RE: Honda e | Driven

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Black S2K

1,480 posts

250 months

Monday 27th January 2020
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Simoncelli58 said:
I'm really interested in electric cars ( waiting for an aerial Atom type car with a motor on each wheel and a 100 mile range!!!!! )

This Honda is typical of what I feel is wrong with the modern western consumer society ...I feel that this is just a marketing exercise to show that they are totally on board with the whole EV thing but don't want step on the toes of their many other global production models

EV's are definitely the future but this Honda will be seen like an original iphone is today in 5 years time , old tech , ability and unfashionable . Early adopters are either very brave , sheep like or both . But it is their money.
Honda has stated that this is the problem - this car is largely a response to political pressure and they are not convinced by BEVs as yet.

FCEVs aren't there yet, either.

humphra

484 posts

93 months

Monday 27th January 2020
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Just commenting on the green credentials of this and EVs in general. .... lets not kid ourselves that these new cars and us buying them in any way is saving the planet. If we were serious about that, we'd tolerate the inconveniences of public transport, plus the extra time to walk and cycle more.
EVs are positioned as more environmentally, but there's now a lot of nasty battery elements to dispose of, the electricity to charge them has to be produced (and that's not all green energy) , plus building and operating the plants to manufacture new cars, ship them all over the world, energy and waste from scrapping old cars, etc, etc.

I wonder if there have been any studies in relative environmental impact of new vs. extending the life of older cars and developing ways to transform them into more environmentally friendly vehicles??

ate one too

2,902 posts

147 months

Monday 27th January 2020
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Terminator X said:
Jamescrs said:
Something like this would be absolutely ideal as a second car in our household, we live in the suburbs of a big city and have a driveway for off road parking but 32k! Really??
I'm not an electric car nut at all but the wife would happily run to work and back in one and drive the kids around.

I look forward to a manufacturer at some point coming out with a reasonably priced electric city car and no doubt they will clean up in the market, this isn't the answer though.
EV's are expensive. If you want to save the planet, dig deep. Greta will thank you.

TX.
How dare you ???
wink


Smitters

4,006 posts

158 months

Monday 27th January 2020
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For me, aesthetics are just as important as the experience of owning it and driving it and this has massively fallen short of my expectations. The concept had cool square rear lights and slightly lidded round fronts, giving it a bit of presence. This has circles front and rear - it's more cute than cool. Maybe that's the point and that satisfies the masses, but I wouldn't buy one.

The interior is a huge miss too - mainly because some of it looks space age cool and some of it looks lifted from your Nan's five year old Jazz. Which is not a good mix.

DonkeyApple

55,478 posts

170 months

Monday 27th January 2020
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Smitters said:
For me, aesthetics are just as important as the experience of owning it and driving it and this has massively fallen short of my expectations. The concept had cool square rear lights and slightly lidded round fronts, giving it a bit of presence. This has circles front and rear - it's more cute than cool. Maybe that's the point and that satisfies the masses, but I wouldn't buy one.

The interior is a huge miss too - mainly because some of it looks space age cool and some of it looks lifted from your Nan's five year old Jazz. Which is not a good mix.
There is a reason though as to why they’ve made it look cute rather than hot hatchy etc and that is because the price means their primary target in the UK is the affluent housewife. They have the funds, the home and the pottering habits that best suit small EVs.

Electro1980

8,321 posts

140 months

Monday 27th January 2020
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Am I missing something? Honda list the prices as £26k & £29k, not £29k and £32k...

Whitergb

4 posts

90 months

Monday 27th January 2020
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This looked great when the original concept came out a year or so back, almost like a retro MK1 Golf. Honda has deviated from the original design and it now looks bland and a bit odd. Interior too is horrible. £32K good luck.

Kolbenkopp

2,343 posts

152 months

Monday 27th January 2020
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Perhaps the lower numbers are minus EV grant?

1781cc

578 posts

95 months

Monday 27th January 2020
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Looking through this, there is a nod to previous Honda history here, I used to have a Honda Civic 1.5S in the late 90s (already old as it was an 84 car) and I absolutely loved it, I still to this day keep searching on the 'tinterwebs for one.

Screens aside, the dash is a pure nod to that generation civic IMO...

Don't have pics of my car here, but here's some for reference from google:




Kolbenkopp

2,343 posts

152 months

Monday 27th January 2020
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Really like what they did late 80es early 90es. Shame their styling evolved in a rather different direction :-/.

Back to the "e" -- snippet from an interview [1] with Honda's UK MD:



The car is key to Honda achieving EU CO2 targets next year and in 2021, therefore, the company may need to sell more than the predicted 10,000, said Dave Hodgetts, managing director of Honda UK.

"It slightly depends on the performance of our other models," Hodgetts told Automotive News Europe. "If we sell more CR-V petrol models than hybrids than we expected then we might have to sell more of the Honda e."

Hodgetts said Honda has committed to achieving the EU's fleet average for CO2 of 95 gram per kilometer instead of paying fines. He did not say how Honda would increase sales, but two routes could be to put more money behind marketing the car or lowering the price.



[1] https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/honda-has-b...

Olivera

7,174 posts

240 months

Monday 27th January 2020
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Krikkit said:
I think these look bloody brilliant - can't understand the hatred for it. It's an interesting, distinctive piece of exterior styling that screams Honda japanese-ness.
To my eyes they took a retro yet stylish concept and turned it into a dumpy munter.

joema

2,649 posts

180 months

Monday 27th January 2020
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I like the design and it would be neat to own and the range would work for most people.

But I can't help but think a city car is the last thing a city needs. Surely buses, trams, cycles are the way forward. If everyone in a city had one nobody would move anywhere.

EV's are a stop gap until the way we travel and live changes. And keep the roads clearer for us

Smitters

4,006 posts

158 months

Monday 27th January 2020
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DonkeyApple said:
Smitters said:
For me, aesthetics are just as important as the experience of owning it and driving it and this has massively fallen short of my expectations. The concept had cool square rear lights and slightly lidded round fronts, giving it a bit of presence. This has circles front and rear - it's more cute than cool. Maybe that's the point and that satisfies the masses, but I wouldn't buy one.

The interior is a huge miss too - mainly because some of it looks space age cool and some of it looks lifted from your Nan's five year old Jazz. Which is not a good mix.
There is a reason though as to why they’ve made it look cute rather than hot hatchy etc and that is because the price means their primary target in the UK is the affluent housewife. They have the funds, the home and the pottering habits that best suit small EVs.
I know, but it's a shame I (we?) inhabit such a small slice of the market and thus "mainstream" looks don't draw me in. If it had looked keen, I'd have considered one as the next car, on the basis of a very short but car-necessary commute and easy access to charging. No, I'd not be driving it around the country, but I've got a camper van for that.

Jaaws

170 posts

102 months

Monday 27th January 2020
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DonkeyApple said:
There is a reason though as to why they’ve made it look cute rather than hot hatchy etc and that is because the price means their primary target in the UK is the affluent housewife. They have the funds, the home and the pottering habits that best suit small EVs.
You mean housewives like this?
https://www.hondaengineroom.co.uk/electric/ev/why-...
laugh



PATTERNPART

693 posts

202 months

Monday 27th January 2020
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I think it looks nice. I think these small city cars make more sense than the very expensive very fast Teslas that are really just status symbols for the well heeled. I've driven the BMW in Sydney and thought it was great. Reading all the comments I have a nagging concern about the resources needed to churn these out in quantity and to provide the infrastructure in cities.

Sadly the answer if it isn't too late is public transport and bicycles.

anonymous-user

55 months

Monday 27th January 2020
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Why on earth do manufacturers (especially Honda) feel the need to design EVs that look so awful?


Fire99

9,844 posts

230 months

Monday 27th January 2020
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I think the styling is very cool.

However, with the premise of the car being that it's environmentally friendly, it seems a touch ironic that with its range, unless you only ever use a car for city / town use (which in itself is an advocate for public transport), with its limited range, it's forcing you to have more than one car if you practically want to do longer journeys.

It needs to be more like the original mini. Small, efficient, able to carry some passengers, but equally able to take you on a road adventure of decent distance. This misses the mark (in my opinion).

Butter Face

30,353 posts

161 months

Monday 27th January 2020
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Electro1980 said:
Am I missing something? Honda list the prices as £26k & £29k, not £29k and £32k...
It does seem that PH have quoted pre-grant prices!

anonymous-user

55 months

Monday 27th January 2020
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They sell as many of these as
.
.
.
.
.
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.
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they can build!

This car is expensive on launch for two main reasons:

1) sell it to people who really want one! The sort of people who buy a £20k fiat 500 or Mini and spunk another £10k on accessories to bling it up. Look out there, they are everywhere! Small cars, made expensive.

2) If it were too cheap, they would't be able to make enough of them due to the current battery bottle necks. In a year or so, when massive battery production comes on line, expect to see a SIGNIFICANT price reduction.......

Krikkit

26,551 posts

182 months

Monday 27th January 2020
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DonkeyApple said:
Krikkit said:
I think these look bloody brilliant - can't understand the hatred for it. It's an interesting, distinctive piece of exterior styling that screams Honda japanese-ness. The interior is a clever, modern design, and it absolutely nails the brief of a small, city-EV that could be a 2nd or 3rd household car (surely a PH staple?)
Surely the Ford Fiesta is the city car that absolutely nails the brief as at dirt cheap, completely unrestricted in usage and totally fire and forget as a third car. Which arguably goes towards explaining why it’s the biggest selling car in the UK.
A Fiesta specced up to a similar spec to this, with an automatic gearbox, is knocking on for £23k. And that isn't even an EV (with all the benefits of driving one in an urban environment).

That, and the infotainment and electrical wizardry is all a generation behind the Honda.