Honda e:Ny1 review

At first glance, you’d be forgiven for assuming that the Honda e:Ny1 electric SUV is just an electrified version of the HR-V. Dig deeper, though, and you quickly find that’s not the case.

You see, the e:Ny1 is the first model to be built on a new platform called e:N, which has been designed specifically for electric cars. It will be the basis for several more cars and SUVs as Honda moves towards offering a range of electric vehicles.

On this occasion, it has been set up for a 150kW motor on the front axle plus a 61.9kWh battery (usable capacity). That gives the e:Ny1 enough power to rival the Hyundai Ioniq 5 while its official range of 250 miles rivals the Kia Niro EV and the Nissan Ariya.

So, does the Honda e:Ny1 have what it takes to beat the best electric SUVs? Read on to find out how we rate it for performance, handling, practicality and more...

No matter which version you go for, the Honda e:Ny1 comes with a 201bhp electric motor powering the front wheels.

That’s a healthy amount of power, and when you plant your foot, you can expect the e:Ny1 to go from 0-60mph in 7.2 seconds. That’s exactly the same time the Kia Niro EV managed in our tests and only slightly slower than the Hyundai Ioniq 5 73kWh RWD’s 6.9-second sprint.

The thing is, off the line the e:Ny1 doesn’t feel quite as fast as those rivals because it meters out its power in a reserved fashion until you reach about 10mph. Honda says that’s to help protect passengers from motion sickness.

Once you’re moving, it feels really quick, darting from normal road speeds to motorway speeds with an urgency that’ll make nipping into spaces between traffic or getting up to 70mph really easy. That’s true regardless of whether you’re in Normal or Sport mode, as the power available in both is similar.

That’s not to say it's only suited to faster speeds, though. Even if you’re running in Eco mode, which reduces power slightly to boost efficiency, it’s an easy car to drive around town and there’s more than enough acceleration up to and around 30mph.

Speaking of which, Eco mode is the one to use if you want to make the most of the 61.9kWh (usable capacity) battery. The e:Ny1 has an official range of up to 256 miles, but when we tested it at a private test track in Eco mode, we calculated that it’ll probably do more like 193 miles in the real world.

For comparison, the entry-level Ioniq 5's official range is 238 miles and the Niro EV's is 285 miles. The Skoda Enyaq 80 and the Tesla Model Y can both officially break the 300 miles barrier.

Like Honda’s first electric car – the much smaller Honda e – the e:Ny1 is pretty firm, and you’re jostled around in your seat slightly more than you are in the softer Niro EV. It’s never uncomfortable though, and does a good job of dealing with smaller imperfections and potholes.

As you might expect from something firm, larger abrasions send a bit of a thud through the steering wheel.

The firm suspension gives it great body control by electric SUV standards, keeping body lean to a minimum and ensuring that it never feels floaty over undulating roads (as the Niro EV often does). The problem is that, while the steering has plenty of weight, it feels almost like it’s attached to elastic bands and always wants to snap back to the centre point.

If you want an electric car that's dynamic on a spirited drive, you’re better off trying the Kia EV6 and Tesla Model 3.

The e:Ny1 isn’t designed to be a sports car though, and while you’re cruising along it’s quite relaxing, protecting you from wind very well and producing only a little bit of road noise. There’s some motor whine as you accelerate hard, but it’s never so much that it’s intrusive.

You sit lower down in the Honda e:Ny1 than you do in rivals including the Hyundai Ioniq 5, so it feels a bit sportier than its proper SUV rivals.

It’s easy to find your perfect driving position, because you get electrically-adjustable seats as standard, and a steering wheel with plenty of movement. It’s just a shame you don’t get adjustable lumbar support, even as an option. 

Despite being lower down than its rivals, you have good visibility to the front but your view out at junctions is sometimes impeded by the front window pillars which, while quite narrow, are raked at such an angle that they get in the way. The rear pillars are quite wide, but the large rear windows mean you still have good visibility when you look over your shoulder. 

Better still, to help you out when parking, you get parking sensors front and rear as standard and Honda Parking Pilot if you upgrade to Advance trim. That system adds a reversing camera and gives the car the ability to park itself. 

While most Honda models come with physical controls for the air conditioning and some physical shortcuts for the infotainment system, the e:Ny1 does away with them. Instead, everything is controlled through the central 15.1in touchscreen, which is split into three sections – the bottom of which is permanently used for the air-con and heated seat controls.

The on-screen buttons are quite large and the graphics sharp, making them easier to read and hit on the move. It's far better than the system in the Skoda Enyaq, but we’d much prefer physical buttons or dials (as you get in the Vauxhall Astra Electric) because they’re less distracting to use on the move. 

It’s much the same story when it comes to using the infotainment system proper: the large buttons mean they’re quite easy to hit, but a physical rotary controller or shortcut buttons would be better.

We do, however, like how the screen is split, because it means you can show the built-in sat-nav or the Android Auto or Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring on the top screen with driving data in the middle part of the screen.

The interior is well built and feels sturdy, but given the price tag, you might expect it to be a bit more impressive. While the standard synthetic leather of the seats and a couple of places on the dashboard is supple, you’ll find scratchy plastics pretty much everywhere else. It’s better than the (much cheaper) MG ZS EV but the similarly priced Enyaq feels plusher.

Even if you’re over six feet tall, you won’t be complaining that there's not enough space in the front of the Honda e:Ny1.

There’s loads of leg room, and plenty of head room for you and your front seat passenger – especially if you go for the top-spec Advance trim, because its panoramic roof is higher than the standard roof. The wide interior means you won’t be rubbing shoulders with your passenger, even if you’re broad.

Front storage space is decent rather than spectacular, with space to wirelessly charge your phone at the base of the centre console, a couple of cupholders, a small cubby within the front armrest and pretty small door bins, which accept a bottle of water and that’s about all. 

Rear leg room is really impressive – with loads of knee room and space under the front seats for feet – but rear head room is disappointing. Even in the outer seats, where there’s usually more head room, a six-footer will find that their head is touching the roof lining. A middle-seat passenger gets even less head room because of the slightly raised centre seats. 

Likewise, rear storage isn’t particularly impressive, with no rear door bins and just a small cupholder on each door instead. You’ll also find a pair of cupholders in the central fold-down armrest. 

The rear seats don’t do anything special, like slide or recline, but you can split them 60/40 and fold them flat. The slightly more expensive BMW iX1 gets more versatile 40/20/40 split folding rear seats and the Volvo EX40 gets a ski hatch, both formats allow you to easily fit in long items while also seating two in the rear.

The e:Ny1’s boot is a good size and the entrance is a handy square shape, making loading it up easy. Total boot capacity varies depending on trim, with the entry-level Elegance taking 361 litres and the Advance 344 litres – for comparison, the Ioniq 5 has 537 litres, the Niro EV has 475 litres and the Nissan Ariya has 466 litres.

Even so, there’s enough space to fit in plenty of shopping or a couple of buggies and there’s no step down from the boot lip to the floor, making it easy to load heavy items. When you do need a little more space, the folded rear seats lay flat with the boot floor and give you a large flat storage area.

As a cash purchase, the Honda e:Ny1 is on the slightly pricey side, costing around the same as the Tesla Model Y, more than the mid-spec Skoda Enyaq 80 and more than even the top-spec Kia Niro EV. In fact the entry-level version of our 2022 Car of the Year – the Kia EV6 – won’t cost much more.

At least you get plenty of equipment to help make up for that. Even the entry-level Elegance trim comes with 18in alloy wheels, heated front seats, privacy glass, a 10.25in digital driver display, adaptive LED headlights, an auto-dimming rear-view mirror, keyless start, dual-zone air-con and adaptive cruise control.

Upgrading to the top-spec Advance trim gets you all the same kit as the entry-level car but adds a heated steering wheel, an upgraded stereo system and a power tailgate with hands free entry.

You get plenty of standard safety equipment on both versions, including automatic emergency braking (AEB), traffic-sign recognition, blind-spot monitoring, lane-keeping assist and cross-traffic alert. The model hadn't been tested for safety by Euro NCAP at the time of writing.

The e:Ny1's maximum charging rate is 78kW, so it can be charged from 10-80% in about 45 mins. That’s similar to the Niro EV, while the Enyaq 80 can accept up to 135kW and do the same charge in less than 30 mins, and the EV6 takes up to 235kW. Charging the e:Ny1 from 10-80% using an 11kW home charger should take around six hours. 

Some e:Ny1 owners have reported that their cars have stopped accepting electricity from public chargers after using a Tesla Supercharger, requiring a reset at a dealership. Honda said that after a reset "a customer would likely experience the same issue again when using a DC public charger – primarily a Tesla Supercharger". It is investigating and looking for a permanent fix.

Reliability wise, Honda finished an impressive 6th out of the 32 manufacturers in our 2023 What Car? Reliability Survey and the five-year/90,000-mile warranty (three years standard and two years extra "care package") is slightly better than average (most brands cover you for up to 60,000 miles). 

You get a five-year/unlimited mileage warranty on a Hyundai and a seven-year/100,000-mile warranty on a Kia. Toyota gives you up to 10 years or 100,000-miles if you service your car at an approved centre

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