Oddies but goodies
Honda’s electric E fits into a long tradition of misfits, including the tiny S800 roadster and radical hybrid CR-Z coupe.
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Honda? High-revving VTEC engines, epic motorbikes and Type R hot hatchbacks? Perhaps Senna and Prost’s F1 success and ambitious Asimo robotics? Or the dependable Jazz, unbreakable lawnmowers and power tools that’ll work come rain or shine, year after year? Whatever your perception of Honda, I think we can agree that engineering integrity is baked into its DNA – whether your priority is performance, durability or cutting the lawn just so.
Which makes it all the more intriguing to ponder the place of the E in the family tree. To see whether the bijou battery baby deserves membership of the Great Small Honda Club™ we plundered the UK importer’s heritage fleet to compare it to a couple of old-timers: one of the brand’s very first cars, the petrol-powered S800 roadster from 1967, and the stepping-stone CR-Z hybrid from 2010. Neither was a big seller.
As we gather on a sun-kissed winter’s morning, all eyes are drawn to the exquisite S800. Honda only switched from two wheels to four in 1963 and this drophead coupe is an evolution of the brand’s first passenger car, the S600. Its design is beguiling, redolent of European sports cars with a long bonnet, pert dimensions and zingy Honda Scarlet paintwork set off by handsome chrome stripes and a power bulge hinting at fireworks to come.
This is a tiny car at just 3.3m long and 1.4m wide, so it’s a squeeze to fit in, but it’s worth the effort (and removing one’s shoes) to do so. This example is factory-fresh, with snug leather seats looking onto a simple dashboard and the stubbiest gearlever I’ve ever clutched. It’s the polar opposite of the E’s addiction to digital screens, but has its own sophistication. In many ways, the S800 set the template for the modern kei car – that diminutive footprint matched by the paltry 791cc capacity of the four-cylinder engine. Although tricky to start on a damp morning, it settles to a potent burble and is happy to go for a long drive cross-country.
It’s a cold morning so we pop the roof back on (a fiddly tonneau cover, but the studs are properly engineered and clip into place perfectly) and head out of town. It’s cramped in here and the slender ⊲
steering wheel fouls my thighs, but there’s a deftness and flow to the pocket-sized Honda that bring an instant smile. The gearchange is a delight, with a mechanical precision that encourages you to flick around the four-speeder just for the hell of it, the 0.8-litre engine zipping up and down the rev range, encouraging throttle blips with no electro-nannies attempting to rev-match for you.
The best bit? That 8500rpm redline, like an early blueprint for VTEC. Conscious of the car’s age and rarity, I couldn’t quite bring myself to rinse it out to the limiter, but I can report that above 7k it shrieks like a mini touring car, a fizzing soundtrack that’s even better heard outside than in. You can see how this S800 set the template for the high-revving S2000 that came three decades later.
By the new millennium, Honda design had gone full Japanese and the CR-Z we’ve brought along to represent the hybrid era couldn’t hail from anywhere but Tokyo. The stubby two-door coupe’s sawn-off rump echoes the ’80s CR-X, the split tailgate window improving rear visibility significantly.
CAR eagerly reported on the launch of the CR-Z in 2010 and Mark Walton picked it when he attempted to return to the UK from Spain after the Icelandic volcano grounded all aviation, using only Honda cars, bikes, mowers and marine engines. A decade on, we’re in a different kind of lockdown, but the oddball coupe has aged well. There’s a pleasing honesty to the sporty cabin and this era of pre-digital hot hatch has huge appeal. Commands are made with chunky buttons, not soft keys and menus, and this is a rare hybrid with a sweet-flicking manual transmission.
The CR-Z isn’t as much fun to drive as the looks suggest, and its 10.2sec 0-62mph time and numb steering blunt thrills, but there’s enjoyment to be had balancing the 124bhp combined output with 57mpg eco credentials. ‘The CR-Z is exactly the kind of oddball, flawed, contradictory car that Japan occasionally, inadvertently produces,’ we concluded at the time and I think we got it right.
What unites all three vehicles is an independent singlemindedness, a determination by Honda to pursue its engineering ideals and stand out from the crowd. The E couldn’t be more different from blander European EVs and its charm, character and disruptive interior show that the brand’s think-different mentality is alive and well.
The E is the fastest car here, has the sharpest handling, the tightest turning circle and the roomiest cabin; it’s living embodiment that we shouldn’t mourn the end of the high-revving VTEC era, but rather grasp the opportunities of the electric age ahead. It could be fun, but different – just how Honda likes it.
The gearchange is a delight, with a precision that encourages you to flick around just for the hell of it