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By Jonathan Crouch

You won't have tried anything quite like Honda's smallest EV, the Super-N. Jonathan Crouch drives it.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 31

With this Super-N, Honda is providing something really different in the smallest part of the segment for EV city cars. It's charming, practical and fun in a way rivals just aren't.

Backgroundword count: 201

For Honda, the full-EV revolution has to begin all over again. And it restarts in explosive style with this car, the Super-N. It seems incredible that prior to the launch of this model in July 2026, Honda didn't have a single EV in its line-up. The brand has tried of course. Its first two efforts, the charismatic little Honda e and the rather anodyne e:NY1, didn't sell because they were too expensive and didn't go far enough between charges. The new era beyond these designs was supposed to be covered by a new 'O Series' line-up of EVs, but they've now been cancelled, presumably because Honda thinks the slow market take-up on electric cars gives it time to come up with something better. But what to offer EV folk in the meantime? Well the Super-N is that stop-gap, a tiny, sprightly little urban runabout bursting with charisma. Its origins lie with the brand's Japanese market N-One, developed for that country's segment for even tinier sub-citycar-sized 'kei' cars and subsequently launched in all-electric form as the N-One E. The Super-N is the performance version of that car, known as the 'Super-One' in Japan but called the 'Super-N' for naming rights reasons here.

Engines and Tech Specword count: 317

Imagine what would happen if a proper petrol-blooded engineer got hold of a tiny EV and gave it an '80s Turbo-Tastic' dose of added fun. That's pretty much what's happened here. The fact that this Super-N has just 63bhp doesn't matter too much. First because it weighs just 1,097kg (astonishingly light for an EV); and secondly because it has a small blue 'Boost' button switch on the steering wheel that temporarily nearly doubles the output to 94bhp. The potential for using the extra urge has to be limited because the battery size is just 29.6kWh; some PHEV batteries are bigger than that. The result is a combined range of just 128 miles - a worryingly small figure for the brand given that limited range was one of the things that scuppered the previous Honda e. The company claims this figure rises to 199 miles in city-only motoring. Short bursts of fun weren't really enough to make another small supposedly super-fun EV model, the Abarth 500e, a must-have for enthusiasts. But this Super-N has a somewhat deeper depth of performance engineering and a much more realistic fake engine note. Switch into the fieriest drive mode, Sport' and you'll discover the key addition here, a simulated 7-speed 'manual' gearbox operated by steering wheel paddles, which works with the Active Sound Control to mimic the noise and response of a petrol engine. With Boost and the sound simulator's deep-chested growl engaged, 0-62mph takes 10.0s, but it feels faster. In the car's more frugal drive modes. ECON, City and Normal, the shift paddles return to brake regen level duties (with three settings). The brand developed this car for Europe on UK roads and there's clearly been a benefit to that Unlike the old Honda e, the Super-N is front-driven and through the corners, it's quick and responsive, aided by grippy tyres, a stiff chassis, a wide track and surprisingly responsive steering.

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