1st month of ownership, thoughts.

All Honda E related discussions
User avatar
advance2020
Posts: 480
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2020 6:21 am
Location: SW Wiltshire
Contact:

Post by advance2020 »

A little bit of Buyers remorse maybe.
I'm very happy. For me, no split rear seat is a plus. Much easier to drop, if needed, single handed. But rarely use/run out of boot space.
I’m very happy with seat comfort* and ergonomics for driver: touch v. real buttons etc.
I find DAB reception is usually better than FM
Agree Honda SATNAV is poor:
I love Google Maps (in Dark/Night mode) if and when I need it.
Rarely drive at night.

*5ft 11 85kgs Retired, often just me in the car
Platinum White Pearl: e-driving green at last, on R17 Michelin Pilot Sport
A fan of One Pedal Driving max >>> and physical buttons

FMIB
Posts: 135
Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2021 4:11 pm

Post by FMIB »

No remorse here, just my thoughts and opinions on where Honda should and could do better.
As for the folding rear seat, as a family of 3, means I cant fold 50% of the seat when I need more boot space. Honda have the magic seats in several cars which transform practicality. I cant remember the last hatchback that I had where the rear seats did not split fold. I don't see any difference is dropping rear seats split or otherwise.
I also can't remember having or driving a car that had such a minuscule in/out adjustment for the steering wheel. I do have a comfortable driving position, but its not a perfect driving position.
Even base models of much cheaper cars have multiple seat adjustment. My last city car, BMW 1 Series which was some £5000 cheaper had significantly more (manual) seat adjustments and quite simple to get a perfect driving position.
Absolutley no regrets so far and the e remains (almost) the ideal city car.
User avatar
EEEE
Posts: 519
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2021 10:33 am

Post by EEEE »

Latest observations now the winter has drawn in:

1) Headlight aim is too low. Driving country roads around here feels fairly uncomfortable. The fact the car kicks up under acceleration and lack of auto adjustment is probably why it's set low from the factory. I hope to god it's adjustable. Will have a poke around at the weekend. The full beam is also a little 'weak'.
2) Reversing at night in an unlit area - no can do without real mirrors. Feels pretty uncomfortable pulling off forwards from a parked position also. Not an issue in the city...
'21 e Advance - Charge Yellow - E1702RR alloys
'17 Civic Sport CVT
'00 Prelude 2.2VTi
User avatar
londiniumperson
Posts: 1764
Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2019 2:37 pm

Post by londiniumperson »

FMIB wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 3:34 pm As for the folding rear seat, as a family of 3, means I cant fold 50% of the seat when I need more boot space. Honda have the magic seats in several cars which transform practicality. I cant remember the last hatchback that I had where the rear seats did not split fold. I don't see any difference is dropping rear seats split or otherwise.
I can't even get my family of 5 humans & 3 cats in mine, it'd need 2 trips :lol: :lol: :lol:
2022 Advance in Crystal Black Pearl on 17's - 08/2020-Current
2015 VW Tiguan (Pure White) - 04/2018-Current
1991 Honda Beat PP1 (Festival Red) - 11/2022-Current
FMIB
Posts: 135
Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2021 4:11 pm

Post by FMIB »

EEEE wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 9:52 pm Latest observations now the winter has drawn in:

1) Headlight aim is too low. Driving country roads around here feels fairly uncomfortable. The fact the car kicks up under acceleration and lack of auto adjustment is probably why it's set low from the factory. I hope to god it's adjustable. Will have a poke around at the weekend. The full beam is also a little 'weak'.
2) Reversing at night in an unlit area - no can do without real mirrors. Feels pretty uncomfortable pulling off forwards from a parked position also. Not an issue in the city...
I have only driven it for a very short distance in the dark and did not notice the dip beam being too low. In fact they were a bit brighter than I was expecting for an EV, but they do have a sharp cut off on the right side of the road which would be noticeable on lefthand bends.
I am spoilt by full adaptive headlights on my other vehicle.

Reversing in an unlit area at night, yes mentioned that and completely agree. Possibly why there is full auto parking and pulling out feature available.
FMIB
Posts: 135
Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2021 4:11 pm

Post by FMIB »

londiniumperson wrote: Wed Dec 08, 2021 10:16 pm
I can't even get my family of 5 humans & 3 cats in mine, it'd need 2 trips :lol: :lol: :lol:
You need to be creative, rear seats folded, 3 humans lying flat side by side, 3 cats in the rear footwells
FMIB
Posts: 135
Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2021 4:11 pm

Post by FMIB »

Time for a year end update. Only 548 miles into the ownership and the e continues to bring a smile to my face every time I drive it.
Trips remain short and are typically 2-4 miles at a time with a couple of longer 50 mile return trips.
Here the e continues to exceed expectations as a city car and I continue to only charge at home as and when needed.

Today, I had to make the same return trip immediately after getting home as my daughter needed to return a too large dog collar she bought for our dog. On the first trip, like always I pressed the regen button and drove there and back using one pedal driving. The car averaged 2.5k miles/kwhr which was inline with the 2-2.5 miles/kwhr I have been averaging these past weeks. On the second trip, I left it switched off and let the car use its auto regen down slopes, using the steering wheel paddles to toggle between the 4 settings when needed and braking when I needed to stop at roundabouts. This time the car averaged 3.7miles/kwhr, significantly better than I usually achieve with one pedal driving.

I was a little surprised at this result and wonder how other owners are driving the e in terms of regen?
I can understand the benefit of 1 pedal driving in heavy city traffic, but is it reducing the range of the car outside of city traffic?
User avatar
EEEE
Posts: 519
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2021 10:33 am

Post by EEEE »

FMIB wrote: Wed Dec 29, 2021 4:55 pm Time for a year end update. Only 548 miles into the ownership and the e continues to bring a smile to my face every time I drive it.
Trips remain short and are typically 2-4 miles at a time with a couple of longer 50 mile return trips.
Here the e continues to exceed expectations as a city car and I continue to only charge at home as and when needed.

Today, I had to make the same return trip immediately after getting home as my daughter needed to return a too large dog collar she bought for our dog. On the first trip, like always I pressed the regen button and drove there and back using one pedal driving. The car averaged 2.5k miles/kwhr which was inline with the 2-2.5 miles/kwhr I have been averaging these past weeks. On the second trip, I left it switched off and let the car use its auto regen down slopes, using the steering wheel paddles to toggle between the 4 settings when needed and braking when I needed to stop at roundabouts. This time the car averaged 3.7miles/kwhr, significantly better than I usually achieve with one pedal driving.

I was a little surprised at this result and wonder how other owners are driving the e in terms of regen?
I can understand the benefit of 1 pedal driving in heavy city traffic, but is it reducing the range of the car outside of city traffic?
I noticed a similar increase in efficiency after continuing a journey.

Leicester to Banbury, mostly motorway / dual carriage way, stay below 70mph, average consumption well under 3m/kwh (2.7m/kwh rings a bell). Do a rapid DC charge in Banbury 25 % to 50% just to get me home (big queues at the Banbury instavolt despite 8 chargers). The rest of the journey home (Banbury to Didcot) was a little bit slower towards the end but mostly motorway and dual carriageway, ended up on nearly 4m/kwh (B trip resets after a DC charge). Not sure why the 'bump' in efficiency, need more data, but the 'e' keeps it all for itself!

As for regen , I never use the one pedal mode. There isn't much regen available to be honest, and most of my trips (daily commute) are done in the 80% to 100% band where regen cannot be used. It's a shame the regen isn't stronger. When using one pedal mode its misleading. You think you are regenerating but it's just using the brakes in addition to the very slight regen. It would be nice if the display showed you the true regen and braking effort. I understand not everyone would want to see this however.
'21 e Advance - Charge Yellow - E1702RR alloys
'17 Civic Sport CVT
'00 Prelude 2.2VTi
FMIB
Posts: 135
Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2021 4:11 pm

Post by FMIB »

EEEE wrote: Wed Dec 29, 2021 7:35 pm
As for regen , I never use the one pedal mode. There isn't much regen available to be honest, and most of my trips (daily commute) are done in the 80% to 100% band where regen cannot be used. It's a shame the regen isn't stronger. When using one pedal mode its misleading. You think you are regenerating but it's just using the brakes in addition to the very slight regen. It would be nice if the display showed you the true regen and braking effort. I understand not everyone would want to see this however.
When I press the button for the one pedal driving option, the car immediately feels draggy, even if its not showing any regen if I ease the throttle. On its strongest, it quickly pulls the car to a stop and I have hardly ever used the brake pedal.
Switching it off, sort of frees the car and another quick trip today without the one pedal setting active, I achieved efficiency, easily in the 3.7-4.0 range, numbers I have not seen since owning the car.
User avatar
Reuben80
Posts: 551
Joined: Mon May 25, 2020 3:29 pm
Location: Malta

Post by Reuben80 »

Regen is not going to improve much your efficiency, it helps but not the main reason. You need to let it coast and use the least possible energy to go forward using the momentum of the car and gravity. You saw less efficiency with one pedal driving is because it does not let you coast.
Post Reply