Honda e:Ny1 long-term test: report 1

Is the Honda e:Ny1 electric SUV a sensible choice for tackling city centre roads plus longer trips to the countryside? We're living with one to find out...

Published02 August 2024

The Car Honda e:Ny1 Advance Run by James Tute, Content Editor

Why it’s here To see if Honda’s electric SUV is agile enough for city driving while remaining practical for longer trips to the Shires

Needs to be Well-suited to rush-hour traffic and comfy on motorway drives, with enough range for hassle-free long journeys

Mileage 5648 List price £42,195 Target Price £39,820 Price as tested £42,845 Official range 256 miles Test range 239 miles Options fitted Aqua Topaz Metallic paint (£650)

2 August 2024 – Electric dreams

Like many superstars – Beyoncé, Bowie, Britney etc – some car models are so familiar that just one word will do to describe them. So the question “What do you drive?” is quickly answered: “Civic”, “Qashqai” or (in your favourite dream) “Testarossa”.

The Honda e:Ny1 isn’t quite there yet. So since taking delivery of mine I’ve used variations of the following rather a lot: “An e:Ny1. It’s an electric SUV that looks just like a Honda HR-V. No, you’re thinking of the ZR-V, this one’s smaller and – oh, forget it, here’s a photo…”

None of which, of course, has any bearing on whether or not you should buy one.

What matters to me – and what I’ll be testing over the next few months – is what it’s like to drive on London’s hectic roads and beyond; whether charging up the e:Ny1 proves quick and cheap, and whether it keeps me and my passengers comfortable.

I’ve previously run a small electric car and it was ideal for negotiating narrow city streets and making use of tight parking spaces. So now I want to find out whether switching to an electric SUV robs me of those benefits, or whether the (actually fairly compact) e:Ny1 is just as manageable – or even better.

Another key test of its usefulness will be driving from Central London to my home town in Cheshire. It’s about 200 miles, so on paper the e:Ny1 can do it in one go, but as What Car?’s real range tests have shown time and time again, electric cars very rarely manage their official WLTP range.

So far – driving in Eco mode and limiting my use of the power-draining air-con – I’m doing really well in that respect (no doubt helped by the hot weather, which improves battery efficiency).

According to some number-crunching based on my first 500 or so miles in the car, I’ve averaged close to 240 miles from a full charge of the e:Ny1’s 68.8kWh battery. Those miles have included plenty of motorway and dual-carriageway driving as well as the 20mph crawl city-centre drivers know well.

It'll be interesting to see if the range dips significantly if outside temperatures do, and whether the model’s fairly slow maximum charging rate (78kW) makes "filling up" at public chargers frustrating over time (I don't have a home charger) .

One figure I can be certain of is the very low benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax rate the model attracts, which makes running an electric SUV as a company car almost laughably cheap.

That said, the e:Ny1’s list price is a pretty big number – especially when compared with petrol-powered small SUVs – so I have high expectations when it comes to interior quality and equipment levels.

Speaking of which, I’ve chosen the Advance model rather than the cheaper Elegance (there are only two versions of the car available, both with the same battery and motor).

The key reason is that for not much more BIK tax I get four extra parking sensors on the side of the car and a multi-view parking camera. Hopefully they'll keep the car’s lovely light blue bodywork scratch-free as I slot it into crowded car parks. There’s also a system called Parking Pilot, which can park the car for you (and might make a handy scapegoat…).

Other Advance trim features are an upgraded stereo, to make sure Beyoncé, Bowie, Britney etc sound great; a powered tailgate and a panoramic glass roof. Oh, and one feature I won’t use because of an aversion to having hot hands: a heated steering wheel.

Those come on top of lots of standard kit, including adaptive cruise control (which I’ll use a lot), a big, 15.1in infotainment touchscreen, a 10.2in digital driver’s display, electrically adjustable front seats and wireless phone-charging. There’s also a Honda app that connects to the car, allowing me to lock and unlock the doors, and start the climate control from anywhere in the world.

In other words, I’ll have plenty of toys to play with as I find out what my car is like to live with day to day. And no doubt lots of opportunities to explain to anyone who asks what I drive what an e:Ny1 actually is...