We've had this vehicle for a few weeks now and have put quite a few miles on it already. A little worried I got too few miles on the lease because we both love driving it but oh well, we'll deal with that issue when we get there.
This review will not have any photos - as you can find these yourself quite easily on the internet, Honda's website, any Honda dealer website, or you can go look at the car in person.
Overall, if you don't want to read the whole thing... if you want a handsome EV SUV that's basically like a gas car but happens to be electric with none of the "weirdness" some EVs have, and are willing to pay a bit of a premium for that compared to its brother the Chevy Blazer EV, it's a great vehicle. If you want something on the cutting edge of tech and/or performance, I'd go with a Tesla Model Y. If you want something in between, a Hyundai Ioniq 5 or Ford Mustang Mach-E would be worth a look.
Ride Quality and Handling - Great
Overall, the ride quality on the Prologue is absolutely superb. They 100% got this right. Hands down the most comfortable vehicle I have ever driven. One of the reasons I chose the Touring trim and avoided the Elite was that this one has 19" wheels so the tires are a little chunkier vs the 21" wheels on the fancier version as the roads and potholes here are absolutely awful.
Both of us want to go on a road trip with this thing now, it makes you want to drive it for hours, it's that good. Bumps, potholes, railroad tracks, whatever is in the road, you don't feel it, yet it remains composed around corners. It's never floaty or disconnected feeling. And somehow I'm pretty sure it does all this without any fancy stuff like air suspension. I think the weight of the vehicle and the (compared to some other modern vehicles) fat tires play a part here. But great job GM and Honda!
Performance - Mediocre
You expect EVs to be quick with that signature instant torque. However, due to it's weight and relatively low power numbers, the Prologue doesn't push you back in your seat like some other EVs do (Tesla, I'm looking at you). So, it's absolutely no fun to drive, and honestly, the Bolt feels quicker in some situations. Let's compare the power numbers of a few EVs.
Chevy Bolt FWD: ~3600lbs, 200hp, 266tq.
Honda Prologue AWD: ~5000lbs, 288hp, 333tq.
Model Y RWD: ~4100lbs, 295hp, 309tq.
As you can see, the weight to power ratio of the Prologue, plus what feels like some really agressive torque management software, means it's not a "quick" EV. Note: if you get a 2WD Prologue, it's going to be FWD, not RWD... and that's lame, hence why we got AWD.
That said, if you're coming from an average ICE car, you'll find the performance to be great. My partner is blown away by it, compared to a Nissan Kicks CVT-mobile. As a Bolt owner, I'm less blown away, but I still enjoy it for sure.
Comfort and Interior - Mostly Great
So, it's not zoomy, but is it comfy? Heck yeah it is! I'm a skinny dude, but my partner is less skinny (and thus isn't a fan of my Bolt's narrow thin seats), and we both have no trouble staying comfortable in the Prologue. I typically prefer cloth seats over the leather we have in the Prologue (only the base EX model has cloth, but EX doesn't have premium audio, which I really wanted), but anyway, the seats are fantastic for both of us.
If you are coming from another Honda, you might initially find it a little weird - but if you're coming from a GM product, you will feel right at home. There are physical controls for the HVAC and it has a traditional column shifter, and yes, a normal turn signal stalk (never thought I'd have to bother mentioning that, sorry Tesla). While some people seem to hate on GM's build quality, I think it's actually really good. The interior is well put together, everything looks and fits well, and feels solid to the touch. Nothing makes noises or flexes when pushed or pulled during regular usage of the vehicle.
The cup holders are not great. But overall storage capacity is great. As with all Ultium vehicles so far, it's wiiiide, and that means your center console and the vehicle overall is very roomy and the whole thing has a spacious feel.
The sound system is good, not great. Better than the base sound system in the EX, but it could have been even better given the MSRP of the car ($56,500 or so). Tesla sounds systems are like 5x better IMO.
I didn't even notice before taking it home it had a sunroof - that is a feature I don't care about. But, have a sunroof it does, and while only the front section opens like any other sunroof, the rest of the ceiling is a whole big panoramic glass thing. This is kinda cool, and I appreciate the power shade. It goes pretty slow and doesn't sound cheap, so hopefully the power shade lasts for a while, but who knows. While I'd rather not have a sunroof, as I've had bad experiences with them eventually leaking, it's definitely growing on me and I'm warming up to it.
Cargo space is excellent, as you would expect from a larger vehicle like this. Rear seat passengers can be full size adults and be comfortable. Or, fold down the rear seats (manual, not power, which I actually appreciate) and they go nearly flat, so you can put big stuff in there). I think this would be a great family car for a family with 2 kids. It should be obvious but there is no 3rd row available - if you need that, buy a minivan, Suburban, or Kia EV9, OK?
Tech and Features - Decent
This thing has lots of tech, but it's also not tech-forward. What I mean by that, is it has lots of features, but if you don't care about that, it won't make you use most of them if you don't want to.
My partner immediately commented on the lack of a 360 degree/surround view camera compared to his $23K Nissan. I hadn't even noticed this, as I've never had it, but I do think this should be included in the Touring, not just Elite, if a car less than half the price can include this feature, the Prologue should as well.
Otherwise, the infotainment system is WONDERFUL. I use Apple CarPlay (this is one thing I absolutely NEED and refuse to buy another car without it), and the wireless CarPlay is SO convenient compared to the Bolt's having to plug in a cord. Just get in the car, plop the phone in the wireless charging pocket, and by the time I have my seatbelt on Waze is already on the screen and my Spotify is playing.
While it does have Profiles in the infotainment, and it does have seat memory on the doors (and it does work based on the key fob, although it took a while for me to figure out how to make that work) it is lame it doesn't do mirrors too? I would expect the mirror settings to be based on the driver profile/memory profile as well? Maybe I'm missing something here, but I checked the owners manual and couldn't figure it out.
It's been like two weeks and the HondaLink app is still not working. Three calls to OnStar have not resolved this. While I have compassion here as the car is a GM+Honda mashup and that can't be easy on the back end, it should work, they've had plenty of time to figure it out.
Driver Assistance Stuff - Eww, Kinda?
The first thing I did is turn the lane keep thing off. I made the mistake of trying to go into my driveway without my turn signal (there were no other vehicles in sight) and it thought I was running off the road and yanked on the steering wheel and made all sorts of noises.
Overall I hate all the nannies and beeps and all the other stuff. If it thinks I'm following a car too close, it'll make a noise. If it thinks I'm coming up on traffic a little too quick, it makes a noise, and once it even slammed on the brakes, even though the car in front had already started moving as the light turned green but it's not smart enough to know that... But adaptive cruise control is a game changer and I do LOVE that feature. If you turn off the emergency braking thing, it has an annoying alert every time you turn the car on and a yellow dash emoji the whole time... I don't like that, so the stuff stays on.
If you like one-pedal driving in your EV, this has two different levels of that, but we have it off. I will say, I like Auto Hold, but I haven't figured out how to get that to stay on, and I have to manually turn it on every time I start the car, so I kinda gave up on it. I think it only goes on by default if you have 1PD enabled? Not sure.
Range and Charging - Above Average
The AWD Touring is rated at 281 miles if you charge to 100%. We charge to 80% as we are not sure if we will buy out the lease in which case I want to preserve the battery lifespan as much as possible. With our driving style, we have about 250 miles of range at 80%, which is plenty.
It has no problem hitting the 150kw fast charging spec if it's down low, and you're using a 350kw EA station. I don't have exact numbers or a charging curve, as my partner has been the only one to DCFC this car, but he's been satisfied with the charging speed, and he's never had an EV before.
It can do 11kw on level 2 AC with a suitable charger, although that's hard to find in the wild - most ChargePoints and similar are 6kw or 7kw. At home we share a single level 1 (regular wall outlet) charger between the Prologue and Bolt, but so far we've only had to DCFC like twice a week for a short period of time to keep the Prologue juiced up.
I'd have no hesitation taking this on a road trip given the range and charging performance of the Prologue. According to other owners, you can use the Tesla app set to a Chevy Blazer EV to charge this puppy up at Superchargers if you have the adapter. I do have the Lectron adapter but haven't tried this yet.
We're averaging about 3 miles/kwh, which is decent for a vehicle this size. I average about 3.5 in the Bolt, for comparison. I do love the heat pump in the Prologue, as while the Bolt's old school resistive heater sucks up up to 8kw of juice, the Prologue's heater only uses like 2kw. Very nice!
Oh, and unlike the Blazer EV, the charge door is manual. You just press it and it pops open. No weird motorized slow thing here.
Exterior - Great
This is totally subjective, but I think the Prologue is a very handsome, good-looking vehicle. I love square brick shaped traditional stuff, and that's what this is. It might hurt efficiency a little compared to the shape of a Model Y, but I am OK with that compromise.
Dealer Experience - Pretty Bad
Between the fact it took us three hours to complete the transaction and the fact that they tried to put like $8K of BS add-ons on the vehicle (that I ended up not getting charged for because I refused to buy the car with any of that), the dealer experience was pretty bad. I wish everyone adopted the Tesla model of "the price is the price" and "you can do most of it online" but alas, for now, we are still stuck with this horrible buying process.
Conclusion - Somewhere between good enough and fantastic?
EVs are a divisive topic, and so is the Prologue, as it's really a Chevy, not a Honda, BUT I think it's one of the best mainstream EV SUV options out there. Three simple trim levels to pick from. I'd definitely go AWD as it's already slow enough, I can't imagine how lame the FWD version is - but I wonder how many people are really going to cross shop this with a Model Y, as it's a whole different experience.
If an EV fits your lifestyle, and you want a somewhat traditional vehicle, I'd highly recommend the Honda Prologue. While you won't win any races with it, it has plenty of power for everyday driving to be enjoyable, and the ride quality and comfort are AMAZING. The infotainment system is responsive, Apple CarPlay works flawlessly, the sound system is good enough.
That's what this vehicle is. In some ways, it's fantastic, but in other ways, it's good enough. I do love it, my partner loves it, and I don't think there is another vehicle we'd be happier with in this price range. After two weeks, we do not regret getting it, and there is nothing we actually dislike about it. I would buy it again.
I hope you found my review informative, and I'm happy to answer any questions.
This review will not have any photos - as you can find these yourself quite easily on the internet, Honda's website, any Honda dealer website, or you can go look at the car in person.
Overall, if you don't want to read the whole thing... if you want a handsome EV SUV that's basically like a gas car but happens to be electric with none of the "weirdness" some EVs have, and are willing to pay a bit of a premium for that compared to its brother the Chevy Blazer EV, it's a great vehicle. If you want something on the cutting edge of tech and/or performance, I'd go with a Tesla Model Y. If you want something in between, a Hyundai Ioniq 5 or Ford Mustang Mach-E would be worth a look.
Ride Quality and Handling - Great
Overall, the ride quality on the Prologue is absolutely superb. They 100% got this right. Hands down the most comfortable vehicle I have ever driven. One of the reasons I chose the Touring trim and avoided the Elite was that this one has 19" wheels so the tires are a little chunkier vs the 21" wheels on the fancier version as the roads and potholes here are absolutely awful.
Both of us want to go on a road trip with this thing now, it makes you want to drive it for hours, it's that good. Bumps, potholes, railroad tracks, whatever is in the road, you don't feel it, yet it remains composed around corners. It's never floaty or disconnected feeling. And somehow I'm pretty sure it does all this without any fancy stuff like air suspension. I think the weight of the vehicle and the (compared to some other modern vehicles) fat tires play a part here. But great job GM and Honda!
Performance - Mediocre
You expect EVs to be quick with that signature instant torque. However, due to it's weight and relatively low power numbers, the Prologue doesn't push you back in your seat like some other EVs do (Tesla, I'm looking at you). So, it's absolutely no fun to drive, and honestly, the Bolt feels quicker in some situations. Let's compare the power numbers of a few EVs.
Chevy Bolt FWD: ~3600lbs, 200hp, 266tq.
Honda Prologue AWD: ~5000lbs, 288hp, 333tq.
Model Y RWD: ~4100lbs, 295hp, 309tq.
As you can see, the weight to power ratio of the Prologue, plus what feels like some really agressive torque management software, means it's not a "quick" EV. Note: if you get a 2WD Prologue, it's going to be FWD, not RWD... and that's lame, hence why we got AWD.
That said, if you're coming from an average ICE car, you'll find the performance to be great. My partner is blown away by it, compared to a Nissan Kicks CVT-mobile. As a Bolt owner, I'm less blown away, but I still enjoy it for sure.
Comfort and Interior - Mostly Great
So, it's not zoomy, but is it comfy? Heck yeah it is! I'm a skinny dude, but my partner is less skinny (and thus isn't a fan of my Bolt's narrow thin seats), and we both have no trouble staying comfortable in the Prologue. I typically prefer cloth seats over the leather we have in the Prologue (only the base EX model has cloth, but EX doesn't have premium audio, which I really wanted), but anyway, the seats are fantastic for both of us.
If you are coming from another Honda, you might initially find it a little weird - but if you're coming from a GM product, you will feel right at home. There are physical controls for the HVAC and it has a traditional column shifter, and yes, a normal turn signal stalk (never thought I'd have to bother mentioning that, sorry Tesla). While some people seem to hate on GM's build quality, I think it's actually really good. The interior is well put together, everything looks and fits well, and feels solid to the touch. Nothing makes noises or flexes when pushed or pulled during regular usage of the vehicle.
The cup holders are not great. But overall storage capacity is great. As with all Ultium vehicles so far, it's wiiiide, and that means your center console and the vehicle overall is very roomy and the whole thing has a spacious feel.
The sound system is good, not great. Better than the base sound system in the EX, but it could have been even better given the MSRP of the car ($56,500 or so). Tesla sounds systems are like 5x better IMO.
I didn't even notice before taking it home it had a sunroof - that is a feature I don't care about. But, have a sunroof it does, and while only the front section opens like any other sunroof, the rest of the ceiling is a whole big panoramic glass thing. This is kinda cool, and I appreciate the power shade. It goes pretty slow and doesn't sound cheap, so hopefully the power shade lasts for a while, but who knows. While I'd rather not have a sunroof, as I've had bad experiences with them eventually leaking, it's definitely growing on me and I'm warming up to it.
Cargo space is excellent, as you would expect from a larger vehicle like this. Rear seat passengers can be full size adults and be comfortable. Or, fold down the rear seats (manual, not power, which I actually appreciate) and they go nearly flat, so you can put big stuff in there). I think this would be a great family car for a family with 2 kids. It should be obvious but there is no 3rd row available - if you need that, buy a minivan, Suburban, or Kia EV9, OK?
Tech and Features - Decent
This thing has lots of tech, but it's also not tech-forward. What I mean by that, is it has lots of features, but if you don't care about that, it won't make you use most of them if you don't want to.
My partner immediately commented on the lack of a 360 degree/surround view camera compared to his $23K Nissan. I hadn't even noticed this, as I've never had it, but I do think this should be included in the Touring, not just Elite, if a car less than half the price can include this feature, the Prologue should as well.
Otherwise, the infotainment system is WONDERFUL. I use Apple CarPlay (this is one thing I absolutely NEED and refuse to buy another car without it), and the wireless CarPlay is SO convenient compared to the Bolt's having to plug in a cord. Just get in the car, plop the phone in the wireless charging pocket, and by the time I have my seatbelt on Waze is already on the screen and my Spotify is playing.
While it does have Profiles in the infotainment, and it does have seat memory on the doors (and it does work based on the key fob, although it took a while for me to figure out how to make that work) it is lame it doesn't do mirrors too? I would expect the mirror settings to be based on the driver profile/memory profile as well? Maybe I'm missing something here, but I checked the owners manual and couldn't figure it out.
It's been like two weeks and the HondaLink app is still not working. Three calls to OnStar have not resolved this. While I have compassion here as the car is a GM+Honda mashup and that can't be easy on the back end, it should work, they've had plenty of time to figure it out.
Driver Assistance Stuff - Eww, Kinda?
The first thing I did is turn the lane keep thing off. I made the mistake of trying to go into my driveway without my turn signal (there were no other vehicles in sight) and it thought I was running off the road and yanked on the steering wheel and made all sorts of noises.
Overall I hate all the nannies and beeps and all the other stuff. If it thinks I'm following a car too close, it'll make a noise. If it thinks I'm coming up on traffic a little too quick, it makes a noise, and once it even slammed on the brakes, even though the car in front had already started moving as the light turned green but it's not smart enough to know that... But adaptive cruise control is a game changer and I do LOVE that feature. If you turn off the emergency braking thing, it has an annoying alert every time you turn the car on and a yellow dash emoji the whole time... I don't like that, so the stuff stays on.
If you like one-pedal driving in your EV, this has two different levels of that, but we have it off. I will say, I like Auto Hold, but I haven't figured out how to get that to stay on, and I have to manually turn it on every time I start the car, so I kinda gave up on it. I think it only goes on by default if you have 1PD enabled? Not sure.
Range and Charging - Above Average
The AWD Touring is rated at 281 miles if you charge to 100%. We charge to 80% as we are not sure if we will buy out the lease in which case I want to preserve the battery lifespan as much as possible. With our driving style, we have about 250 miles of range at 80%, which is plenty.
It has no problem hitting the 150kw fast charging spec if it's down low, and you're using a 350kw EA station. I don't have exact numbers or a charging curve, as my partner has been the only one to DCFC this car, but he's been satisfied with the charging speed, and he's never had an EV before.
It can do 11kw on level 2 AC with a suitable charger, although that's hard to find in the wild - most ChargePoints and similar are 6kw or 7kw. At home we share a single level 1 (regular wall outlet) charger between the Prologue and Bolt, but so far we've only had to DCFC like twice a week for a short period of time to keep the Prologue juiced up.
I'd have no hesitation taking this on a road trip given the range and charging performance of the Prologue. According to other owners, you can use the Tesla app set to a Chevy Blazer EV to charge this puppy up at Superchargers if you have the adapter. I do have the Lectron adapter but haven't tried this yet.
We're averaging about 3 miles/kwh, which is decent for a vehicle this size. I average about 3.5 in the Bolt, for comparison. I do love the heat pump in the Prologue, as while the Bolt's old school resistive heater sucks up up to 8kw of juice, the Prologue's heater only uses like 2kw. Very nice!
Oh, and unlike the Blazer EV, the charge door is manual. You just press it and it pops open. No weird motorized slow thing here.
Exterior - Great
This is totally subjective, but I think the Prologue is a very handsome, good-looking vehicle. I love square brick shaped traditional stuff, and that's what this is. It might hurt efficiency a little compared to the shape of a Model Y, but I am OK with that compromise.
Dealer Experience - Pretty Bad
Between the fact it took us three hours to complete the transaction and the fact that they tried to put like $8K of BS add-ons on the vehicle (that I ended up not getting charged for because I refused to buy the car with any of that), the dealer experience was pretty bad. I wish everyone adopted the Tesla model of "the price is the price" and "you can do most of it online" but alas, for now, we are still stuck with this horrible buying process.
Conclusion - Somewhere between good enough and fantastic?
EVs are a divisive topic, and so is the Prologue, as it's really a Chevy, not a Honda, BUT I think it's one of the best mainstream EV SUV options out there. Three simple trim levels to pick from. I'd definitely go AWD as it's already slow enough, I can't imagine how lame the FWD version is - but I wonder how many people are really going to cross shop this with a Model Y, as it's a whole different experience.
If an EV fits your lifestyle, and you want a somewhat traditional vehicle, I'd highly recommend the Honda Prologue. While you won't win any races with it, it has plenty of power for everyday driving to be enjoyable, and the ride quality and comfort are AMAZING. The infotainment system is responsive, Apple CarPlay works flawlessly, the sound system is good enough.
That's what this vehicle is. In some ways, it's fantastic, but in other ways, it's good enough. I do love it, my partner loves it, and I don't think there is another vehicle we'd be happier with in this price range. After two weeks, we do not regret getting it, and there is nothing we actually dislike about it. I would buy it again.
I hope you found my review informative, and I'm happy to answer any questions.
