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 201bhp motor on the front axle plus a 61.9kWh battery (usable capacity). That gives the e:Ny1 enough power to rival the Hyundai Kona Electric while its official range of 250 miles rivals the Kia EV3 Standard Range and the Smart #1 Pro+. 

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 driving the front wheels. That’s a healthy amount of power, and when you plant your foot, you can expect the e:Ny1 to scoot from 0-60mph in an official 7.7 seconds. That’s comparable to a Kia EV3 Standard Range (7.5 seconds) and just behind a Smart #1 Pro+ (6.7). 

The thing is, though, off the line the e:Ny1 feels noticeably slower than 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, but it's a shame you don't get the instant punch you expect from an electric car. 

Mercifully, once you’re moving, it feels much nippier, 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 the e:Ny1 is only suited to faster speeds. 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 our private test track in Eco mode, we found that you're more likely to see around 190 miles in the real world.

A few years ago that kind of real-world range would have been perfectly acceptable, but today it looks rather limited compared to the official range of the Kia EV3 Standard Range (270 miles) and Smart #1 Pro+ (260 miles). And it's not like the e:Ny1 can be had with a bigger battery, unlike the EV3 which in Long Range form has a range of up to 375 miles.

Like Honda’s first electric car – the much smaller Honda e – the e:Ny1 has a firm ride and as a result, you’re jostled around in your seat more than you are in the significantly softer EV3. And while things do settle down at speed if you hit an expansion joint or a rough section of bitumen you're likely to feel a thud through the seat and the steering wheel.

On a more positive note, the firm suspension does deliver decent body control by electric SUV standards, ensuring that it rarely feels floaty over undulating roads (as the EV3 and #1 often do). It's just a shame that, while the steering has plenty of weight, it feels elastic and artificial.

If you want an electric SUV that's more engaging on a country road, it's worth looking at the Alfa Romeo Junior Veloce and Smart #3 Brabus.

The e:Ny1 isn’t, of course, designed to be a sports car. 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.

"The e:Ny1 feels at home around town, but on motorways efficiency drops off quite noticeably. If you do long journeys fairly regularly, keep in mind that the real-world range can drop as low as 160 miles." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

If you're in the market for an electric SUV because you like a commanding driving position, then you'd be better off looking at a Kia EV3 or Smart #1 rather than the relatively low-slung Honda e:Ny1. 

That said, with electrically adjustable seats coming as standard and a steering wheel with plenty of movement, it's easy to find your ideal driving position. And despite situating you lower in the interior than its rivals, you have good visibility all round. 

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 car 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 – unusually – is portrait oriented. The screen 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 much better than the system in the Jeep Avenger Electric but we’d much prefer physical buttons or dials like the ones in the Kia EV3 because they’re less distracting to use on the move.

We do, however, like how the screen is split, because it means you can show the standard sat-nav or the Android Auto or Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring at 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 some scratchy plastics too. It’s better than the MG ZS EV but the Kia EV3 feels plusher.

"I find the tall infotainment touchscreen, which is divided into three distinct sections, easier to use than many cars’ systems, and the digital driver’s display is clear and well-organised." – James Tute, Content Editor

Even if you’re well 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.

Unlike in many cars, choosing a model with a panoramic roof (in the e:Ny1's case top-spec Advance trim) actually gives you more head room rather than less. On all versions, the wide interior means you won’t be rubbing shoulders with your front-seat passenger.

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 small door bins, which accept a bottle of water. 

Rear leg room is really impressive – with loads of knee room and space under the front seats for feet – but rear head room is a bit 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. The middle-seat passenger gets less head room because of the slightly raised centre seat.

Likewise, rear storage isn’t that impressive, with no rear door bins and just a small cupholder on each door instead. You’ll also find two 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 Hyundai Kona Electric has a more versatile 40/20/40 split and the Smart #1 gets a ski hatch. Both formats make it easier to slide in long items between two passengers.

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 Jeep Avenger Electric has 380 litres, the Kia EV3 460 litres and the Hyundai Kona Electric 466 litres. 

So it's not a class leader, but 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 need a little more space, you can fold down the rear seats so they lie flat with the boot floor and give you a large flat storage area.

"I'm six-foot three and I had more than enough space to sit comfortably in the front of the e:Ny1, and leg room in the back is impressive, but I think some families might find the boot a touch too small." – James Tute, Content Editor

As a cash purchase, the Honda e:Ny1 is on the slightly pricey side. In entry-level Elegance trim, it costs more than a small-battery Hyundai Ioniq 5, a big-battery Kia EV3 and our favourite Premium version of the Smart #1. A Tesla Model Y RWD is only a few thousand pounds more.  

At least you get plenty of equipment to help make up for that. The e:Ny1 Elegance comes with 18in alloy wheels, heated front seats, privacy glass, a 10.25in digital driver's display, adaptive LED headlights, an auto-dimming rear-view mirror, keyless start, dual-zone air-conditioning and adaptive cruise control.

Upgrading to the other trim, Advance, gets all the same kit as Elegance and adds a heated steering wheel, an upgraded stereo system and a powered tailgate with hands-free opening.

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, which is slow compared with most electric SUVs and means that even with a fast public charger it's likely to take 45 minutes to charge from 10-80%. For reference, the EV3 Long Range can accept up to 135kW and do the same charge in less than half an hour, and the Smart #1 takes up to 150kW. Charging the e:Ny1 from 10-80% using an 11kW home EV charger should take around six hours.

Reliability wise, Honda finished an impressive fourth out of the 31 manufacturers in our 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey. Its five-year, 90,000-mile warranty (three years standard and two years extra "care package") is slightly better than average.

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.

"The e:Ny1’s 78kW maximum charging rate became an irritation. Even if I found a fast public charger, each mile of range I added would take much longer than with many EVs." – James Tute, Content Editor

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