Honda E long-term test: report 4

There's a lot to like about the Honda E, but can you live with the short range in the real world? We're running one to find out...

Published11 January 2021

The car Honda E Advance Run by Mark Tisshaw, special contributor

Why it’s here To see if you really need the extra range offered by rivals day to day, and to see how the E manages on longer journeys when charging stops are required.

Needs to Be quick to charge so disruption is minimised on longer journeys, and offer something a little special to justify its high price.

Mileage 2399 List price £32,660 (before £3000 gov't grant) Target Price £32,660 Price as tested £32,710 Test range 91 miles Official range 125 miles

16 November 2020 – Best car for dogs?

What’s the best car for dogs? It’s a question we put to the test back in 2017, and the cavernous, versatile Mazda CX-5 took a richly deserved victory. Unsurprisingly, not one city car was in the running; Fido might things a little tight in the back of those, after all.

Yet if we were to rerun the test in 2020, I’d like to put forward the humble Honda E for consideration. Now, hear me out: just like us humans, many dogs suffer from car sickness. That means sitting over or outside the rear axle (in other words, at the very back of the car, in the boot) is a bit of a no-no for some, given how much a car’s movements can be exaggerated when you're sitting out there.

Car sickness is something our greyhound suffers from, so even in the biggest boot she instead heads to the back seats (covered up and with the rear footwells stuffed to make it more comfy). When the car isn’t big enough for her to jump straight onto the back seats, like in the E, we instead fold the rear seatbacks and create a two-seat van.

And our greyhound loves it back there, with all 571 litres worth of space to relax in. You sit quite high in the E thanks to the battery pack in the floor, which elevates the rear passengers, too, even more so when you sit on the back of the seat. And from her lofty perch she gets a great view of the traffic behind, while still being close enough to us. I’ve never seen her so engaged with being in a car, nor more excited at the prospect of getting in one. Best car for dogs in 2020? I rest my case.

Luckily, the backs of the E’s seats are trimmed in a more hard wearing black fabric than the cool-looking light grey the fronts of the seats are, so there’s no muddy paws to worry about, or rather none that can’t be easily wiped off. One word of caution is that the rear seat back doesn’t split, so it can be a tricky exercise to thread through the gap in the seat hinge the clip her lead tethers to secure her on the move.

It’s these short journeys to go dog walking and to the shops that are making up the bulk of the E’s mileage at the moment. And it remains great at these short drives, and a joy to be in. The interior shows no sign of losing its wow factor, either. The wider questions over its limited range won’t go away, not least that the range dial now shows little more than 90 miles in the cold weather. Yet I’m yet to experience range anxiety in the car, something I can’t see changing given the its clearly defined role as a second car in the household for local journeys.