The 2024 Honda Prologue is the automaker’s first electric vehicle (EV) to hit the Canadian market.
While Europe and Japan got adorable little Honda EVs a few years ago, the Prologue makes much more sense for our market, where SUVs are more popular and many drivers aren’t willing to compromise on range. The Prologue does a great job making EVs appealing and approachable to drivers who have perhaps never driven one before.
Styling: 8/10
The Prologue doesn’t look too exciting, but its unfussy styling actually works in its favour. There’s nothing about the design that screams EV, which helps make it more approachable. Not everyone wants an EV that looks like a wild spaceship or a blob on wheels, and the Prologue is attractive because of its toned-down, more traditional SUV style. The clean lines and smart proportions will help it age more gracefully, while the funky 21-inch wheels add a dash of personality without going over the top.
The interior carries on with the same sort of theme, with a cabin that’s sensible but a bit bland. There’s a lot of hard plastic used inside, and the lack of colour and texture makes the cabin look drab. It would have been nice to see Honda swap out the shiny, dust-collecting black plastic panels for something with more life and colour.
Practicality: 8.5/10
What the Prologue lacks in flash factor it makes up for in practicality. There’s no frunk, but the trunk holds a decent 671 L, which expands to 1,543 L with the 40/60-split seats folded flat. The trunk also has a deep, drainable underfloor storage area and a nook to store the onboard charger so it doesn’t take up valuable space in the trunk’s main area (which kind of makes up for not having a frunk).
The cabin has many options for small item storage with deep door pockets, a huge shelf under the centre console that could fit a handbag or some takeout, and a large compartment under the armrest to keep stuff out of sight.
Power: 9/10
The Prologue shares a platform with the Chevrolet Blazer EV from General Motors (GM), which is good because it’s an excellent base for an EV. The 85-kWh battery feeds dual electric motors that enable all-wheel drive and combine to give the Prologue 288 hp and 333 lb-ft of torque. It has plenty of passing power and more than enough oomph to comfortably and quickly get up to speed, but don’t expect the slingshot acceleration that’s offered in other EVs.
This platform also allows the Prologue to accept charging speeds as fast as 155 kW, and if you can find a compatible DC fast-chargers, that’s quick enough to add 100 km of range in about 10 minutes in ideal conditions.
The SUV comes standard with an onboard charger that’s capable of both Level 1 and Level 2 speeds. As long as you have access to a dryer outlet, you don’t have to install specialized charging equipment in your driveway or garage to get a full charge overnight, adding convenience and some potential extra savings.
Fuel Economy: 8/10
The Prologue’s range is rated at 439 km, but it can often outperform that estimate on a nice day and with gentle driving. One warm early fall day during this test, the system predicted that a full charge would get 495 km of range, which is excellent if accurate. Over about 575 km of mixed driving, the Prologue’s indicated efficiency was 18.5 kWh/100 km — better than its official 22.8 rating.
User-Friendliness: 9/10
The Prologue’s infotainment runs off a Google-based system, so the native navigation uses Google Maps — an instant win for user-friendliness because everyone knows how to use it. Even though there’s wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, using the Prologue’s navigation system has a lot of benefits that help with trip planning. If you input a destination, for example, it will show you how much range will be remaining when you get there, and if you don’t have enough range, it will help find a charger along the way and update your travel time to reflect how much time you’ll spend charging. If you input a fast charger as your destination, the SUV will precondition the battery for more efficient charging, and you can filter charging stations by price, availability, or speed. These features help ease range anxiety and make living with an EV more seamless.
The infotainment system’s layout is also well-organized, with clearly labelled icons, shortcuts that are always visible, and logical menu structures. Thankfully, the Prologue still uses a lot of physical controls and doesn’t centralize everything into the touchscreen — another win for user-friendliness.
Helpful hack alert: because the Prologue is basically a Chevy in a Honda costume, there are buttons on the back of the steering wheel on the right side to control audio volume and on the left to flip through radio presets, something that all GM vehicles have but those who are used to Hondas might not even realize are there because you can’t see the buttons and they are not labelled. 
Driving Feel: 8/10
The Prologue has excellent ride quality and drives in a smooth and refined manner, with its low battery placement helping the SUV feel planted and smoothing out rough roads. One-pedal driving is available at two strength levels; I find the high level a bit too grabby and hard to get used to, but the normal level still provides decent stopping power and can bring the Prologue to a complete stop and hold the brakes so you don’t actually need to use the brake pedal most of the time and reap the efficiency benefits of regenerative braking.
The steering feels numb and light, but that’s very typical with these types of vehicles. The Prologue feels easy to manoeuvre and park, and effortless to drive. The only minor annoyance is that at speeds less than about 35 km/h and when at a stop, the Prologue emits a constant angelic chanting sound to warn pedestrians and other motorists of its presence. The sound gets very annoying quickly and for safety reasons can’t be turned off.
Features: 8/10
Wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are both included as standard in the Prologue, which is interesting since the Blazer EV doesn’t offer them. Other standout standard features include a wireless phone charger, heated front seats and steering wheel, a subscription-based Wi-Fi hotspot, and four USB charging ports.
The Touring trim adds more convenience with a head-up display, 110-volt household outlet for rear passengers, ventilated front seats, and heated wipers. At this price, I would have loved to see heated rear seats included and nicer materials inside.
Safety: 8/10
All Prologues come standard with front and rear automatic emergency braking, front pedestrian detection, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, forward collision warning, automatic high-beam control, rear seat reminder, and traffic sign recognition (which is linked to GM’s OnStar). The topline Touring trim adds rear pedestrian detection and top-down parking cameras.
I find the safety systems to be overly sensitive — they’re always beeping in panic mode even when there’s no real danger, and they gave so many false warnings that the person who drove this car before me turned off all the active safety systems, defeating the entire purpose of having them in the first place. While I’m always grateful for active safety features, Honda needs to calibrate the sensitivity better so they end up being more useful.
Comfort: 7/10
Front-seat occupants get a lot of leg- and headroom, while rear-seat passengers also get treated to generous legroom, even with taller passengers in front. Headroom in the second row is not great, however, with taller passengers needing to slouch to keep their heads from brushing up against the headliner. The seats themselves are quite average, but the ride quality is smooth and comfortable.
Value: 7/10
The 2024 Honda Prologue starts at $59,990 before adding in the $2,000 destination fee and other taxes and charges or considering any rebates. The middle EX-L trim starts at $64,990, while the top Touring trim tested starts at $69,990 and easily eclipses the $70,000 mark before taxes. While it has a lot of features and a great EV platform to help justify that price, it still feels like a lot to pay for a vehicle of this size and with so many cheap materials used inside.
The 2024 Honda Prologue is currently only available in British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec, but it’s also eligible for government incentives, which will help bring down the price.
It’s important to note that a lot of the features that make this EV excellent like a data connection and GM’s OnStar telematics and safety system, become subscription-based after three years, which is an additional cost you’ll have to factor in when the time comes.
The Verdict
The Honda Prologue seems rather unremarkable, but in this case, that’s actually a benefit. As the brand’s first EV here, it was important to make it as approachable as possible for people who haven’t driven one before, and it makes sense for Honda to break people in slowly with something that feels familiar. The Prologue is approachable, has plenty of range, is super practical, and is well-rounded. While it doesn’t do anything too groundbreaking, that’s totally fine because it covers all its bases very well.
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