EVs. I miss the StarTac. I know. I kind of close it up. It feels real nice and

final. So I would say look into leasing because when you're done, when that 36 months is up,

it's their problem. It's been under warranty the whole time. So you might have to put tires on it

maybe. Yeah. But that's about it. You still might, you know, you still have to take time off of work

to bring the thing in if something goes wrong. But it's not going to cost you anything. You're

not going to be stuck with it. And if, if, you know, depreciation hits and plummets like a rock,

then it's not your problem. It's Kia's problem. So buy the car you want to buy. Don't buy the car,

lease the car that you want, and get whichever EV you, get the EV you like.

Yeah. I know we often say leasing isn't sort of the best value, but in this case,

I think there is value there. And Keith is smarter than us. I think is what we've

just written about it a lot. So now it goes Steve, Keith, and then the two condoms.

We're way down the list. Yeah. I've just written about it a lot. But Steve could do the math for

you. And probably Peter could too if he's, if he's a consumer reports reader. Keep in mind,

he also got out of having to pick a vehicle. I did. I did. All right. So I don't know why I

blocked the microphone, but that was, I mean, you, the people need to hear that. Yeah, that was

weird. Yeah. I think you kept the audience from hearing it, but I, I heard it. So not sure. Well,

for more shenanigans, send your questions to talkingcars.adcloud.com. We will find a smart

person. There are lots of them around here. We will find a smart person to answer your question

for you. And then send you some swag. So good luck, Peter. And good luck to everyone out there

who's shopping for a new car. And we'll talk cars again with you soon.

2026 Toyota bZ

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