Hi, guys. Today we are reviewing a three-year-old car. But there are three important details. First, this car has a huge screen, the whole front panel, and it is very interesting how effective and necessary it is. Secondly, this car advertised by Max Verstappen, the current champion of Formula One, and we hope that he does not advise bad. And the most interesting thing is that here we have the owner of this car, whether he is satisfied, how much he has spent on this car and what was his experience in the end - we are going to find out everything from him. Let's begin our review, let's go.
So, we have before us an electric car called the Honda E. It was first shown in 2017, as a concept car, then it was called the Honda Urban EV. In 2019, a pre-production car was shown in Europe, then it generated a lot of interest, and in 2020 sales started. At that time, Honda received 40,000 pre-orders for this car. Its price is from 30,000 euros. Not cheap. Is it worth its money? We will soon find out! What do we have outside? In terms of dimensions, it is a compact city car.
Length - 3.9 m, width - 1.75, weight - 1.5 tons. Honda claims that it is exclusively a city car. Only in urban conditions it should be operated. The advantages for this format are a powerful electric motor, low center of gravity and a turning radius of 4.3 meters. Three interesting features on the outside of this car.
The front headlights. They look quite interesting, unusual and recognizable. The front and rear lights are LED. There is a hatch on the hood. It's in an ambiguous position, usually it is on the side. Let's see what's under the cover. The charging port.
A lot of people have probably noticed by now, it doesn't have mirrors. It's a rearview cameras. Two six-inch monitors are inside, left and right.
Specifically in this car, the cameras instead of mirrors is not just some fancy thing, the aerodynamics of this car has been improved by 4% due to this design of the mirrors. Well, they also say that there is less wind noise on the run. Trunk. The trunk, to be honest, is not big - as you can see, there is not much room.
Here is the charger is, and it already takes up almost all the free space. That's how much space a little box takes up. It closes manualy. The taillights, I repeat, are LED. By the way, here's another interesting sign we noticed - NFC. This car has its own proprietary app, with which you can open the car.
And you don't even have to do anything, you just approach with a paired smartphone, and the car opens. At least that's what it says. Let's ask the owner whether it really works that way. The car is available in two configurations, 136 and 154hp, 222k miles on a single charge, and 8 seconds of acceleration to 100km.
That's not a lot. But with the 0 to 80% fast charger, the car charges in 30 minutes. Getting in? Let's have a look at the back first, shall we? It's quite interesting. Now here's some really cool news, because Casey Neistat's entire YouTube channel can now be viewed in Russian. Ask how? Using the function of voice translation of foreign videos in Yandex browser. See for yourself!
You can watch almost any foreign video in English, French, Italian, Spanish and even German with Russian voice acting. Education, travel, gadgets, and even how to change the headlight! Find the video you want, click and you're done! Now everything is clear. The translation and voice acting of the video is handled by a neural network. How much progress has been made, right? A special link is already below, we definitely recommend it. We continue! The front seats are slightly pushed forward, so it's OK to sit there. The great thing, of course, is it's almost flat. There's a little bump. Basically, the five of us can make it to the party site.
You can put two more girls with you. The door is frameless, but the materials are nice, all good quality and nice colors. It's nice. Everything is nice to touch. The pocket... What's in here? Lip balm? Did the kids leave it? - Can you use it as a cup holder? - Yes. There's pockets in the seats, too, and really cool light bulbs.
Four of them. On the front, though. And the sunroof. Oh, here's a button, you can turn it on at the back as well! - Why doesn't anything happen? - The car is switched off. Oh, wait... They're already on. The door is open. - And when the door is open... So you can turn them on and off with this button? - Yeah, for reading, for example. - That's a hell of a handy thing. Guys, I'll be honest with you, I spent less than a minute in that car.
I like it very much already. This, of course, does not happen often. Moreover, some of the interfaces are on the knobs. It is not convenient to operate the climate control via the screen. But there is a special wheel here. In summer, it is just what you need. It's quite comfortable to sit, there's enough space. If you are not taller than 1.9 meters - you will be fine to sit here.
The gearbox is here. There's a cupholder here. I didn't know it was there, so I pulled it out at random. What's that? Oh! A camera! Here's some cameras.
Circle view, and in front. The mirrors are right here. Left and right. Look how good the picture quality is. But the big question is, how do you adjust it? How do you control it? Just like a normal electric mirror. On the door, there's a button right there.
I thought it was on the on-board computer. Well... Left mirror. Turns. The camera pivots, there, look. Up and down.
Now look over here. There's a whole universe of ports and interfaces. First of all, there's a 220, an electrical outlet. You can put your laptop here, plug in the charger and charge it. Ugh, dusty... HDMI? Is there HDMI? We'll have to ask the owner...
Two USBs... The glove compartment... It's big, too. Look, there's a manual right there, and there's room left over there. And there's a pocket like this on the right-hand side. And it's adjustable, like in IKEA. This is a partition, you put it in the grooves and it has the size you need.
For a glass, or there are glasses. Installed like this. And it's very easy to rearrange if you need more space. And now let's take a ride, and talk a little bit with Artem, the owner of this car. Just to dust it off... Let's talk to Artem, and find out how he feels about this car. - Artem, hi. - Hi!
- Nice to meet you. - So, we've got Edu, our Indian friend we just met. - Hi. - Edu, will you... How comfortable is it, by the way? - Very comfortable. - And Denis. Do you have enough room? - Yeah. - No, really? - I really do. - I'm sitting all right, too. - It's quite compact, of course, but there's plenty of room.
- And you're sitting fine. - I am. - Look how good it is. All right, let's go. Let's go for a ride. - How are you comfortable driving in these tight spots? - Yeah, this car is perfect for the city. Small, narrow streets. - Tell me, how did you get this car? Why this car? Where did you get it? Let's go through it in order. - Okay, very simple story.
I've been driving a Honda since 2007. - What's that sound? - The rear passengers aren't wearing their seatbelts. - Do they have to buckle up? - Gentlemen, you have to buckle up. - A momen please. - Do it, do it. - Whoa, whoa, whoa! Take it easy! Look, I mean, it's a good dynamic. It said eight seconds to a hundred.
- Well, eight seconds to 100, yeah, but it's an electric motor. It's got very decent torque. - It's like it's not eight seconds. - No, it's eight seconds to 100. - What's that sound? - A turn signal. - Is that a turn signal? - That's the first time I've ever heard a blinker sound like that. - There's a lot of cool different sounds in here.
- We got a little distracted. Have you always had a Honda? - Yeah, I've had Honda cars for years. I used to drive a Civic, then I got a Pilot, a big, eight-seater. And my wife saw same as this car just on the road. We googled it, found out that it is a Honda E, an all-electric car.
It is cool, but it is not available in Russia. But in the end, with various tricks... I bought this car in Germany, brought it to Belarus via Belarus to Russia. - All by yourself? - By car, with the help of people who do it all the time and know how to make it all clear. - Well, you went to Germany and Belarus to get it yourself? - No, no, it was all remote, I just found it on a site where they sell cars.
Well, there's the certification, GLONASS, and that's it, I'm the lucky owner of a Honda E. - How much did you pay? - About $38,000. - For everything? - All of it! - That's not expensive. - I think it's a good price, yeah. - So you had to choose between the Lada Granta and the Honda E? - I jumped into the last carriage, you could say. - But still, in advance. You are selling this car now, right? - Yeah, I'm selling it. - For geopolitical reasons?
- Yes, I don't need the car in Moscow anymore. And that's why I'm selling it. - So, let's talk about interfaces. All this stuff, is that necessary? -These two screens, they are absolutely equal. In both meaning and functionality. This is for the driver, this is for the passenger. And we can swap screens.
I can put a second application here. Here's a clock, for example. And swapped with you. Gave you the watch, and took back the radio. - Nah, take your watch and give me back my radio. - Please take it back. - Can I play a movie in here? - Yeah. - Can you throw it back to you? Doesn't that make any sense...
- I've never tried it on the move, but I guess you could. But I've seen a lot on instagram from Japanese people who drive Honda E's that they plug the nintendo Switch into HDMI, and put the picture here. And play. - Yeah, it's got HDMI and a phone pocket. - Yeah, it's a car made with love of detail.
- Didn't you have an armrest or something? - Armrest is an option. It costs 350 euros. - Where do you charge it? What chargers? - Mostly city ones. Out of town you can plug it into a regular household socket, a full charge in about 20 hours. - Or you come and all the chargers are busy? - It happens. - Often? - No. More likely not. There's an app, PlugShare, and electric car owners use it quite responsibly.
When you come to charge, you check in. And there you can see if the charger is free, or if it's busy. If you see an owner who came to pick up a car and didn't check in, they come right up and say, "Well, how come? You put it in and you didn't check in on PlugShare." These are the fast chargers, the orange ones are 50 kilowatts.
The green ones are regular chargers. - Wow, that's a lot of them. I wouldn't know it. They're not particularly noticeable at first glance. - Yeah, there's a lot of them. There's one at the Depot, for example. There's a lot of them. - Have your expectations of an electric car in a major city been met? - Yes, by 200%.
- How far have you driven it? Would you take it to Nizhny Novgorod, for example? - Well, only if you organize yourself a Challenge "How to get to Nizhny Novgorod in an electric car". You need to find all the possible charge stations on the way, and make a plan for stops to recharge. Even if charging is fast, it is 1.5 hours. Accordingly, you need to plan so that these 1.5 hours do something, and not just sit and wait. Either to work, or, if you are with children, to entertain them somehow. It's not an easy task.
- I agree. - How many people, at the most, ride in this car? Or used to. - There's four seat belts, I have a youngest child who's 2, I put a child seat, and then the girls sit in the back. But one without a seatbelt.
Well, that's how we used to drive, yes. But, of course, it's comfortable for four people, but it's a bit cramped for five. - The best part is, the cameras! Here we see great picture quality in the camera. - Yes, even at night they have a good view.
- And they are always on, I understand correctly? - They are always on. And I think that's the law. It's a rear-view mirror. It's fine, you get used to it in two hours. There's a comparison, for example, with the Audi e-tron, where the camera is on the side, in the door. It is a very strange experience. It takes you a long time to get used to it.
Because you get used to it over many years of driving. And when you look at it from a different angle... - Look, that's a good quality. - Yeah. When you look into that screen, it's like looking into a rearview mirror. It's exactly the same as a mirror.
And when you look in the e-tron, you're looking into a void, and you feel like there's no car there. And you could accidentally bump into someone when you're changing lanes. It's much harder to get used to. Here, it's very natural, very much like normal mirrors.
- Gentlemen, how are you sitting? Edu, what do you think? Are there any cars like this in India? - I don't think there is a Honda in India. And there's a small car I saw on the road. - A Tata? - Not Tata! - What do they drive in India? - In India there is the same problem is that there isn't not enough of urban charging stations. - So that's it. - You have to charge at home. And you have to pay a lot for electricity at the end of the month.
So not many people can afford electric cars yet. - So there aren't many electric cars? - Yeah. At the moment. - Do you have a car? - Yes. Hyundai i10. - Accent? - i10 - i ten. - Yes.
- But a gasoline one? Also small? - Yes, it's also small. - Again, gentlemen, how do you sit in the back? - Well, maybe a long ride would be uncomfortable... - To Sochi... Would you go to Voronezh in such a car? - It doesn't take long to get to Voronezh, yes... - Whoa! Is that the maximum you just pressed? - Well, that's pedal on the floor, but that's not even sport mode.
- There's also a sport mode? - Yeah, there is. I don't know if it's worth speeding up, but... - Well, it's not bad. On the road, it's quite capable of overtaking at this speed. - Yeah, it's very dynamic, of course. Faster than most petrol cars. - Do you get updates on the software? - There is an official application, with remote control with your iPhone, but in Russia does not work. - Before I forget. There's an NFC icon on your door. Does it work?
- It doesn't work in Russia. - It doesn't? That's the coolest thing about it, you can do anything with your phone. - Yes, you can. - Opening it from your phone... - Yeah. - And it doesn't work? - It doesn't work. - And it's unlikely to work.
- You can't "pair" the phone to the car, because when you get to the last stage when you have to enter the PIN, it says "there's been an error". And the support service says, "This function is not supported in your region, sorry". You say: "What difference does it make, in Russia or not in Russia", but the answer is always "Sorry, we can't help, it does not work in your region". - I see. Have you had any problems with maintenance? Have you ever had to go to a service station for 7,000 kilometers?
- No. Well, an electric car, what kind of maintenance is that? - Well, the brakes, I don't know... - It's one pedal drive, I don't know if you've noticed, I've never pressed the brake yet. You just let off the gas and it stops. - Recuperation? - Yeah. - So you're so trained that you don't even hit the brakes? - Yeah. See, there's a "one pedal drive" button right there.
If the car in front brakes sharply, ours brakes as well. - The car itself? - Yeah. - So there's sensors as well? - Yeah, there's sensors, cameras. - That's awesome. - I can see that you have the camera working all the time. - Yeah, I'm comfortable with that. But you can switch to the optical mirror like this. Then it's just a reflection.
- Wait, I mean... - Or you can turn it on, and then the camera icon lights up. Also, apparently, it's the law. So you know it's a digital image. - Awesome. Edu, what do you think? - That's pretty cool. - Is it cool? - It is. - But you're from India! The CEO of Google is from India! You should be familiar with all these things! - Well, one day all cars in India will be like this.
- Will they be like this? Why did you come here? Are you studying? - Yes. At RUDN. - RUDN? - Yes. - What are you studying? - Culture studies. - What's it like? You like it? - Yeah. - Now let's please talk about the cons. - Well, the mileage on one charge is small.
But that's not even a minus, it's a known limitation. - It is a feature. - It is necessary to understand directly, that it is the city automobile. Without illusions. The absence of Russian technical support. You won't be able to use the application, though it would be cool, of course.
Turn it on in winter to warm up the air in the cabin, in order to get into a warm car. All this, unfortunately, is not available. - Well, nothing squeaks at all. The assembly is beautiful. I was trying to find something to complain about... - It's a Japanese assembly. They assemble all the E's in Japan. - Tell me again why you're selling it. Let's get back to that.
Going somewhere? - Yeah, I'm going away. - What do you do? - IT - Well, then the situation is immediately clear. - Yeah, so... - Cyprus? - Cyprus. No reason for the car to stand here and rust. The car has to run. - But you're selling it for more than you bought it, as far as I'm concerned.
- Yes, I am. First of all, I researched the market. In Russia these cars are not for sale at all. And there are quite a few ads where they offer to bring a right-handed Honda E, from Japan. And the price is $43,000 to $45,000.
So I'm putting it at $53,000 right now, but I'm willing to haggle. - Can I ask a question? - Yes. - Is it cheaper to buy a Honda in Japan, and bring it through Vladivostok, to Russia. Or buy it in Europe, the way you did, and bring it through Belarus to Russia? - Well, first of all, you'll have steering wheel on the other side. But I haven't checked this, but i guess it's cheaper to get it from Europe. I'd say. - Speaking of saving money.
You never said how much does it cost to charge the car? How much do you spend on electricity in the city and maybe count out of town at your place? - You haven't. - At all? - Not at all. In the city, all of the city chargers are free. - Wait, all of them? - Yes, everything in the city is free. What's more, parking is free for electric cars. There's no tax on electric cars. I mean, it's comfortable.
- You didn't count how much you spent to charge this car? - I do not spend more than $30 because I'm using the infrastructure in the city and I'm very happy with everything... - For 7,000 miles, you spent $30?! - Yeah. That's good. - Well, maybe I also charged it out of town. - $40?
- A kilowatt costs 0.025 cents in Tula region. So I don't think that's a lot of money. It's about $1 to charge a car. - Listen, do you have any insurance on it? - The usual MTPL. - Casco? - Nobody insures it. They told me $5,000 for insurance. - $5000?! - Well, there's no parts, it's a unique car, who's gonna insure it? That, by the way, is a serious disadvantage.
- Yeah, that's a real downside. We have been standing in a traffic jam for 10 minutes. What if you have a low battery? Or in winter, say? Doesn't it drain the battery faster? - Of course it does. Especially if the heating is on. In winter I had moments when I was afraid it would run out. Not when you're standing in traffic, but when you're driving somewhere and it just runs out.
And I would turn off the heater. Of course it gets chilly in the cabin, but it's better to be patient than find yourself without a charge on the road. And you turned on the seat heating.
- Oh, here's another minus! - Yeah. - It's quite comfortable to sit like that, but you can accidentally turn on the heating with your knee. And it goes on so gently. That's cool. - And it heats up fast! It's already hot! It's really hot to sit on! - Kim! We haven't tried the music! - Music? How's the music? Is it good? - Well, I'm not a music geek, but it's pretty good... - May I? - Yeah, sure.
- Not bad, not bad. And then we get banned from YouTube for copyright. - So, are you gonna miss the world of luxury and glamour? And the Rolls-Royce? - Well, it's not so much about luxury and glamour... Moscow has unique features. I am not so much interested in luxury and glamour, but, for example, in the delivery of groceries in 15 minutes. - That's true. There's Tesla Model Y there.
- So, gentlemen, did you like it? Was it comfortable? - Very comfortable. - Edu, look, we've got a seller and we've got a buyer... Very lucky. Artem, thank you very much for your time! - Yes, and thank you, a lot of fun! - Does the hood open? - Yes, of course! Amazing, huh? The hood of the car opens! - Let's have a look. - I was sure that... - It's pretty standard. There's a lever and... Voila!
- You don't usually see all this stuff! Usually it's just the filler neck. This is all there. - It's all there, yeah. By the way, look at this. Under this cover here, these are the fuses. And, look, tweezers to take the fuses out. - That's handy. - Yeah, pretty handy. - Okay, that's really cool.
That's the story, guys. We can close now. The car costs 30,000 euros. Right now, in Europe, it's from 30,000 euros. It's not bad money and probably makes sense. Artem is selling it for... - 53,000 euros.
- How about 48,000? - All right. - Bargaining is possible. Depends on the person, of course, but if you can negotiate... If it's not sold by the time we release this video, there you go. Artem, thank you very much.
That's the kind of unusual cars, that's the kind of unusual people. It's a shame that the cars sell and the people leave, but that's a separate story... We look forward to your comments, see you, bye.
2022-08-27