The other day I went into the used car dealership, like you do, and stumbled upon this peculiar car which is not spoken much here on GTPlanet. It bares a huge resemblance to the original Mini Cooper to the point where it's a close copy, which isn't unusual for Japanese car manufacturers back then. As the original Mini is a historic icon, I decided to see how the Honda N360 lived up not just in comparison, but as a small super mini itself.
Note: I decided to make a review not only to give me a chance to thoroughly test cars I wouldn't even think of driving, but to give me the opportunity to further improve my writing skills for the particular course I am currently doing. I would really appreciate any advice and constructive feedback, thanks.
Review:
I always liked playing spot the difference
The Mini is a British icon, marking a simplistic and practical design which Mini had perfected themselves. As cars of similar designs go, they usually don't live up to the benchmark of the Mini, however to exclude the Honda out completely is rather unfair. I am however, one of maybe a majority where I think the Mini Cooper could have been improved visually.
For instance, the rear lights are rather crude and are rather tacked on and stick out ruining the overall design of the car, which is understandable for it's purpose but they don't compliment the looks. The Honda's rear lights are small, but they compliment the size of the car and are finished off with a steel outline that just curve round to the side of the car. It all looks neatly compact, from the rear headlights to the rear visible leaf springs visible underneath the bumper. The compact style of the Honda is also present at the front with the indicator lights tucked neatly underneath the grille and positioned nicely. However I do find the front of the Honda to be the least impressive, with the grille being just too busy and the 3 small vents on the top bonnet is a bit excessive.
Overall I find it a nice looking car, it screams 60's everywhere. Even though it copies the design of the Mini in nearly every way, the styling yet somehow stills stands out as Japanese and to it's own. At first I wasn't too sure of the design, but after time it eventually warms to you. Simple touches like the lip over the rear licence plate, the little side vents and the nicely compacted rear leaf springs just make for a clean simple look but with hints of stylish cues.
Now the Honda N360 suffers massively in terms of power, but I possibly thought the redeeming factor of weighing 245kg less would bring the figures up to a somewhat comparable competitor in terms of performance.
Honda N360:
Power: 30BHP
Weight: 475kg
PP: 282
0-¼ Mile: 0:29.844
0-1 Mile: 1:10.455
0-60mph: 0:38.357
0-100mph: X
Max Speed: 76.5mph
Max G Force:0.12G
Mini Cooper 1.3i:
Power: 62BHP
Weight: 720kg
PP: 321
0-¼ Mile: 0:20.711
0-1 Mile: 0:52.066
0-60mph: 0:15.399
0-100mph: X
Max Speed: 106.7mph
Max G Force:0.30G
Yeah it didn't fare to well... The Honda N360 is seriously lacking in performance getting thrashed in every field by the Mini. I seriously do believe the Honda could of done a lot better and this is annoyingly down to the fact that the Honda 352 can rev up to 9,000rpm. This is beyond ridiculous for many reasons, simply because it doesn't have the optimal performance for it to reach such revs, thus once you get to third gear the engine pretty much stays idle at 76.5mph. This also leaves me wondering, why does a car such as this even have a fourth gear when you can barely utilise third? A serious overlook which hinders the performance massively.
Also getting off the line is rather tedious, in comparison, the mini is snappy and sharp and you get an immediate response from the engine. The rev limiter on the Mini is at a much more reasonable 7,000rpm which is perfect for acceleration and cornering speeds for a car of such size and performance. Again, if the gearing in the Honda were optimized properly, it could have had a reasonable chance up against the Mini. But what you actually get is a deafening (And I seriously mean deafening) roar of a puny engine with such little progress, a shame really...
I went to test the Honda around Autumn Ring, a suitable place for small cars I find, it has a varied amount of corners and can test speed around various gradients. Here I thought the Honda would struggle, especially up the long uphill nearing the end of the course. However it faired quite well, reaching the 2 minute mark and never dropping below 38mph which is near the top end revs of first gear. Throughout various laps I never had to touch third or fourth gear, which is rather an unusual prospect and I continue to wonder why these gears arent utilized properly. However that didn't slow the progress of the car down too much, with the car driving at a consistent pace throughout.
I managed to get it on three wheels... just...
The engine is rather sluggish to say the least, you don't really feel the engine respond out of corners; you just feel momentum out of them. This can also be a problem when cycling through gears, many times I'm near hitting the limiter of first gear, as I change to second the engine immediately starts losing power again then leaving me to change back down. This lack of judgement out of corners was consistent until I drove 4 or 5 laps, even then I was still having problems. The engine doesn't really feed to the driver what it's doing, noise is made and you move, that's it. Will you lose power shifting into second? You won't know until you do, it's a complete guessing game judging by the sheer noise the tiny engine produces.
But this won't stop you throwing a tiny car like this into the corners, that's the most fun to be had with these cars like these. The handling present on the Honda is rather unpredictable to say the least, and that isn't an insult as such. The handling is a tiny bit sluggish but easy to throw round and you can cut corners rather sharply which is always fun. However once you get into the corner, you start to undergo a fair bit of under-steer which isn't major but can ruin the fun of throwing the car around somewhat. Approaching corners is always dramatic, dropping to first and you will be near the limiter on nearly every corner, then shifting to second for the straights. There is slight body roll, but not as much as I was expecting for a car that runs on leaf springs.
Overall it was a fun car to drive round, but not as fun as you were expecting from a car of similar size such as the Mini or Fiat 500. Major flaws such as the lack of power and suspension ruin the acceleration out of corners and can leave you with a somewhat average drive, but an unpredictable one at that.
unfortunately it looks way faster in the picture
After driving and looking at this car for some hours, it's unfair to call it a straight copy of the Mini. Yes it does borrow a lot of it's styling, but it has it's own personality once you drive it for a few hours. It doesn't live up to iconic cars of similar category such as the Mini Cooper or the Fiat 500, but it's different enough to give it a drive. It does have a unique feel, if that uniqueness is somewhat flawed in some respects, to be worthy of some recognition. To drive it's not all that great, but for cars with similar performance it does outshine most. However the fun begins once you start upgrading, it may only be upgradable to around 80hp, but include new suspension and a near gearbox and that's when you start noticing a real difference. But that's another story...
Note: I decided to make a review not only to give me a chance to thoroughly test cars I wouldn't even think of driving, but to give me the opportunity to further improve my writing skills for the particular course I am currently doing. I would really appreciate any advice and constructive feedback, thanks.
Review:
I always liked playing spot the difference
The Mini is a British icon, marking a simplistic and practical design which Mini had perfected themselves. As cars of similar designs go, they usually don't live up to the benchmark of the Mini, however to exclude the Honda out completely is rather unfair. I am however, one of maybe a majority where I think the Mini Cooper could have been improved visually.
For instance, the rear lights are rather crude and are rather tacked on and stick out ruining the overall design of the car, which is understandable for it's purpose but they don't compliment the looks. The Honda's rear lights are small, but they compliment the size of the car and are finished off with a steel outline that just curve round to the side of the car. It all looks neatly compact, from the rear headlights to the rear visible leaf springs visible underneath the bumper. The compact style of the Honda is also present at the front with the indicator lights tucked neatly underneath the grille and positioned nicely. However I do find the front of the Honda to be the least impressive, with the grille being just too busy and the 3 small vents on the top bonnet is a bit excessive.
Overall I find it a nice looking car, it screams 60's everywhere. Even though it copies the design of the Mini in nearly every way, the styling yet somehow stills stands out as Japanese and to it's own. At first I wasn't too sure of the design, but after time it eventually warms to you. Simple touches like the lip over the rear licence plate, the little side vents and the nicely compacted rear leaf springs just make for a clean simple look but with hints of stylish cues.
Now the Honda N360 suffers massively in terms of power, but I possibly thought the redeeming factor of weighing 245kg less would bring the figures up to a somewhat comparable competitor in terms of performance.
Honda N360:
Power: 30BHP
Weight: 475kg
PP: 282
0-¼ Mile: 0:29.844
0-1 Mile: 1:10.455
0-60mph: 0:38.357
0-100mph: X
Max Speed: 76.5mph
Max G Force:0.12G
Mini Cooper 1.3i:
Power: 62BHP
Weight: 720kg
PP: 321
0-¼ Mile: 0:20.711
0-1 Mile: 0:52.066
0-60mph: 0:15.399
0-100mph: X
Max Speed: 106.7mph
Max G Force:0.30G
Yeah it didn't fare to well... The Honda N360 is seriously lacking in performance getting thrashed in every field by the Mini. I seriously do believe the Honda could of done a lot better and this is annoyingly down to the fact that the Honda 352 can rev up to 9,000rpm. This is beyond ridiculous for many reasons, simply because it doesn't have the optimal performance for it to reach such revs, thus once you get to third gear the engine pretty much stays idle at 76.5mph. This also leaves me wondering, why does a car such as this even have a fourth gear when you can barely utilise third? A serious overlook which hinders the performance massively.
Also getting off the line is rather tedious, in comparison, the mini is snappy and sharp and you get an immediate response from the engine. The rev limiter on the Mini is at a much more reasonable 7,000rpm which is perfect for acceleration and cornering speeds for a car of such size and performance. Again, if the gearing in the Honda were optimized properly, it could have had a reasonable chance up against the Mini. But what you actually get is a deafening (And I seriously mean deafening) roar of a puny engine with such little progress, a shame really...
I went to test the Honda around Autumn Ring, a suitable place for small cars I find, it has a varied amount of corners and can test speed around various gradients. Here I thought the Honda would struggle, especially up the long uphill nearing the end of the course. However it faired quite well, reaching the 2 minute mark and never dropping below 38mph which is near the top end revs of first gear. Throughout various laps I never had to touch third or fourth gear, which is rather an unusual prospect and I continue to wonder why these gears arent utilized properly. However that didn't slow the progress of the car down too much, with the car driving at a consistent pace throughout.
I managed to get it on three wheels... just...
The engine is rather sluggish to say the least, you don't really feel the engine respond out of corners; you just feel momentum out of them. This can also be a problem when cycling through gears, many times I'm near hitting the limiter of first gear, as I change to second the engine immediately starts losing power again then leaving me to change back down. This lack of judgement out of corners was consistent until I drove 4 or 5 laps, even then I was still having problems. The engine doesn't really feed to the driver what it's doing, noise is made and you move, that's it. Will you lose power shifting into second? You won't know until you do, it's a complete guessing game judging by the sheer noise the tiny engine produces.
But this won't stop you throwing a tiny car like this into the corners, that's the most fun to be had with these cars like these. The handling present on the Honda is rather unpredictable to say the least, and that isn't an insult as such. The handling is a tiny bit sluggish but easy to throw round and you can cut corners rather sharply which is always fun. However once you get into the corner, you start to undergo a fair bit of under-steer which isn't major but can ruin the fun of throwing the car around somewhat. Approaching corners is always dramatic, dropping to first and you will be near the limiter on nearly every corner, then shifting to second for the straights. There is slight body roll, but not as much as I was expecting for a car that runs on leaf springs.
Overall it was a fun car to drive round, but not as fun as you were expecting from a car of similar size such as the Mini or Fiat 500. Major flaws such as the lack of power and suspension ruin the acceleration out of corners and can leave you with a somewhat average drive, but an unpredictable one at that.
unfortunately it looks way faster in the picture
After driving and looking at this car for some hours, it's unfair to call it a straight copy of the Mini. Yes it does borrow a lot of it's styling, but it has it's own personality once you drive it for a few hours. It doesn't live up to iconic cars of similar category such as the Mini Cooper or the Fiat 500, but it's different enough to give it a drive. It does have a unique feel, if that uniqueness is somewhat flawed in some respects, to be worthy of some recognition. To drive it's not all that great, but for cars with similar performance it does outshine most. However the fun begins once you start upgrading, it may only be upgradable to around 80hp, but include new suspension and a near gearbox and that's when you start noticing a real difference. But that's another story...
