Oh but before we dig in, let’s talk about the name for a moment: Prologue. It’s impossible to think about this name and not be reminded of the Honda Prelude, because I’m not sure any other automaker is so fond of naming cars for things that happen before the main thing starts. Unless Suzuki released a car called the Appetizer I forgot about, or if there’s maybe a Chevy Prequel or a Ford Antecedent.
Here’s the 2024 Honda Prologue! It’s um, fine. Honda generally plays pretty safe with their styling, and that’s very much in evidence here. It’s clean and absolutely inoffensive, maybe even handsome in a quiet way. It’ll look right at home among Honda Passports and CR-Vs and Pilots, no problem. The design language is called “Neo-Rugged” by Honda, though I think there’s more neo than rugged in there, though perhaps those wheels, arguably the most daring aspect of the design, qualify. I do like the black mirrors, though, something that you’d normally associate with a low-spec car, but I think they work well here to carry on the extra bits of black detailing.
At the rear, the biggest surprise is the new Honda typography/logo, which is clearly derived from the Honda e city car’s branding. It’s modern and clean as well, and I think complements the overall design well, making it feel a little more novel than if Honda had just slapped on their ensquared-H badge like they normally do.
I like the rear lighting, integrated with the full-with black bar there. Proportionally, it’s very much a mainstream SUV. It’ll be eight inches longer and five inches wider than a CR-V, so it’s not small. Honda’s press release is thin on any technical details, but I’d guess there’s a large flat battery under the floor of the middle of the car, and Honda mentions the “ample interior space” but no mention of anything like the availability of a frunk under the hood. We actually do know about the tech, though, because this Honda is built on GM’s Ultium EV platform, part of their joint deal announced earlier this year. With this in mind, power is likely to be either a 241 horsepower FWD version, or a 342 horsepower AWD version, though the Ultium Drive system does offer some degree of variation in there, like an additional 83 hp AWD assist motor. Range will likely depend on how many battery modules are used (Ultium allows between six and 24) so I guess we’ll have to wait and see what Honda tells us they put in there.
The interior is also clean and safe, no real surprises (except maybe for those two rows of buttons under the 11.3-inch center stack display), and Honda’s PR people do a lot to spin some meaning into a white car with a gray interior, saying Yes, yes, very inspired. White and gray. Who’d they hire for this out-of-the-box color design concept, Ansel Adams?
Whatever, it looks nice and clean and all that. Plenty of people want just this kind of thing, so good for them. Pricing has not yet been announced, either. Unless Honda somehow does something to really impair the range, I suspect you’ll be seeing plenty of these around come 2024. Which is to say, God the Solterra toyobaru is hideous and underwhelming….. Now give me a small Honda generator in the frunk for emergency charging capability. God damn it, this will probably also be 5k+ lbs. The current CR-V is already needlessly big for a single-person commute or a couple without kids. Just give me an EV HR-V, please. You’ll need to wait for a CRV equivalent EV. Honda, as conservative as ever, knows their audience. The people that buy Hondas want something basic that’s going to run forever and give them as few headaches as possible. Cool performance cars notwithstanding, Honda prints money off of making appliance cars that feel old the day they arrive, because that’s what many people want. In that regard, and for people like me and many others who want an EV that just feels, works, and looks like a normal car, this is great. Just look at all of those BUTTONS! And the restrained-for-2022 screen set up. When you compare this to the absolute train wreck that the Solterra/BZ4XQRZ69420LOL are it’s no contest. They’ll sell em in droves. Well done Honda. But that said, we’ve love having EVs and watching them evolve. We’re getting close to the point where EVs are just going to be “normal” cars, and I’m excited for it. Once they realize that most of the electronics in modern cars of the past 20 years were excellent, we can stop overdoing the displays and simplify the interfaces again. Nothing really wrong with modern CR-Vs or Pilots. Why can’t they just make an electric version that’s mostly the same thing with a different drivetrain? My ID.4 lease will be up around the time these are coming to market. Seems like we maybe found our new ride. I was cautiously optimistic when articles started popping up about a new infotainment being tested in the MK8 Golf and subsequently disappointed when the pictures of the testers that were spied pretty much only had a bigger screen. Seems like VW is going to die on this hill, and people will either adjust or look elsewhere. But if they stick to their current heading, they deserve to die there. We deserve better than “touch screens can cut a few dollars from our hardware costs, so we must use as many touch screens as possible!” The CRV and HRV used to be available in green and orange Safe is an understatement. I believe the Honda design team is hunkered down in a radiation-proof bunker with 4 yrs. worth of food and water. I am genuinely disappointed with the number of comments saying how nice it looks! Sure, it’s “nice” in the nondescript-you’ll-lose-it-in-the-Whole-Foods-parking-lot sort of way. I mean, I get that Honda tries to appeal to moms who wouldn’t find “TheAutuopian” if you typed the complete url into their browser and hovered the mouse right over the “GO” button. But I expect true enthusiast to be so bored by this design that they fall asleep mid-posssttttttttttttzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…. Screens. Why the heck do we bother with these things that are going to be obsolete in 2 years when everyone carries around a phone that’s almost always current!? Just give me a good connection to the audio system (3.5mm and latest Bluetooth revision) and a reasonable place to put my phone for if I need nav. I’m liking this more elegant Honda. If only Toyota could get back there too. Now, Honda doesnt have anything thats “HONDA”. A 92 Accord would run circles around the 10-11th gen. The styling is nice, if unassuming. And I do like that they seem to be setting their EV range apart using that new typography, which looks very nice, IMHO. I totally misread “new-rugged” as “non-rugged”, and I think that’s a better descriptor, anyway. Not all vehicles need to be 3-days beard-growth “rugged”. And let’s all give three cheers for buttons and knobs! I’m glad to see the “everything on a tablet” approach is already going by the wayside. I’ll definitely be looking for more on these for a future EV purchase. Nice imagery and all, but grey is grey and white is white. Gimme a nice blue with a chestnut interior.
