Insight gets better MPG than Prius???

At lunchtime today I pulled into a Taco Bell drive through but just before I did I saw a white Prius in the lot and thought I'd go ahead and pull in next to it to eat (yeah- don't hassle me about eating in my Prius- I'm a neat enough eater!). So, after getting my food at the drive-thru I pull in next to the aforementioned car...which, as it turns out, was a brand new white Honda Insight. First one I've seen...it's VERY Prius like from the outside. So, I eat and await the return of the owner...

She returns and, after buckling her little girl into the baby seat in the back, allows me to look into the cabin. She tells me she looked at both, but couldn't read the dashboard on the Prius. She liked the ride better in the Prius, but thought her car was a better value for a couple of thousand dollars less. Then she also told me she gets an average of 60 MPG on her regular driving...was she pulling my leg? I mean I know that the Prius can get very high MPG ratings at different times based on what some Hypermilers have documented, but really- 60 MPG as an average for a Honda Insight? I thought their MPG was lower than a Prius?

I traded in my 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid for my new 2010 Prius

My Civic hybrid averaged (mathmatically) 50-51 MPG. By the way the built in gas consumption indicator was usually dead nuts with the mathmatical (miles driven/gallons consumed) calculation

My new Prius is getting 59.5 MPG on the car display and 58 using math

I doubt the Inght is getting 60, but I am certain it is capable of low to mid 50's MPG if driven correctly

WHAT THE ****!? ****! You're right.

The Honda Insight: 60-MPG Surprise | Hybrid Cars

Well, the Prius DOES drive better and is probably a bigger statement. So there's the upside.

Thanks for ruining my evening.

I traded out of my 2007 Honda Civic Hybrid for comfort/feature reasons. I never was able to get much better than 53 MPG on the car, under IDEAL conditions. In the Winter and with A/C on in the summer months my mileage suffered immensely. I would be lucky to get high 30's then. On a road trip it was better.

If you ever drove the Insight, you would see it does not compare to the Prius in Power and Acceleration. Big difference in that area. Here is a post from the Honda Site and review:

<LI class=fuelEconomy>40 / 43 MPG 5.88 / 5.47 L/100km
BODY TYPE:Sedan

TECHNOLOGY:Hybrid

Good Link: http://www.autoguide.com/manufacturer/honda/2010-honda-insight-1126.html

I am not saying it's not possible to get higher MPG's but you have to drive the Insight for a fair comparison. It's more compact in size and comfort. I could not sit in the rear seat even comfortable for a short trip and I am 5-10'

Check them out sometime and truly compare....

no ruined evening, my friend. same website got 75mpg from the 2010 Prius.

HybridCars.com Gets 75.3 MPG in 2010 Toyota Prius | Hybrid Cars

Imagine driving in Eco mode all the time. That is what the insight feels like. It doesn't have much power for acceleration.

Most publications I read say the Insight get slightly higher than advertised mpg (44mpg). These publications also say they generally get lower than advertised mpg in the Prius (46mpg).

I saw a broadcast where a serious hypermiler was getting 50mpg in an 4cylinder Honda Accord. This person probably can squeak out 75mpg from a Prius or Insight easy. Me, I'll be lucky to get 50mpg in either.

I'd say its close enough to each other to not make it a big factor when deciding between an Insight & Prius. Insight has price and a cool looking dash. Prius has everything else (but has better user input controls on the dash). I drove the Insight before buying the Prius. If the Insight was $4k cheaper, I would have bought that.

I drive in ECO mode all of the time, and no it's not, there is no difference in power output in any mode, just pedal sensitivity. The point of a Prius as I see it is fuel efficiency, why would you do anything to reduce that? No matter it's your car, you drive it as you please.
When I drove an Insight, the only time I could get the ICE to shut down was when at a complete stop, the moment it moved, the ICE re-started.
It was obviously a small, high revving engine, or at least it certainly sounded like one, real buzzy and LOUD at full tilt.
The real deal breaker for me was the AC ran off of the ICE and I live where it's hot. At every light , the AC would shut down and the fan blew warm air until the ICE was running again, so if I was doing something wrong and the ICE will shut down while moving, then that's more time with no AC.
They will get there, Toyota needs competition

Maybe, maybe not. If true, she'd probably do slightly better in a Prius or Civic Hybrid. Did she disclose what her normal driving pattern is? A few folks with nearly ideal commute conditions and excellent hypermiling skills can do that with a number of different car models.

Did you hear about the Japanese woman who achieved 112 mpg over a full tank, three summers ago, on a GenII Prius? Plenty of drivers can peg a GenII display at 99.9 mpg for extended distances, given the right conditions. But doing it over six weeks of commuting, starting cold each day, is much tougher.

GenIII doesn't do this well, at least yet. The reviews I followed suggested that for good hypermilers in common conditions, the 2010 Insight-Prius gap should be less than the EPA stickers suggest. But the Prius will still be ahead.

Prius drivers report a range from 35 to 70+ mpg.
I'm sure a range exists for Insight drivers too.

Different conditions, different drivers.

Awesome. But I dont have a 2010 model! Its ok, I love my Gen II. It's still brand new.

You'll just have to suffer along with the better hypermiling platform. At least until we have a better understanding how to squeeze more out of the GenIII.

The Insight get 41MPG. I think she was jealous of your Prius

Doesn't surprise me, couple of other guys at work have honda civic hybrids, they can exceed there rated MPG. I have yet to even come within 10% and thats using the cars displayed MPG which we all know is off by 10%.

The Insight and the Prius are very different hybrids. The Insight is a mild hybrid and is going to get worse mpg in the city compared to a full hybrid. The simple design of the Insight may be helpful in getting better highway mpg for advanced drivers but for the average driver and average route the Prius is going to do better. Most advanced Prius drivers are going to be able to pull higher mpg overall compared to the Insight.

I was disappointed in the Insight because the design of Honda's IMA has not improved over time. Sure they have reduced weight and cost but they have done little to improve the electric HP over 10 years of IMA production. At its cost of over $20,000 it does not surprise me that it is not selling as well as Honda had expected.

The new Insight is not the proper vehicle for making this judgment, because it did not get the full Honda IMA. It received a lower cost, lower performance version, in an attempt to make hybrids available at a lower price point, for those who could not afford the Prius and Civic Hybrid.

My disappointment was that Honda priced it too high.

Don't forget the Prius also has the lowest emissions.

In addition, not saying that it does, but even if the Insight did get better mileage, so what? Did you buy the Prius solely based on the MPG rating? I mean, yeah it was important to me when I was shopping for cars, but there were many other factors that went into making the decision too, such as: comfort, noise, handling, price, looks, interior space, cool-factor, etc. The Prius wasn't the winner in every category but I had to weight those factors according to my own needs/wants, and decided to go with the Prius. And even though there are things that I like a lot about the cars I didn't choose, still I'm enjoying my Prius everyday and have no regrets about it.

Tideland -- Ok, I have to claim ignorance on the emissions... I got the info from the following thread:
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...sight-civic-hybrid-jetta-gas-tdi-wrx-sti.html