The Honda E Is An Interesting EV That Sadly Isn’t Sold Here
Occasionally, we get a reminder that Europe gets awesome cars that aren’t available in the USA. The Honda E is one of those cars.
You will run out of fingers and toes to count the number of really cool European Hondas that were never sold in the US. From the Accord Euro R to Civic Type R, it’s a lengthy list. And while the Honda E might not be as exciting as those high revving models, we still think it’s a fascinating car, and wish it was sold here.
Harry Metcalfe of Harry’s Garage recently had one to test. And if anyone knows of the super-exotica that he works with on a daily basis, then you’ll know his interest in this car is validated. When he first saw the car in concept form a few years back, he was impressed. “It was so different from what Honda had been doing with fairly vanilla cars, but suddenly they had this design icon,” he notes.
And that’s one thing vastly different from other Hondas; the design. It brings up styling from the Honda Z600 with the funky C-pillar and incorporates a little N600 with the front end treatment. But inside, you get a full dash width array of screens. Que in the Prelude enthusiasts here. The screens are needed as rear view mirrors are now gone, replaced with cameras.
While the interior is tech-y as you’d expect, the driveline is a little underwhelming. “The best I’ve seen is about 100 miles on a full battery,” Metcalfe notes. Given the somewhat limited range, Metcalfe believes this car should have been available in two options. Full EV to satisfy those customers and geographic locations, and hybrid for everyone else.
And while that’s fine for a city runabout, it wouldn’t sit well with the range-conscious buyers here in the US. And it also wouldn’t apply for tax incentives due to being made outside of the US. That’s a real sting when it comes to the price. As tested, this car is 37,545 GBP, and that works out to about $45,000. Steep for a car that can only do 100 mile hops at a time.
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