NEW Honda Super-N vs BYD Dolphin Surf vs Citroen e-C3 review – what’s the BEST cheap electric car?

He's crashed. Look, we're on Nightingale Lane. We're going to need... Where does that go? Where the sun don't shine. I don't think it's a V8. I think it's a... I think it's a six, something like a V6 or something. It must be. Small, cheap, petrol-powered cars are dying. But is that the end of the world? Because small electric cars are taking their place. Not so long ago, small EVs were outrageously expensive. But now, they're some of the cheapest cars on sale. And there's plenty of choice, even with a budget of less than 20k. The best options are cheap to run, easy to drive in the city, and don't feel completely out of the depth of the motorway. So what is the best sub-20k EV? Is it the new Honda Super N? Is it the BYD Dolphin Surf? Or is it the new Citroen EC3 Urban? We'll be driving them through the city, comparing their practicality, their interiors and their battery ranges on a longer trip. We'll even be doing a drag race. And at the end of this trip, we'll be crunching all of the numbers to work out exactly how much each of these cars really cost to own, before finally picking a winner. So, Will, what are we driving and where are we going? Well, you are in the new and very purple Honda Super N. I'm in a very yellow BYD Dolphin Surf. And Lawrence is in a new version of the Citroen EC3 called the Urban. And we're hopefully going to show that some of the cheapest electric cars on sale aren't just tiny little milk floats. They're actually impressive all-rounders, particularly if you do most of your driving in town. And with that in mind, we're starting our test in southwest London. We're going to do a reasonable number of miles in the city to find out what our cars are like to drive in congested urban environments and also what sort of efficiency they can deliver in town. OK, sounds good. And because one of the advantages of driving a city car should be how easy it is to park, why don't we start off with a parking challenge? OK, so I've just measured that parking space and that is 4.5 metres long. Now, that's the kind of parking space that would give your average SUV driver no chance of fitting in at all. But what about me in the Honda Super N? I'm going to let you into a little secret. So not only is this car the shortest car in this test, it's shorter than the Kia Picanto and it's the shortest proper car you can buy on sale today in the UK. And by proper, I mean not a quadricycle like a Citroen AMI. How short? 3,599 millimetres bumper to bumper. So this should be no problem at all. OK, here he goes. Can he? Oh, he's gone quite tight, hasn't he today? I know he's straightened up a bit. That one's pretty easy, though. Yeah, there is a lot of space either end of the car. Yeah. Two stabs at it. Oh, he's gone a bit jerky. One more, just one. That is parked. Easy peasy. And looking at that, I'm quite worried. Yeah, me too. Right. So I know my Dolphin Surf is still a small car. It's shorter than a Ford Fiesta, but it is almost 40 centimetres longer than John's Super N. And that means I've only got about 25 centimetres at either end of the car to play with. And that isn't a lot. OK, he's a proper go. He's going. It's looking better. Looking better. Yeah. Is it? I think that's going to work. That's going to work. I do have reversing camera, as you can see, and also have rear parking sensors, but I don't have any sensors at the front of the car. And because of the way that the nose dips away quite aggressively, then I can't see the end of the car at all. And that means some guesswork is required. But I am with a bit of shuffling around and some time in. Yeah, he's done it. Unfortunately, that was quite a good part. Now, this BC3 is the biggest car here. It's about 25 millimetres longer than Will's BYD, but that's still only a fraction over four metres long. So I should still fit. Now I'm going to reverse. I do have rear parking sensors, but I don't have any front ones or a rear view camera, so I'm going to have to guess. Quite a lot of this. All right. We should bet on this. Why don't we bet on this? That's not a bad attempt. £10,000 that he does it well. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. He's crashed. He's crashed. Citroen to Citroen. OK, to be fair, I think he's done it. Well done, Lawrence. You're in. We're in. Yes. We all completed the challenge. Let's go. No, not yet. It's round two now. I think that was too easy. I found it relatively easy anyway. So how about we narrow the gap to 4.2 metres, make it a bit more of a challenge. That space looks ridiculously small now. It looks very ambitious. I didn't realise the handbrake hold feature was on, which meant every time I stopped, it would put the handbrake on, and that was making it really jerky. He's having a few stabs at it. He's less jerky this time. He's learnt how to drive in the last 10 minutes. But this time, it's much smoother. He is about to do it. Look at that. He's in. He's in. OK. Now, that is quite a small gap, and we're in. It took a few goes, but we're in pretty well. That is quite impressive. I'm done. There is no way I'm getting in that space looking at that, and I really don't want to scratch that dolphin surf. And one of the reasons for that is that we've actually borrowed the car from a dealership called the Alan Day Motor Group. They're based in north London, and that car is actually for sale right now. It's got about 150 miles on the clock, obviously a few more by the end of our trip, but I'll tell you how much it costs at the end of this video. I mean, if you're not going to give it a go, I'm definitely bailing on this one. I know that space is technically longer than my car, but I've got zero chance of getting in there. There we go. Congratulations, John. We admit defeat. You are the champion of parking, or rather your Honda Super N is. But there's a lot more than parking to driving in the city. We've got things like comfort, visibility, and also efficiency to consider. So how about we get back on the road and get some miles under our belt? Look, we're on Nightingale Lane. Okay, so you now know how easy this car is to park, thanks to its small dimensions. But it's not just that. It's also because of the great visibility you get. I mean, just look at this car. It's effectively just a box of wheels, which is great because I can see the front corners, and if I look behind me, I can see right where the boot finishes. So negotiating into parking spaces or around little tight streets like this is so unstressful. And I tell you what's also unstressful is the ride quality. We're not expecting a city car to be the best riding car in the world, and it isn't. It's a little bit abrupt over a deep pothole or maybe a particularly vicious speed bump. But the rest of the time, the ride is perfectly comfortable. And that applies in other areas as well. The brakes, for example, are really nice and progressive in stop-start traffic. And the accelerator is nice and smooth as I go to put down the power. And by the way, speaking of power, it's quite zippy as well. Particularly around here, I've got no issues getting in and out of gaps in traffic. And the steering is nice and light and direct. The only criticism I've got of the car so far is the turning circle, because it's 10.5 metres roughly. And that's not particularly great for a small city car. And you just notice that limitation when you're doing a tight three-point turn. Well, I've got the tightest turning circle of all three cars. It's just under 10 metres between curbs. And you really do notice that because it just makes tight manoeuvres that bit easy. You don't need to make as many three, four, five-point turns. And this is a good car to drive in the city in other respects too, because although it isn't quite as easy to see out of as that Super N, these pillars aren't as upright. They're more slanted. And they do block your view a little more at junctions. But this is still a fairly easy car to see out of. The brake pedal is also very well judged, not only compared with other very cheap EVs, but also compared with some far more expensive electric cars that I can think of. And on the whole, the ride is pretty comfortable too. A comfortable ride is what you get in the EC3 as well. It's also good in the city because it's responsive off the line. The light steering makes all your turns and manoeuvres really effortless. And you've got really good visibility. The side windows are big. I've got a slightly raised position that gives me a good view over the bonnet. The biggest weak point is its brake pedal. And the problem is, as you press down on the pedal, it's initially quite light and vague. And then the braking effect suddenly bites in. So it can make for really jerky progress, especially if you're repeatedly doing it in stop-start traffic. We headed out of London. And on the outskirts of the city, we pulled over to find out a bit more about our cars. So we've done about 20 miles in London so far. And we'll talk more about the efficiency that these cars managed later on. But I think it's fair to say that all of them coped well with the heavily congested environments that you find around town. But the thing is, because these small EVs are effectively replacing small petrol cars, then they need to be able to do more than just pop around the doors. They need to be more than that. On that note, what sort of range can that Supra manage, Jon? Well, actually, it's just 128 miles, which is, dare I say it, less than the Honda e, which this car effectively replaces. But the difference is the Honda e cost £38,000 when it went off sale in 2023. In 2026, this will cost you just £18,995. So about half the price, and that's despite it not qualifying for the government's electric car grant. And let me tell you a little bit more about this car. So the Supra N is actually based on a K car that they sell in Japan called the Honda N1e. Now, this car doesn't qualify for K car status because it's quite defined parameters, including length. This car is actually a little bit longer than that car, believe it or not, because it's got new bumpers and extended wheel arches to make the track wider. In terms of specification, as you can see, it's very purple, and this colour is called Boost Violet Pearl, which is standard. However, if you don't like it and you want a different colour, you're going to end up paying about £675. But elsewhere, it's really well kitted out, including a manual gearbox, which I shall tell you about later. So how does that compare with your yellow BYD? Lime green, I think you'll find. This is also the standard colour, but if you don't like it, if you think it's a bit too bright and garish, then you can have light blue, black or white instead. But that will cost you extra. Now, unlike with the Supra N, where there's only one version, there are actually three versions of the Dolphin Surf. But if you want to spend less than 20k, then this active version is the one you need to go for. It costs £18,675, so even less than your Supra N. And it has a range of 137 miles, which is more than your car. It isn't quite as well equipped, but you get the basics. You just don't get alloy wheels. But you do get a five star Euro NCAP safety rating, which I don't think your car has at all. And I don't think your EC3 has been tested either, has it? That's true. It hasn't been tested, but the EC3 is the biggest car here, which in itself brings its own practical advantages I can talk about later. And believe it or not, it's the car out of three. Its official list price is £19,995, but it's the only one that qualifies for the government's electric car grant. So that cuts it down to £18,495. The small caveat is that you can only have it in the car's standard Monte Carlo blue paint. And if you want the white finish of this one that we have here, it's an extra £350. At least for that, you do get 17 inch alloy wheels and with a range of 132 miles, it's comfortably in between your two cars. I do have to admit that it misses out on one very important feature, and that is a CCS charging port. Really? So unless you're pretty certain that you're going to just charge at home or at work with a 7.4 kilowatt wall charger, you'll have to fork out £440 for one. Ouch. Okay, so we've done almost 80 miles today. Mix of city driving, but also motorway. And I don't think we're on particularly low states of charge at the moment, but we do have a drag race in the morning. We don't want to run out on the runway. And also we want to get a head start in the morning as well. So we are charging our cars. And what state of charge are you on at the moment, John? So the Super N is on 35% and it's saying it's got 41 miles of range left. Okay. Mine's slightly better. Mine says 37% with 50 miles of range. Okay, not bad. Well, not as good as my BYD Dolphin Surf though, because I am on 46%, or I was when I plugged in, and the remaining range, according to the trip computer, was 62 miles. And on top of that, my Dolphin Surf can charge the quickest, on paper at least. 65 kilowatts is the peak charging rate. Okay, that's not amazing by wider electric car standards, but it's not bad in this company. And that means a 10 to 80% charge, not that we're going to find that out today, should take half an hour. How does that compare with you guys? Well, my car is also meant to do a 10 to 80% charge in about 30 minutes, but at a slightly slower peak charging rate of 50 kilowatts. Okay. Well, here's the thing with the EC3 Urban. If you've paid the extra £440 for the ECCS charging port, you get a maximum charging rate of 30 kilowatts, which isn't great to be honest. Especially when it takes 45 minutes to top up from 10 to 80%. 45 minutes? Yeah, and there's nothing you can do about that either, otherwise you're stuck at 7.4 kilowatts. Okay, that really isn't great, but maybe it'll surprise us in the real world. Because of the limited ranges of our cars, we decided to charge to 90% rather than the usual 80%. The Dolphin Surf got there first in 29 minutes, but remember, its battery had the most charge in it to begin with. The average charge rate was 30 kilowatts. Meanwhile, the Super N took 31 minutes to go from 35 to 90% at a slightly slower average charge rate of 28 kilowatts. And the EC3? Well, that took 38 minutes to go from 37 to 90%, and it pulled an average of 24 kilowatts. After our overnight stop, we began day two by taking a closer look at our car's interiors. Okay, we are starting in the Super N, and it's the smallest car, not only here, but the smallest proper car on sale in the UK. And you are the biggest of us, you are 6'3", so I'm guessing you're going to complain that there's no space at all. Well, that's because you're used to me moaning about not having enough space, but unbelievably, I have enough space. Don't get wrong, I'm not luxuriating with the amount of space I've got in here, but it's fine. I've got a reasonable seating position, I don't feel like I'm cramped up, and the steering wheel actually is in the perfect position for me. You haven't got a lot of adjustment though, so if you are a different shape, you might struggle. For example, you can't extend the steering wheel forward and backwards, so if you were shorter and had the seat further forward, I think you could find that you're too close to the steering wheel. Yeah, and actually, for my driving position, in an ideal world, I'd prefer it to come slightly further towards my chest. So I think it's one of those cars that, if you are going to buy one, it's probably worth going to a dealership, sitting behind the wheel, and making sure that it works for you. Definitely. The other things I would point out, let's talk about the seat comfort, for example. Now, when I first sat on these seats, I thought they were a bit narrow, but I have actually found them no problem at all. I haven't found them giving me any aches and pains, and we've done quite a lot of hours behind the wheel now, and I've got these, look, I've got these natty side bolsters to keep me in, and they're quite grippy because this material, I don't feel like I'm sliding around a lot in corners. Well, on the subject of this material, it's made from old uniforms from Honda factory workers, apparently, recycled. Well, that would account for the smell in here then, because I thought that was you. Another thing we're usually good fans of are physical buttons, and you've got some on the steering wheel, haven't you? I've got loads everywhere, and actually I really appreciate most of them. The steering wheel ones are great because I can do all my basic functions. The only thing I would say is that quite a lot of the setup functions are done through the digital instrument display, which I can see nice and clearly through the steering wheel, but the actual menus that you operate from this steering wheel are quite confusing. And you've got physical buttons for your air conditioning. Well, it's not just air conditioning, it's climate control, because it's the only one of these cars that has proper automatic air conditioning or climate control rather than just manual air conditioning, and as you say, there are physical controls for that, so it's really easy to use. But anyway, touchscreen infotainment system is the same system that we've seen on a lot of Hondas over the years. It's not the most amazing native operating system, but you do get Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smart rear mirroring as standard, so you can just use that, and you get an eight speaker Bose sound system that is really good, isn't it? I've got to be honest, obviously there are systems out there like Bentley name system that has, I don't know, 20,000 speakers and 50,000 watts, but for a car in this class, I don't think I've ever sat in one that has as good a system as that. And it's standard, you don't have to pay extra for that, so I think that's really impressive. But what's perhaps not quite so impressive is the quality of the interior, because, look, if I pull this door pull here, it's a bit wobbly. It only moves a little bit. Yeah, quite a bit. And also this gear selector fixture. Again, it only moves a little bit. You knock your knee into it and it's wobbling around all over the place. And also lots of hard interior plastics in here. I do agree. Apart from the seats made out of people or the overalls or whatever, there are no fancy materials in here at all and not everything feels that solid. But on the plus side, we've been doing a lot of miles over some pretty rough roads and there have been no squeaks or rattles from anywhere. So that's one thing. That is true. And it's important to remember that this is a very small and relatively cheap electric car. And talking of small, if you're OK for space in the front, then I'm guessing you're going to be really cramped in the back. I'm surprised. I'm doing pretty well. I've got quite a lot of knee room spare behind John's seats. They're not pressed up against them. I can tuck my feet underneath the seats. The floor is flat and I've got pretty good headroom. I mean, I'm around 5'11". My hair is brushing on it, but it's not too bad. And it's only the back of it that you can feel it against the roof as it slopes behind you. You look more comfortable than I would imagine. Yeah. And access is also really good. It's a big door. It opens really wide. So I'm doing pretty good. OK, well, I think you might be even more comfortable in my BYD. So should we take a look at that? Yeah, well, yes, there is generally more room in the back of this BYD Dolphin. I've got loads more space underneath John's seats and there is a tiny bit more headroom. More noticeably, I've got some elbow room by the door and I feel like I'm generally sat in a more natural posture. I'm a bit more reclined and I'm not so close to the floor. The only thing I'm less keen on is the rising door line. So the windows are smaller and it's generally a little bit darker here. But how is it for you guys up front? Well, you do notice that you sit further from the road. You're a bit higher up. It's not exactly a towering SUV, but compared with that Super N, then you do just feel slightly more elevated from the road, don't you? Yeah. And the seats, I find them pretty comfortable, but I would say they don't have as much bolstering on the side to hold you in place when you're going around corners and also not quite as much lumbar support either. None of these cars have adjustable lumbar support, but in this car, lower back support isn't quite as good as in the Super N, but I've still done quite a few miles, quite a few hours behind the wheel and I've been absolutely fine. Yeah, and I would agree with that in terms of seat comfort. The only thing is, like all of these cars, you've still got this fiddly little lever just to move the backrest. Yeah, and also like the Super N, there's no reach adjustment for the steering. Actually, it's not a problem for me. It's exactly where I want it. I would agree with that too. But again, it's the kind of car that you do just want to sit behind the wheel of before you buy one. Now, the infotainment system, similar size screen to the one you get in the Super N, and you do have a lot more features on here. So you've got various things like photo albums, you can change the themes on this screen. Spotify there. Spotify, also Apple CarPlay and Android, also smartphone mirroring again. It's true, there is a lot more going on there, which is a good thing. The only thing I would say is that a lot of the icons are genuinely small, to the point where I'm struggling to read them, like the font across the top here, and then to try and use these buttons down here. And the same applies to the instrument panel as well. I can see it through the steering wheel. The actual font on there is quite small compared to the Super N. That is a fair point. Also, we mentioned that the Super N is the only car with proper climate control. This has manual air conditioning. These icons down here are pretty small, like you say. You can actually put three things on the screen and then drag left and right to adjust the fan speed. And if you do that up and down, you can adjust the interior temperature. But the weird thing is that the difference between the midpoint, which I would imagine would be a comfortable temperature in the interior, and one notch up into the red is massive. So the midpoint, I find it freezing cold, I'd need a jumper. And if I knock it up one, then I've got a hairdryer blowing in my face. But what do you think about quality? Because for me, this does feel a bit plusher than that Super N. No, I would agree with that. I mean, let's face it, all of these cars are built for price and you can't knock them for having a few scraps of plastics. And we've got some more here on the tops of the doors and the dashboard. The difference in this car is that there are a few more plusher materials, aren't there? So you've got this, what is that? It almost feels like wetsuit material. It does. Well, we've had overalls in the Honda, so I guess it probably is wetsuit. And you've got that there and here. It also just gives a little bit more colour and contrast, which I quite like in the interior. And I'd also say it feels more sturdy than the Honda. So look, this centre console doesn't really seem to flex too much. And speaking of which, this is the only car with a front centre armrest for you up front. Yeah, that's pretty nice. And it's got padding on it. It is. Also, there's a bit of padding on the door armrest too, so that's nice. But John, you were saying something about liking brighter interiors. Maybe you should go check out the Citroen. Oh, OK. Lawrence, you promised me lots of colour in here. There is, look. It's on the dash, there's a bit on the doors and we've got the brightest roof lining in here. Well, the ped lining is quite bright, I guess. And look at this, John. Little red tag saying be cool on your side, have fun. Have fun or forced fun? That just looks tacky. Fair enough. Well, why don't you start up the ignition and we can have a look at the infotainment system. OK. Where's the start button? You're going to need this. What on earth is that? Well, I haven't seen one for a while, but I believe it's called a key. And where does that go? Where the sun don't shine. Oh, you mean down here by the steering column. OK. That is right. Now, you will notice this is taking quite a while to load up. It's like a nuclear reactor just kind of ramping up, isn't it? It's really frustrating you found this because on these Citroens, the infotainment system just takes an age to load up. And even when it does load for a few seconds, it's extremely slow when you're switching between menus. It is. Oh, sorry. Just interrupt. Just it's just come on. OK. That was only about 30 seconds. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. It has been a bit laggy when you first start up. But once it's done, it is quite responsive afterwards. It does speed up a bit, doesn't it? And again, like all of these cars, you get Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone mirroring. So not the greatest system in the world. And quality, would you say somewhere between the BYD and the Honda, because this fabric here does have a bit of padding to it. So that's quite nice. But these door pulls, again, feel a bit flimsy, don't they? And there is lots of hard and scratchy plastic in here. So do you think that's fair? I think that's fair. Yeah. And it's worth pointing out, actually, that we talked about the Honda's great sound system earlier on. The sound system in the BYD and the Citroen are nowhere near as good. Yeah, it's only got six speakers in here and it does sound a little bit tinny. On the plus side, you don't have to use that screen to adjust the air conditioning. You've got manual air conditioning like you do in the BYD. You don't get climate control. But these are very easy to use, aren't they? And they are very tactile, unlike the gear selector down there. Which is really intuitive compared to the Honda's, but massively disappointing when it comes to the responsiveness. What do you think of the driving position, Lawrence? It's mostly good. I find that if you want to sit closer to the wheel, my legs actually end up being quite bunched up. It's also the only one of these cars that has reach adjustment for the steering wheel. Do you find that means you've got a comfortable driving position, John? Well, kind of, because I've actually got way more leg room in this car than either of the other two. But while I've got the reach and rake adjustable steering wheel, the actual movement is really tiny. And actually, it doesn't come out as far as the other two. It's actually the biggest stretch for me to reach it. And how do you get on with that driver display that you view above the steering wheel? Well, it's a bit French and a bit quirky, but it works because look, I can see it really clearly. The information is bright and easy to read. But most importantly, it's just below my eye line. So when I'm looking at the road, I don't have to glance very far to see it. Okay. And you mentioned in the front here that the driver's seat slides back a bit further than it does in the other cars. I'm guessing that's not great for you, Lawrence. No, it isn't. It just means that I end up with less leg room back here. In fact, it's actually the tightest. So my legs actually quite restricted. There's not much knee room, but on the plus side, I've got the most headroom in here. There's loads of clearance above my head. And even though these cars are not designed for five passengers, this is the only one with a middle seat and a proper seat belt. I must say, though, out of all the three cars here, I've got the most comfortable seats in the EC3. They're a bit flat in the Dolphin, Surf and the Super N. And to be fair, although you're saying you haven't got as much leg room, if I was to move the seat forward to roughly where the leg room would be in the other two cars, I'm guessing you've got a bit more space. It's a lot more comfortable. Yeah. Okay, so we've had a good look around the insides of our three cars, but one thing we haven't looked at so far are the boots. This is the main advantage of going for the EC3. On paper, it's got the biggest boot and it can easily swallow five carry-on suitcases. And if you need more space, you've got 60-40 folding rear seats. But this has got the biggest load lip and unlike your cars, I don't have any in the floor storage. Okay, well, I have a slightly smaller boot than your Citroen on paper, but I do have lots of underfloor storage. In fact, if I lift up this board here on the floor, there's enough for a carry-on suitcase in here. Look at that. And if I throw this board in there, then in total I can fit, there you go, so five, the same as the Citroen. And okay, I might be cheating a little bit because I don't have a parking shelf, but look, I can close the boot, so technically that is five. I do have quite a big lip at the entrance like you do in the Citroen and I can fold down the rear seats, but they split 50-50. It is very easy to do that though from the rear boot area here. Now, John, you have had a surprising amount of space in the front of the Super N and you had a surprising amount of space in the back, so I'm guessing there's got to be a compromise somewhere. Is it the boot? Well, let me surprise you because the first thing I'm going to tell you about the Honda Super N's boot is look at the length of that tailgate. It's absolutely massive. Now, the problem with that is when you open it, you need quite a lot of space behind you to get the boot open. And there is a surprise, two suitcases. That's all we've managed to fit in here, so clearly it is the worst boot of the three. Now, let me get rid of those to show you the rest of it. Look at how low that boot floor is compared with your two, because look, I've hardly got any distance at all to lift anything up and I've got no load lip at all. I've also got a little bit of underfloor storage. And not for the charging cable? No. Unfortunately, they have to live there, but you can create a little bit more space if you need to, because look, I can vary the angle of the backrest like that. That makes these a little bit more straight. But if I need a lot more space, voila, fold down the rear seats. Easy to do from the little handles at the top. Nice flat boot floor. And you wanted a surprise? I have a surprise for you. So if I walk around here, open up the rear door, we've got the magic seats. All I've got to do is lift that backrest up and now I've got a really tall space to put loads in. And all I've got to do to fold the seat down is do that. Done. That is really clever, actually. Yeah, that's really versatile. That's pretty good. So overall, while the main boot might not be that big, overall practicality, not too bad and flexibility, really good. But we've got some great roads around here. So why don't we see what these three cars are like to drive? Let's go. If I sounded positive driving this car in the city, I'm positively ecstatic about driving along these country roads because it's a proper hoot to hoon about in, even at sensible speeds, well within the speed limits. Now, this is all relative, of course. I'm not saying this cut price city car is as good to drive as a supercar. Of course it isn't. But it feels eager to pee into bends and I can place it perfectly thanks to its well weighted and precise steering that just combines with these tiny proportions that we've talked about to make it so delightful just to zip along these tight country roads. And it's also really composed for a city car. Now, there's not vast amounts of grip, to be fair, but that's part and parcel of the fun because it means you can enjoy it at slower speeds. But I know how much grip there is because of the way the steering weights up and the tall suspension means there's not a lot of body lean as you're going through bends. But also it's supple enough that as you're going over undulations, you're not being bounced off the road. And that's actually quite a rare combination in a little city car to get that level of control. The ride obviously has to be a little bit on the firm side. So you're aware of ridges and ruts as they pass beneath you. But I've been driving this car so many miles now and it's never once felt uncomfortable. And the same is true on the motorway at 70 miles an hour. You are aware of some wind noise and you know, if you hit those rough sections of motorway, there is some road noise. But honestly, for this type of car, nothing that's wearing in the least. And that is pretty much all there is to tell you about this great little car. No, I haven't told you about the manual gearbox, have I? Right. So this car has two states of tune effectively. It's in a lower power mode now. So that's just for your everyday normal driving. And I've got all the usual driving modes as well, like comfort and eco and sport. But the party trick is this boost button on the steering wheel. And if I press that, it gives me some fake engine noise, which I don't know you can hear that coming through. And the other thing it gives you is a manual gearbox so I can hold on to gears. I can hit a rev limiter like that if I want to. And every time I change gear, I get a little thump through the car. So it's recreating what a petrol car would do. And the other thing is it gives you a chunk more power as well. So it feels a lot livelier in the boost mode. Now, if you think all this is fake and contrived and nonsense, don't moan about it. Just let old gets even cynical ones like me enjoy it, because if you don't like it, you can simply turn it off. Now, if you're hoping that this Dolphin Surf, which I think looks slightly reminiscent of a Lamborghini Urus, particularly in this bright yellow paint job, is also entertaining to drive, I'm afraid you are going to be a little bit disappointed because not only are there no fun features like fake manual gearboxes or fake petrol engine noises, it also has an altogether softer suspension setup. And when you're driving along a country road like this, that means there's more float in the car so you can feel it rising and falling over dips and crests. There's also more lean, noticeably so when you're going around faster corners, and there's more nosedive under braking. And while I'm on the subject of the brakes, I was praising them yesterday because when you're slowing down from lower speeds, 20, 30 miles an hour, it's actually very easy to judge how much pressure you need to put on the pedal to slow down in a consistent way. But when you're faster speeds, and you need to press the pedal that bit harder, then there becomes a point where they can feel slightly grabby. And that means it's easy to overbrake at times for a corner and then you have to kind of ease off a bit. So the driving experience is slightly jerkier and less cohesive than you'd ideally like. The steering is actually slightly quicker in this Dolphin Surf than it is in the Super Enoff Centre, but you don't get quite the same connection with the front wheels. And also the car just doesn't respond to your inputs with the same alertness. And again, that is because this car has an altogether softer setup. But it's not as though this car feels completely out of its depth on these sorts of country roads. It's just not particularly fun to drive. But that does have its advantages because it means particularly when you're driving on the motorway, as we were yesterday, then this has a more relaxed, easygoing, and more comfortable ride. And it is also quieter than the Super Enoff at 70 miles an hour, with less wind and road noise making its way inside. On a country road, the EC3's light steering isn't as confidence inspiring as those in the other two. It responds accurately enough, but because it doesn't build up much weight when you're turning in, you don't have a huge sense of grip, even though it clings onto the road quite well. Because of that, it takes a bit longer before you want to drive spiritedly. The good news is that the EC3's supple suspension doesn't lean as much as you may think when cornering. Don't get me wrong, it's not as tied down as that Super En, but it resists body lean better than that BYD Dolphin Surf, even when you start pressing on. On the motorway, the EC3 has no problems keeping up with high speed traffic. It's slightly quieter than the other two, and while the ride generally trips up over sharper ridges and bumps, it settles down quite nicely. But one thing we haven't talked about yet is performance, and luckily there is a place nearby we could find out more about that. Okay, it is time for a drag race, and you might be thinking this is a bit childish. These aren't sports cars, of course, they're tiny little city EVs, and that is a fair point to a degree. But firstly, it's a bit of fun, and secondly, it gives a good visual representation of the differences in acceleration between our cars. And this BYD Dolphin Surf, this version of it at least, has 87 brake horsepower, and officially it can do 0-62 in 11.1 seconds. I'm feeling quite good about the EC3. I've got 111 horsepower and a 0-62 time of 10.4 seconds. The Super En is basically the automotive Jekyll and Hyde, because as you know, it has two power modes. And in the default mode, it's producing relatively humble 63 brake horsepower. And that makes it the slowest car and the least powerful car here. So 0-62 will take 14.5 seconds. But if I press the Defcon 1 button, it's immediately mustering a much more magical 94 brake horsepower. And that makes it, on paper, the fastest car here with 0-62 in 10 seconds. I'm ahead of the Honda. Yeah. I'm just watching both of them in front of me now. Oh, look at this. I'm pulling away. And I've got to worry about the Citroen actually now, as I block him off. Oh, it's closer. But no. Second place. Second place. I've got to be fairly happy with that, I suppose. It's amazing. It's amazing. I don't think it's a V8. I think it's a six cylinder, like a V6 or something. It must be. It doesn't sound like a V8. OK, let's start with the numbers from that drag race. Obviously, it's a bit of fun. We're not placing a huge amount of importance on the acceleration differences between these cars. But John, you clearly won in your Super N Type R. How long did it take you to do the quarter mile? Yes, I was the winner, Will, wasn't I? And I know how much that will hurt because I know how competitive you are. So the Super N managed a quarter mile in 17.1 seconds, crossing the line at an incredible 77.5 miles an hour. And the 0-60 time with boost mode engaged was 9.2 seconds. That's interesting because that's quite a bit quicker than the Super N's official 0-62 time of 10 seconds, isn't it? Even though the strip that we were using for our drag race looked as though it went uphill for the final few hundred meters. My Dolphin Surf also smashed its official 0-62 time. We record 0-60 rather than 62. So that accounts for a bit of the difference. But I managed that in 10.3 seconds and the quarter mile in 17.8 seconds. And I just beat you in the UC3, didn't I, Lawrence? You did. I can't even contest that since it's obviously on the camera footage. But I do think that's because your BYD gets away from the line much better. And so you did get a bit of a head start initially. But because the UC3 actually did 0-60 slightly quicker, it took 10 seconds precisely, and crossed the line doing a slightly higher speed of 76 miles per hour, I was starting to close the gap and come back towards you at the end. And I did the quarter mile in an identical 17.8 seconds. So we need to go down to two decimal places in order to separate them. Fair point. But really all of these cars are nippy enough, aren't they? So let's talk about efficiency. And we're going to start with the city driving section. Now we did a total of about 18 miles in London. And going off the trip computer readings, the Dolphin Surf I was driving averaged 4.9 miles per kilowatt hour. And the Super N that you were in, just three and a half miles per kilowatt hour, which isn't that great at all really. We do know trip computers aren't perfectly accurate, so of course we will be talking about the total efficiency for the trip in a few minutes. And we don't have a town trip computer reading for the UC3, do we Lawrence? We don't, unfortunately, which is a bit of a shame. But the trip computer was broken and we couldn't reset it. So it was permanently stuck when we left on 2.5 miles per kilowatt hour. We even spoke to Citroen about this and they can resolve it either. But what I can tell you is that the charge level in the battery after those 18 miles in the EC3 was 79 percent. Whereas the Super N was indicating 82 percent and the Dolphin Surf still had 88 percent. Okay, well now let's talk about the total efficiency for the journey. So that includes the city section, but also driving on the motorway, on country roads and a couple of drag races as well. We kept a total of 136 miles. And to get the battery back up to 100 percent at the end, which is obviously what we started with, I needed 22.3 kilowatt hours of energy, which for the purposes of this we will assume is at the current energy price cap of about 26p per kilowatt hour. And if we add in the 14.5 kilowatt hours that I took on at the first charging stop on day one, I needed a total of 36.8 kilowatt hours. And that works out to efficiency of 3.7 miles per kilowatt hour. That figure of course does include charging losses. And I spent a total of £26.97. So how does that compare with the Super N, John? Well, you're not going to believe this because I also needed 22.3 kilowatt hours at the end of the trip. And that was on top of the 14.5 kilowatt hours of electricity that I added on day one, which comes to an overall 36.8 kilowatt hours. Exactly the same. Exactly the same as the BUID. My average efficiency was obviously also the same at 3.7 miles per kilowatt hour. And I spent £27 exactly. So in terms of cost, nothing in it. Okay. Well, the EC3 was relatively thirsty compared to your cars with 23.3 kilowatt hours at the very end and 15.3 at the charging stop on day one. So that meant my average efficiency was 3.5 miles per kilowatt hour. And I spent a total of £28.34. So more than you guys, but not really by a massive amount. Yes. Like you say, we're talking relatively small margins, aren't we? And incidentally, the real world ranges of our cars based on the remaining charge levels at the end of day one. So that includes the city and the motorway driving section. But before any drag races, the Dolphin Surf has a potential range of about 143 miles. So actually slightly better than its official WLTP range, which is quite interesting. The EEC3 Urban, the range on that works out to about 122 miles and the Super N, 119 miles. But it does, of course, have the smallest battery. Now, what about other costs? Because they're all very close when it comes to list price, aren't they? Particularly when you factor in the CCS port for the EC3 that you definitely want. Yes, they are. But more buyers are likely to sign it to a PCP buyers agreement rather than paying for the whole lot in one go. And assuming you put down a £2,000 deposit on a four year deal with an annual mileage limit of 8,000 miles, it's the Super N that works out the cheapest at £233 a month. On the same terms, the EEC3 costs £244 per month and the Dolphin Surf comes in at a pretty hefty £306. But here's the thing, the Super N and EEC3 are brand new. So although you can already get some small discounts, if you're prepared to haggle or go through our website, whatcar.com, there are already loads of nearly new Dolphin Surfs in the classifieds already. And the one that we borrowed from the Allendale Motor Group had about 250 miles on the clock when we gave it back. It's currently being used as a dealer demo and will soon go back on sale for about £14,000. And there are loads of other examples in the classifieds for similar money, many of which only have delivery miles on the clock. That is a lot of car for the money, isn't it? But anyway, like you said, if you're buying brand new and you're signing up to a PCP finance deal, as many buyers will, the Super N is definitely the cheapest option. And it's the best equipped as well, isn't it, John? It is because for a small, cheap city car, it's equipped almost like a Swiss army knife. I mean, we've already mentioned some of its long list of standard features throughout this video, things like the front and rear parking sensors, the rear camera, climate control, remember, and also that excellent Bose sound system. But on top of that, things that we haven't mentioned, heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, adaptive cruise control, and even keyless entry. That is a lot of equipment, isn't it? Particularly when you factor in the price. OK, now, is there anything else we need to consider before we decide on a winner? Well, we touched on that earlier, but it's important to stress that safety is a bit of an unknown with the Super N, or rather crash protection is, because you actually get lots of active safety aids, but there's no official Euro NCAP rating. And Honda says they won't ever B1, because the Super N is going to be a low volume car and isn't going to be sold in many markets. The EC3 doesn't have a Euro NCAP rating either. So safety is something you're really concerned about. The Dolphin Surf gives you a lot more confidence on that front because there's a confirmed five star NCAP rating. Also, we don't have any reliability data for these particular models yet. They're all too new. And the Honda has the longest warranty of up to eight years or 100,000 miles. Although to get that, you'll need to have your Super N serviced at a Honda dealer according to the schedule. The Dolphin Surf comes with a six year 93,750 mile warranty on most components. And the EC3 is a bit more basic at just three years and 60,000 miles. Although like the other cars, you do get eight years of cover on the drive battery. OK, well, I think it's fair to say we've got three pretty good EVs here, haven't we? Particularly when you factor in the sub 20,000 pound price tags. But we need to pick a winner and it isn't the EC3, is it? It's not. It does have to come third. It does have the biggest boots and overall the most space in the back. And, you know, it's OK to drive, but it doesn't really stand out in any other particular area other than space. Yes. And as our research shows, for many buyers, space isn't a huge priority in the small car class. So which is the winner, is it the BYD Dolphin Surf or is it the Honda Super N? It's got to be the Honda Super N, hasn't it? I mean, we've looked at every area and it racks up the most points. It also has all the things you need for a city car. Things like fantastic visibility and those really clever rear seats also boost its practicality. And we know it's incredibly well equipped, too. Plus the cheapest on PCP Finance. Plus, almost as a bonus, it's easily the best to drive to the point that I genuinely love driving over this trip and it put a smile on my face. I've never seen you smile so much, Jon. Well, yeah, that's because I have to work with you. So overall, it edges the Dolphin Surf, which does admittedly have a bigger boot, a slightly longer real world range and, of course, extra confidence when it comes to safety. OK, well, there you have it. The Honda Super N is the best EV you can buy for less than £20,000. If you want to watch another video, click up there. Let us know what you think of all of these cars in the comments below. And to read our full written reviews on all of the cars featured in this video, click there to head to whatcar.com.