I can accept our long-term 2010 Honda Insight's busy ride and thin sound insulation and weaksauce acceleration as natural consequences of its fuel-sipping, low-costing, battery-hefting mission.
What I can't stand, though, is its crummy on-center steering behavior. For this there is simply no excuse.
The steering response as you cross juuust over center seems to go dead, like there's inertia or stiction or hysteresis. As a result, driving it in a straight line at freeway speeds involves constant, minute corrections around center.
It's not tramlining or crosswinds, it's the electric steering. And it's irritating. Behaves just like the Fit's steering, in fact, which isn't that surprising since the two cars share a lot of DNA from the firewall forward.
I'll say this, though -- I flung the Insight onto a freeway on-ramp yesterday and the thing didn't understeer like a bad bus. On the contrary, it was completely neutral, even requiring a bit of countersteering. I was floored. Oversteer in an economy car, yee-haa!
I think this last bit will be lost on Insight buyers.
Jason Kavanagh, Engineering Editor @ 9,521 miles.
drburke says:
03:12 PM, 11/30/09
Dear Mr Cavanaugh,
Why so negative?
broq3_5 says:
03:37 PM, 11/30/09
I would seriously hate to have to look at that interior everyday.
adavis2493 says:
03:46 PM, 11/30/09
I have a friend who leased a 2007 BMW 335 and ended up trading it in for an Insight.
I can see how people want to downsize for the economy, and whatnot, but I can't see why he didn't get like a Civic Si, or something more "inspiring" per se.
By the way, I can see why the Prius manages to trample this thing in sales; the dashboard layout is terrible looking. I've already gawked about how much I hate the aftermarket look of the Navigation System, but the HVAC Unit looks like it was just slapped on, and the odometer/speedometer unit looks like a helmut.
I may be digging deep, but this is what the odometer/speedometer unit reminds me of:
http://www.sjcpl.org/gameblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/halo-odst-replica-helmet.jpg
06scooby says:
04:44 PM, 11/30/09
okay this interior looks way to similar to a pontiac interior... compare it to the last generation of the bonneville!! How is it that Honda can get away with an interior like this?
mjp16 says:
04:44 PM, 11/30/09
Hm, Honda.... don't let your interiors drift any further in this direction:
http://www.familycar.com/RoadTests/PontiacGrandAm/Images/Dash.jpg
hondacura4 says:
07:57 PM, 11/30/09
I actually don't like the interior design either as there are just too many cut lines and pieces.
A few other late model Honda/Acura cars that have EPS have been criticized for lack of on center feel. What's funny is that Honda was a pioneer of EPS as the NSX's steering was consistently praised for feel and precision and it was electric in most models.
hondacura4 says:
08:01 PM, 11/30/09
To be honest I think Honda should have just made the extra investment to compete DIRECTLY with the Prius instead of focusing directly on purchase price as the end result reveals a high level of compromise. Soichiro wouldn't be pleased.
ensega says:
08:25 PM, 11/30/09
Honda...where were your intelligent minds when you made this car? Panel gaps vary from good (gray portions) to bad (beige portions) and there is no sense of design there. Things were thrown together in the worst way.
wrinklebump says:
09:59 PM, 11/30/09
Guys cool down jeezus
mikeolan says:
12:35 AM, 12/ 1/09
Honda is the new Pontiac of the 90's - worthless, ugly incompetent vehicles. With any luck, Honda's a small enough company so that they'll either stop building garbage or give up and die a heck of a lot sooner than it took GM to fix its act. What's most absurd is this "eco friendly" vehicle will likely meet its landfill destiny a lot sooner than a regular gas powered car.
hybris says:
05:27 AM, 12/ 1/09
@adavis2493
Good call on the Spartan II helmet.
This is the first really good angle of the interior that I have seen I can I have to ask me myself.
"Who did they hire out the ergonomic/styling to?"
1487 says:
05:37 AM, 12/ 1/09
That interior is a disgrace. Will IL editors ever comment on this? How in the world is this interior not subject to the same level of criticism as whats found in the Focus or Chrysler's low end products? It's worse than the Cabilber's from a design standpoint- and yes I am dead serious. Look at the cut lines and the lack of symmetry (sp?). Talk about design by committee.
zoomzoomn says:
05:50 AM, 12/ 1/09
broq3_5 says:
03:37 PM, 11/30/09
"I would seriously hate to have to look at that interior everyday."
Amen!!! Honda needs to let sober, sensible grown-ups do their interior design...not some drunk design school drop-out. This is truly horrible.
zoomzoomn says:
06:00 AM, 12/ 1/09
"...I think Honda should have just made the extra investment to compete DIRECTLY with the Prius instead of focusing directly on purchase price as the end result reveals a high level of compromise." Yeah. They basically made a poorly executed Prius-esque version of the Civic hybrid. Why? Did they really believe they would fool that many people into getting something they were not on looks alone? This is no Prius! And for goodness sakes it's not like the Prius is soooo cool that you just have to emulate it and be the poor cousin to it!!! Good grief.
bumpy says:
07:52 AM, 12/ 1/09
Electric steering, or lack of toe? One of the hypermiler tricks is to set the toe to zero in order to reduce rolling resistance.
jkavanagh says:
09:48 AM, 12/ 1/09
I rather like the interior, though I agree it looks busy in the photo above. In three dimensions it is much more cohesive looking. Plus it's laid out exceptionally well and has a lot of useful storage. The plastics are hard, sure, but don't look cheap.
1487 says:
12:01 PM, 12/ 1/09
It looks busy because it is busy. Most cars in this price range have hard plastics so thats not really an issue for me. Its just ugly and slapped together in a haphazzard fashion. The 2cm gaps between panels don't help either.