Honda's first US-market EV is here–the 2024 Prologue, driven | Hacker News Reader

Honda's first US-market EV is here–the 2024 Prologue, driven

arstechnica.com

15 pointsPaulHoule28 comments

A $50,000 vehicle launching into the only segment of the market that already has lots of good choices, and two of the highest rated choices (Y, Ioniq 5) available for under $40K if you look.

Yes, the CUV is the biggest market, but there are probably at least half a dozen EV's in that market that are relatively good choices.

Hatch, small sedan, large sedan, wagon, large SUV, passenger minivan, etc. None have more than one or two good choices in early 2024 in the US. All smaller markets than CUV but all likely places where a new entrant could be more successful and not have to deal with intense price competition.

In the sedan segment, Honda would be merely selling a product to you.

In the CUV segment, Honda can sell a product to you while also selling you as a product: an offset in its fleetwide SUV fuel efficiency, so that more large SUVs can be sold.

My only guess on this entry is: Honda is targeting existing CR-V owners who want an EV, can deal with the price bump, and hopefully won't research the vehicle at all (since the badges are about the only thing produced by Honda).

The design of the Honda E is amazing. I love everything about it. The range, of course, is a show stopper. I think a slightly longer version of that car, with better range, would be awesome.

I have a CRV but the price is for sure a showstopper all on its own before even looking at the range.

I paid 25k for what I have and it really felt like too much, and I regret it.

I can't imagine paying 50k. I mean, obviously a lot of people pay that and more. It just seems bananas that so many people evidently have so much disposable income to spend on cars. I don't understand it. But in this case, even the "EV" part doesn't make up the cost difference. I spend about $1500 a year on gas for that car. Maintenance is not really worth talking about - oil changes twice a year I do myself for about $30/ea, transmission fluid once every couple years at about $50, a couple $10 filters every now and then. It'd be maybe 15 years to make the EV cost difference even if electricity was free.

ed: it looks like non-EV CRVs have gone up about 5k in price since I bought. ugh.

EV Prices are designed to take consumer surplus away from the customer for any potential fuel savings.

Are there any besides the Ioniq 5 that are within 10% of the price of the prologue (read: below 60k) that also support CarPlay?

Tesla’s software dances around CarPlay. I’m not sure why Apple keeps this embarrassing crap.

Maybe for EV routing, but for anything else?

CarPlay does offer more flexibility to use different apps, no doubt.

But the way it’s key driver - google maps works is just not sufficient. Connectivity issues, no pinch and zoom, can’t use your phone to add a stop. Lucky if it’s wireless!

Don’t get me wrong - I’d love it to be much better. I prefer tiny screens like Kia does. I like flexibility, Siri integration (however lame it is).

I’m seriously looking at this vehicle as the first EV myself and my spouse purchase.

Pros:

- CarPlay

- Pricey, but not insane like other vehicles on the market

- Doesn’t look like a spaceship, interior or exterior. The fact that it has real handles and a single smaller console to me is a huge plus from both an aesthetic and UX perspective

- it’s Honda who are pretty reputable when it comes to building durable vehicles (technically half GM, I can’t tell if that’s good or bad)

Cons

- It’s one off run for Honda to stay compliant until they release their own vehicles. So support might be tougher 10 years later. It might not.

- this is more a generic knock on EV but charging network being built out still. Charging on longer trips UX still feels like it’s not there yet

- the interior trim options feel kinda cheap for a car at this price

I am also looking at similarly priced or slightly lower priced PHEV so any other recommendations in the space would be welcome

My wife and I had been eyeing a hybrid CR-V prior to the pandemic. We went to test drive it last summer and were roundly disappointed; stuff like non-standard car play, limited availability, and a weaker engine compared to its peers had made our top car from a few years ago slip down. We ended up getting a Hyundai Tucson PHEV and love it, we liked the Kia Sportage PHEV slightly better but its essentially the same car and we got a better deal on the Tucson.

Thanks! Loving that there seems to be a lot more options in PHEV space than I originally thought

RAV4 Prime seems like a decent PHEV candidate.

Think they can be super-tough to find outside of a few states though. Also, I think the RAV4 is due for a refresh in the next year or two.

I did not know RAV4 had a PHEV option. Thanks for calling this out

>- this is more a generic knock on EV but charging network being built out still. Charging on longer trips UX still feels like it’s not there yet

In the US, my experience has been that this really doesn't apply to Tesla. As other vehicles adopt the NACS I would imagine that would apply to others as well. Tesla has a great charging network.

I feel that the Honda Element design was prescient since so many other quirky cars have taken on a similar shape/design profile.

I'm surprised they haven't relaunched it fully EV with an updated style. It seems like the right vibe for it.

Prologue is also a weirdly antithetical term for an EV car coming after gas.

I will never stop singing the praises for the Honda Element. Great visibility, minimal front blind spots, rubberized flooring for easy cleaning from kids, spills, mud, dirt, etc. The suicide doors making entry/exit/hauling big items easier.

I've always loved weird cars, to the detriment of any street cred I may have. I can't help it that I love the Element and the Nissan Cube :(

Same. In the UK these oddball cars are much harder to come by sadly as they're rarely made available for the UK market. There's a lot of Cubes over here, all JDM imports. I own a Toyota Vellfire import - it wasn't exactly cheap, but it's impossible to get that much car for so little money in the UK other than on import. I absolutely love it.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but "Prologue" feels to me like it's placing a full-blown EV transition in the future rather than something that's really begun, which seems to still be the general vibe among most of the traditional automakers.

Or in this case, since it's mechanically a GM Ultium vehicle (a modification of the Chevy Blazer), it's a prologue to Honda producing their own EV from scratch?

Someone else with the same opinion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdf7ByipGW0

I would love to get myself an electric car someday, but I can't get over that my favorite car form factor is all but extinct in the US. The only new subcompact sedans you can buy seem to be the Nissan Versa and the Kia Rio, neither of which is an EV.

Why do nearly all EVs seem to be crossover SUVs?

What about the Nissan Leaf?

Technically a compact, not a subcompact, and it's a hatchback besides. Definitely closer to the mark than all the crossover SUVs, though.

You may feel like I'm splitting hairs, but my wife's 2017 Honda Civic feels massive and unwieldy when I'm used to my nimble little "yes, I can park it there" Ford Fiesta.

Does this use the NACS charging port and can you use the supercharger network for this?

No 2024 models have NACS built in, all need an adapter. IMO the adapter isn't a big deal. It's a dumb adapter, there is no electronics in the adapter, and while an adapter for a big plug into a small port is awkward this is the opposite, a small plug into a big port.

The other question is whether you'll need to use the Tesla app to access Superchargers. Ford won't, Chrysler will, everybody else is unknown, AFAICT.

Also, while I wouldn't wait to buy a vehicle with a NACS port built in, I would wait for the release of the adapter and a couple of early adopters to try it on the car you want to buy. The promise for that for Ford was spring 2024, and the Ford adapter should work on other cars.

This is a great start for Honda, but I wish it were cheaper. $48k is Model Y territory.

No mention of frunk space because there is none. Try again, Honda.

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