As a milestone in Toyota's electrification transformation, what are the product strengths of bZ4X and bZ3? Can we gain a foothold in the fierce competition in the new energy automobile market in China? In mid-March, EV Jun experienced these two models in Hainan. This article talks about the feeling of test drive.
BZ4X: Pure electric SUV full of driving pleasure
BZ4X is an SUV, focusing on driving pleasure and off-road ability beyond the same level. Although it is a domestic SUV, due to its excellent body structure design and professional four-wheel drive system, its dynamic performance, passability and ability to get rid of difficulties are obviously better than those of its peers. From the actual experience, it can really make drivers feel rich driving pleasure.
BZ4X is built on the exclusive BEV platform under the framework of Toyota e-TNGA, which is jointly developed by Toyota and Subaru, and has the characteristics of low center of gravity and high rigidity. The pure electric vehicle developed based on this platform not only has attractive design and spacious interior space, but also has unique off-road driving pleasure, all-round safety protection and humanized intelligent technology. This fundamentally ensures the excellent driving performance of bZ4X.
In terms of power, bZ4X has two power versions. The predecessor version is equipped with a permanent magnet synchronous motor, with the maximum power 150kW and the maximum torque of 266.3 N m. The four-wheel drive version is equipped with a permanent magnet synchronous motor with the maximum power of 80kW and the maximum torque of168.5 N m. EV Jun has experienced the four-wheel drive version, and the maximum output power of 160kW is not high, 0.
Only from the book data, the dynamic performance of bZ4X is very general, and some people may even find it strange. The maximum power of the single-motor two-drive version is 150kW, while the comprehensive maximum power of the dual-motor four-wheel drive version is only 160kW. What is the significance of launching the four-wheel drive version? The author thinks that this still needs to return to the positioning of bZ4X home SUV. It is not a pure electric SUV that pursues the ultimate acceleration performance, but hopes to strike a balance between power performance, energy consumption and economy. From the actual driving experience, its dynamic performance is enough to meet the daily driving needs.
Because the power of the motor is not very high, and the adjustment of power output is relatively linear, the bZ4X starts to accelerate very smoothly, and passengers who accelerate rapidly will not feel dizzy, and the braking is also very linear. If it is not particularly obvious emergency braking, there will be no "nodding" phenomenon. Although the initial acceleration is not very fierce, it is not a problem to kill a group of gasoline cars when the red light at the intersection turns green, and the acceleration in the middle and late stages with a speed of more than 80 kilometers per hour is also very strong, which will not make the driver feel at a loss. When driving at high speed, the car body is very smooth, and the tire noise and wind noise are not obvious.
Because the battery pack is placed on the chassis, the center of gravity of the vehicle is relatively low, and the front McPherson rear multi-link independent suspension combination of bZ4X also improves the handling stability of bZ4X. When the vehicle is cornering at high speed, the body roll amplitude is relatively small and the posture is stable. Due to the positioning of the family car, the suspension adjustment style of bZ4X is comfortable, and the potholes on the road surface are well filtered. Moreover, the suspension is flexible and can provide good support for the car body when driving through potholes.
It should be pointed out that the steering feel of bZ4X is not as light as that of many electric vehicles, and the steering assistance seems to be insufficient. This may be to reflect its sportiness and learn from the adjustment style of traditional German fuel vehicles. I still feel a little tired after driving at low speed in the urban area for a long time, especially for female car owners. Regarding the adjustment of electric vehicle steering assistance, the author's experience is that the steering wheel feel of most electric vehicles on the market is very light, which is one of the main reasons why many users generally think that electric vehicles are "better to drive" than fuel vehicles. At the same time, the sportiness and handling of electric vehicles are no longer reflected by the weight of the steering wheel. For example, compared with the fuel version X3, the steering wheel of BMW iX3 feels very light.
In terms of braking energy recovery, the kinetic energy recovery intensity of bZ4X can be adjusted in two steps, one strong and the other weak. If you choose a weaker gear, the vehicle will enter a natural sliding state after releasing the accelerator pedal, which is basically the same as the experience of a fuel vehicle. The feeling of strong gear is similar to that of single pedal mode. After the accelerator pedal is released, the braking energy recovery intensity will gradually increase until the vehicle speed drops to the crawling speed.
Next, we should focus on the off-road performance of bZ4X. Although it is a home SUV, its off-road performance is really strong. Therefore, in addition to meeting daily commuting, it is easier to deal with bad road conditions when going to the wild occasionally, which is defined by many car companies as light off-road.
The reason why bZ4X has stronger off-road capability than most pure electric SUVs of the same class is that it is equipped with X-MODE four-wheel drive off-road auxiliary mode and Grip-Control intelligent crawling mode jointly developed by Toyota and Subaru.
X-MODE has two modes: snow/sand and snow/mud. The power of the vehicle will be intelligently distributed on the four wheels according to the road conditions. If there is snow on the road, the wheels will idle for about 30%, and the snow will be scraped out of the road to increase the adhesion of the tires.
In this test drive, the organizer specially arranged a test drive in a cross-country venue. bZ4X can handle potholes, muddy or soft sand. However, it should be pointed out that although bZ4X has a powerful four-wheel drive system, it still needs some off-road driving skills. The author fell into the sand twice and finally got out of trouble under the guidance of the test drive coach.
During the test drive, I also experienced the intelligent assisted driving function for a long time. BZ4X is equipped with the latest version of "Toyota Safety Assistant". The functions of the camera and radar are further enhanced, and the detection angle is wider, the detection distance is farther, and the identification of lanes and obstacles is more accurate. Judging from the realized functions, bZ4X can reach the mainstream L2-level assisted driving in the market at present. Although there are no fancy functions, such as changing lanes with turn signals, guiding assisted driving, etc., the most basic ACC adaptive endurance, lane keeping, lane departure warning, traffic sign recognition and other aspects are stable, the technology is mature, and the timing and intensity of vehicle acceleration and deceleration are properly controlled.
Toyota bZ3: more innovative's design is smarter.
The author also experienced the test drive of bZ3, the second model of BZ series. BZ3 is a pure electric vehicle jointly developed by Toyota and its China joint ventures FAW Toyota and BYD. It is specially designed for young consumers in China. The vehicle adopts Toyota's e-TNGA architecture and BYD's lithium iron phosphate battery. At the same time, many innovations have been made in the design of appearance and interior, and the intelligent level of vehicles has also been greatly improved.
First of all, talk about design innovation. BZ3 did make a lot of innovations, but I don't quite understand what some innovations are for. They may be tentative, so we should test the user's acceptance. For example, the hidden door handle is not pulled out, but the hand should reach into the groove inside the door handle and pull it out from the inside. Japanese designers explained that this is to optimize the wind resistance of the car body. It is true that the hidden door handle has this function when the vehicle is running, but the design of the door opening mode seems to have nothing to do with the wind resistance of the car body. The only explanation may be determined by the way the door is opened in the car.
As shown in the above picture, bZ has no door handle, and the door switch is hidden in the armrest, so you need to reach in and press the switch. The designer explained that this is to increase the space inside the car. There is only one button on the armrest to open and close the window, so how can it control the front, rear, left and right windows of the vehicle? The answer is the prompt on the dashboard below. First, press the keys in different directions to select the target window, and then open or close the window. After careful study, it is not difficult to learn, but it will take some time to fully adapt.
Why not take a more traditional approach? One possible explanation is that the armrest is too small to be equipped with four window buttons.
There are some designs in the interior that are not unusual. For example, there is a steering light pole on the steering wheel, which is a left button and a right button (the monitoring picture on the vehicle side will appear on the central control panel after being pressed, which is commendable). The traditional turn signal lamp pole is equipped with a paddle to control the wiper.
There are also some stresses on the design of instruments. As shown above, there is a small screen between the rear of the steering wheel and the suspension instrument. The information that could have been displayed on the instrument is divided into two parts, one of which is displayed on a small screen, but the screen area is not large and the position is inconspicuous, so it is not very convenient to see the information on it.
In addition to these innovative details, the interior of bZ3 is also unique in the design of digital island, integrating intelligent configuration, large vertical display, wireless charging, car-machine interconnection and other functions. And it is still innovative (but this design has led to a new problem, that is, the cup holder can not be installed in the central passage, but moved below the air outlet of the main and auxiliary air conditioners). Touch multimedia large screen can operate air conditioner, stereo, window, trunk and other functions. The voice wake-up speed is very fast, but because it is a test car, it is impossible to experience more voice functions.
Car machines have many functions. In addition to pre-installed applications, car control functions are also very rich. Because compared with bZ4X, bZ3 has more vehicle functions in driving and safety, such as four adjustable driving modes: economy, ordinary, sports and snow. The braking energy recovery intensity can be adjusted in four grades: small, medium, large and large; The parameters of driver assistance function can also be adjusted. Compared with bZ4X, bZ3 can give users more personalized choices.
The test drive of bZ3 is a venue experience, and the main projects are zero acceleration and snake-shaped pile winding. BZ is a single-motor front-wheel drive vehicle equipped with permanent magnet synchronous motor provided by BYD. The maximum output power of the low-power version 135kW, the maximum output power of the high-power version 180kW and the maximum torque of 303N.m The officially announced acceleration time of 0-50km/h is 3.2 seconds and 3.4 seconds respectively, and the maximum speed is160km/h..
Like bZ4X, bZ3 has a very linear power output and a smooth start. The accelerator pedal is fully depressed, and there is no tire slip, which shows that the power distribution of the electronic control system is very accurate. The initial acceleration is not particularly fierce, but the feeling of acceleration in the middle and late stages is very obvious.
E-TNGA architecture's high rigid chassis and low center of gravity design also endow bZ3 with excellent handling stability, which can effectively restrain the body roll range and maintain a relatively stable body posture during intense driving.
Summary: bZ series electric vehicles are a key step in Toyota's transformation to electrification. Whether it's the first model bZ4X that it made great efforts to build, or the bZ3 specially developed for the China market in cooperation with BYD, it can be seen that Toyota has really made great efforts in the bZ series. BZ4X also performed well in overseas markets, but its performance in China market did not meet Toyota's expectations. Compared with the products of the new domestic car-making forces, the competitiveness of bZ4X in intelligence is still weak, and it remains to be seen whether the series of innovations made by bZ3 meet the needs of users in China.
It is worth noting that Toyota attaches great importance to this test drive. Many R&D personnel and engineers from Toyota China Changshu R&D Center came to the event site and had in-depth exchanges with the media involved in the test drive. The author also gave some feedback on these two cars and gave a detailed explanation. Thus, Toyota attaches great importance to the China market and user demand. BZ4X and BZ3 are just the beginning. I believe that other BZ series models launched by Toyota will be more in line with the preferences of China users.
This article comes from EV Century, the author of Easy Car Number, and the copyright belongs to the author. Please contact the author for any form of reprint. The content only represents the author's point of view and has nothing to do with the car reform.