I have been driving my 2024 touring for around 3000 km now (Canada). I still encounter a lot of folks complaining that the world has ended because it doesn't have the 2.0T engine. Full disclosure, I have never owned the 2.0T. Looking for a new car, I was concerned about performance, but only as one consideration. I test drove quite a few other quick cars, including the Ioniq 6 AWD, which was quick enough to make my wife mad in the passenger seat (around 4 seconds to 60).
First, a reminder that this car does not use a conventional CVT. It is a direct drive electric motor. Honda provides 3 modes for driving, and there is a dramatic difference in feel between all 3 available driving modes. Econ feels very smooth and a wee bit sluggish. "Normal" feels just fine, peppy when you want, and kind of how you want it most of the time. But "sport" makes the car significantly more responsive, with noticeably heavier steering. The electric drive motor feels very torquey and responsive in city driving (like between 30 and say 80 km/hr). The engine doesn't shift down and race to give you the torque, it just pulls immediately, like an EV. It honestly feels really good and very quick in that band. It isn't as blindingly quick as an AWD EV, but the torquey electric drive feels very strong, quiet and honestly really fun.
When you just want to get from zero to highway speed as fast as possible is when you may miss the more powerful engine (just over 6 seconds), but for day-to-day city driving it's lots of fun. The fun is ruined a little bit for me by the fact that for some reason I now care what the fuel economy trip number is
D), and driving it in sport mode knocks it down a bit.
All this just to say that I'm really enjoying driving the car... feels good. Performance is good with lots of quality of life additions. If your number one goal is performance, you probably shouldn't get the 2.0T either... tons of cars are quicker than that one now.
FWIW. Cue rage responses...
First, a reminder that this car does not use a conventional CVT. It is a direct drive electric motor. Honda provides 3 modes for driving, and there is a dramatic difference in feel between all 3 available driving modes. Econ feels very smooth and a wee bit sluggish. "Normal" feels just fine, peppy when you want, and kind of how you want it most of the time. But "sport" makes the car significantly more responsive, with noticeably heavier steering. The electric drive motor feels very torquey and responsive in city driving (like between 30 and say 80 km/hr). The engine doesn't shift down and race to give you the torque, it just pulls immediately, like an EV. It honestly feels really good and very quick in that band. It isn't as blindingly quick as an AWD EV, but the torquey electric drive feels very strong, quiet and honestly really fun.
When you just want to get from zero to highway speed as fast as possible is when you may miss the more powerful engine (just over 6 seconds), but for day-to-day city driving it's lots of fun. The fun is ruined a little bit for me by the fact that for some reason I now care what the fuel economy trip number is
All this just to say that I'm really enjoying driving the car... feels good. Performance is good with lots of quality of life additions. If your number one goal is performance, you probably shouldn't get the 2.0T either... tons of cars are quicker than that one now.
FWIW. Cue rage responses...