While the EV market is experiencing rapid sales growth, many car buyers still prefer hybrids as they benefit from reduced fuel usage but don’t have to worry about a charging infrastructure still in development. Honda lease shoppers on the fence between EV and hybrid would be wise to compare the programs as a much more expensive Prologue is substantially cheaper to lease than any other Honda model.
The Prologue, with a starting price of $48,795 for the 2WD EX model, $51,795 for an AWD EX model, and just shy of 300 miles of range, might come off as a bit of a conundrum to your typical Honda customer. It is the automaker’s first real mass-market EV, but Honda didn’t really make this five-passenger EV crossover, but rather General Motors. Despite all the Honda badging, the Prologue is essentially a Chevy Blazer EV, with a different body on top. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though early examples of the GM Ultium EV platform cars were known to be somewhat problematic.
However, now that most of those kinks have been worked out it the Prologue could be a compelling option if you favor leasing over buying. Honda’s gamble has paid off in outsourcing its EV to GM and then restyling as the Prologue is now the best-selling EV crossover, outpacing its Blazer platform mate.
Part of the reason for this success is that Honda buyers tend to be very loyal to the brand. Someone coming from an Accord or CR-V Hybrid would be more inclined to get an EV from Honda. The other key factor is that Honda has offered some super aggressive lease programs on the Prologue currently making it the most affordable lease in the brand’s catalog despite being the model with the highest possible sticker price.
Even though I typically advise consumers to view lease specials on automakers’ websites as “estimates” since they don’t take into account local sales tax and regional market conditions for specific vehicles, they can be a valuable way to compare programs between cars of the same brand.
If you view all of Honda’s current lease offers you will find that the 2024 Prologue EX AWD is now offered at $229 per month with $2,999 due at signing, this is an effective lease cost of $312 per month before tax and fees. The next cheapest lease is the 2024 Accord LX at $229 with $3299 down, or an effective lease cost of $320 per month before tax and fees. Both leases are for 10,000-mile, 36-month programs and offer a conquest rebate for current owners of almost every non-luxury brand.
That eight-dollar difference is really stark when you consider that the Prologue EX AWD has an MSRP of $51,795 versus the Accord LX at $28,990. That’s almost a $23,000 sticker price difference between the two cars, yet the lease programs are practically the same. Of course, the reason for these cheap payments on the Prologue is the application of the $7500 federal tax credit in addition to some Honda lease cash rebates that reduce the capitalized cost.
This deal is good until 1/02/2025 so for those of you celebrating Happy Honda Days this holiday season and would normally target a CR-V Hybrid, you may want to take the leap to the EV while these cars still qualify for the tax credits.
Tom McParland is a contributing writer for Jalopnik and runs AutomatchConsulting.com. He takes the hassle out of buying or leasing a car. Got a car buying question? Send it to [email protected]
