1st month of ownership, thoughts.

All Honda E related discussions
FMIB
Posts: 135
Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2021 4:11 pm

Post by FMIB »

So almost 1 month since taking delivery of my Honda e advance, only 130 miles under the belt so far and no doubt its a very good city car and meets my second car requirement well and happy with the purchase.
However, it could/should be better in some areas for the price.
Not being negative, just things that in my opinion that would make this a great car.
Here is my list of things that could be better:
1) Ineffective sat nav system since there is no live traffic - unacceptable on a £30k car
2) Only a fold down rear seat, really should be a split fold rear seat
3) Limited driver seat adjustment.
4) Even more limited passenger seat adjustment.
5) Steering wheel does not extend far enough out for taller drivers.
6) Not sure if its me, but when reversing, the various cameras/screens have different perspectives/zooms which can make it a bit confusing.
7) Hard lumps at the back of the seat base that can dig into my butt, which I think might be some sort of electrical connector for the heated seats
8) Seems to have rather poor DAB reception
9) No centre armrest as standard.

Hopefully people within Honda read these forums and consider this as feedback

Humungus
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Joined: Thu May 13, 2021 6:17 am
Location: Doetinchem, Netherlands

Post by Humungus »

I agree with you on the Satnav and DAB. They really could (and should!) have done a better job there. The other points don't really bother me.
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Yellow e
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Joined: Mon Sep 07, 2020 10:25 am
Location: Long Marston, North Yorkshire.

Post by Yellow e »

You will run out of screen wash, there is no sensor in the bottle and no warning light on the dash.
Advance, Charge Yellow, little wheels, 3pin home charger.
Nebrog23
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Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2020 5:53 pm

Post by Nebrog23 »

Completely agree with 2 and 5 and somewhat with 9, especially with such a small boot and 2 kids. Being able to drop half the rear seat would of been great.
I don’t think the car particularly fits taller drivers. I find I sit a bit too high above the windscreen but find the seats.I knew from the test drive that the driving position was a bit off but loved the car enough to compromise.
I always use CarPlay for the nav but agree the inbuilt sat nav is a bit naff.
FMIB
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Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2021 4:11 pm

Post by FMIB »

I am ok on height, at 6ft, but with the steering wheel fully out, the ideal seat position means my knees easily hit the bottom edge of the dash. Moving the seat further back resolves the knee issue, but then my arms are stretched more than I like.
No warning for low washer solution would be annoying, very 80's, maybe part of the retro image.
As with many people, these were not deal breakers as the positives outweigh the negatives.
Having visited Japan more than 80 times for business over the years and often amazed at the innovation and technology I saw, I am just a little surprised that these things were overlooked or not thoroughly thought out.
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EEEE
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Post by EEEE »

I've had mine just over a month and just over 1k miles.

The 'infotainment' is a bit lack lustre. In fact the more I use it , the more I feel opportunities were missed and that sours the whole experience. It should be the centre of the experience, the wow factor that helps sell the car. It feels like it has very poor integration and development. Imagine 10 different engineers in 10 different companies/countries, all working on code/ hardware modules in isolation and saying 'yup, we've ticked all the boxes, it'll look class leading on a product matrix' , but no one every drove the final one or lived with it lol.

I could probably list of 100 'issues' but here are a few minor ones that annoyed me recently.

1) FM traffic announcements - you can only turn them on/off in the FM app. When you do get an announcement, you can't cancel it with the steering wheel controls. I can do this in my wifes 10th gen 2017 Civic which is near identical steering wheel. Just poor software/integration. My wife wants the alerts, but I don't need them. Leave them on, I get annoyed I cant cancel them. If I turn them off, it's hard for the misses to turn them back on (FM is not a shortcut app for me).

2) DAB reception is just bad, it conks out several times on every journey. I guess I could try and learn what an ensemble is and master the DAB infrastructure, but I don't want to become a bigger nerd than I already am.

3) The speakers are a bit poor at low volumes. Even with the EQ turned up a fair bit to try and give it some old fashioned 'loudness', they only come alive at volumes of 12 or higher, which is a bit too high for day to day. Again the 2017 Civic beats it hands down, low volume or high (and its not even a sport + with the extra speakers)

4) The door handles do not feel robust enough, and they are far too loud. Quiet car, but loud door handles. The rears also feel like they will meet there match at the hands of a boozy passenger or excitable teenager

5) the door handle LED is pointless - I know where it is and it doesn't really look 'premium' - could have saves some LEDs and put them somewhere more useful.

6) Heated steering wheel has very narrow patch. Also, the heating clicks off and doesn't come back on for a fair while, not a consistent heating experience. Needs a more appropriate PID style controller with better feedback sensor, rather than simple thermostatic on/off because it doesn't work properly.

7) Pre heat from the app - can you set it to use AC with heat? I park right next to a body of water. Mornings are very dewy here. Pre heating the car just fogs it up as it sucks in all the moisture from outside. AC + Heat is what is needed.

8) The option for showing the surrounding cameras is useful after moving off from reverse. But who in gods name thought 15mph was a good speed limit? I can get halfway out of the estate before I get over 15mph... Pressing the stalk button twice to toggle out is also annoying.

9) The wing mirrors, even in wide mode, are not wide enough for my liking. The rear view is the same, i leave it as a normal mirror at all times. Another annoyance is that there is no variable aperture to the camera. In bright daylight, the shutter speed goes way up, and DRLs create an annoying flicker.

10) Charging port - bit stiff to shut, light is too bright at night, not bright enough in the sunshine. Light also isn't in a terribly good place to illuminate the socket. Could be better. Opens and closes loudly as well. Doesn't seem premium.

All of those may seem petty and small, but collectively, many of them add up to an underwhelming experience.

I still love the 'e', but its not the technical marvel it's made out to be. Bold in styling and approach, but the execution of the gadgets and gizmos is below par (When the expectation was high!).

I may seem like a grumbly old git, but a stint as a software tester will do that a man lol.
'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 »

Time for an update. 2 months in and just shy of 300 miles.

A couple of my original comments still annoy me.

1) Ineffective sat nav system since there is no live traffic - unacceptable on a £30k car - Still unacceptable, forces me to take my phone with me every time so that I can use Apple maps. I still want an effective built-in sat nav as its optimised for electric cars/charging points. I read many similar complaints on a Honda Jazz forum.
I took it out on a short run with my brother who wanted to see what its like. We jumped into the car, without my phone and drove straight into a traffic jam........thank you Honda Sat nav!

5) Steering wheel does not extend far enough out for taller drivers. - Means I have to be closer to the dash than I want to be and keep banging my knees and I cant quite find a perfect driving position.

Still learning about one pedal driving and the recuperation options and today my first experience with a frosty car. No issues, 10 min of climate control and 3% battery less and the front and rear windows were clear and the car felt warm and ready to go.

Drives well both on city roads and dual carriageways

Overall, still no regrets buying it, love owning it and its proving to be an excellent city car.
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EEEE
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Post by EEEE »

Yeah, I was explaining to people at work today that the satnav is very annoying and impossible to add live traffic. Google maps on android over wifi is fine, I'm rarely without my phone.

Also agree the front seats don't go back far enough. Its OK once you are in, but getting in I find my passengers bang their knees on the dash.

A new annoyance I've come into after a few longer journeys is that the door side arm rest is not very soft at all. There is no padding in there unlike the armrest. Ending up with a sore elbow on the right hand side now. The door card where it meets the window is just slightly too high for my liking.

I still find the charging port cover 'clack' annoying when it opens. Also shutting the bonnet is annoying, the double latch never seems to fully clip on both.

Also annoyed by the run off from the windscreen washers at even low speed all around the side windows.

I have recently been annoyed by the boot door weight also. Pressing the microswitch button with enough force to operate it, but not enough force to lift the boot ends up with a boot unlocking but not fully releasing. If the switch was more integral to the boot handle, it could be grasped and opened in one go. As a person who tries to look after things and isn't an oaf, I cant bring my self to yank on the delicate switch to open the boot. It's quite an awkward hand position to press the switch with enough force and then open the boot via the plastic housing.

Also the flat boot opening is a stupid idea. A small lip would stop items that you've shoved into the boot from falling backwards and then catching the boot inner finishing panel. Probably done before my ownership, but mine is cracked , clearly where the charging cable got caught as the boot was closed. Given the boot is so shallow, items encroach easily into this 'crush' space.

I still love the car all the same, but it really has many faults. I guess this is the price they pay for designing a new car which is quite a departure from an existing/refined platform.

I have very few of these kinds of gripes on my 21 year old prelude or wife's 3 year old civic (they are not perfect vehicles, but you can tell they are high volume mature products with refinements over time perfected).
'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 »

Another update.
Last night was the first time I have driven the E in the dark. At home I have to reverse in to my drive, between another car and van to slot it about 1 or 2 feet away from the length of my garage wall.
Well that was tricky, when putting it in reverse the reversing lights made the cameras all but useless as the images became so grainy as reflected light all but obliterated the images and it was near impossible to make anything out. So I looked over my shoulder to try to see and judge the distance to the garage wall and low an behold I could not see anything through the rear tinted windows. Never had an issue on any of my previous cars that had wing mirrors, but none had such dark tinted rear windows.
Next time I will have to lower the passenger side windows to be able to see where I am parking and to avoid hitting anything.
Anyone else having similar issues when reversing in the dark?
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londiniumperson
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Post by londiniumperson »

FMIB wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 11:35 am Another update.
Last night was the first time I have driven the E in the dark. At home I have to reverse in to my drive, between another car and van to slot it about 1 or 2 feet away from the length of my garage wall.
Well that was tricky, when putting it in reverse the reversing lights made the cameras all but useless as the images became so grainy as reflected light all but obliterated the images and it was near impossible to make anything out. So I looked over my shoulder to try to see and judge the distance to the garage wall and low an behold I could not see anything through the rear tinted windows. Never had an issue on any of my previous cars that had wing mirrors, but none had such dark tinted rear windows.
Next time I will have to lower the passenger side windows to be able to see where I am parking and to avoid hitting anything.
Anyone else having similar issues when reversing in the dark?
Yes, it's made even worse because I find that when I select reverse the infotainment screen lights up to maximum brightness even if I set to a low setting, so end up with a very bright interior and it being pitch black outside.
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
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