Honda's cheapest hybrid, Insight, gets cheaper

I'm impressed given the current Yen-dollar exchange rate. Sad to say, the Insight seems to suffer from the EPA 'bias' that hits some cars worse than others:

	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
0	EPA MPG	User(count)	vehicle
1	34-34	38.4(10)-44.5(12)	2010 Jetta diesels
2	41	45.4(24)	2003 Prius
3	41-41	49.7(15)-47.1(20)	2010 Honda Insights
4	50	49.5(115)	2010 Prius

Owners of the new Honda Insight are getting Prius-like mileage but their EPA sticker shows much lower projected mileage. Honda needs to fix whatever gave them a low rating and retest the car. But the new Insight is not alone in getting bad EPA sticker numbers.

The manual transmission Jetta diesels are returning mileage close to the 2001-03 Prius but with a significantly worse, EPA projected mileage. Only the automatic Jetta diesels, half their sales, are getting the same ~4 MPG offset from the EPA as the 2001-03 Prius. I'm not too concerned because the automatic diesels are getting 38 MPG, not even in the same user mileage as the 2001-03 Prius at 45 MPG.

Going back to the Honda Insight, it is a nice compact car and lower prices will help. But I think fixing the control laws to improve the EPA MPG sticker would help a lot and pull sales away from the Jetta market.

Bob Wilson

 

Close. I always felt that this car should sell for $17999. I think they will start to move them if the dealers do some minor discounts now.

Honda... the year 2000 is calling and they want their 13 hp electric motor back.

 

seeing that i can buy a prius II for close to $19,000. that makes the insight now worth... $15,000.

 

Sweet! Honda attracts a lot of young buyers who like to trick their cars out themselves, and an $18K stripped-down car might be popular. I like upgrading my stripped down Prius II, and I don't regret purchasing it instead of a Prius IV or V

 

They should offer a totally stripped version (like the custom Civics we see where the owners have stripped everything and you can see the frame from the interior, and like the 1960s drag cars where you could delete all options including the rear seats). Maybe Honda could cut 200 pounds and $1000 off of the price.

 

I will say a 4 year old Prius gen 2 is a better car then the Insight but it is still a used car. A brand new Insight would be worth more even though it is technically inferior.

Now that aside I would not buy an Insight, I would spend the extra to get a Prius but at $18,000 there will be a new group of buyers and they will sell more.

 

The price drop is a slap in the face to the people who already bought an Insight. So like 2 people.

 

lol.:d

 

As inferior as Insight MPG may seem, it is still better than Volt especially in the City. Of course the initial 35 EV miles is the carrot covering what's really behind it.

 

This happened to me in 2006. I bought a brand new motorcycle and a month later the price dropped $1000. I also dropped about $1000 from my resale value. SUCKS!!

 

Great point.

 

Fail. They positioned it as the "hybrid for everyone" and "everyone" pretty much hates it. The fail to realize its not about its price or feature content, it just isn't a very good car. Making it look like a Priius doesn't help and a lower price won't change that.

2 speakers? Seriously? Its 2010 for crying out loud.

 

You reach everywhere to bash the Volt!

 

the insight is a great option and now it comes at a great price.

 

its not hard to do. the Volt is a car that is over-hyped, under performing, over priced, under delivered... it basically misses nearly everything except getting a decent EV range. and at 30+ miles of EV range, that will fit the bill for a lot of people IF they can afford to pay the bill.

the Leaf is essentially priced the same as a mid level Prius. the Volt is not and that $7,000 difference is more than enough to make a huge difference

 

If anything, more Hybrids on the road... right?

 

I think this is the wrong thread for a rebuke of that. :focus:

 

Honda Boss: Next Insight Will Beat Prius MPG | Hybrid Cars

It's also going to become a full hybrid and beat the Prius MPG.
Check out this link.