When Honda unveiled the e last year, many were eager to find out more about it after seeing its final design, reading the specs, finding out that it’s rear-wheel drive and that it has a perfect 50:50 weight distribution.
We still haven’t had the chance to sit in it, but Carfection’s Henry Catchpole did and, at a first glance, found it to be appealing. The test car came in the more expensive Advance spec, which adds bigger wheels, several amenities inside such as the digital rearview mirror, and the higher output electric motor.
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The 152 HP (154 PS / 113 kW) and 232 lb-ft (315 Nm) of torque lets the Honda e hit 62 mph (100 km/h) in 8.3 seconds and max out at 90 mph (145 km/h). So, it’s not a hot hatch, but rather a warm one, if we were to compare it to the previous-gen Ford Fiesta ST, for example. The entry-level version has 134 HP (136 PS / 100 kW) and the same amount of torque and top speed, and can accelerate to 62 mph in 9 seconds.
Charge the rather small 35.5 kWh lithium-ion battery pack and you will get a modest driving range of 138 miles (222 km), which drops to 130 miles (210 km) when the car rides on 17-inch alloys. Should you find a 100 kW charger, you will have to wait 30 minutes for it to reach 80 percent of its capacity. A full charge at a 4 kW charger takes 4.1 hours and a rather long 18.8 hours when plugging it in at home.
Other drawbacks might be the very cramped backseat, tiny boot and the huge widescreen display that could be too distracting for some. Nonetheless, there must be something to it, with that perfect weight distribution and rear-wheel drive layout, right? Actually, we’d better let the reviewer take it from here.
