Honda e first impressions video review by Fully Charged.

Honda e Prototype review, first drive impressions by Fully Charged

Up until now, we only saw the Honda e Prototype electric vehicles in a stationary position, Honda recently invited a select few automotive journalists and reviewers to Frankfurt, Germany to give them a test drive of this compact EV.

Robert Llewellyn from the Fully Charged YouTube channel shared his thoughts in his latest first drive impressions video of the Honda e, according to Robert, this is the closest prototype to a production vehicle, actually 99.9% (video below).

The Honda e Prototype that was used in this video review has a unique neon greenish-yellow color which pretty much suits the car’s overall modern and classic fusion design, according to the reviewer Honda e is extremely attractive when you look at it in person.

Let’s go through the important things we noticed in the review first before looking at the exciting review video, we reported the range, battery pack and other important specs of the Honda e in a recent post.

Door Handles

We can see the driver side door handle opening in this video, which actually opens up automatically but Robert did not explain if the handle opened by sensing the mobile app, key fob or a special key coming in close proximity of the car.

The design of the Honda e door handles looks much similar to the Tesla Model 3’s handles, but in a Model 3 they don’t pop open automatically, you need to press them on one side and grab the rest of the  popped out handle top open the doors, the direction of the dip and pope is also the opposite of a Tesla Model 3 as we can see in the following picture from the review.

Honda e Prototype's door handle in open state.
Honda e Prototype's door handle in open state. Credits: Fully Charged

The Dashboard

Honda has come up with a great looking dashboard that integrates the instrument cluster, infotainment, navigation, and wing-mirror cameras in a small horizontal space, this is ingenious design, inspired by Tesla but still ingenious.

According to Robert’s information, the side-view cameras and screens are making it to production, at least that might be the case in Europe and by the time the car hits the North American market, there might be space for regulatory approval for this setup.

Personally, I like Honda e’s wing-mirror display screens more intuitive and practical than the Audi e-tron’s side view mirror displays, the rectangular design and better positioning of Honda makes it more practical and intuitive.

Unlike Teslas, the Honda e has a manual Power ON/OFF button on the right side of the steering wheel, the large horizontal screen is split into three segments starting from the instrument cluster, infotainment and navigation, two more screens on each side are wing-mirror camera displays.

The absence of the side view mirrors in the Honda e should reduce the amount of drag and make it more aerodynamic to increase the overall range but this remains to be seen when the production vehicles are reviewed in detail.

We can see a couple of USB ports and even an AC 230 v/1500 W power outlet under the classic looking climate control options, Honda has kept the climate controls and the HVAC vents as traditional as possible to avoid production complications, a good thing as the Japanese automaker aims to start deliveries of the Honda e in early 2020.

Aftermarket Tesla Accessories by EVANNEX
Honda e first impressions video review by Fully Charged. Honda e in neon greenish yellow rear shot.
Honda e first impressions video review by Fully Charged. Honda e in neon greenish yellow rear shot.

Acceleration and Handling

‘It’s not sluggish’, says Robert as he test drives the Honda e on a limited track, even with a humble 35.5 kWh battery pack, an electric car can produce a decent amount of torque for a great start off the line.

According to Fully Charged’s video review, Honda e Prototype’s regenerative-braking is showing an optimal performance, until you need to apply emergency brakes, there is no need to press the brake pedal.

With a turning circle of 4.3 meters (14.1076 ft) which is way better than a London taxi regulated turning circle of 7.26 meters (24 ft), steering wheel with a 45-degree turn and being a rear-wheel-drive (RWD) the handling performance of the nimble Honda e is just amazing.

Expected Price

Although Honda UK and Europe are taking reservations for the Honda e EV for a couple of months for £800 and the automaker claims they have around ~32,000 reservations for the car but still the price of the vehicle is not announced, it may come later this year.

According to the Fully Charged‘s estimation, the price will be between £25,000 to £30,000 — this looks like ‘a lot’ for a small car with a max of 125 miles (~200 km) range but Honda says “we don’t want this to be cheap”.

Video: Honda e first drive impressions – Fully Charged

Follow us on Google News Flipboard

Iqtidar Ali
[email protected]

Iqtidar Ali reports on the latest happenings at Tesla and Electric Vehicle forefront. With over 1 decade of experience in website development, he's our IT resource as well.


Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /home/iqtidarali/public_html/wp-includes/class-wp-comment-query.php on line 405
No Comments

Post A Comment