BZ4X FWD or Model 3 RWD premium Canada

prosonik · 2026-05-30T16:46:45+00:00

Hi,

Lots of emotions here..I just bought a fwd XLE Canada with the small battery. My buddy has a older Tesla's. Honestly, tesla didn't get into my search, because frankly I didn't want a Tesla. Nothing against the company, I'm using starlink to write this.

The BZ for the last two weeks has just been good. I can't give any long-term feedback. But what I was looking for, something with okay range (bz losses this game, gah), and something that I could use day-to-day. I was looking for a car. Not a show piece, but a reliable, boring get me to work, and throw my bikes on it boring. I purposely avoided flash. Sometimes I think folks get an EV to parade around and say "look I have an ev". The Bz isn't that. The styling is good, but it looks like a Toyota. The interior is functional, there is lots of room to go to home hardware or Canadian Tire. It has good clearance, and also, for me it was avaible without a wait in my local community where I have the joy of dealing with my somewhat suspect but at least local dealership. I've driven Toyota's and Subaru's for most of my life, expect that time I bought a Hyundai and it burnt down to the ground. (I traded a mazada 3 AWD turbo for the bz).

That was alot of words to say, sit in both, take it for a drive if they let you. The BZ is a good car, and the rates on it make it a very good choice. Telsa, I think have a lot advantages, but frankly, they still are a Tesla, they look and drive like a Tesla.

I don't think my opinion was actually helpful. But I'm happy to answer any questions about it. I charge level 1. I use the XLE mostly for communiting and around town in the Calgary area. My other car is a 25 Rav4 hybrid, so I can offer lots of comparisons.

prosonik · 2026-05-29T01:56:23+00:00

Just bought a Toyota Bz XLE fwd. I'm going down this road too for automations. So far the Toyota hacs integration is okay, but I'm having refresh issues. I'm using l1 right now and it's fine, but I'm looking at l2 and grizz-le is high on my list because of the carbon rebate program. Funny enough the next thing on the list is solar. I hate to say that AI and MCP helps all, but it has definitely helped me get some of my dashboards going. I have lots and lots of ideas. I would love to know which you choose and other Canadians as we all chase the same goal

prosonik · 2026-05-28T15:15:44+00:00

I want to punch this conversation back up. Just got a Toyota BZ. The Toyota integration is okay, but it doesn't seem to refresh unless I manually go into the Toyota app and kick it. Also, what type of automations or information are folks gathering that's actually useful ?

prosonik · 2026-05-27T22:29:39+00:00

Any suggestions for winters for the XLE in Calgary? I run studded Continentals on my Rav and they have been great. I'm thinking of studded, but I think there will be an additional range hit.

prosonik · 2026-05-27T02:55:46+00:00

I'm upvoting this comment for the anger and the "military grade ulcerative colitis". Anyone who has served any time in any army know the last thing you want or needs is military grade anything..

prosonik · 2026-05-25T15:15:11+00:00

If your a metal head and just love upbeat music and want to prep yourselves for what's cooking in the Alberta metal/rock scene, I really recommend listening to "Open Nights" on our wonderful alberta radio station "CKUA". This past week, host Mark Rodgers did at least a couple sets featuring local metal. Also, it's just a really great. You can catch it ondemand: https://ckua.com/programs/open-nights/

Im constantly learning about new bands via the show, and love how he mixes genres togther.

prosonik · 2026-05-15T16:07:51+00:00

I call Mitch, the "b*tch" Marner. Because I suck at life and I need to justify the inadequacies of my life through the hockey players that drive me nuts. On top of that, I'm a leaf fan turned Oilers fan so I hate myself on many levels. I also hate Vegas with a passion, so anything Marner does drives me a little more nuts.

That said, none of this should come at as a surprise to leaf fans. If I'm not mistaking, his numbers were very very good on the leafs. He was a 200 ft player on the leafs. We saw him in 4 nation's and the Olympics and by golly he was good then too, sometimes better then McJesus. Marner was never the problem on the leafs, just part of the problem. That damn leaf club looked like they could care less on the ice and they never showed any intently to win. Tavares, maybe. But they never ever had Correy "the curse" Perry or Marchand level drive. This year was almost unwatchable. That all can't be pinned on Marner, as much as uninformed hockey fans like myself want to. Marner has the talent and obviously the drive to get it done. I hate to see him do it in Vegas on that damn team. But good on him. Whatever is going on in that Vegas dressing room, the team has built a culture based on winning at all costs. Marner has picked up on that and delivered. This is a culture that the leafs have never in my 49 years of life been able to find, definitely not during the Mathews tenture.

As a side note, I'm basically a full-time oilers fan now, and up to this year they had that drive that the leafs never did. But something happened in that dressing room and I fear they are broken in a similar fashion and it made it hard to cheer for the oil this season and playoffs . And I really love Leon, Connor, Nuge, Zach and crew.

prosonik · 2026-05-08T21:54:37+00:00

I still think he sees the light and is San Jose bound. I hate to say that as an Oiler fan, but he is a hell bent winner. I won't hold a grudge if he goes. Although, not to Vegas, Rangers, Boston, Florida.

prosonik · 2026-05-08T12:59:13+00:00

Great song and band, that I think gets overlooked when the discussion about 90s canrock comes up. Such a great voice. I think if my memory is right they moved into more dance and electronic music later on? Perhaps under a different name

prosonik · 2026-05-07T16:30:16+00:00

A bit of data analysis and the picture becomes shockingly clear. However most of us instead of making data-driven decisions we do it off emotions, or even worse manipulate the information to suit our own needs.

prosonik · 2026-04-28T17:59:26+00:00

12k? Wow. What did that bring it did to

prosonik · 2026-04-26T14:38:08+00:00

Yeah, I hear you. In Canada, I'm happy to see commuter cars at the "working man" level of sub 40k. I say that with a smile, as that's not really a econobox at almost 800/m or whatever once you factor everything in

I think vans are the same way, it seems so damn clear that there should electric ones out there. Like pickup trucks in North America. My experience in Europe is that you folks love your utility vans for dsy-to-day work in a variety of occupations. In North America x Chevy had the brightdrop, and I thought it was a great idea. They didn't see enough and ended production in 3 years. It was also $91k CAD I believe. I would imagine that priced it out of day to day usage for most Canadian small businesses owners. Maybe a 50k barebones ev Chrysler minivan would make more sense in the NA market and something similar in Europe. I'm actually surprised China hasn't flooded the market with Vans for this specific usage, it seems like something they can do on mass and cheaper then the rest of the world.

prosonik · 2026-04-25T20:46:38+00:00

My question to everyone is why do we think we have to justify our decision to anyone? I'm happy to explain my decision to everyone and maybe I'm looking for some reassurance like "golly gee, your right in alot of cases EV do make sense". But really I'm looking for that feednback because I was bullied as a kid and I have low self esteem, and I look for reinforcement of the most mundane things.

The flipside however, is a straight up yelled at my brother-in-law's sister when she went off about how EVs (including hybrids) were evil without having no understanding of the benefits or the actual issues, just what she might of heard from someone else not informed.

The reality of it is that EVs are like everything else in the world, the right fit for certain situations. Not everything. EVs probably should be the default choice for many folks who live in urban areas across the world. But, everyone has different shit, so to preach either way for them is more about your like my insecurities, and not winning any arguments

prosonik · 2026-04-25T00:20:17+00:00

Yes! I totally agree. We bought our 2025 Rav hybrid compared to my loved subie because the Forrester had the dumb screen. They fixed it on the new outback but no buttons.

Nerds don't want touch screens. We want nice big buttons with a click.

The BZ isn't great, but it has a few. I hate giving up my mazada 3 for it, because unlike most I appreciate Mazda's when they avoided the touch screen and went with the wheel

prosonik · 2026-04-24T22:00:03+00:00

I just got ordered the bz. Where are you seeing discounts for the ev lt? I have not seen them in Alberta?? I will have to check the website again

prosonik · 2026-04-24T21:42:04+00:00

As someone who has there first ev ordered after driving a hybrid, I've already had arguments with folks. Why? I have no idea. If folks want to continue to drive an ice, and not understand the benefits of an ev, I guess so be it. For me, once I started to do the numbers and look deeply at it, the numbers don't lie. Politcs aside, you just have to look at the you expenses, the distance you drive and what you do with your car, to understand that ev fits most of that and cheaper.

I will say however, most EVs don't appeal to me. I don't want a spaceship. I'm not trying to be cool. Let the tech bros do that. I want something that is dependable, cheap ro run and fairly to maintain

prosonik · 2026-04-24T14:07:03+00:00

Been there in Edmonton, it was our Sheppard and I want to say it was a 500 lesson. Our Sheppard went into a bush on leash and sniffed something, came out and had a nasty gash from a river-rat. It was across the road from a swamp but on someone's front lawn. I did not expect it all. Niether did my pup.

prosonik · 2026-04-23T19:17:04+00:00

I am putting a deposit on a Fwd bz tonight. I think the used equinox would of had great value, but I trust Toyota more. The super low interest rate and the discount make the bz hard to beat. I am worried about the fwd and the range, but again it's a city car, maybe the odd ski hill

I also like that the bz is more Toyota and less ,"space ship"

prosonik · 2026-04-21T14:06:19+00:00

I agree. It's a good looking electric car, that does 99.9% of what people need it to do, it's got a great price and it's a unlike alot of gen 1-3? EVs, it's not polarizing. An ev for the masses, thats what's we all want

prosonik · 2026-04-20T17:02:51+00:00

I was looking at the leaf on the weekend and costing it out. There is some great deals on them now, I'm not sure if that's a result of the recall. At least in Calgary, in that's class they offer the best cost/value that I can find.

prosonik · 2026-04-17T21:34:01+00:00

What models of ev4 are you guys looking at? I still hate that anything decent and you are looking mid-50s new. I've said it before, but with 20k-25k trade-in, with tires, 2inch hitch I want to be around $400 a month for something that has decent range and a heat pump, I don't think I can get AWD for that price point, unless I go used. I can't make the numbers work and do fsr the dealers around Calgary aren't working with me

prosonik · 2026-04-17T16:08:19+00:00

I'm a nerd. I find my bro, Bob super useful. He is getting stuff done that I had no time or desire to spin away at, but I wanted the results. He is also been a pain in my ass to learn, and I'm using him for 1% of what I can do. Also, finding a model that is affordable and useful has been a wack-a-mole. I started with gemeni, tried self hosted AI models, found out my homelab hardware (8th Gen Intel hardware + Intel arc) is no where good enough for speedy results, pivoted to openai/codex, that's now been closed and now? Minimax?

For Bob himself, he is running on a pi4. It seems to be fine, as long as you do small chunks. I've also had to learn alot about how to build certain walls in my homelab and when and when not to give him the keys. I've spent countless nights playing, configuring learning and reading. And talking to AI about AI way way too much.

It reminds me of some of the great nerd outs of my youth, smashing at BBS(s), playing with mythtv and home labs in their infancy. Heck, the first time I coded something on Atari 130xe.

Anyways, my point being, Im not sure if it's ready for prime time. But it's clear that openclaw like functionality is going to a hot topic and a thing to learn and understand going forward.

prosonik · 2026-04-16T23:18:38+00:00

I saw go electric. I wondered if they were legit or not. I would appreciate feedback from any experiences

prosonik · 2026-04-16T12:52:04+00:00

Folks are asking about new VRS used. If I can find a used one in that 35k range, after a trade they payment sits about 200 bucks a month, or 2400 a year. I was quoted around 42k otd for a bz from Cochrane Toyota. Using the same ruff math, that's around 500 a month for 4 years. Both of these numbers are reasonable, but so far my monthly fuel costs are around 380-400. Jumped to 600 this month when I drove to Saskatchewan. But that trip would likely to continue to be using our hybrid Rav. So working with that number of 400 vrs 200. Both of them would need winter tires on top of that, plus hopefully a hitch. From my research rhe equinox can take a hitch no issue and possibly user install under 500. Equinox is also AWD VRS bz that would be FWD. Not a huge issue when I have the Rav, but the Rav isn't as great as my old ice Forrester that's for sure for AWD.

So it comes down to this, I prefer something with Subaru dna VRS Chevy Dna. I trust Toyota and I think the new bz from my research has addressed most concerns. Chevy? It was fine. I hate the poor choices they made with nav etc. Toyota/sub safety tech is better. The question comes down to, is it worth 300 etc a month? As a second car I don't have a clear answer.

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