Electrification is the big “buzz” word right now with more and more manufactures turning to fully electric cars. Honda is one such group hoping to capitalise on this with a 6 model roll-out by 2022.
Honda’s first arrival is the much talked about Honda e. A small city 5 door hatchback. This is the second launch for Honda UK of the model with the first being in Valencia earlier in the year. This time in the UK and under COVID-19 social distancing regulations, Honda ran a 7 day release with a maximum of 16 journalists. A big expense paid with 16 cars ready, waiting and charged for us to be let loose in. Did the gamble pay off?
Cute
For a start, the Honda e is a cute looking car. It doesn’t matter which way you look at it, it will always be looked on like a family pet. The soft lines are interspersed with some flat panels and a faux grill. Honda not quite ready to give it the faceless look of a Tesla.
There are a few problems and the first one for some will be the range. A good 100 miles is available from the 35.5 kWh Lithium-ionbattery. More if you’re careful and much less if you are not. Is this a problem? Yes and no. For a start the Honda e has been designed mainly as a city car. It’s compact dimensions play into that quite well along with its tight turning circle thanks largely to its rear wheel drive powertrain coupled to a small battery. The bigger the battery the larger the car and the Honda e isn’t about being a large car.
And large it isn’t. For a start the boot is tiny. This is a problem you get when you mount the motors and sophisticated inter linked rear suspension under the floor. However all is not lost. The single folding rear bench does allow a full length folded deck chair to be carried.
However rear leg room is at a premium and it is sad to see Honda not using their patented magic seat system here.
Step On It
On the road, the Honda e is a blast. I could use buzz but you’d tire of the word after a while. It nips around and because all of that torque is available from the word “GO” you can leave greater cars behind you. There was an incident where an Audi TT was left in my dust along a fast A road.
And fast this will go with a claimed top speed of 93mph. It is limited to this and for good reason too. The alacrity of the way it goes makes 70mph come up quicker than you think and because it’s all electric, it’s quiet too. Quiet that is on most surfaces. Sadly there were some roads around Amber Lakes that were unforgiving to a car so quiet but you learn to live with this quickly.
And though the Honda e is quick, it’s no sports car. Ultimately understeering when pushed though never over steering. The electronic stability control device is permanently on. A shame in some respects but with all that immediate power available to a short wheelbase, it will only end in a lot of Honda e’s facing the wrong way on wet roads.
Faking It
Inside Honda have excelled above and beyond. At the detriment of their other vehicles available, this does rather ruin the appeal of the new Jazz I tested recently. The wood might be fake but the enjoyment and tactility of the whole dashboard experience was exceptional in all but a few areas. There is the ability to adapt the screens to suit.
The entire width of the dashboard is made up of a facia panel for speedometer etc and then 2 further screens for satnav, battery life/charge/miles available among other things. Sadly we were unable to get the battery gauge to swap over meaning your eyes were very much taken off the road to see what was going on.
There is also the issue of some of the Honda apps being available right at the other end of the screens. It’s not really supposed to be for the driver to use. For once the dashboard is an interaction play thing for passengers too. Here however Honda has allowed the apps you’d want to use most frequently become easily available and the touch screens are intuitive and respond in a quick change over.
Verdict
The Honda e won’t be for everyone that’s for sure. For me personally it does the job I’d expect it to do well and that range of 100 good miles, I could do my weekly commute with 30 miles spare even in the harshest of winters. And should I need a rapid charge, it can be done in about half an hour but around 6-10 hours from a home charger. For all other uses it simply won’t meet most needs if it is the only car in the house. And that price tag of £34,365 may well cause you to fall off your seat.
The Honda e comes with a hosts of heated elements to aid the driver and eliminate the fear you might be thinking about how it would heat itself up. The screens alone felt like they had the ability to heat up the cabin on their own without the need for a supplementary system.