Image Credit: Honda.
Electric cars are fine… The main problem is their personality. Or rather, lack of it. They are clinically efficient, silent as a church mouse in sneakers. We have been tricked into trading the roar of combustion for the hum of a disgruntled washing machine. Thank heavens for Honda then, whose engineers have decided that what the world really needs isn't more range or faster charging. Nope, the mad lads in white coats believe we need a car that actively lies to our faces.
And the result of that somewhat twisted idea is the new Honda Super-One. It is a spiritual successor to the legendary 1980s City Turbo II "Bulldog," a car that looked like a shoe box on steroids and drove like a terrier chasing a postman. Honda has looked at that heritage and said, "Aye, let's do that again, but plug it into the wall." This pint-sized electric hot hatch is trying so desperately to be a petrol car it actually pretends to shift gears.
Image Credit: Honda.
I am not kidding. The Super-One comes with something called Active Sound Control. It pumps synthesized engine growls through an eight-speaker Bose system and mimics the sensation of gear shifts. Inside, when you slap it into "Boost Mode," the digital dashboard displays a fake tachometer. It is an absolute pantomime. It reminds me of a vegetarian eating a tofu burger that bleeds beet juice. There's absolutely no need for theatrics here, and yet that is exactly the sort of nonsense we need to save us from terminal boredom.
Visually, this wee purple beastie is properly aggressive. This N-One e: has been down the gym. It's got these fantastic "blister fenders" that widen the stance, a roof spoiler that probably does very little for aerodynamics but looks the business, and functional air ducts in the bumpers. It rolls on 15-inch matte black alloys wrapped in wider Yokohama tires. Honda has even cooked up a new paint color called Boost Violet Pearl, which they claim is inspired by lightning - I'd say it looks more like a bruised plum. But that's good.
Image Credit: Honda.
The Super-One measures 141.3 inches long, 61.9 inches wide, and 63.6 inches tall. That makes it about 7.6 inches longer and 3.8 inches wider than the standard model. It's grown up just enough to lose its "kei car" tax benefits in Japan, and is now classified as a proper passenger vehicle. It's still small enough to park in a broom closet, which is grand for city living.
The Super-One is packing a front-mounted motor. Honda is being a bit cagey with the official specs, but the word on the street (and from the Singapore Motor Show) is that it pushes out about 94 horsepower in Boost Mode. Yes, I know… many blenders these days have more power than that. But compared to the standard 63-horsepower N-One e:, this is a rocket ship. It's not going to set your hair on fire like the old 152-horsepower Honda e did, but with a lowered suspension and wider tracks, it should corner like a fly on a ceiling.
Image Credit: Honda.
The interior is getting a spruce-up, too. You get reshaped seats with heavier bolsters to hold you in place while you're pretending to shift gears at 30 miles per hour, plus plenty of blue accents because subtlety is for losers. The standard kit is decent as well: heated seats, a heated steering wheel, and a 9-inch infotainment screen. We don't know the battery size yet, but it's likely the same 29.6 kWh unit found in its siblings. Don't expect to cross the continent, but you'll have a blast driving to the shops.
How much for this slice of electric insanity? Sources suggest a price tag between $19,700 and $22,900. That is a fair chunk of change for a car you can almost put in your pocket, but can you really put a price on a car that sings to you? The best news is that it's not just staying in Japan. It's confirmed for the UK, Europe, Australia, and parts of Asia. Finally, a good reason to spend more time across the pond.
Image Credit: Honda.
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