2010 Toyota Prius vs. 2010 Honda Insight Comparison: Battle of the Fuel Sippers—The Rematch

The original article ticked me off. 41.1 mpg? Even going 75 mph with cruise control against a 30 mph wind, my 08 Prius averaged 44.3 mpg! I would hate to think what the writer must have done to the Prius to get that mileage.

 

so much for new prius being dull to drive, apperantly it is less so than Insight when driven against each other .

 

The only way I'm able to achieve around 35Mpg is with my trailer, loaded with furniture (stove / fridge), and three adults and boxes.

Then, doing 65MPH+ in the middle lane on the highway. The engine is ON all the time.

I was able to set a new low record. Oh, it was cold, with winter tires, so the heater was also on.

 

I test drove a new Insight last week. They are INCREDIBLY weak, good God. I wouldn't be surprised if a person's fuel economy in an Insight was lower than with a Prius - it took so damned long to accelerate. Eco mode was basically as powerful as pushing the car yourself. If the Insight was a full hybrid, I imagine these qualities would enable to you achieve INSANE mpg, but its just a power boost hybrid, so the engine was always running.

No push button start.

It was brand new and the brakes were complete crap, you would have to push the pedal more than half way to feel even the slightest slowing down. If you had your hands at 10 and 2 on the steering wheel, half the dash was hidden, including the speedometer.

There was less space in the drivers seat, and MUCH less space in the shotgun seat. The cargo space was practically non-existant, but I kind of expected that after seeing a Civic hybrid.

There were only two things I liked about it - the interior design, including design of the dials, the colors of the lights, the layout, (including the eco-light thing) all much more exciting-looking than the Prius; and the A/C seemed a lot more powerful.

I would not trust the Insight to get on the highway in any remotely safe manner; when I got back in my Prius I was extremely relieved.

 

We are in a deep recession, and I have two perfectly good cars. The only way out for me is to rent each car for a week. Otherwise I am going to pine after them non stop.

 

You definitely have a different opinion than I. Weak?? Were you drag racing? Unsafe?? You barely touch the brake pedal and you feel the braking from the regen. I didn't stomp on the brakes to lock them up, but it didn't fail to slow down and stop. Eco power: Yes it has less power, but that's the function of the "ECO". The Prius "Eco" mode operates in the exact same way. I did see about a 10 mpg increase in the same route with the same driving conditions just by pressing the eco button.

Yes, you will be able to get insane mileage with it. It is not a Prius and wasn't designed to be.

 

I think part of the problem is the Honda engine... Maybe the noise of it.....
I had the same impression when I test drove a Civic Hybrid before buying my Prius in 06. I thought it was very weak, slow, and borderline dangerous. In hindsight maybe it was just the difference in their CVT, the less isolated driving noise, and the different humm of the Honda engine that had me freaked out.......

 

Having driven the new Insight a few times, I have to agree with MSirach and vehemently disagree with Toxicity.

The Insight is what it was designed to be and (to me, quite unexpectadly) does one heck of a good job. In fact, much better than I thought initially.

A few points:
- The car is likely to receive a 5 start safety rating - as usual.
- Getting good fuel economy is easy and only the usual disregard for the car's capabilities will prevent it from getting really good FE.
- Too bad it is not a Tier 2-Bin 2 like the HCH... but if a T2-B3 is good enough for the more advanced Prius then maybe the insight wont look too bad at this game either. Yes, as a function of the FE, the CO2 emissions could be better but it also depends on the driver.
- For a young family or a commuting vehicle its cargo carrying ability is pretty darn close to that of a Gen II Prius (I got to measure it one of these days), and that is worth a bit.

Having driven the Honda Insight with an open mind and a "tiny bit" of experience in both HSD and IMA hybrids I can also understand that most who have driven mainly a gen II Prius will be at odds with the behavior and characteristics of a different architecture.
As it is often the case, the conclusions assert a "MUST be inferior in more than one way"... well, almost... eerily similar to what the gear headed fan-boyz do when they ridicule the Prius.


Cheers;

MSantos

 

well what a surprise!! the 2010 Pri beat the Insight (imm, the 2009 did too!!)...

ok, now that that is settled. if you examine the route, the mileage is not a surprise in any way whatsoever... with 100 miles of city driving in the Bay Area, its easy to imagine getting 30-35 mpg on those hills if you were trying to get bad mileage. so add to that around 60 in the suburban/country road segment and 55 on the freeway and boom... that be about 45 mpg.... which tells me that i can get over 55 mpg EASY!!

 

I went to look at the 2010 Insight this weekend. When I arrived, there were two on the showroom floor, and 5 or 6 more parked out front, and was told that they had 20-25 of them in stock.

While I did not find the car to be too unattractive (heck, they copied the general look of the Prius ;-) , what actually cracked me up was my discussion with a salesman. He initially seemed rather upbeat, and knowledgeable. I asked him a few basic questions, as I am not very familiar with this car. The main reason I was there, I told him was to look at my options, before deciding to buy 2010 Prius. This is when his face drooped noticeably.

After he tried to regain his composure, he decided to start attacking the Prius with false claims. First off, he told me that “…while the Prius advertises that it is the more fuel efficient car in the US, claiming 50 miles per Gallon, that is a lie…”, which really got my attention. He then went on to finish, “… In reality, there is an ‘ECO” mode in the Insight, when selected, will cause the Insight to get over 55 M.P.G., but since it is a ‘manual’ feature, they EPA would not allow them to advertise that.” When I remind him that the Prius also had an econ mode, and some reports were that we could achieve 70+ m.p.g., he seemed surprised.

Then, he tried to tell me that the ‘full’ hybrid by Toyota is much less reliable than Honda’s, and was different. I told him that I heard that it was better on the Prius because the electric motor did not require the engine to turn with it, as in his Insight, he started getting angry with me. Finally, he started to tell me that the Insight was more technologically advanced vehicle, with more luxuries available for $25k than on the Prius. When I detailed some of what was available on the Prius V with Advanced Tech, he tried to hand me off to a ‘closer, and this is where the fun began.

I ended up debating about 20 points from the 2010 that he tried to tell me rumors about in order to buy their Insight. As I turned to walk out, I saw a couple following me out as well. They approached me, and told me that this was one of the funnier ‘salesman called out’ situations that they had ever seen, and that I convinced them to test a 2010 Prius before buying the insight. I think I sold them on a Prius.


Has anyone else heard any interesting claims by a dealer trying to convince you why theirs is better than a Prius (current or new generations?

 

LOL, Great story. You should be a Toyota salesman. LOL. How did you know about the 2010 Prius so much? Did you own a Prius before?

 

No, I have not owned a Prius, but have been a big fan since I rented one 2 years ago in San Diego. I have waited till my car was going to die, and when I tried to buy a loaded 09 in November, I learned about this site, and the 2010. I think that I have read every single 2010 post since then, and hope to buy soon after they hit the street.

I initially only told them that I am considering a new car, and was looking at the Prius vs. The Insight, which was true (at least until I saw it in person)... I would not want to be dishonest with a salesman, as I know that they would rather sell to a potential buyer. In this case, there were 4 or 5 other salespersons just sitting around, and so I told him what I was doing there, and he still insisted on 'helping' me. Otherwise, I too hate wasting people's time, especially when they are on commission.

 

While having new tires installed on my 2008 today I walked over to the Honda dealer and saw the Insight. I didn't drive it, or even get inside, and turned the salesman away by telling him I drive a Prius. Here are my impressions and comments.

Insight Pros
- Looks are subjective and I like the Insight. Frankly neither car is all that great looking but I do prefer function over form anyway. I really like the tail light design that goes all across the back window. Also the 2010 Prius has the Toyota bump in the hood which I think spoils the front end design. For me the Insight is the clear winner in looks.
- I like the traditional dash board. The gauges are centered right in front of the driver where I like them. I just don't understand Toyota's trend to move gauges toward the center of the car.

Insight Cons
- I've read that the Insight is priced at $19,000 and was quite surprised to see the $27K+ price at this dealer (Ventura California). This is one of the dealers that has add-ons like pin stripes and sealer for hundreds of dollars which is enough to send me to another dealer. Further they had a $3,000 mark up on the car. Unbelievable. Do they really think this car can demand a mark up in this economy?
- Lower mpg. I did some calculations and if a well equipped Insight was priced at $19.7K it would be a better economic purchase than a $25K Prius even with gas at $4.50 a gallon. However with the 2010 Prius prices in the low $20K range and the Insight being pushed up to the high $20K range there is no contest.

Here's a strange thing. On the sticker it showed a CVT. That's cool and expected. However the next line item was "paddle shifters." HUH! What good are paddle shifters on a CVT? Can someone explain that to me?

 

Synthesized manual gears, for those who like the feel of manual shifting without having a clutch. Some other CVTs have it too, even outside Honda. In the CVT Fit, it seems to be a key to better fuel economy than the real manual transmission version. The latter is hobbled by performance gearing, as are most manual transmission cars today, where the engine RPM is too high at highway speed to get good fuel economy. But other hypermilers are indicating that the Insight CVT gearing remains short enough to hobble its highway mileage too.