Underneath its H-shaped badge, the 2024 Honda Prologue hides a secret. It’s actually the single most popular vehicle on GM’s Ultium platform, outselling the Chevrolet Blazer EV and Equinox EV through 2024. It might be a bit of a stopgap car, but it’s one that’s given Honda another sales success story, outselling its cross-showroom combustion-powered rival — the Honda Passport — in America last year.
However, relying on another brand’s engineering can be a potential pitfall. What if it’s just not up to the same standards set by vehicles developed in-house? If that were to happen, an exercise in platform-sharing could scare off customers and leave a ding in a brand’s reputation. So, did General Motors do a good enough job with the fundamentals to woo loyal Honda customers? Let’s find out.
[Full disclosure: Honda Canada let me borrow this Prologue for a week so long as I kept the shiny side up, returned it with a reasonable state of charge and reviewed it.]
The Basics
Battery pack: 85 kWh net capacity lithium-ion.
Drive: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive.
Output: 288 horsepower, 333 lb.-ft. of torque.
EPA range: 273 miles (439 km)
Peak DC Fast Charging: 155 kW
Body Style: Five-door midsize crossover.
Base Price: $48,850 including freight ($63,121 Canadian)
Price As Tested: $59,805 including freight ($73,121.50 Canadian)
Why Does The Honda Prologue Exist?
The rationale for the Honda Prologue is that Honda needed an EV for North America pronto, and GM had EVs for America. As such, Honda placed an order from the General Motors ghost kitchen, styled its own packaging, and this is the result. Keen automotive history buffs will note that this isn’t the first time Honda and GM have jumped in bed. The original Saturn Vue was offered with Honda’s J-Series V6, and the first two generations of Honda Passport were rebadged Isuzu Rodeos from when Isuzu and GM partnered on cars. However, the Prologue is the first Honda with GM mechanicals, and that makes things interesting.
How Does It Look?
Walking up to the Honda Prologue, it sure seems that the designers did a damn good job here. It looks completely unlike a Chevrolet Blazer EV and significantly different from a Chevrolet Equinox EV, establishing its own all-Honda visual identity. It’s clean, from the relatively simple front fascia to the normal door handles to the restrained use of hard creases on the flanks. Some might call it boring, but in today’s landscape of overwrought styling, I reckon it’s tasteful.
The Prologue’s also a lot bigger than you might expect — 5.4 inches longer and a whopping 4.2 inches wider than a Ford Mustang Mach-E — but this top trim’s 21-inch alloy wheels fill the arches well and all the proportions just seem right.
How Does It Drive?
In this dual-motor all-wheel-drive configuration, the Prologue pumps out a respectable 333 lb.-ft. of torque and delivers it nicely. One of the biggest joys of driving an EV, instant torque, is also one of the biggest drawbacks of riding passenger in an EV. To solve this, the Prologue eases into things when you don’t have Sport mode selected, resulting in smooth, controlled acceleration that’s unlikely to cause motion sickness in normal use, while still offering more than enough shove when you need it. Speaking of ease, the Prologue operates with near-luxury car quietness, keeping wind roar and tire thrum essentially silent. What’s more, the steering might not be particularly feelsome but it has a great sense of dead-ahead, which makes melting away freeway miles just that little bit less tiresome.
As for tested range, it fell far short of the EPA estimate, but temperatures were inhospitably cold for the earlier half of my testing week, so that certainly has an effect on things. Let’s call real-world driving distance on a charge inconclusive for now. Besides, there are bigger issues to raise here. It feels like instead of springs, the Prologue rides on three accountants, two legal team members, one social media specialist, an army of sales reps and half a purchasing department, all gossiping around a water cooler about the state of the tarmac. The ride is capital-B busy, making you aware of every crack and dip in the pavement.
The obvious tradeoff seems like it would be great body control, but there’s quite a bit of vertical motion over expansion joints. The all-wheel-drive Prologue Elite just doesn’t do a great job of managing its 5,207-pound curb weight. In addition, the steering doesn’t do a great job of quickly self-centering out of low speed corners, no doubt due in part to the massive 275-section tires. On the plus side, braking feels natural with a good blend between regenerative braking and friction braking resulting in a consistent pedal. Just don’t expect something this heavy to stop on a dime.
It’s also worth talking about the outward visibility on the Honda Prologue because it’s really not great. The gunslit view out the rear window is reminiscent of a Jaguar F-Type convertible with the top up, the relatively high cowl and blunt nose contribute to forward blind spots in lower seating positions, and the A-pillars are large. Between the awareness of curb weight and the sub-optimal view out, the Honda Prologue feels enormous, and that’s a potential turnoff for anyone wanting something easy to drive. A small car driving like a larger one is normally a compliment on refinement. A midsize crossover driving like an even larger one is usually an indictment.
How’s The Interior?
Remember that pleasant exterior styling? It continues on the inside as well. The Honda-specific dashboard is nicely restrained, with a low leading edge that contributes to an unobtrusive feel and mid-level air vents that sit in the right spot for the driver and front passenger. What’s more, Honda seems to make better use of GM’s switchgear, with more physical controls than you’d find in a Blazer EV, specifically a climate control setup that’s far less dependent on the touchscreen.
That being said, there’s some stuff here that isn’t so good, starting with the driving position. Wide, flat seats combine with a steering column that could use more rake adjustment and a dead pedal that’s relatively far from the driver to make everything but the pedals feel like a bit of a reach. Then there’s the fact that although the Prologue is much larger than a Ford Mustang Mach-E or Hyundai Ioniq 5, its sizeable exterior dimensions don’t directly translate to interior room. Rear hip room stands at just 1.2 inches greater than the Mustang Mach-E and just eight-tenths of an inch greater than in a Hyundai Ioniq 5. Meanwhile, the Ioniq 5 matches the Prologue on rear legroom and beats it on front legroom. It really makes you wonder where the extra width and length actually went.
However, the biggest issue is perceived quality. The steering column stalks have this wet cardboard flimsiness to them, and some of the plastics are more GM-grade than Honda-grade. Dishonorable mention goes to the cheap and scratchy center console that seems to be made from recycled 2004 Malibu door cards, as well as the general cheapness of the second row. These days, it’s common for the rear door cards to feature the same nice materials as the front door cards, but the second row of the Prologue feels exceptionally low rent. This would be okay if the car itself was cheap, but it really isn’t. Add in a few fit-and-finish issues on my test unit like exposed glue on the headliner and a console panel that didn’t quite fit right, as well as an axle click when accelerating while turning and multiple tire pressure monitoring system failures, and the overall feel wasn’t one of outstanding quality.
Does It Have The Electronic Crap I Want?
Being a fully loaded electric crossover, the Prologue Elite has a ton of electronic gizmos onboard, but not all of them work the way you’d expect. The presence of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is a big plus over most other GM EVs, but having Apple CarPlay drop out frequently wasn’t great. In addition, it seems that some odd choices were made for driver-facing tech. Placing the headlight switch in the infotainment system? Odd. Having a vehicle status screen in the infotainment system that only lets you view charging stats, energy consumption over distance, and tire pressures? Seemingly of limited use.
The digital gauge cluster offers several layouts, all of which are missing something important. The only way of viewing precise state-of-charge is with the vehicle switched off, as the rough gauge in one of the cluster layouts is only marked in increments of 50. Sure, you could rely on the guess-o-meter’s estimate of distance remaining, but wouldn’t it be nice if you actually knew exactly how much charge you had left?
As for other expected stuff, it’s all here on the top trim as well. A head up display, heated and ventilated front seats, a 360-degree camera system, a kick-to-open power liftgate, and a remarkably mediocre 12-speaker Bose audio system that does nothing wrong yet nothing exceedingly well. It’s all a bit paint-by-numbers, and while most of it works
Three Things To Know About The 2024 Honda Prologue
- It’s actually built by General Motors.
- It’s not hard to tell that it’s built by General Motors.
- As far as I can work out, you can’t actually see a precise state of charge with the vehicle switched on.
Does It Fulfil Its Purpose?
That depends entirely on how you define the purpose of the Prologue. Does it help Honda meet regulatory requirements as a stepping-stone to the brand’s in-house EVs? Yes. Does it move the needle in the electric crossover segment? No. A Hyundai Ioniq 5 or Ford Mustang Mach-E feels like a better-resolved product than the Prologue, and reports of teething issues seem very un-Honda-like. A slightly jiggly, cheap-feeling electric crossover would be fine if it was fairly cheap, but it’s not. My test unit was $15,420 more than a Mustang Mach-E Premium AWD with the panoramic roof and the big battery pack, and a similarly-priced Hyundai Ioniq 5 Limited AWD offers faster charging, more toys, a bigger wow factor, and a much nicer interior. At full asking price, the Honda Prologue simply doesn’t feel like good value, and questions remain about future improvements, seeing how Honda’s focusing on launching its own EVs in America next year.
What’s The Punctum Of The 2024 Honda Prologue?
Unless you land a phenomenal lease deal, this might be a Prologue worth skipping.
All photos by Thomas Hundal
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I find it funny that GM gets called out for their interiors when compared to the other domestic automakers, they are on par if not exceling in a few places. Maybe that speaks more to the lack of quality in American cars or the fact that since it’s a common talking point, more people notice it?
I’m not even being a GM fanboy here, but I’ve seen people complain about GM interiors for years. Going to Auto Shows and hopping around interiors, Ford and GM are on par for almost all vehicles. Stellantis can swing wildly, but I’d argue with most of their cars coming off the line as “premium” they’ve swung for better appointed dashes and door cards as of late.
Check Leasehackr, the lease deals on ALL EVs are phenomenal. Well worth it.
Our Mach E at 4800 pounds is porky (a whopping 1200 pounds heavier than our coupe), but it can still get by with 19″ wheels without tipping over in the twisty bits. I do wish it was a little wider, though. I think that’d keep it more grounded to the ground. 😉
Aside from being heavy as shit, the typical GM fox hole windows and comically large wheels makes this thing a designer’s sketch come to life!
Much like every 3 Series Bimmer or C/E Class Merc on the road, the only logical option for any EV is leasing.
The current Honda style looks oddly Porsche SUV. They both have the rounded edges thing going on and when dirty from some angles they look exactly the same only the scale is off a bit.
I agree. The only trim that makes sense to me on this car is the Touring, and the lease deals also make sense. The only thing I might want from the Elite is the surround-view camera, but I do not want the Elite’s reduced range. The ride is also better on the Touring due to more tire sidewall..
Online forums show these are being plagued by some of the reliability issues plaguing the Blazer EV that it’s based on. For some reason, the Lyriq/Blazer/Prologue iteration of Ultium are having massive teething issues while the Equinox has been smooth sailing
I had a Blazer as a loaner and it’s a really sweet ride. If they straightened out the issues I’d get one used
First of all, the Ioniq 5 is close to a foot shorter than the prologue. So not a good comparison.
We are currently leasing an Equinox for many reasons but mostly because its cheap and if it has issues then its not on us to fix it. So far its been flawless. We owned a 2011 Chevy Volt in the past. That was definitely a weird car. Weird in a good way.
Anyway, sure. There’s some plastic cheapness here and there. But its fine. No really- its fine. Maybe for an auto journalist who drives everything from Bentleys to Fords its more noticeable. But for most people? Whatever. It works. My bigger complaint is that the shifter and the pattern to put it into gear is weird and not super intuitive. The seats are actually rather comfortable and supportive. Its a medium sized SUV that is closer to a Subaru Forrester in terms of size.
Anyway….. I’m pretty glad we did not get a Tesla. We thought about it for about 5 minutes and decided we could not simply due to Musk. And that was all before he fully revealed himself to be a reincarnation of Joseph Goebbels.
Its a perfectly fine family hauler for those who want to go in on an EV.
That Forester comparison doesn’t look good for the Prologue… let’s see, the Subaru is vastly less expensive and has the same interior volume despite having ~16″ shorter wheelbase and ~10″ shorter body length. It’s also over 1,500 pounds lighter and might actually be worth something two years from now.
This and AA/CP are really the only selling points. How does the cost compare to the Chevys?
Its within a couple thousand of the Blazer. The Equinox is the value play. It’s smaller but only by a few inches, but starts at $35k with the value play at $42k vs $48k for the Prologue
Wheel-size creep is annoying. Like plastic-cladding-slapped-all-over-the-car annoying.
We went out and my wife drove an LT Equinox EV and liked how smooth it was. I went to do some shopping around and test drove an RS with the 21″ wheels – it was night and day. Losing an inch of sidewall is bad enough, but the RS also gets run-flats. The 19s in the LT made all the difference.
I don’t care to look up the tire options on the Prologue, but it isn’t surprising it felt choppy over expansion joints. The Equinox with the 21s felt like shit.
Yeah, no. They use the exact same amount, type, and placements of switchgear…
Your comment made me double check. It is in fact the EXACT same switchgear lol.
The Prologue’s switchgear is definitely out of GM’s parts bin, but the Blazer EV and Equinox EV displays HVAC temperature in the infotainment screen and features a single row of physical climate control buttons, while the Prologue features temperature displays in the HVAC knobs and two rows of physical climate control buttons.
How about low miles used? Check autotempest.com.
How about low miles used? https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/2f2793b8-e1ba-4901-9804-f9d84533e372/?aff=atempest&utm_campaign=atempest&utm_source=autotempest&utm_medium=trp&utm_campaign_id=1&utm_trusted=TRUE
Only if it’s a not a lemon buyback, which a large number of low-mileage Ultiums (Ultia?) are.
There are decisions in these GM EVs from a software perspective that does not make sense. Believe it or not, the Bolt EUV has more logic in the options you have or the information you can see. You want to scroll between different information on the dashboard like a regular GM where you just switch options on the steering wheel? Not possible, you have to “drag” each option from the main screen to the speedometer, one at the time, and you can only display one.
You want to turn on all the dome lights quickly because your kid is complaining about something behind you? Good luck finding that on the screen menus. Switching from FM Radio to Spotify or whatever source, multiple taps on the screen. You want to turn off your headlights? Sorry, I turned off one pedal driving since the button are next to each other and those buttons on the screen will be on a different location if you are stopped or driving.
GM and Honda not known for their software. Glitchy at best bricked entirely possible. The Silverado ev could be mildly successful as they shoved all the batteries they could it in it so it can do truck things. The rest of their bev platforms exist in the same space as all the incumbents decent hardware maybe even great build quality but terirble crippling software.
I guess the logic is the model y is the best selling ev so same class to complete. Everyone wants a cuv. If they made a fit or hrv ev and it was able to be competitively priced in think it would do well. I guess the lead and ayeria live in that space and do ok but not great numbers. But Hondas brand identity I bet would do better even if they badge engineered and sold them.
I’m not sure what this means but, if it means what I think it means, “Odd” is not the adjective I would use.
A lot of new cars have auto headlights, you don’t have to touch them at all if you don’t particularly need to do anything special with them.
Especially to meet Canada’s DRL requirements which have grown stricter.
My work Equinox does a really shitty job of turning the lights on by itself when it’s raining or snowing during the day or at dusk/dawn. I have to override it pretty often, but it thankfully has a knob left of the steering wheel. It also has it’s fog-light switch over there.
My live has the EV Equinox, and the fog light switch is buried in the infotainment screen with the other headlight settings.
I know that there are a lot of shitty drivers out there that just let the auto headlights do the job even if conditions call for them to be on, so maybe they should just make them more sensitive, IDK. But it’s still dumb to replace knobs that have always been quick and intuitive to use without looking or poking around.
less likely for the mechanic to spin the dial and turn them off “just to be safe” and not turn them back on so the owner drives forever onward with just running lights. Most people never check their auto headlights so hopefully putting it in the software allows it to default back to “auto” at every startup
This has been my experience more often than not.
If I could hide the headlamp controls so nobody can turn them off when they service/park my car – I would.
The term I’d use is “extremely unsafe.” Perhaps this is the way Honda/GM sells new cars, by building cars that are more likely to have full-loss accidents.
On nearly every night-time drive, I’ll see a car without its taillights on, evidence that the DRL are on and that the auto-headlights, if they exist, did not turn on automatically as they should according to their name. Often the DRL are bright enough for the driver to see, but that is half of the safety issue.
My 23-year old car, with a physical switch and DRL (made in Canada) and auto-turn-on lights, has never had this problem, ever. I will also sometimes turn on all my lights when I want to make sure that cars around me can see me in a torrential rainstorm or fog or whenever I am between them and a setting or rising sun. The control is close to my left hand when it is on the steering wheel.
Why safety is being replaced for cheapness (I assume the light switch integrated into the info system is less expensive) is beyond me.
Honda also sold the G2 Isuzu Trooper as the Honda Horizon in Japan, and the Acura SLX in the US.
Friend had one, and he loved it, until it caught fire.
We just leased an EX AWD Prologue for less than $3k down and less than $300 a month, for 3 years.
It does all the things we want, roomy, power is good, has carplay. Doesn’t have the gee-whiz charge port door from the Blazer and I’m putting that in the plus column, it’s something you’ll use every day, the gee-whiz factor will fade quickly and the regular push to open door the Prologue has is much simpler. Also it has fairly good charging speed, the column shifter is great. My wife says she can see out of it fine, she’s about 5’4″ and was able to adjust the seat fine for her.
Things we’ve already found that are glitchy, the Hondalink app seems like a giant steaming pile, but used the Chevrolet app before I’m not surprised, also as mentioned the infotainment is scattered, audio settings like bass/treble/fade/balance are under “audio”, startup volume of the audio is under vehicle/sound….so yeah…seems like a lot of cooks in the kitchen deciding on what goes where. But as mentioned there’s thankfully Carplay so just do that. This is more evidence of Chevy dropping Carplay because they can do infortainment better is horrible mistaken.
As for the app features, luckily the fob can do all the things, unlock, start, hidden key that will unlock the driver’s door if need be. No I can’t unlock the doors from halfway across the world but…not sure I need to? We got 2 fobs and both of them have the built in physical key.
Overall we’re really happy we got this lease deal now, no telling what will happen with credits and what not in the next few months, also it’s in a nice metallic blue my wife fell in love with. I think it has a pretty nice stance with the size and shape, reminds me a little of the Accord Crosstour.
Now I am just an idiot. But IMHO if you are going to do an EV boring vehicle why not just go minivan? Sure it isn’t the hottest car going but for people buying a boring mediocre EV SUV I think you could sell more smooth riding boring totally more usable than a bottom level mediocre SUV. BUT like I said I’m an idiot
Considering the only EV minivan on the market TMK is the ID. Buzz…
Even better: make EVs as cars, and have a wagon option, cuz sometimes people haul very long things (8-ft fluorescent tubes in my case) on the rare occasion.
No need to make them “trucks” by definition to skirt the EPA issues. No gas!
What’s interesting is I know some folks with the Prologue and they don’t share most of the complaints that are expressed in this review. Their biggest complaint is the glitchy software that seems commonplace in all of the GM EVs. Ride, material quality, and visibility don’t really seem to register for any of them, with exception of the one who had a previous-gen Pilot before the Prologue that had excellent outward visibility.
Based on what facts do you assume Honda has better plastics (or materials in general) than GM?
We’re a loooooong way from 1995, even if perceptions haven’t quite caught up for everyone.
Based on hands-on experience with both the cheapest Honda currently on sale and the new Silverado EV RST. GM makes some brilliant stuff on the top end, but the bottom end of GM interior materials is scratchier, harder, shinier, and less tightly-grained than even the lower sections of the door cards on the current HR-V.
I mean fair I guess. My experience hasn’t been the same, and I’m always on my guard against tired GM stereotypes is all.
No worries. As someone who dearly misses his C1500, I get it.
This is the reason why a coworker recently bought an HR-V. Honda’s interiors aren’t exactly special, but the materials and fit and finish tend to be better than most competitors. Even if they tend to be a bit drab.
GM has made leaps and bounds from actively punishing their customers, but their economy offerings still tend to display some questionable material decisions. It’s been a few years, but I’m looking at you Cruze hatchback with the razor sharp plastic seams on the center console that rips into your knuckles as you put your seatbelt on.
people who dont actually understand materials always say this as a catch all. Many say this without even having been in the vehicle before. Its very tired.
275 tires!!! Why???
That probably would be the 5,207 pound curb weight. You need a pretty good size contact patch to get that much mass to go around corners instead of just staying on its current path.
It’s hard to know how much of this is on GM and how much on Honda. I think everybody’s knee-jerk reaction is Thomas’s #2, but I don’t see how lack of interior space, poor visibility, or infotainment/control complaints are in any way GM’s fault. Sure, there’s compromise inherent to using someone else’s platform, but that’s what the engineers are for.
It’d be different if this were just a badge-engineered stopgap like a Geo or the Subaru Buzzforks, but the body panels and interior don’t seem to have anything in common with GM’s products, so why should they catch flak for their flaws? Fit & finish, sure, actual build issues, of course, but I have trouble buying that Honda had no say in the road feel that made Thomas so unhappy. Especially since I don’t recall reviews of either GM-branded EV having those issues.
Frankly it sounds like Honda misallocated its budget for the project, with too much spent on making it look like a not-Chevy, not enough on engineering, and running out of money for some of the interior bits.
To be fair to Honda, they did manage to give the Prologue slightly more rear legroom and hip room than the Blazer EV despite sharing a floor, a firewall, both subframes, the pedal box, and the steering column support with Chevy’s midsizer. In addition to those parts, the infotainment’s a GM system rather than a Honda system, all of the switchgear is GM, and the tire package is about what you’d get on a Blazer EV.
The leasing caveat could be applied to almost any EV or luxury brand.
Especially an EV, at this stage of the game.
Battery and charging tech are improving rapidly, so I wouldn’t buy one expecting to hang on to it for 10+ years. We’re still too early in the technology development cycle for EVs. The stuff available when the lease expires will be much better than what we have today.
Out of curiosity, I just looked, and a 2020 Model-3 is about $7k less than a comparable Camry Hybrid. I think that is still far more than the Tesla is worth.