The moment he saw the prototype of the Honda e online, Tesla Model 3 owner Nathan Gore-Brown was in love with its character, and its quirkiness.
He wanted to own the little blue Honda e. But how could he get one when they were not available in Australia (and heavens knows when would they be!). Despite its cute looks, it is not a clown car.
With the help of Ion DNA he was able to import his beloved Honda e (a dealer demonstrator) from the UK and land it in Queensland for a price in the low $60K’s. He had never driven or touched until it arrived.
Gore-Brown had spent 7 years working for Aston Martin. He drove every car and supercar they made and sold them to the elite of the world. He chose to go from an Aston Martin One-77Â to a Honda e.
The Honda e is different and fun, he says, and it has an amazing character. “I’m having more fun and getting more interest than I do when I drive my Model 3. People get quite a surprise when I leave them behind at the lights,” he says.
The Honda e is an urban-focused EV built on a fully electric skateboard design. It has a cute face and reminds Nathan of the original Civic with a balance of design and practicality – it has 5 doors, seats four. You can see more here.
Nathan enthuses about the car – it has a great turning circle and when you sit in it playing your retro arcade games it feels like you are in an 80’s lounge. Retro comfort juxtaposed with amazing tech.
The truck driver who brought it from Canberra to Brisbane thought it was nifty, and he loved the lack of rear vision mirrors. Instead of mirrors, cameras feed into mini-screens on either side of the dash. That was the easy part of the import, the rest was complicated and convoluted. It took 4 and half months to get through.
Then he had to get the Department of Main Roads to add the model to the system so it could be registered – and the same story with NRMA to get it insured. The model had to be assessed and added to each database. There were a long list of firsts, he sighs.
Nathan wanted the car, but also wanted to go through the process so he could help others do the same. The Honda e hasn’t sold super well anywhere. It is a niche vehicle, not a high volume one.
With CCS 2 charging, and a range of 200km, it makes a great, zippy city car. The longest trip Nathan has done is Bribie Island to the Bayside. The Gore-Browns are a two EV, no ICE family.
At the recent Cooperoo cars and coffee event, the Honda got a really positive reaction (potentially better than from the EV crowd) lots of wows, and questions of is that coming here? There was lots of reaction to the colour, the camera side mirrors and his son playing console games in there.
It seems as though car enthusiasts young and old saw the Honda as a different, special and pioneering car. The poor old Porsche parked behind Nathan didn’t get much love.
Nathan and his network of enthusiasts want to propagate the number of models available in EVs for Australia. The first thing everyone asks:Â Is Honda bringing this out now?
