Honda e review: performance, motor & drive

The Honda e doesn’t feel as fast as rivals like the MINI Electric, but it's more than quick enough to take advantage of the fun, assertive way it peels through corners and dispatches awkward car parks. There are seven levels of brake regeneration – four in the car’s standard mode, and three within the single-pedal driving mode that’s designed to enable you to drive around town using the accelerator alone, rather than the brake pedal.

The sheer number of modes seems like overkill, but the fact that they’re controlled by paddles on the steering wheel makes it easy to change the level and also means you can scrub speed off in the same way that you might downshift in an automatic petrol or diesel car.

The system always bleeds in smoothly and with familiarity it’s easy to judge when the car is going to stop, whether you prefer to leave the car in a favoured regeneration level or toggle the settings using the paddles as you see fit.

Honda e 0-62mph, top speed and acceleration

The Honda e Advance will do 0-62mph in 8.3 seconds while the less powerful standard car will take more like 8.5 seconds. Neither feels hot-hatch-quick, as some electric cars such as the i3 do, but the Honda is more than nippy enough, even if you ask for a mid-range burst of speed to merge onto a motorway. Around town, acceleration from 0-30mph is more important, and here the instant torque from the e's electric motor makes all the difference, so nipping away from the lights or darting into a gap in traffic becomes a breeze.

Handling

Natural-feeling yet light steering is a real highlight of the Honda, which encourages you to swing through tight corners and roundabouts in order to take advantage of its tiny 8.6-metre turning circle. There’s a real cheekiness to the way the e handles that’s great for making bad roads and traffic more enjoyable than they have any right to be. 

It’s fun outside the city, too, where the rear-wheel-drive setup still delivers plenty of grip and you have enough confidence in the Honda’s performance and cornering ability to enjoy a country road or feel safe and secure on the motorway. However, we would say the ride is slightly firmer than a Fiat 500’s and bumps in the road unsettle it more than they do the MINI.

Over patchy road surfaces the Honda feels a little jiggly, but when you hit a bigger bump, the thud never arrives since the suspension softens the blow. The ride also becomes more settled at higher speeds.