Man Maths: Honda Super-N

He’s happily let his team go to town on the Super-N. It’s based on the Honda N One:e kei car, but now exceeds kei car dimensions thanks primarily to a wider track and Integrale-esque flared wheelarches. It’s longer too, but still only 3599mm, while the compact battery means a 1097kg kerb weight, which we think makes it the lightest EV on sale, not including licenced quadricycles like the Citroen Ami.

The beefed-up design pays tribute to the 1980s Honda City Turbo II, which itself would make for some interesting Man Maths if it were not so rare. There are five paint colours, four rather boring, but the free choice is this brilliant Boost Violet Pearl. Why pay more? Inside, you get proper hip-hugging sports seats, partly made from recycled Honda uniforms, and a Tardis-like space that really can transport four adults. It even has Honda’s flip-up ‘Magic’ seats.

Straight out of the box, you get 63bhp and a 0-62mph time of 14.5 seconds. Yawn. However, press the anodised purple ‘Boost’ button on the steering wheel and this is upped to 94bhp and 10.0 seconds. The ambient lighting turns from blue to purple, a three-gauge set including battery temperature pops up in the driver display, and the little Super-N finally finds some wheel-scrabbling verve. No it won’t break your neck and it will bite chunks out of your already limited range, but it’s fun and goodness knows, we need a bit of that in our city cars.

The paddle shifters give seven artificial gears, plus a synthesised engine noise that will fool no-one, but with a video game charm that somehow suits the Super-N. Acceleration will pause against the ‘rev limiter’ if you don’t change up, and there’s even a little pulse as you shift through the gears. On a sports car, it would be dreadful. Here, it’s a hoot.

Those wide tyres really are grippy, and because it’s so tiny and so relatively slow, you can drive flat-out and barrel through corners with all the road to spare. Remember when all small cars were this chuckable and fun? Sure, the firmed-up suspension is still hot hatch-lite, and a bit more bite from the steering would be nice, but this tall, upright car is still charmingly good fun.

Reckon it’s a perfect second car for the city? Let Honda help with the Man Maths. Put £2,999 down, with a £549 Honda contribution, and it’s yours for £199 a month on a four-year, 2.9 per cent APR PCP deal. Remember, everything is standard: the Bose, the forged wheels, the Yokos and more. It’s not sub-£100 cheap like those Citroen Ami deals that keep popping up on the socials, but then this is a proper car. And surprisingly, a proper Honda as well.