the Honda urban Eevee you might remember
it it was hands down the coolest concept
car of last year perhaps ever nailing
the retro futuristic vibe and making me
lust after an electric car for the first
time but the problem with making such an
aching ly good concept is the production
car can't possibly live up to our
expectations or can it are you maybe
thinking jack why are you hiding behind
a wall well it's because I wanted to
share this excruciating moment with you
behind there is almost the finished
production version of the Honda urban
Eevee I genuinely haven't seen it yet
I've genuinely got butterflies in my
stomach because quite frankly I'm
terrified that Honda might have messed
it up right come on let's do this
rip that plaster off come on oh there it
is there she is Wow
drink it in Jack
all right wheels are smaller arches are
a bit smaller sprout in another door
let's have a look around the back oh yes
very good initial emotion relief Honda
thank you my nerves are shot to pieces I
need a lie down
Honda is calling this a prototype the
Honda a prototype to be precise but
Honda lies it's actually 98%
representative of what the finished car
will look like when it goes on sale at
the back end of this year price no idea
yet but this isn't a low cost car much
like Apple doesn't make low cost phones
so expect to pay somewhere between 25
and 30 grand right so what has actually
changed from the concept pretty much
everything to be honest to varying
degrees but don't worry I'm going to
walk you through it starting at the
front here where we find a similar flush
fitting full-width panel the curvature
of which is dictated by this front
facing camera and the lidar sensors in
there the headlights you'll notice are
now full circles in the concept they
were cropped off at the top looked a
little bit more aggressive this is a
slightly friendlier face and here we
have an illuminated Honda badge which
I'm told won't make production because
it's illegal because it's deemed to be
an advert ridiculous I know up here yes
we now know what this black square on
the bonnet is for it's the charging
point click a button on your key and
that pops out that's where you plug it
in moving around here wheels yes you may
remember the concept had 20-inch
deep-dish white multi spoke wheels
looked a bit like Alpena wheels they
were fantastic I fell in love with them
surprise surprise they haven't made
production but these are a fair
substitute these are the bigger wheels
with 17 16s a standard the arches yeah
not quite as swollen as the concept but
they still stick out enough this thing
is wider than the Honda Jazz oh yeah and
there's a reason it's wider as well
because check it out look it's got
cameras four wing mirrors and the reason
that it's wide is these sit within the
cars width so you're not going to knock
them off when you drive past a white van
flush fitting door handles because of
arrow hidden handles for the rear doors
you'll notice the whole roof is blacked
out and the bottom the doors are blacked
out to that standard on cars actually
remember the concept had a body coloured
rim that ran around the roof
like that so a bit of a shame but no
matter I'll get over it
and round the back yes the taillights
have changed from squirrels to circles
and it sprouted a roof spoiler up here
and that's about it to be honest and you
have to say within the constraints that
they were working it's a damn fine job
time for some facts underneath is an
all-new rear wheel drive platform so it
should be fun in the wet ranges around
125 miles on the WL TP cycle and it's
rapid charge compatible so an 80% top-up
in 30 minutes Honda won't confirm the
battery size or motor output yet but
something north of a hundred horsepower
seems reasonable it will be offered with
four seats and five doors only there's
no boot in the front but a small one in
the back and it's 10 centimeters shorter
than a jazz that's not very big at all
which might be a bit of a problem for
some allow me to explain I am a
miniscule 5 foot 8 if I get in the back
here with the seat in front set to my
preferred driving position well as you
can see it's really not much with the
room at all but no matter as everyone
knows back seats of a second-class
citizens also known as your kids I on
the other hand shall be loading it up in
the front which is where my assistant
comes in here apparently I'm not allowed
to touch the car paints have been
expensive and he's got gloves thank you
right just wait for the snooker umpire
to close the door
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now the first thing to mention in here
is that Honda wanted to make this thing
have a living room feel and I have to
say it does feel quite loungy in here
this fabric down here that's recycled
polyester this worked here and right
across the dash isn't weird at all it's
a special four millimeter thick film and
in the back we've got four interior
lights which you can switch on and off
just like your front room the center
console down here more wood more buttons
one in particular that I'm interested in
though it says drive mode Honda won't
tell me anything about this but what it
does suggest as this car might have
sporty intentions but the main event is
in front of us here starting with this a
suspiciously production-ready steering
wheel complete with some buttons here
that suggest autonomous functions like
radar cruise control and lane keep
assist and then we get to the great wall
of screen not one not two not five but
six screens in front of me the outer
edges those are the feeds from our
aerodynamic new wing mirrors up here
there's another screen that's fed from a
camera at the back with a special
self-cleaning coating so it doesn't get
caked in mud dead ahead a digital
instrument cluster of course and then we
get to these the two 12-inch
beasts now the idea here is that your
passenger can actually make themselves
useful so they can change the radio
station and change the aircon but they
could also look for something on the map
and then hit a button that swipes the
screen across to the driver's side which
is pretty nifty I've also noticed
something here called the personal
assistant again Honda won't tell me
about this just yet but I can only
assume it's a serial a Lexus tile voicer
system or get this down here a quite
extraordinary array of power outlets two
USBs an HDMI input a 12 volt socket and
look at this a full-on 240 volt plug you
could literally plug anything into that
a hairdryer a coffee machine all useful
for shaving vital minutes of your
morning commute
one last thing to mention is the
visibility Honda could have pushed the a
penis forward and created something far
more futuristic looking but by keeping a
fairly classic silhouette the view out
is perfect and they've kept that hinter
retro in the design
okay so there's good news and there's
bad news my concerns and that it might
be a bit too small for big people that
that 125 mile range might put some
people off and in the prices to premium
people won't be able to afford it anyway
but the good news is I like it quite a
lot in fact so much so that I want to
buy one of these so long as I can get
set and those concept car wheels
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you