Honda Prologue Review: An Electric CR-V With a GM Heart? | In-Depth Test

In the automotive world, there are two syllables synonymous with reliability, practicality, and driving enjoyment, and that is Honda, of course. And what Honda's doing now is getting into EVs. This is the prologue, and I'm wondering whether this is true to the Honda brand, or another EV trying to cash in on the trend. Buckle up, my friends. Let's go for a drive. I'm your host, Brian Max Racer, lover of driving fast, fun things, and on this channel, you get reviews for drivers from drivers. Now, this prologue is something interesting. It's an all-new thing for Honda. It's a pure EV, and as we know, it's got some relations to the Chevy Blazer EV. And before we get into what it's like to drive, let's have a look at it in a little more depth. In case you didn't know, this prologue does indeed share its architecture with the Chevy Blazer on GM's Altium EV platform. This is all-wheel drive, which means it's got one electric motor at each axle. Combined, they make 288 horsepower and 335 pounds of torque. The battery is an 85-kilowatt-hour size. Max charge rate is 150 kilowatts. In front-wheel drive trim, range is promised at 296 miles or 476 kilometers. This top trim with all-wheel drive, the range is 273 miles or 439 kilometers. Steering is electrically assisted, of course, independent suspension at all four corners. Disc brakes, wheels, and tires are either 19s or 21s, which are the largest wheels of any Honda ever. Towing capacity of the prologue, no matter which trim level you get, is 1,500 pounds, and curb weight, depending on trim level of your prologue, is between 5,100 and 5,300 pounds. Did you know that 80% of you are not subscribed? Yes, it's true. 80% of you are not subscribed. I check the data. So if you like the content on this channel, do me a solid. Hit that subscribe button. Make sure you like this. And if you want to support the channel, please hit up our merch store. Links here, links below. Lots of great stuff for driving enthusiasts like us, including our very popular line of Save the Manuals merch. Now back to your Fun fact, the Prologue shares more DNA with GM than you share with your siblings. Thankfully, the driver interface is pretty pleasing, and you're set up well behind the wheel. Great relationship to the wheel and to the pedals. It is fundamentally identical to the Blazer that we tested not that long ago, and it is only slightly different, but in some very important ways. And of course, this Prologue has one thing that the Blazer doesn't. The seat is relatively comfortable. It's highly adjustable. And of course, at this trim level, it's got heated and ventilated seats, which makes the whole driving experience a little bit more comfortable. The seat has simple adjustments, and that's kind of what you should expect at this price point. Basic ergonomics are pretty straightforward, and they're almost entirely lifted from the Blazer. So that is one of the points that Honda fans have made about this Prologue is that maybe there's a little too much GM here, but there's still enough Honda in here, which we will get into in a little bit. But back to these ergonomics. Very simple, very straightforward, a little un-Honda-like. And one of the things I do appreciate about this Prologue is that the infotainment system is very simple. It's a simple interface, different from the Blazer. And the best thing, unlike the Blazer, is that this has Apple CarPlay. And for me, that might help me make my decision if I were looking at an EV like this. I definitely want Apple CarPlay, and I'm not a fan of GM's decision to push Apple CarPlay out of their cars. I understand why they're doing it, but I'd rather have the choice. In terms of spaciousness, well, one of the things that this platform has done is push the wheels to the extremes of the corners. So you've got a tremendous amount of space inside the cabin, front row, second row, even under the hatch. And that does translate into driving dynamics, which we'll talk about in a little bit. But there's a ton of space in what is a midsize EV crossover, and that makes the whole driving experience very pleasant. Lots of room in here, and that is definitely one of the upsides of this Prologue. In terms of visibility, I only have one complaint. Forward visibility is awesome. Parking sensors, cameras all around, make it easy to park. But the shape of the roofline of this Prologue is a little different than the Blazer, and what you end up with is a very small window that's visible through the rear view mirror, and that does limit your rearward view if that is important to you. But what I do appreciate about the Blazer is they use GM's camera mirror in the Blazer, at least in the upper trim levels, and that will absolutely eliminate blind spots. But we know on this channel that blind spots are a myth. Yes, we know EVs are quick off the line. Although this is modestly powered, it is still quick off the line, and that's due to the instantaneous response of the electric motor. Zero to 60 in about six seconds flat. And at lower speeds, anyway, it's quick everywhere off the line. When you're accelerating up to freeway speeds, whatever the case is, this is relatively quick. If you've never floored an EV from a stoplight, you're missing out on the closest thing to legal psychedelics. But this Honda hits different, though. It's not trying to rearrange your organs like a Tesla Plaid. It's more like that friend who can drink everyone under the table, but chooses not to because they've got their life together. Power delivery is smooth, smoother than my head after a fresh shave. One of the things I do appreciate about the Prologue is the way they've calibrated the one-pedal braking. It's almost as natural and intuitive as the Mach-E Mustang, which I find to be the best one-pedal driving experience, but this works very naturally. I'm rarely touching the brake pedal in the city, which is impressive. So the way that they've calibrated that, very, very good. As well, I appreciate the way that they've calibrated these motors to put down power. It never seems to be out of sorts. And when you're asking for power, whether you're exiting a corner or at a standing stop, the power distribution is actually fantastic. And of course, it's electric, so it's instantaneous. The one thing about EVs is that big elephant in the showroom, charging networks. It's like dating apps, but for your car. Tesla's got their exclusive club, like the Soho House of Charging, but Honda's out here like, we'll take all cards, baby. You can charge this thing anywhere that's got the juice flowing. And despite the weekly press releases I get from these charging networks, the whole on-the-go charging experience is not quite up to par. When I was looking at the Honda prologue forums, one of the things people don't appreciate is the shifter, which I didn't appreciate in the Blazer anyway. It just feels inexpensive. It feels flimsy. It could be done better. And this speaks to Honda relying on GM to supply this kind of switch gear. I think Honda fans understand what's going on and they'd like a little bit more Honda in their prologue. And this is just one of those instances. I can't imagine Honda engineering this. Where this prologue is true to Honda is in its dynamics. Part of that has to do with how they place the wheels here. Again, like I said, they've placed the wheels in the extremes of the corner. So you've got a long wheelbase, wide track, and they've taken the time to calibrate the suspension properly, the dampers, the springs, the sway bars, and they've picked a decent tire here. And with the low center of gravity and the wide track, long wheelbase, this is actually satisfying to drive. And that is where this is true to Honda. In the corners, it's fun to drive. Steering response is quite good. And this is definitely what Honda drivers should expect. I understand what they're saying, certainly on the forums and what customers are saying. But when it comes to driving dynamics, it's very, very satisfying. Now about the way this thing handles, you know that friend who's that's the prologue. It weighs about as much as your unread emails, but somehow corners like it's been doing CrossFit. Honda's chassis tuning is like that perfect playlist. Everything just flows. It's not trying to be a sports car, but it handles better than anything this size has any right to. Like I was saying earlier, one pedal drive works great. Braking is satisfying. And oftentimes we find with EVs or hybrids, mechanical braking suffers because they focus on regenerative braking, really don't pay attention to brake feel. And they've actually done that. The brake pedal is strong. You've got great feel feedback and great control with this brake pedal, which is another core character of a well resolved Honda. And we've got that here with this brake pedal. So if you need to use the brake pedal, having fun in the corners, going for a fun drive, you can't count on this brake pedal. And I enjoy a good brake pedal as we know on this channel. One thing I do have to mention, and I haven't figured out what it does, and I suspect it's here just to satisfy Honda drivers. There's a sport button here and whether I switch it on or off, it seems to make no difference to the driving dynamics of this prologue. I'm not sure what it's there for, but it's there. And maybe somebody can explain it to me in the comments, because I haven't figured it out. Another thing they have done here is made sure that road noise and wind noise is at a minimum. So it's very, very quiet in this cabin that adds a whole other dimension to the driving experience of an EV. And that's part of the EV driving experience. In addition to not having to go to gas stations, which I appreciate easy to plug this at home, charge it up and just go for a long drive. And the range on this, I will have to say, seems to be pretty accurate. I think some real-world testing would be in order. They do claim a long-ish range, but I'm not quite sure if that's the case. Certainly in the winter in this part of the world, that would suffer. But for day-to-day use, this has been no problem whatsoever. Steering, as you know, is electrically assisted, so there's not a lot of feel or feedback here through the steering wheel. That is, you're really not going to feel what's going on at the front axle through the steering wheel. But there is a decent amount of chassis feel, and that is another typical Honda characteristic. You can get a sense of what this Prologue is doing as long as you've got some sensitivity to chassis feel. And this has a decent amount of chassis feel when you're throwing this through the corners. How do you spec yours? Well, it's fairly simple because Honda just has a handful of choices to make. What you are looking at is the Elite trim in the USA or Touring in Canada, finished in Raven Black paint with black perforated leather interior. In the US, base price is $57,900. And as tested, this is $58,355. In Canada, base price is $69,990. And as tested, this is $70,290. And these prices are before freight taxes and incentives. In terms of spec-ing yours, I'd probably go with this because this one has all the features, all of the available options, most of which I appreciate. And I really like the black-on-black look of this particular Prologue. My verdict? Well, I really enjoy driving this Prologue, and for a midsize EV crossover, it's satisfying to drive, easy to live with on a day-to-day basis. One of the things I do appreciate about this on a day-to-day basis is the charging port flap. Unlike the Blazer, which is very complicated, and I can see that being a real problem, certainly in this part of the world in the winter, or if that thing breaks. It's like Honda watched every other manufacturer try to reinvent the wheel and said, what if we just didn't? It's so logical, it makes you wonder why some EVs hide their ports like they're embarrassed about needing electricity. I delved into the forums, I did speak to some Honda dealers, and the trouble is, for a lot of Honda customers looking to make a move to an EV, what they're finding is there's not a lot of Honda here. And at least that's on the surface. I appreciate that, and if you're coming from Honda, these ergonomics are a little foreign to you. Fun fact, each Prologue comes with exactly 3.7 traces of CR-V design influence. True story, we counted. From a driving dynamics standpoint, this will satisfy all Honda drivers looking to make the move to an EV. Still, I understand that there's a lot of GM that comes through here, and again, this has one thing that the Blazer doesn't, which is Apple CarPlay, and for me, that makes a huge amount of difference if you drive daily and enjoy Apple CarPlay, whether it's for navigation, or your music, or whatever the case is. The Prologue has it, the Blazer doesn't, and for me, that's a pretty big deal. Thanks for hanging out with me today and having a look at this 2024 Honda Prologue EV. Hope you liked this episode, and if you did, you're not new, you know what to smash the subscribe button, turn on your notifications, like this video, and as always, sharing is caring, so please share this with your friends, especially on Reddit, because on Reddit, they really need to see reviews for drivers from drivers. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them in the comments below. I'll get back to you as soon as I can, and if you want to support the channel, please hit up our merch store. Links here, links below, lots of great stuff for driving enthusiasts like us, including our very popular line of save-to-manuals merch. Thanks again for watching, we'll see you again next time, and remember, cars don't understeer by themselves, not even Honda Prologues. If you've hung around this long, well, have a look at this Chevy Blazer EV episode, and I think you'll get a sense of what the Chevy is like relative to this Prologue, so click on the link right here and below.