I am looking to (finally) buy myself a Honda E after having originally put a deposit on one after seeing it in the Design Museum then having to drop it as the finances just didnt add up
I am coming from a 94Ah BMW i3 so I think I have my head around the range issues and dealing with charging (unless there are any special quirks of the Honda worth knowing about ...) and I also own a classic Mini so small cars are no concern to me. Basically, I have sold myself on the design and gadgety nature of the Honda, now I just need to find one.
From looking around, I want a white one with the diamond cut (17") wheels and there seem to be plenty available in my price range of 15-17k that must have come off their leases recently. I had a quick test drive in one last week and all was good but it had a minor issue with the dash trim (wooden bit) popping up in one corner near the steering wheel, is that common? Something I should be worried about? I am planning to buy from a Honda dealer so I can ask them to resolve this before buying.
Beyond that I've done a bit of reading around here and it seems to door handles can be an issue (I will watch out for them not retracting correctly) and potentially 12V battery (though I guess anything from Honda will have that charged at the moment). Is there anything else I need to look out for? or generally things one should take into account when buying these second hand?
It's the first car I've purchased where the general condition of used examples was so poor. I saw several cars with marked interiors (one had Biro all over the backs of the front seats), one with a completely collapsed drivers seat bolster, most had damaged alloy wheels, and a couple of them smelled really bad inside. The dealers (all main Honda franchises) seem to take the route of negotiating based on the condition of the car, rather than rectifying issues and then putting it on the forecourt. One in particular pretty much put it on the line that he was there for the taking, but how can you have confidence a car has been looked after if it's sat outside a dealers looking sorry for itself?
I'd look out for rattles around the screen, rear view mirror surround, and around the glass roof. Make sure you test drive the car over a variety of surfaces. Rattles on mine (21-plate with 18k miles) surfaced after I bought it, but were easy to fix (with the exception of the screen which seems very intermittent.
2021 Honda e Advance – Platinum White
2022 Polestar 2 – Midnight Blue
2005 Porsche Boxster S – Night Blue
There are quite a lot of things that can go wrong. The car does seem quite fragile compared to hondas of old, so quite a few breakages have been listed on here.
The dash wood trim lifting up is not normal - I can't imagine anyone ever having to remove it, so perhaps there were already some issues.
I will also say that the center caps of the diamond cut wheels are particularly poor - mine are all corroded really badly.
There are known issues with some rapid chargers causing faults that can be cleared by the dealer, and in one the charging module was physically damaged. Whilst there has been some update from honda that can be applied at the dealer - it would seem that the problem can still occur. If you do a lot of public rapid charging, make sure you have the update at the dealer (I don't have any more details im afraid).
The 12v battery, even when recharged, once its been flat its generally crap and will start to cause lots of agro, budget 100quid for a new one. Most of them went flat on the boat over, so even brand new cars had nackered 12v batteries.
Check the drivers side A pillar trim has not been marked - this happens when the battery goes flat and the door is opened with the key (but the window doesn't drop). When the door is shut, the glass strikes the plastic trim and marks it.
Door handles can fail, and are not covered by the honda extended warranty. They are not cheap to replace. I had both mine done within the original warranty period. These are a likely cause of the 12v mysteriously draining itself overnight, and leaving you with a lemon parked on the drive way (if you go for charge yellow that is!).
I would mostly use your general car buying senses, and check for overall condition which would hopefully tell you how well the previous owner looked after it, and that they might have had all issues rectified in a timely fashion.
I too like the design, but the tech is slightly underwhelming (but very useful none the less). Overall I find the car quite fussy/particular/delicate, and I'm normally worried about what will break next (whether its someone slamming the door too hard, leaning on my arm rest when getting in because the front passenger space is small if you are 6ft tall).
We have seen a report of condesation inside freezing and cracking the glass roof, reports of the windscreen cracking by itself, and various other immediate failures that are not contributed to by maintenance (like the brake pedal simulator part). Even a charging port glass cover has been broken (it has no structure to it other than the glass itself surprisingly, also expensive to replace).
Whilst I'm keeping mine for the time being, I find it really hard to recommend it to anyone for 2 reasons. The practicality is poor (cabin space, range, chargespeed etc), and the reliability overall does not match the standard expected from honda (for me at least, 12v died on me at least twice, both door handles done under warranty, center caps corrode even in first year of ownership, 12v battery nackered etc, thin paint chipped easily).
'21 e Advance - Charge Yellow - E1702RR alloys
'17 Civic Sport CVT
'00 Prelude 2.2VTi
I think the trim has warped/expanded in the heat (I saw it on a pretty hot day) as I pushed it down and it popped back up. Will make sure they fix that before buying and get this charging update too.
Id love to say that list of potential issues caused my practical mind to think again about buying the car but it hasnt ...
I think it’s worth separating what are foibles of the car versus an uncared for example. Some things are somewhat unavoidable, others are avoidable with careful ownership.
I struggled to satisfy the latter in my search. One thing to add is the paint on the bonnet lip nearest the windscreen which is easily removed if the wipers are lifted to wash the windscreen without being put in the correct position.
Worth also checking the side mirror camera lenses for scratches.
There are other posts about this. To keep it short I would look for:
Full service history (dealers may refuse to honour the main 8 year battery warranty in the very unlikely event that there is an issue with the main battery if you don't have FSH), good paintwork (look for problem spots like the bonnet lip near the wipers other people mentioned, which can give a general idea of whether the car has been taken care of), the ones still within their original / normal warranty, or Honda approved so you get 1 year of normal warranty. Budget for an extended warranty for every year of ownership since it is necessary for the car due to the paucity and massive cost of replacement parts and labour. Also get all the car's software modules fully updated from a main dealer if you're buying from somewhere else.
I'm not sure that the 12V issues are fundamentally a problem with the car, although it could be the faulty door handles, it's also that a lot of the cars have been sitting around for forever and the batteries have gone dead. You may want to budget to replace the battery sooner rather than later. You can also just try your luck and ask the dealer to throw a new one in as part of your purchase.
Also as EEEE mentioned check the black plastic trim on all the door frames carefully, if the 12V has failed and someone has slammed the still up frameless window into the trim without being careful then that will leave marks or dents. They might be small marks that can be buffed out or much deeper.
I haven't run into any door handle problems yet but I am a new owner, unsure what to do about that except have warranty and don't point any water at the handles when cleaning. If the frequency of posts on this forum is an indication, then the door handle problem is the most expensive common failure to deal with, I just hope it doesn't happen and if it does that it's in warranty or that I'll get some good will from my car dealer.
I think looking for a sample with the leather seats upgrade might be good. The leather was quite an expensive add on so the car might generally have been taken care of a bit better. Don't get the brown leather but the black, the brown doesn't match with the bronze seatbelts or wood panels, it's a completely different shade and doesn't look good.
Otherwise if you can deal with some niggles don't let other people put you off, the car looks wonderful, feels wonderful to be in and the car is near perfect for what it's intended for: frequent short range town/city driving for 1-3 people with the ability to charge at home overnight. The battery being so small means that you can also charge to full completely within the off-peak period on a typical home charger, and probably from 60% to 100% on a granny charger.
