Featured 2026 Toyota CH-R+ EV (and refreshed bZ4X)

Two criticisms:

• I thought Toyota would ease up on the BEV names.
• The biggest design mistake on a BEV/BUV is the lack of aerodynamics, as BEV/BUV mileage and range rapidly decreases with speed otherwise. It looks like Toyota hasn’t realized this and learned from Tesla to design an aerodynamic BEV/BUV. It makes no sense because even with the Prius HEV/PHEV, the aerodynamics was the starting point of the design.

 

Rushed to market?

 

Yet most SUVs are half that. Mine was $37,750 and was a hybrid fully loaded with packages and was a high end model. KBB.com says worth $30,500 now. So almost 5 years at around $130 a month depreciation.

 

Looking for a used Model Y with FSD and found one, 2022, 40,000 mi, offer $31,500. So I checked Tesla and found:

• Latest HW 4 controller
• AutoPilot is acceptable alternative to FSD
  • May be able to transfer Model 3 FSD to this car

Bob Wilson

 

Still not boycotting Tesla??

 

More important than the wishful thinking of the hater above, let us know when you find out about FSD transfer.

 

I pity Elon who went nuts over the past 4-6 years but it happens. I hate the Sociopath in Chief who is exploiting Elon as his tool. Elon has become a mix of "Rain Man" the Raymond Babbit character and John Nash from "A Beautiful Mind". He is doing what the sociopath in Chief admires . . . hateful destruction of people, lives, and our country. But business is something else.

You' all ever negotiate a car price?

• $31,500 :: HW 3.0, Full Self Driving, needs $1,300 Tesla tow package, 40,000 mi
  • $31,500 + $1,300 = $32,800.00
• $33,880 :: HW 4.0, Autopilot, needs $1,000 Tesla tow package, 3 mi.
  • $33,880 + $1,000 = $34,880.00

I have not included the salvage value of the 2017 BMW i3-REx but I doubt it would make a $2,000 difference. Still, worth checking. Looking at the two deals, is HW 4.0 and full warranty worth an extra $2,000 . . . we'll find out next week.

I don't "need" a Model Y but if the numbers work out, good. Otherwise, I can wait to May 2025 and the next window to pick two:

• GOOD
• FAST
• CHEAP -- always

I've also got 10 shares TSLA shorted:

• ($270 - $240) * 10 = $300 :: paper profit 3/13/2025

If I can run a paper profit of $300/week for 17 weeks, an additional $5,100. But short-selling may have profit rates equivalent to -1 times the TSLA stock price increases.

So if I wait to May, about 17 weeks away:

• Tesla sales may continue to decline:a surplus inventory to further reduce price
• TSLA stock may continue to decline: a profit for short sellers
• FSD sunk costs will need coverage: a lower price
• Tesla fuel credit may go away: requires lower operating margins and lower prices
• Elon might leave Tesla: short sellers will rejoice

I bought my 2019 Model 3 in March 26, 2019 to save money. It has fully met and even exceeded my expectations. Elon didn't sell it to me, the specifications and lesson's learned with my BMW i3-REx and Prius Prime did.

Bob Wilson

 

They aren't going to change the bZ4X name while it still looks like a bZ4X. It won't happen until a redesign, like the Civic hybrid becoming the Insight III. C-HR is an established model. Europe already gets a C-HR Plug-in Hybrid. I'm guessing Toyota isn't ready to put EV or Electric after a car name, and the + is already trademarked.

They could address the aerodynamics. The gen2 Niro has the drag coefficient of a sedan; matching the gen1 Prius. The C-HR is already pretty close to that itself, and BEV model likely gets addition aero tweaks. Most don't cause they don't want to pay for the R&D to do it, and it doesn't appear to deter buyers. The SUV/Crossover is even becoming popular in Japan.

 

I wouldn't mind the CHR+ if it ever ended up in Canada I suppose. It's smaller than the BZ4X, I don't like bigger cars. Kinda reminds me more of the size profile my matrix has that is nice.

Would still love to see a prius type sedan, liftback, but full EV here in north america. Hopefully that becomes a reality one day, it would be exactly what I want out of an EV. I just want something with a liftback/hatchback, and I don't want it to be huge, which the CHR isn't, and EV.

Time will tell if they bring us a sedan BEV or not from toyota. I still think the prius is likely to transition to having EV models and keeping its nameplate. Jumping from a prius PHEV to prius EV can't be that difficult.

Or maybe they just can't get a big enough battery into their lower to the ground sedan designs with effective enough ranges to make them something north americans might want?

 

What happened to the i3-REx?

 

The US didn't even get the hybrid version.

Toyota is still working with an ICE platform for their BEVs. Without the extra height of a crossover model, this does constrain the battery size. They are working on some battery tech that will help improve energy density some if they stick with the platform. A Prius EV will have a range around that of a Leaf if they do.

 

That picture was a good one

 

I have never seen video of him driving, just sittin’.

 

Sorry, used an old accounting class term, "salvage." When a capital resource is disposed, it is called salvage. The BMW i3-REx is perfectly fine for +75,000 miles.

I'm pretty sure I'll wait to May and let the market in Teslas "ripen."

• Used and new Teslas values are likely to go down - the sociopath has yet to scrub Musk . . . it is coming. His minions are already nipping at Musk with the GSA closing of EV chargers, ending emission credits, and all but invisible marketing support.
• The full, Greater Depression is not yet here. There is a lag between a stock market crash and pink slips.
• My "short position" improves and reduces my future costs and profits from Solar Project.

Bob Wilson

 

According to the Jay Leno's Garage episode with President Biden, and as confirmed by the speaker of the house and even confirmed by Barack Obama: The FBI does not allow their charges to drive on public streets. In order to drive his new Corvette, Biden had to take it to one of the sites where they train agents to drive defensively when attacked.

You will probably not ever see Trump driving.

 

he's driving me crazy...

 

That's a funny story. Except his (first marriage) father in law haddn't even give that Corvette to him yet. He hadn't even finished Law School at that time (- where he was near the bottom of his class - LOL) much less entered congress.
It wasn't until decades later when he fell under those presidential guidelines.
Fun fact, Harry Truman was the last president to drive himself around. When he left the presidency he took a 19-day road trip (no secret service - just him in the old lady). There's a book all about it.

.

 

I know they dropped the CHR here, they moved towards the Corolla hatchback instead, and even that is only ICE and CVT. Shame really. But bigger, higher up cars sell much better in north america, so the RAV4, Corolla Cross, highlander, etc. Hatchbacks/liftbacks that aren't a crossover and taller, are rare here. It's why I like the prius and my matrix so much. The prius is more sedan like, but the Matrix has basically the same ground clearance, just not as long, and taller. More akin to the PriusV in size, which seems to have supplanted the Matrix once that was available and the Matrix was discontinued.

Even Kia's EV4 is only coming here as the Sedan model. The hatchback version is only going as far as the European market and built in Slovakia from what I've seen online. Which is sad.

Which is why I am hoping that the Prius namesake shifts to being an EV, since it is the nameplate that Toyota started its hybrid and more green approach to cars with. Though I do think for as long as they make hybrids, they'll probably use the Prius as the flagship for every generation of hybrid powertrain, just as it has been since the start.

If the Gen 6 prius ends up still being a liftback/hatch, and it has a PHEV with longer range, I'd also consider that. They're cheaper than EVs here in Canada by a fairly substantial margin, and I don't need fancy tech, TSS3.0 is more than enough for me already. I just wish I could have the same range I have in winter as I do in summer here. And I'd be happy for my daily needs, to be honest.

But if a prius did come with full EV, no engine, Toyota reliability and customer care, even if it had leaf range of 400km in summer... that would be perfect too. The only reason I don't want a Leaf is because Nissan isn't the best brand out there and seems to be struggling, possibly approaching the end of its days if they don't turn it around, and they're *expensive* without the best battery management though perhaps that's changed. I also am just a toyota fanboy, and since they've always treated me well, I am one of those brand committed folks who wants to treat them well back.

I'm open to trying other brands if Toyota can't get an EV, at a good price with good value proposition, in the next 5 years though. I can't wait forever. But I really do worry about used in the EV market, because idk how previous owners treated their cars, and the high price point even on used makes me wary. If I am spending more than 5-10k on a car, I want it to last 10 years. Its easier to justify 40k and drive for 15 years, than it is to justify 20k and drive for less than 10 (without big repair bills).

I think tesla's are overpriced for what the cars are worth it to me, new. And I dislike how closed loop they've made their service centers, wherein its hard to get independent mechanics to work on the car due to parts availability. And insurance rates are higher on tesla's than similar price and class alternatives.

I've also thought Elon was a fraud and a cheat who's success is built on buying businesses and being a confidence man pushing them forward and all the good work is done by those beneath him, and that the more they shield the daily operations from the man the better. His job should be limited to sales person as much as possible, as that's where his value is (was).

BUT! Saying all this: I think that if the company can actually boot Elon, and scrub the man away, so that the tesla brand is no longer inextricably linked to the (sorry for the politics on a car forum) bad things he is doing and the way he's been elevating hateful speech online for the past few years on twitter, I would be open to a well cared for and highly depreciated tesla model 3 as our second car.

I don't want FSD. I don't care for the removal of the stalks, and I don't like that the latest models are almost entirely on the touch screen. But, for a point A to point B car, if there's a sea of used models flooding the market, there will be attractive prices for what amounts to a disposable daily driver, and I'd have the pick of the lot for a car that has decent QC (given how hit or miss their QC is with some great builds and some terrible ones).

 

My window sticker said Corolla SUW in small print under Matrix. The name was about getting around the hatchback/wagon perception.

I do see Prius staying hybrid for Japan and other markets(I think it's the only car they import to Mongolia). Japan's grid service for many can't support home charging like it does in Europe and North America. It might become PHEV only here, as it now is in Europe. Toyota went with that bZ route with BEVs. They might be rethinking that, but I don't see them taking the engine out of the Prius.

My interest in Tesla was because they were the only real option for a BEV. That is no longer the case, but the current atmosphere could mean the price on used will have me getting one for commuting. The stalks are supposedly coming back on the Model 3 and Y redesigns.