Author: French fries fish
Some people say that men’s love for cars knows no age. Some people say that in front of a car, a man is always young until he dies.
A good example of these statements is that many fathers and sons can talk like buddies on the theme of cars. At least my father and I are like this, from childhood to 20 years later.
And in the 20-year-old topic, I found that there is a brand that always runs through it, Toyota; and in the enduring topic, I found a characteristic that ignores time, quality.
The father’s appreciation for Toyota is mostly due to the billboard that appeared near Beijing Airport in 1982. “There must be a road when the car reaches the mountain, and there must be a Toyota car when there is a road”, the old Crown and old Land Cruiser filled their entire imagination of luxury and reliability in their youth.
My memory of Toyota was strengthened by the torture of a “vintage eight-handed” Toyota Hilux by the three TopGear players in the third season. Impact, immersion, beating, fire, explosion… When it was dug out of the debris, although the main beam was broken, it could still start and drive back to the studio even when it wobbled.
Now, when the historical wheel travels to the new intersection of pure electric, FAW-Toyota has also added the latest topic ammunition for the “buddy relationship” between fathers and sons, the FAW-Toyota bZ4X.
The persistence of the younger generation
As a young person who is unwilling to bow down to 30 years old, my focus on the FAW-Toyota bZ4X naturally falls on those cutting-edge features.
“As the first mass-produced model of the Toyota e-TNGA pure electric architecture, the FAW-Toyota bZ4X first meets my bottom line for the word ‘pure electric'”. The so-called bottom line is a small gain that I have obtained from the perspective of an observer in the automotive industry after watching hundreds of new car launches.
In this era of the pervasive Internet thinking, to obtain real information from the manufacturers’ descriptions, one needs to have observational skills, comprehension, and information retrieval ability as a prerequisite, and deep knowledge of automotive principles, industry status, and future trends as advanced keys. However, after I got lost in the ocean of skills, I found that “pure electric architecture” is actually the easiest lighthouse to guide me in the right direction. When an electric vehicle is marked with this tag, many of the vehicle details that we are struggling with usually no longer become a problem.
The first thing that “pure electric” sheds light on is the appearance. The unique advantage of pure electric architecture is to fit a 2850mm wheelbase in a 4690mm vehicle length. This brings about a stretched body posture on the outside and a spacious knee room of 1000mm on the inside of the vehicle. Coupled with the spatial magic is Toyota’s brand-new Hi-Tech and Emotion design language. The contrasting color splicing design running from the front to the rear conveys Toyota’s understanding of technology and emotion in the new age.
Of course, technology is not limited to the appearance. As a late-stage sufferer of “cannot separate from mobile phones,” the digital key function provided by bZ4X not only lightens my pocket by reducing one car key, but also makes the circulation of vehicle permissions among family members more smooth – it is no longer just a means of transportation for someone, rather the shared travel space of the whole family.
The efficient solar charging dome is another unusual stubbornness of FAW Toyota bZ4X regarding clean energy. Toyota says that the additional energy from the sun can allow the vehicle to run an extra 1750km per year. What I care about more is whether, with it, when I recharge my phone on the car every day, my phone will also bring back memories of the sun from my childhood.
And when we actually sit in the cockpit of the FAW Toyota bZ4X, we can feel the charm of the e-TNGA pure electric architecture from another dimension. At first glance, it is undoubtedly an SUV, but when I start to adjust the seat posture, the seat height that is getting closer and closer to the floor is constantly refreshing my expectations for driving fun.
Generally speaking, due to the battery pack arranged under the floor, electric vehicles often bring a higher seating position. However, the FAW Toyota bZ4X is an exception. Thanks to e-TNGA, which considers the arrangement of the battery pack from the design, low-seating enthusiasts like me can even find a seating position similar to that of a sedan in this car.
And when I press the shift knob to shift to the D gear, when I feel the seat’s full lateral support, when I drive on the paved road with a low seating position, and cooperate with the smooth power, comfortable and supportive suspension system as FAW Toyota has always done, the “ground-level glide” feeling naturally gives me confidence in pursuing a purer driving pleasure in corners.
The Persistence of the Elder Generation
For the elder generation, their focus is more on vehicle performance related to the SUV attribute.
What surprises me the most is my dad’s acceptance of pure electric Toyota. In my imagination, shouldn’t elders be wary of new things? But he gave me a reason that not only conforms to this logic, but also makes me unable to refute.
“Toyota has been selling hybrid cars for several decades. There are motors and batteries in them. Now it’s just more pure.”
I don’t know if you have been fascinated by Grandpa Toyota when you read this, and I don’t know how many Toyota old users will have similar ideas. From a macro perspective, this is of course correct. In the era of internal combustion engines, energy efficiency has always been Toyota’s trademark for opening up the world market. Continuing this idea, Toyota has seen the complementary advantages of oil and electricity and has taken the lead in producing hybrid vehicles. And all of these experiences will eventually be integrated into the bZ4X by FAW Toyota.
In terms of technical details, pure electric will not simply replace the engine with a larger battery. I guess Toyota, who has developed the “Lean Production” mode, should find it difficult to accept products that only pursue innovation but disregard actual user experience. The result of fine polishing is the ultra-low energy consumption of 11.6kWh/100km and a range of 615km presented by this low energy consumption. After all, there is no benefit in saying more, and battery life is the best weapon to defeat the anxiety of mileage among traditionalists.
Apart from battery life, whether or not it is pure electric, the obsession of our elders with Toyota SUVs cannot escape the scope of off-road vehicles. The tone of off-road is mostly tied to four-wheel drive, and the cumbersome functions in the era of internal combustion engines have found the quickest way in the electric era.
Thanks to the flexible power layout of the e-TNGA pure electric architecture, FAW Toyota bZ4X offers a four-wheel drive version equipped with front and rear dual motors. In the dictionary of the four-wheel drive version, FAW Toyota’s interpretation of off-road is “grip”. Rooted in four-wheel drive power, Toyota has equipped it with the X-MODE four-wheel drive off-road auxiliary mode jointly developed with Subaru, which can accurately control the output torque of the motor for two special road conditions, “easy slide” and “easy sink”, thus achieving better traction and escape capabilities.
# Translated English Markdown Text
Above the X-MODE, the Grip-Control intelligent creeping mode takes the “grip principle” to the extreme. It can provide different power distribution strategies according to different road surface scenes, maintaining tire-ground friction adhesion at all times. The leading four-wheel drive technology in the same class not only gives us more confidence when facing unpaved road surfaces, but also retains the spirit of the elder generation who refuse to grow old.
The Intersection of Father and Son
A topic that can make father and son chat like buddies must have overlapping interests in their concerns. In the carrier of a car, our intersection is safety. After all, as “old” drivers become more and more mature and “new” drivers also shed their youthful recklessness, “old-new” people are increasingly able to realize the importance of safety to their family and life.
And the safety subset of electric vehicles is first and foremost focused on “electricity”.
Whenever there is news of electric car fires, ordinary people may just be attracted by the headlines, but electric car users are deeply affected. As an old player in the automotive industry, FAW Toyota naturally knows how to address the pain points of users. For more than 20 years, the safety record of 0 battery accidents for the 20 million power battery vehicles created by Toyota has injected inheritance and soul into the safety of the pure electric era.
The bZ4X, born on the e-TNGA architecture, adopts the integrated design of battery and chassis, which means that the inside and outside are integrated. From outside to inside, there is an aluminum protector plate under the battery pack, and collision buffering structures on both sides of the battery pack. From inside to outside, the design of liquid cooling pipeline and electric core isolation also reduces the risk of short circuit caused by coolant leakage from the structure.
“After electricity, “car” is also the focus of safety, and Toyota’s problem-solving ideas on this level are intelligence and configuration.”In the past, the TSS 2.0 active safety system, as standard across the range, not only earned Toyota a good reputation, but also created value for users’ driving safety with intelligent driving technology.
Now, TSS has undergone a major update, and the FAW-Toyota bZ4X, the first model equipped with TSS 3.0, in addition to the original safety configuration such as ACC adaptive cruise control, LTA lane tracing assist, and PCS pre-collision system, 3.0 has also included multi-scene intelligent parking as a standard accessory package across the range. Obviously, FAW-Toyota hopes that TSS 3.0 can take on more mechanical repetitive work, allowing the driver to focus on the easier monitoring system operation, in order to improve vehicle driving safety.
Turning back, let’s take a closer look at the “buddy’s day” between father and son.
If the architecture, design, technology that I care about and the endurance, off-road preferences that the older generation cares about combine to form the product characteristics of the FAW-Toyota bZ4X, then the vehicle safety that both generations care about, in addition to safety itself, we are more concerned about the unspoken understanding.
In traditional Chinese society, under the introverted personality of the oriental people, father-son relationships are often separated by fences set by rules and ideals.
In fact, we need to find the key to communication more than anyone else, such as cars, such as the FAW-Toyota bZ4X.
In fact, we also hope that this equal communication triggered by common interests can last longer than anyone else, such as the next 20 years.
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This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.