Honda e Advance £30k EV Review: Range, Acceleration, Top Speed, Charging, Handling, Tech | Top Gear

The Honda e is impossibly cute, beautifully engineered and crammed with tech… but you’ll pay for it. Yep, for episode three of our new in-depth EV review format, Top Gear Magazine's Ollie Kew gives you the full low-down on Honda’s titchy little electric city car, the Honda e. How far will it go? How fast is it? What does it weigh? And where does the knotted cable go? All these questions and more are answered in this episode of Top Gear Tested.

0:00 Intro
0:39 What is it?
1:51 Tech
2:38 Where's the charging port?
3:22 0-60 acceleration and top speed
5:49 Is it comfy?
6:24 What's it like on a motorway?
7:47 How big is the battery?
8:30 What does it weigh?
8:53 Interior space
9:39 Handling
10:50 Range

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[Brotherbear]

“You don’t need one. The Zoe is better, but you don’t want a Zoe. You want a Honda e”. Class

[MrTimDibbs]

We have owned a Honda e for the past 9 months. It is simply a fantastic electric urban car. We simply love it and could not recommend this car highly enough.

[dhivyanpawar]

I love this guy…. So technical yet so likeable just like the Honda E

[bradcarpenter]

So they make their "e" car rwd, but their type r fwd lol

[amardillo]

I'm in the process buying a Honda e here in Germany. I do own a Smart-E so I know the downside of low range but I do understand that it's only in my head as these cars are only used for the city or as a secondary car. This review hits exactly my thoughts on the purchase of the Honda e - I know I don't need it and it makes no sense - but I really want one badly. This is one of the cars you purchase with your heart and emotions - not with the head. Since EVs came out, I lost that feeling - the Honda e actually brings all the emotions back to me and I can't wait to get it. Thanks for this great and flawless review!

[_ezra]

I enjoy this host and how the video is set up. I could watch these all day.

[smokeymotorsport]

Drove one a month or two ago and loved it. It was really quite chuckable and quick at real world speeds. It was also reasonably comfortable in the back behind my 5'4" missus, and really comfortable in the front. The range I also found to be better than some reports - driving at suburban speeds, motorways etc it was very happy and stuck to a total range of around 100-110 miles. It's not ideal for everyone, but it's really interesting and very capable, with enough range for the vast majority of people.

[clipsedrag]

One of the best looking modern cars ive seen.

[davidcoveney]

When you have one you feel like a minor celebrity. I've been sitting in a car park when people have come up to talk to me about it. I was following a McLaren in Liverpool and a child came out of a shop and his head was flicking from side to side as he tried to take in both cars as we passed by! I didn't expect such a strong reaction, but they're still rare and unusual. Great fun to drive as well.

Got one on lease with salary sacrifice. Because of the electric car tax breaks in the UK that makes it fairly cheap, overall, as a second car for commuting. It's the first car my wife and I always grab unless we're going a long way or need to carry a lot of stuff.

[ThePwig]

I would trade in my BMW for this in a heartbeat but they aren’t available in the USA. Bummer.

[nd]

Weirdly enough the first thing that came to my mind when I saw this was ''We want a new Mr Bean Series with this car''

[DanielH]

Nope. It's my only car.
Nope. 15% to 80% in 31/30 minutes
In the front it feels bigger than a Polo.
The range is heavily depending on the weather and speed. Without heating on and on country roads you get easy over 200km, in the winter on the motorway it can drop to 120km.

[Games_and_Music]

The Renault Zoe has Viagra shaped rear lights, complete with the blue hue.
This "Hondary" looks a lot like a VW Golf, but i do love the color and interior, i hope more car manufacturers will adopt this dashboard-wide screen setup, with similar aquarium gimmicks. I do think the cam-mirrors are the way of the future.

[IslaSprollie]

One last one, the fish eye reversing camera mode, of all the 8 exterior cameras is my favorite. I can fully see up and down my road as I back out of my drive. Priceless.

[iniester]

Good car, way too expensive even with gov grants.

[MrFatknacker]

Despite the stupid price and limited range, you cannot help but really like this car - if you were rich enough to spend £30K on a second car for local trips then it would be spot on and make you smile every time you drove it, but hard to justify outside of that - hopefully secondhand prices will be a bit more affordable

[IslaSprollie]

I've had a blue Honda e Advance for three months now and 2000 miles, 1500 of which were done in the first three weeks. Quite easily the best car I've owned, (inc. 2009 Mk2 Focus RS, 2010 Jag XF, 2010 Mazda 3 (my previous favorite), 2003 Mini Cooper S, 2011 Fiesta, 1994 560 SEL etc)
Highlights include the shear quality of detail design, Adaptive cruise, Strong Regen Single Pedal model driving, Wireless Apple CarPlay, Pre-climate setting via App (yes mine connects, fellow Honda e owners !!) or key, near Fiesta levels of driving fun, the turning circle (special mention), instant (OMG it's gone) acceleration when ever you want it (much better than my new Kangoo ZE), tech, and not forgetting the looks, inside and out. It turns more heads than my old Focus RS (miss the five pot noise). Lastly, the size is perfect around town.
Downsides, Small boot but it's not held me back yet. Awkward locking via door handle, it's too new and shiney to pick my daughter up from Explorer scouts with muddy boots, er.... that's about it now I've bought and fitted folding armrest (not having one was a small third world issue). Range isn't an issue for my usage.
replace

[nilaravi]

"Like using chopsticks to eat soup"
I can't stop thinking about that.

[cameroncooper]

It's okay to use the word "small" instead of "titchy" occasionally.

[lukefrombk]

I almost fell asleep watching this. So this is TopGear now?