Over here we have the Honda E and I was tempted by it when I was buying my SE. The full width screens, cameras and screens for door mirrors, 240V three pin socket in the dash for connecting a laptop or PlayStation/Xbox are all really cool features for a gadget lover like me, but I fear they’d lose their novelty value pretty quickly. Interior design and quality feel wasn’t on a par with Mini IMO, but I do like how it looks on the outside. It would have been slightly cheaper than my level 3, but it has an even smaller range than the SE, and it’s heavier too I believe. Anecdotal evidence suggests it doesn’t have the handling of the SE either, so for all of those reasons I plumped for the SE.
I drove nothing but Honda cars after my marvelous 1986 CRX-Si. After 20 years in gen-1 Honda Insights, I was ready to go full-electric. I bought an expensive scale-model of the great-looking 2-door prototype for the Honda e and waited for the production model.
When I read that the Honda e would not be coming to North America, I wrote letters to Honda explaining that having a low-volume EV (like the low-volume gen-1 Insight), would help dealers dip their toes into the EV waters before Honda led the tidal wave of EV cars flooding the market. I also claimed that the Honda e would become a cult-favorite vehicle in the US.
Of course, Honda ignored my letters, but they also ignored the EV market. The Honda e proved to be a one-off dead-end (I'm discounting the 89-mile, lease-only, west-coast-only EV cousin of my Clarity PHEV). Honda squandered their head-start and never followed up the Honda e. I always wondered what happened to the Honda e's innovative design team who strayed so far from Honda's corporate pablum.
Now Honda's EV for the North America will be a General Motors SUV with body mods designed by Honda. There was recent news that Honda and Sony will be partnering on another EV, but that's many years away.
Boy was I lucky Honda whiffed! There's no way that a dash-width set of screens (two of which can display an aquarium), a lounge-style interior (requiring an aftermarket center arm-rest), and rear-wheel drive (enabling an absurdly tight 14-foot U-turn) could make the Honda e anywhere near as much fun to drive as the MINI Cooper SE.
I hope MINI doesn't also lose their way as they turn the corner to make their journey down the silk road.