Published:
4 September 2020Just as with the exterior, slick design appeal is a defining feature of the E’s cabin. Slide yourself down through the generously proportioned front door aperture and you’re greeted by an environment that looks and feels not just impressively airy and visually alluring but solidly built and technologically sophisticated, too.
You sit relatively perched atop seats that are wide and noticeably soft but lack a little in lateral support. They are upholstered in a smart-looking grey cloth that appears to have been lifted directly from the frame of some chic high-end sofa and extends to cover large swathes of the E’s door panels. Its presence, along with the wooden trim on the dashboard and contrasting brown seatbelts, gives the Honda a real sense of sophistication and desirability when judged against its peers – even if it’s a mite tricky to shake the feeling that we’ve seen a similar approach adopted by another rear-engined, designer EV in the past: the BMW i3.
The E’s crowning interior feature has to be the array of screens along the top of its dash. There are five in all: two for the digital door mirrors, one for the instrument binnacle and two for the infotainment system. For sheer tech appeal, you’d argue they even give Tesla a run for its money. Ergonomically, the E works well.
There’s decent adjustability in the seat base and steering column, and Honda’s decision to retain physical controls for the ventilation is to be commended, particularly when they probably could have easily been integrated into the infotainment system. There’s loads of cabin storage, too. Even rear passengers get their own cupholders.
