Honda Kei Car Icons Collide on UK Streets

Honda kei car icons went head-to-head in an unusual test set against the historic backdrop of Bath, pitting two generations of Japanese micro-machinery against tight British urban streets. The test compared the classic Honda Beat against the new Super N, a pairing that combined for just three cylinders, one turbocharger, and an electric motor producing a cumulative 157bhp between them. The Super N, while not strictly a kei car, borrows kei car underpinnings for the European market while featuring a widened track and an increased power output of 93bhp, up from the standard 63bhp kei limit. In contrast, the Honda Beat represents textbook late-1980s to early-1990s kei car culture as a tiny, mid-engined sports car. Despite their physical differences—with the boxy Super N towering like an MPV next to the genuinely minute Beat—both handled the urban environment with ease. During the photoshoot outside Bath’s Royal Crescent, it was the ultra-compact Beat that immediately drew a crowd of tourists eager to pose for photographs.