2010 Honda Insight EX: Open Thread

How many people does it actually sit comfortably?

They've started to pop up around town. Usually driven by older people, too, which is kind of funny considering the target demographic Honda aimed for with this thing. Same with the Fit, now that I think about it. Grammas and Grampas shuttling themselves around in those things.

I've seen one on the road...its less attractive in the grey.

Donna, Donna!

Great post!

I do have a question. As a gardener, I love roses. However, roses require fertilizer, specifically manure.

So please pack this car as full of manure as you possibly can, then report back to me. How many cubic feet can it hold?

I need to know now!

I'm with jkp1187, how many people (as in adults) can this thing hold?

Its a good Prius alternative. Its cheaper, and the gauges are where they are ALWAYS supposed to be - in front of the driver. The Prius is disqualified for center gauges :( Oh, and for being a Toyota, haha.

I don't think I've seen one but perhaps some of the countless Prius I've seen were actually Insights.

Is it uglier in person than in photos or vice versa? Or both? Do you feel less smug than if you were driving a Prius? ;)

I've seen them around town (but not nearly as much as the new Prius), and I find them to be odd-looking. The proportions and the expanse of sheet metal that might be called a C-pillar is visually unattractive (to me), but makes it very easy to distinguish from a Prius. I'm not a big fan of the Prius, but I must say the Insight makes the second generation Prius look like a beauty queen... and the new Prius looks like it was designed by a legendary Italian design house in comparison.

I saw one in person, and it actually looked pretty decent. However, way smaller than I was expecting due to previous encounters with priuses. Kinda reminded me of a not quite to scale model.

How noisy is it really? I remember reading somewhere that it was much louder and less refined than a Prius. Is there as much interior noise as in y'alls 370Z?

Have only seen one on the road.

I have owned about 7 Honda econo cars from 1985 thru 97 including the VX & HX models & 2 Del Sols (including cars my teenagers drove). The have all be super reliable, economical & fun to drive. So I am a big Honda fan and was eager to see & drive the new Insight. Actually was seriously considering buying one as I was looking for an economical about town car.

I like the look of the Insight - the exterior is pretty sharp - sporty even & the interior nice enough for me. My positive driving impressions were was that it would be fine s fine for around town, that it cruised pretty smoothly & quietly on the freeway; I love CVT transmissions.

Negative impressions were that it was underpowered (not a big issue for this sort of car as long as you are not driving regularly in heavy traffic where the ability to squirt around is important), I found the front seat cushion was a bit high & put too much pressure on my thighs (at 5'7" & 152 lbs) the rear seat was difficult to enter & exit & would not be comfortable for most people; the rear visablity was very poor. In the end I calculated that if it would take over 10 years with gas at $5 /gallon of my driving 8K per year to pay off the differnce between purchasing an Insight over a Fit. So I decided as long as the visiblity & rear seating was poor I got another Del Sol Si instead of a brand new econocar! My last Del Sol consistently got 30-35 in town & 38-42 on the highway. I wish Honda well, but my motto is "Long live the Honda's from the early 90s!"

What do I want to know? How good will the mpg be with daily careful driving? How expensive will the car be over 8-10 years with the potential of need to replace some battery cells? I don't imagine Edmunds will keep it long enough to determine that!

I know the rear seat is lacking head room, but how does it compare to other small cars in the LT fleet, such as the Civic GX, Lancer Evo, Ford Focus, BMW M3 sedan, A4 Avant?

Let's see you guys track test this thing. I wanna know if Honda succeeded in making this the more "fun" alternative to the prius!

Ive seen a few on the road and while at my local Honda dealer I checked one out.

Overall, its looks a bit "thin" as its not as substantial looking (or feeling) as the 2010 Prius. However Toyota actually looses money on every Prius it sells so....maybe Honda is on to something.

Id rather drive the slower Civic Hybrid if I was going to drive a small hybrid car near this price.

Ok, what I want to know is have you been on Honda's Website for the Insight? They advertise the Econ button like crazy!

My real question: Have you guys been using the Econ button and Earning your extra leaves?

Seriously, you guys may learn something about this car over there! Eg, the blue, teal and green speedo background lighting reporting on fuel efficiency.

So if you do stop there, tell me. Are you more of a Larry Leadfoot, Joe Driver, or Hillary Hipermiler?

http://automobiles.honda.com/insight-hybrid/fuel-efficiency.aspx

I've seen a couple in town, which is surprising, because it usually takes a while for new cars to show up here in the land of cheese, trees, and ocean breeze (anyone know where I'm talking about?)

Nice idea but bad execution.

If I was in the market for either a Prius or an Insight, I would choose a Prius in a heartbeat. If I was concerned about driving dynamics, I wouldn't even look at hybrids in the first place. So why would Honda copy the benchmark in exterior design only to fail miserably by lowering the rear roofline so low that rear seats are only usable for children and/or dogs (small dogs).

Prius says, "Hey, I'm driving a hybrid." Insight says, "Hey, I'm driving a Prius look-a-like but was too cheap to buy the real thing!"

Why drive a funky looking car if it doesn't achieve the main goal, which is saving gas? Prius offers a wide range of hi-tech options such as solar powered fans that truly defines what a modern day hybrid should be.

IMO, the previous generation Insight--despite the two-door design and the rear wheel cover--was a much more practical hybrid vehicle than the current one.

Honda, stop trying to imitate Toyota and start thinking like Honda.