This is Honda’s third go at an electric vehicle, after the experimental EV Plus and the low-volume, short-range hydrogen-powered Clarity and battery-powered Fit, and likely to be the one that makes it to the big time. A prologue is an introduction, usually to a work of music or literature—or, in this case, to a family of EVs that Honda will roll out in the coming decade. Thus a Prologue is a two-row crossover SUV-like vehicle that occupies the same footprint as Honda’s mid-size Passport. 

As part of the Elite trim level, which brings all manner of premium comfort and convenience features, our Prologue has the available all-wheel drive, with an electric motor on each axle powering each set of wheels. Together, the two motors produce 288 horsepower and 333 pound-feet of torque, which is more than ample for a non-sporting vehicle. (As electric cars do, it will accelerate right now!) Standard front-wheel-drive, single-motor Prologues make do with 212 horses and 236 torques. Honda claims 281 miles of range for the AWD Prologue and 296 miles for the FWD version. A Level II home charger can bring either Prologue from 20% charge to 80% in about half an hour, or add 65 miles of range in 10 minutes. Honda says the Prologue is compatible with the majority of public fast-charge stations, including Tesla, EVgo, Electrify America and the new Ionna network. 

The only odd thing about the Prologue is that it’s a joint effort between Honda and General Motors. Yes, you read that right: Like the electric version of the Chevrolet Blazer, the Prologue is built on GM’s highly rated Ultium EV platform and manufactured in GM’s plant in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico. The most GM-like aspect of the Prologue is probably its ride, which is softer and less “sporting” than most Honda vehicles. Without driving a Blazer EV, I can’t compare the two cabins or build qualities, but the Prologue seems well bolted-together and the materials and design spot-on for an upper-end Honda.

Google rides shotgun in every Prologue—Google Maps, Google Assistant, Google Play—and Honda says it has optimized its onboard tech for EV route planning and recharging. There’s also a HondaLink smartphone app programmed for finding and using charging stations. BTW, Prologue sticker prices include Level I or II home-charging hardware, installation credits and/or up to $750 in public charging credits.

The feds have been promising for years that EVs would make some sort of noise to alert pedestrians to their stealthy presence. As usual, Honda has gotten out in front of this safety mandate with its own EV noise generator; unfortunately, it’s also the Prologue’s sole objectionable element. Up to about 24 miles per hour, the vehicle emits a low-pitched sound that’s half groan, half distant-ice-cream-truck melody. From the driver’s seat, it sounds like a dragging brake shoe. (The engineers who came up with it may be too young to know what a drum brake is, much less know what a malfunctioning one sounds like.) It can’t be turned off or changed. Yes, pedestrians hear it—they turn to look—but it makes me try to stay at or above 24 MPH. 

As SUVs go, the handsome Prologue sits relatively low—no off-road pretensions here—which makes it look relatively wide; and inside, like all Hondas, it seems bigger than it does outside. In fact, now that the minivan is “dead” (as The Atlantic proclaimed in a recent article), it seems Prologue-like vehicles will be its replacement, today’s family truckster but without the minivan’s social deficiencies. Hey, it’s not a mom-bomb, it’s an SUV! 

EVs have seemed overpriced. Electric motors are far less expensive to manufacture than internal-combustion engines, so I wonder if it’s the batteries. Are they that costly? Or do carmakers have to pay royalties on some aspect of this technology? (To whom? Elon Musk? Egad.) However, the recent sag in enthusiasm for electric vehicles, which is in large part just political, has increased supply and reduced prices, which benefits consumers who understand the value of EVs and whose driving needs they suit. And who can charge them at home. 

The sticker price for the base FWD Prologue EX is $48,795 (including destination fees), which is only a tick or two above today’s average new-car price, and Honda offers Prologue leases for as little as $289 per month. The well-equipped mid-range Touring model starts at $53,095, and our top-spec Elite AWD starts at $59,295. Since Prologues are assembled in Mexico with motors from Korea and transmissions from China, they do not qualify for the $7,500 federal rebate, but this can change if Honda and GM tweak their supply chains appropriately. 

‘Opinionated at any speed” will return in three weeks. Enjoy the autumn—go for a foliage ride!