Decent car YouTubes

[Rich B]

I want to like the little Honda, but too heavy for a small car, shite range plus a tiny boot means it's even be useless for popping to the supermarket. Rear seat looked like two pieces of mdf wrapped in cloth too.

Love the outside, and like the dash even though I hate massive screens. The fish tank looked shite though with really jerky animation and slowdown.

Snap.

Plus it’s easy for someone like him to be excited enough about it to buy one, because he’ll have access to hundreds of other more practical cars whenever he needs one, whereas us normal punters might have to commit to just that one car for x years.

[ZedLeg]

Not Youtube, but has anyone been watching Faster with Finnegan on MotorTrend? First episode was a bit shit (trying to make a pickup truck faster round a track on a budget but they fucked it up), but Eps 2&3 are good.

Yeah, I’ve been watching it. It feels more like a discovery show than anything else MotorTrend does but I’ve been enjoying it.

[Swervin_Mervin]

I don't get the too heavy criticism either. It's an EV. They're all heavy. That won't change until there's a major battery tech shift.

It does seem heavier than its rivals, despite being smaller than many of them, but yeah they're all heavy by ICE standards. My Ioniq is similar weight IIRC.

Only 35kg heavier than the mini. Near as dammit the same.

[Swervin_Mervin]

I want to like the little Honda, but too heavy for a small car, shite range plus a tiny boot means it's even be useless for popping to the supermarket. Rear seat looked like two pieces of mdf wrapped in cloth too.

Love the outside, and like the dash even though I hate massive screens. The fish tank looked shite though with really jerky animation and slowdown.

Snap.

Plus it’s easy for someone like him to be excited enough about it to buy one, because he’ll have access to hundreds of other more practical cars whenever he needs one, whereas us normal punters might have to commit to just that one car for x years.

Fair enough for a 1 car household. But most 2 car households tend to have at least 1 practical car.

[Simon]

I'd argue any 2 car household (with two drivers rather than just 1) needs to have both as practical, especially where kids are concerned. The idea that you can't take junior somewhere because your wife has taken 'her' car out shopping and it's the only practical one is crazy.

I looked at that Honda boot and laughed. As soon as you throw a kiddie into any car equation a car like that just doesn't make sense.

[Swervin_Mervin]

I'd argue any 2 car household (with two drivers rather than just 1) needs to have both as practical, especially where kids are concerned. The idea that you can't take junior somewhere because your wife has taken 'her' car out shopping and it's the only practical one is crazy.

I looked at that Honda boot and laughed. As soon as you throw a kiddie into any car equation a car like that just doesn't make sense.

What are you/your kids doing that needs both cars to be practical? We could happily run something like the Honda no trouble. Loads have much less practical 2nd cars.

I just think EVs tend to be viewed with a much greater degree of scrutiny than other cars and it sometimes seems people are just deliberately looking to find some fault.

[Mito Man]

If you want real world EV range divide the official by 2 and add 10%. Yes, it’s a worst case scenario, ie night time, close to freezing temp, rain and headwind but we live in a country where you get all of those quite frequently.

[Rich B]

I just think EVs tend to be viewed with a much greater degree of scrutiny than other cars and it sometimes seems people are just deliberately looking to find some fault.

Understandably so, that’s because they’re so expensive. If you’re asking people to pay lots more for a product, then in needs to prove itself as worth the extra.

The Honda is severely compromised in terms of space. It’s boot space (171 litres) is tiny even compared to a VW Up (250 litres). That sort of compromise forces it to be compared with much cheaper competition.

If you want a cheap city car, then why would you pay £26k for the Honda when you can pay £12k for an Up that’s more practical? Then there’s the tiny range - suddenly you can’t go more than 40-50 miles away from home whereas you can drive anywhere you want in the Up?

Basically, the Honda looks really cool, but it’s double the cost of its ICE competitors. If it had a proper boot and better range then you’d be comparing it to bigger and more expensive competitors where it might start making more sense.

We could probably run an EV alongside our 320d easily enough - but I still think it’s a bit lame that you have to have an ICE car as well as an EV to actually manage real life.

[Barry]

I don't get the too heavy criticism either. It's an EV. They're all heavy. That won't change until there's a major battery tech shift.

It does seem heavier than its rivals, despite being smaller than many of them, but yeah they're all heavy by ICE standards. My Ioniq is similar weight IIRC.

Only 35kg heavier than the mini. Near as dammit the same.

So it's carrying a child in weight around all the time, compared to the Mini. Driver won't notice that I'll grant you but it's still heavier

[Rich B]

400kg more than an Up!

[integrale_evo]

It does seem heavier than its rivals, despite being smaller than many of them, but yeah they're all heavy by ICE standards. My Ioniq is similar weight IIRC.

Only 35kg heavier than the mini. Near as dammit the same.

So it's carrying a child in weight around all the time, compared to the Mini. Driver won't notice that I'll grant you but it's still heavier

I wasn't comparing it to an electric mini, I was comparing it to other small cars of similar size with similar or more load capacity. 1500+ kg is a lot for a small car with a tiny boot, and while the performance might be ok I bet it still feels heavy to drive. Even more so on skinny eco tyres.

[integrale_evo]

Oh, and while I'm Honda bashing, was anyone else suspicious of the turning circle?

4.3m was the claim, on a car that's a fraction shy of 4m. Now, I'm not sure if my eyes are wonky, I'm being a bit thick, or the figures are wrong somewhere by the overall circle looked considerably larger than 50cm bigger than the length of the car.

Unless they're quoting inside circle as in the diameter of something you could drive around rather than the traditional curb to curb measurement?

[Swervin_Mervin]

I just think EVs tend to be viewed with a much greater degree of scrutiny than other cars and it sometimes seems people are just deliberately looking to find some fault.

Understandably so, that’s because they’re so expensive. If you’re asking people to pay lots more for a product, then in needs to prove itself as worth the extra.

The Honda is severely compromised in terms of space. It’s boot space (171 litres) is tiny even compared to a VW Up (250 litres). That sort of compromise forces it to be compared with much cheaper competition.

If you want a cheap city car, then why would you pay £26k for the Honda when you can pay £12k for an Up that’s more practical? Then there’s the tiny range - suddenly you can’t go more than 40-50 miles away from home whereas you can drive anywhere you want in the Up?

Basically, the Honda looks really cool, but it’s double the cost of its ICE competitors. If it had a proper boot and better range then you’d be comparing it to bigger and more expensive competitors where it might start making more sense.

We could probably run an EV alongside our 320d easily enough - but I still think it’s a bit lame that you have to have an ICE car as well as an EV to actually manage real life.

I don't disagree with you on the issue of the boot space - it is odd that they've managed to make it so small. However, comparison against any non-EV equivalent is still a little unfair. EVs are, due to current battery tech, a little flawed when compared purely on stats to their ICE equivalents. Comparing to the Mini EV, that's 211 litres, so again not a huge amount more than the Honda and equivalent to the std MINI, yet you don't hear people constantly belly-aching about the MINI being horrifically impractical do you?

EV's are also more expensive at present. The Honda seems a little more expensive than some of its EV rivals, but again not that far off.

And range - yes it's tiny bit lower again than the MINI but not much. They cater for a corner of the market which is actually quite large - a day to day basis the majority of journeys could easily accommdoated with an EV with a range such as the Honda's

There seems to be somehting about the Honda that's drawing an awful lot of ire in particular. Very odd.

[Rich B]

Oh, and while I'm Honda bashing, was anyone else suspicious of the turning circle?

4.3m was the claim, on a car that's a fraction shy of 4m. Now, I'm not sure if my eyes are wonky, I'm being a bit thick, or the figures are wrong somewhere by the overall circle looked considerably larger than 50cm bigger than the length of the car.

Unless they're quoting inside circle as in the diameter of something you could drive around rather than the traditional curb to curb measurement?

yeah, I thought the same - other sites are describing it as a 4.3m turning radius. Which seems more realistic.

[Rich B]

I just think EVs tend to be viewed with a much greater degree of scrutiny than other cars and it sometimes seems people are just deliberately looking to find some fault.

Understandably so, that’s because they’re so expensive. If you’re asking people to pay lots more for a product, then in needs to prove itself as worth the extra.

The Honda is severely compromised in terms of space. It’s boot space (171 litres) is tiny even compared to a VW Up (250 litres). That sort of compromise forces it to be compared with much cheaper competition.

If you want a cheap city car, then why would you pay £26k for the Honda when you can pay £12k for an Up that’s more practical? Then there’s the tiny range - suddenly you can’t go more than 40-50 miles away from home whereas you can drive anywhere you want in the Up?

Basically, the Honda looks really cool, but it’s double the cost of its ICE competitors. If it had a proper boot and better range then you’d be comparing it to bigger and more expensive competitors where it might start making more sense.

We could probably run an EV alongside our 320d easily enough - but I still think it’s a bit lame that you have to have an ICE car as well as an EV to actually manage real life.

I don't disagree with you on the issue of the boot space - it is odd that they've managed to make it so small. However, comparison against any non-EV equivalent is still a little unfair. EVs are, due to current battery tech, a little flawed when compared purely on stats to their ICE equivalents. Comparing to the Mini EV, that's 211 litres, so again not a huge amount more than the Honda and equivalent to the std MINI, yet you don't hear people constantly belly-aching about the MINI being horrifically impractical do you?

EV's are also more expensive at present. The Honda seems a little more expensive than some of its EV rivals, but again not that far off.

And range - yes it's tiny bit lower again than the MINI but not much. They cater for a corner of the market which is actually quite large - a day to day basis the majority of journeys could easily accommdoated with an EV with a range such as the Honda's

There seems to be somehting about the Honda that's drawing an awful lot of ire in particular. Very odd.

Only because the Honda is the one that’s new and we’re discussing it. I like the Honda a lot aesthetically, but it has all the same issues that I would also direct at the Mini.

I don’t think Small EVs are there yet for me.

[integrale_evo]

There seems to be somehting about the Honda that's drawing an awful lot of ire in particular. Very odd.

Maybe because people loved how it looks and were hoping for something revolutionary which would mean that they'd finally be able to get onboard the whole ev thing.

As it turns out it's no 'better' at being a car than any of the other small evs and so still has many of the drawbacks plus a few more.

[ZedLeg]

Yeah I really liked the look of the concept and was hoping for something that would move ev tech forward.

They seem to have fumbled it a bit.

[Mito Man]

Honda are hoping it appeals to Apple buyers but I’m not sure they have the brand these days to carry it off. The concept car was good looking and people are generally happier to pay over the odds for something that looks nice but this just looks like a Honda. Also I’m not sure if anyone sees Honda as an aspirational brand, they’re associated with pensioners here and ‘soccer moms’ across the pond.

[Rich B]

The headlight and tail lights are awesome though.

[Mito Man]

I just looked at pictures of it to see.

It appears to have a front charging port in the centre of the bonnet? Looks like a clever bit of design so you can’t reverse park to charge or have a front boot? What a stupid decision!