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    Toyota bZ Woodland First Drive Review: A 375-HP Electric Wagon for $47K

    7 hours ago

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      Have you seen the Subaru Outback lately? Perhaps what distinguishes a wagon from an SUV ultimately comes down to an eye test, but it’s not a stretch to say that today’s Outback is leaning more toward the latter end of that spectrum than it used to. Maybe we can let that happen, since there’s a new wagon on the market. In fact, there are two, but today, we’re talking about the one with the Toyota badge: the 2026 bZ Woodland. The bZ Woodland is a lengthened version of Toyota’s electric SUV, the bZ. While both vehicles share the same 112.2-inch wheelbase, the Woodland tacks six inches onto the rear, which, it turns out, really does a number on someone’s perception of a car. Unlike the bZ, the Woodland also comes with standard all-wheel drive, 375 horsepower, roof rails, and all-terrain tires as a no-cost option. It starts at $46,750, which would be more compelling if Subaru weren’t about to sell the exact same car with less equipment for about $5,000 less, called the Trailseeker. Either way, the house wins. Fortunately, I think customers will feel like they won, too. What would a car review in 2026 be if we didn’t have to begin by unpacking an automaker’s naming conventions? It’s important to note that while the RAV4 Woodland is just a grade of the RAV4, the bZ Woodland is an entirely unique body style. Yes, both EVs share most of their parts, but no trim level will grant you the additional 8 cubic feet of seats-down storage that the Woodland offers over the regular bZ. If you wanna carry stuff, this is the one to get. With 8.4 inches of ground clearance, the Woodland also rides slightly higher than your standard bZ, owing to its more adventurous disposition—but we are just talking the difference of a tenth of an inch, here. Toyota estimates a maximum range of 281 miles from the Woodland’s 74.4-kWh battery, so long as you don’t spring for that all-terrain tire option. The Dunlop Grandtrek rubber carries a 21-mile range penalty, so if you want the rugged looks, you’ll have to make do with 260 miles of range. Design-wise, the bZ Woodland is really just a longer bZ. Before the electric SUV’s midlife glow-up, I would’ve said this was a bad thing, but I really like how this wagon turned out. All three of Toyota’s core EVs—the C-HR, the regular bZ, and this—share a face, and I reckon it’s a good one. The Woodland adds some silver trim to the lower bumper and has fully reclaimed the original bZ4X’s bizarre wheel-arch cladding while scaling it back at the same time. Toyota calls the bZ Woodland an SUV, but I won’t relent—it’s a wagon through and through, and a sharp one at that. Athletic, but clean. Not styled after a 150-piece tool set you’d buy at Lowe’s, which I can only surmise was the inspiration for the new Outback. Roof rails come standard, too. When the bZ4X was first unveiled, it received significant criticism for its unconventional seating position. Really, the problem was less about where the seat was and more about where Toyota chose to place the digital instrument cluster: far up the dash and close to the bottom of the windshield, so that from many positions the top of the steering wheel obscured the gauges. This hasn’t been fixed for the bZ Woodland, or indeed any of the updated bZ models. It’s something you get used to, and you can sort of move your seat around to find one particular vantage point where you’re mostly looking above the wheel rather than through it. A little annoying, but not a dealbreaker for what is otherwise a fine cabin for the money. OK, some of the plastics do feel cheap, and if you hate screen-heavy interiors, you won’t like the bZ Woodland’s lack of hard buttons. Fortunately, the steering wheel is fitted with plenty, but the 14-inch infotainment screen has only two large dials for climate-control zone temperatures. But for the most part, it looks nice enough, especially with the brown synthetic leather and bronze trim option. Space for rear passengers is generous, and the empty 33.8 cubic feet behind the second row means that you can carry plenty in here before needing to fold the bench down. Paradoxically, although the bZ Woodland’s interior is pretty roomy, it’s not exactly flush with places to store things. There’s no frunk nor glovebox in these bZ EVs, and storage under the center armrest is quite small, though there is a shelf below the bridge that holds the shifter and wireless phone chargers. Much as I tend to avoid wireless charging, these pads did keep my phone in place and effectively topped it up, so if I lived with one of these wagons for any length of time, I might actually use them. You also get standard wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in the bZ Woodland. From the outside, you might be surprised to learn that the bZ Woodland is quite quick. With a total of 375 hp and just shy of a combined 400 lb-ft of torque split evenly between motors on both axles, this is one of the quickest vehicles Toyota sells. It can hit 60 mph from a standstill in just 4.4 seconds, which even beats the new C-HR by about half a second. Of course, it’s no sleeper Volvo wagon, but the bZ Woodland is relatively fun to drive. Besides plentiful torque, steering is light but precise. The soft suspension and high ride height keep you from having too much fun in the corners, but this wagon never feels cumbersome, despite its 4,500 pounds of mass. And while you’ll find what appear to be shifter paddles behind the steering wheel, in the bZ Woodland, they control the level of regeneration the car regains off the throttle. This is an intuitive system, and one I much prefer to digging into a car’s software to find the regen toggle. The cabin is reasonably quiet on the move, too, which is an achievement for an EV, when road noise is even more noticeable than it would otherwise be. While the bZ Woodland is by no means a menace off the asphalt, it never feels out of its depth on dusty trails, particularly when equipped with those aforementioned, range-robbing all-terrain tires. Toyota invited media to do some light off-roading, ascending a mountain in Ojai Valley, California. These paths were mostly dirt and not particularly rocky, but they proved a solid showcase for the bZ Woodland’s X-Mode Grip Control all-wheel-drive tech. Activated via a toggle near the shifter dial, Grip Control can sort of be described as hill descent control, but for ascending hills or any kind of uneven terrain, as well. The toggle lets you choose the speed you’d like to move at; from there, you take your foot off the gas and the brake, and the vehicle diverts power and brake control to the wheels that need it most to navigate whatever it’s faced with. All you have to do is steer and scan the standard panoramic monitor system for any obstructions. Extra cameras definitely come in handy in a place like this. Toyota set up an obstacle course with uneven topology, with ruts in one track and large bumps in the other. X-Mode got through all of it, slowly but surely. On some occasions, it would give it a dab of power that wasn’t enough to overcome the terrain; it rolled back down, then knew enough to give it a little more juice, and it was onto the next obstacle. The bZ Woodland is rated to travel up to 281 miles on a full charge of its 74.7-kWh battery, which is pretty efficient. Those who opt for all-terrain tires will find that range cut to 260 miles. It’s not the quickest-charging EV, as it only supports up to 150 kW, but it does come with a NACS port. On a Level 3 DC fast charger, Toyota estimates drivers can replenish 10 to 80 percent of the battery in 30 minutes. An 11-kW onboard AC charger also addresses a common complaint about the original bZ4X: its very slow home-charging speeds. So, what of the competition? Well, before we address the Trailseeking elephant in the room, the bZ Woodland compares quite favorably to other electric SUVs in its own ways. If this wagon appears poised to take on anything on the market, it’s Hyundai’s $47,875 Ioniq 5 XRT. It costs just $1,125 more than the bZ Woodland. And while the XRT definitely has the edge in charging speed and perhaps interior design and quality as well, it offers less power and, more importantly, less space—just 58.5 cubic feet with its rear seats down, 15.8 cubic feet less than the Woodland. The Ioniq 5 body style is, after all, more of a match for the regular bZ, rather than this wagon-ified version. In the domain of relatively affordable electric SUVs with an off-road slant, there’s also the Volvo EX30 Cross Country, which promises even more power but less range. Much as I love the Cross Country’s vibe, it’s simply not playing in the bZ Woodland’s size class, being a whole two feet shorter. It also costs $49,545. Indeed, the bZ Woodland’s particular combination of size and power makes it pretty compelling for the price. A comparable dual-motor Honda Prologue, for example, will run you almost $10K more, and again, still pales in terms of interior volume. The bZ Woodland starts to win out—so long as you don’t glance at what the Subaru dealer across the street is offering. The existence of the Trailseeker, Subaru’s version of the Woodland, is arguably the biggest reason not to shop Toyota. It starts at $41,445—over $5,000 less than the Woodland—in exchange for slightly less standard equipment. The base Trailseeker lacks the Woodland’s standard power front passenger seat, heated rear seats, 360-degree monitor system, and 120-volt AC outlet in the cargo space, for example. But the gap in amenities is truly slim, and every trim of Subaru’s wagon retains what really counts: The same dual-motor powertrain and battery, offering the same power and range, as well as the same infotainment tech, roof rails, and all that interior space. I like Subaru’s front-end design a lot less than Toyota’s, but I wouldn’t put a $5,000 price tag on that preference. It stands to reason that many people will cross-shop the bz Woodland and the Subaru Trailseeker, and they should. Regardless of what badge is on the front of the wagon you end up driving home with, however, this is a very solid all-purpose EV for the sub-$50K class, and it claims plenty of unique advantages. Yes, the interior could be a little nicer, and a faster-charging architecture would address the bZ family’s most glaring flaw. But you get so much of everything else here—very respectable range, surprising power, all-wheel drive, and a capacious cabin—that some buyers will definitely make those sacrifices. Toyota’s EVs have finally arrived, and, more importantly, the granola-toting set finally has an electric wagon they might entertain—or two. Toyota provided The Drive with travel and accommodations, along with the use of a vehicle for the purpose of writing this review. The Toyota bZ Woodland does so much right for the money that it’s arguably in a class of its own. Or, it would be if Subaru wasn’t serving up a version with even better value.   Backed by a decade of covering cars and consumer tech, Adam Ismail is a Senior Editor at The Drive, focused on curating and producing the site’s slate of daily stories. Car Buying Service By Joel Feder By Byron Hurd
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