The retro design trend that emerged in the 1990s may be dead, but Honda’s breathing fresh life into it with retro-futuristic designs like the Urban EV and Sports EV concepts.
You don’t need to look into Honda’s crystal ball, though, to see a cool-looking retro design. You can get one right now… if you live in Japan. It’s the N-One, arguably the cornerstone (and the best-looking) of a range of stylish little Kei cars that Honda offers in its home market.
The automaker has been producing the N-One since 2012, but keeps rolling out incremental updates, like this one. Among the changes are better sound insulation, UV-filtering windows, more USB outlets and four trim levels: Standard, Select, Premium and RS.
The model pictured here is the RS in Sunset Orange and black, but the N-One also available in other two-tone combinations, like white with red, gray with red, dark green with black, or blue with black.
The RS looks (unsurprisingly) sportier inside and out and comes exclusively with a turbocharged 660cc inline-three that’s mated (like the naturally aspirated version) to a CVT transmission, which is the only gearbox available. The RS gets paddle shifters to select between artificial ratios, and comes only in front-wheel drive form, though you can get the same engine with all-wheel drive in the Premium Tourer version.
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