{"id":3730,"date":"2026-01-06T03:57:04","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T11:57:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/max2voyages.com\/?p=3730"},"modified":"2026-01-06T03:57:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T11:57:04","slug":"forbidden-fruit-we-drove-hondas-super-rad-super-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/max2voyages.com\/?p=3730","title":{"rendered":"Forbidden Fruit: We Drove Honda’s Super Rad Super-One!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We just drove one of the tastiest pieces of forbidden fruit\u2014the ridiculously cute Honda Super-One\u2014and we haven\u2019t stopped smiling since. The Super-One is a tiny electric hatchback based on the Honda Super EV Concept that did the hill climb at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July. It returned as a prototype with the Super-One name at the Japan Mobility Show and will go into production soon for sale in Japan in 2026 before rolling out to other the U.K. and other markets for suitable for tiny right-hand-drive vehicles. This of course means it has no chance of being offered in North America. But we couldn’t resist the chance to experience it anyway while at Honda\u2019s proving grounds in Tochigi, Japan. Its cute round headlights beckoned.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What is the Honda Super-One?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Super-One is part of Honda\u2019s N Series of electric models, more specifically the performance variant of the affordable N-One e electric Kei car. The Super-One surpasses normal kei car standards. Its wheelbase has been lengthened and the platform widened by about two inches, giving it an exclusive chassis configuration. As a result, power from the single motor exceeds the 47-kW (63-hp) limitation applied by Japanese law to kei cars. Officials have not released the Super-One\u2019s specifications and the car we drove had a piece of tape over the power gauge, but we’re told it beats the kei power cap by a significant amount. Additional gauges that were uncovered included battery temperature and simulated engine rpm.<\/p>\n

So Much Fun to Drive<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Sporty and agile, this little front-wheel-drive number was built for winding roads. Being so small and light, it’s a blast on a tight, technical handling course. It offered exceptional cornering on some fast curves including a tight S-turn, and, yeah, it felt like a go-kart. It’s so easy to thrash around and elicit chirps of protest from its little 15-inch tires. Yes, there was some body roll and a tinge of understeer, but the precise steering helped the little car dart and pivot into corners. We could have used still more power, as foot mashed to the floor only yielded so much. We wanted more. Fortunately, our first lap in a camouflaged prototype was without Boost Mode, which increases power output and was developed exclusively for the Super-One.<\/p>\n

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Boost Mode<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Honda engineer in the passenger seat pressed the blue Boost Mode button on the steering wheel for the remaining laps. In addition to increasing power, it adds step-shift control that simulates synchronized shifts from seven-speed transmission, complete with little blips. The Active Sound Control system plays a virtual engine sound, too. Sure, the sounds and shift sensations are fake, but they only add to this little hot batch’s appeal.<\/p>\n

The Super-One has sport seats with a fun asymmetrical pattern with a swath of blue material. It has a tiny steering wheel and screens in its relatively sparse interior. Versus a gasoline-powered kei car, the battery pack goes where the gas tank would normally be, under the floor in the center of the vehicle.<\/p>\n

Sadly, the Super-One Is Not For Us<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Honda says in Japan, the Super-One is targeted at 50- to 60-year-olds who will eventually leave it to their kids. With no chance it will make it to North America\u2014not at least until the 25-year import rule allows it\u2014we count ourselves lucky for having this brief stint. The Super-One is adorable, and adorably fun.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We just drove one of the tastiest pieces of forbidden fruit\u2014the ridiculously cute Honda Super-One\u2014and we haven\u2019t stopped<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-first-drives"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/max2voyages.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/max2voyages.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/max2voyages.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/max2voyages.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/max2voyages.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/max2voyages.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/max2voyages.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/max2voyages.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/max2voyages.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/max2voyages.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}