RE: Honda unveils 'e' city car in mass production form

[Jaaws]

This'll be replacing the Mitsubishi iMiev that I've been blatting around in for the last seven years. Still rear wheel drive but nearly twice the power and range. The little iMiev is a hoot to drive and I'm looking forwards to having one of these in Charge Yellow.

[unsprung]

shantybeater said:

Such a shame. If it kept its mk1 golf gti looks I would have been one of those signing up. Unfortunately this is too far away from where it was to look good.

+1

[DonkeyApple]

blearyeyedboy said:

Hold on a minute,

There's a new, small car that's:

• torquey (at low speeds anyway)
• RWD
• 50:50 weight distribution
• Low centre of gravity
• Not stupidly heavy (1400kg for an EV isn't amazing but it isn't bad, modern Golf GTi territory)

... and the article's focused on the styling?

Nip over to mumsnet for more manly coverage?

[Cupramax]

Unless this is cheaper than the new 50kwh Zoe or E208/Corsa E I can’t see why anyone would buy one of these. The concept looked stunning but the reality is totally blurgh

Edit for speeling.

Edited by Cupramax on Wednesday 4th September 17:41

[BenjiS]

cheddar said:

I think they've missed the point, no one has wing mirror anxiety but almost everyone has range anxiety.

Not for a tiny city car. My wife would get one of these for the school run and shopping etc and would only need to charge it once a month.

Agree that the mirrors are pointless though.

[Olivera]

Smiljan said:

Real thing looks to be a bit of a noddy car.

The Nodd-E.

[Gad-Westy]

BenjiS said:

cheddar said:

I think they've missed the point, no one has wing mirror anxiety but almost everyone has range anxiety.

Not for a tiny city car. My wife would get one of these for the school run and shopping etc and would only need to charge it once a month.

Agree that the mirrors are pointless though.

When we had a gen 1 Leaf (similar range on paper) that was really the purpose it was bought for but it was so quiet, comfortable and cheap to run, that we'd have liked to have used it for more family day trip type stuff but with 100 miles realistic range (in summer driving normally, less when it's cold) and the fact that you really don't want to be playing chicken with how low you let the charge go, meant that it really was limited to only city driving. Realistically about a 30-35 miles radius of home if you don't want to have to think about it too much. Cars like that have their purpose but for us, at least, the newer generations of Leaf, Zoe et al are much more appealing with realistic ranges nearer 150 miles from 50-60kwh batteries. That would open up a whole new level of usefulness to justify the outlay. That's why I find it a bit disappointing that the Honda only wades in with a 35kwh battery. It's seems a bit gen 1 when much the competition are well into gen 2. To me it makes it too limiting to justify the price.

[BenjiS]

I guess, as we’re a two car family anyway, I’m looking to replace same with same.

My wife has a petrol Mazda 3 that does about 2000 a year on school runs and local shopping etc. It’ll get replaced with something like this Honda in a year or so.

I have a Jaguar XF and do fairly decent distances for work, but usually a long drive somewhere, then stay away during the week and a long drive back. But in the last 5 years I’ve never needed to do more than 250 miles to get somewhere. So I’ll be replacing it with a Model S.

We use the ‘big’ car for the family trips as it’s simply more comfortable. Whilst the Mazda can do it, it’s less than ideal.

There does seem to be an issue at the moment that people seem to want all electric cars to cater for all use cases, but just like ICE cars you need to buy the right tool for the job.

[Willo26]

A real shame about the styling changes.. it’s a no from me!

[blearyeyedboy]

Olivera said:

The Nodd-E.

That deserves a

[CoolHands]

Looks like a small Citroen. A ds3 or whatever they’re called. Or Adam.

[hammo19]

Done the opposite and gone from a swan to an ugly duckling - what’s with that awful bonnet line

[hyphen]

Perhaps they will save the body kit and wheels for a type-R version.

An ev with a 0-60 of 8 seconds isn't going to be fast enough to attract the more adventurous, so why make it more expensive to build when the clientele will be your non-car enthusiast.

Edited by hyphen on Wednesday 4th September 22:17

[itcaptainslow]

I really, really like this. My plan is to keep my Micra as my daily for the next couple of years but something like this is exactly what I’d like to replace it-small, good looking, electric (I still want to keep ICE as my fun stuff, but electric is perfect for my daily commute and 90% of my mundane driving) and hopefully retaining a bit of fun.

[itcaptainslow]

Jaaws said:

This'll be replacing the Mitsubishi iMiev that I've been blatting around in for the last seven years. Still rear wheel drive but nearly twice the power and range. The little iMiev is a hoot to drive and I'm looking forwards to having one of these in Charge Yellow.

Have you had any problems? Has the range/performance dropped off at all over time?

[85Carrera]

I have to say I quite like the look of this (and don’t think it is that far from the concept car), although in white it does look a bit like a panda (a panda car?), which might go down quite well in Japan in a “Hello Kitty” type of way ...

[CoolHands]

But 26 grand + though?

[BVB]

The best thing about this car is its looks. Honda should release a combustion engined version. Very rare to see a stylish car like this from the Japanese.

[dobly]

I hate 5 door cars - the B-pillar is always in the way of the (taller) driver's peripheral vision, just to give a rear passenger an easier entry / exit into the back seat - not a great safety compromise IMHO.
Perhaps Honda should have used the Hyundai Veloster's ingenious solution (proper size driver's door and regular door + rear door on passenger side) as this 1+2 arrangement is safer when loading the car with passengers.
Still waiting for the sister car to the Honda E city car - the E sports concept - hopefully this won't be a watered down version once in production...

[Jaaws]

itcaptainslow said:

Have you had any problems? Has the range/performance dropped off at all over time?

No problems, 4k miles year to and from work, shops, dump etc. Furthest journey from home would anyway be a 40 mile round trip. Set of new tyres and windscreen wiper in 7 years. Range dropped from 78 to 65 miles over the years. Only charge at home. Third car after family hack (Jazz), toy (Type R) so I'm pleased Honda are finally going fully electric.