Just bought a 2010 Insight, my review.

I'm going to have to disagree. After looking at the specs of the Ford Fusion Hybrid and spending some time with it I would have to say I would buy a Fusion Hybrid over an Insight.

 

I would have to whole heartily agree with with that statement. The time has come, where I need a new car, i would by a civic hybrid over the insight, but I digress I drove the ford fusion hybrid and would pick that any day over an insight and according to EPA mileage, THe Fusion gets better city mpg than the Insight.

 

I initially was going to buy the Insight over the 2009 Prius, and was on the top of the wait list for one. However, when I saw the interior of the Insight in person I felt disappointed. It felt very cramped inside, very cheap plastic feel (try opening and closing the tiny glovebox, yuck) and the dash looks crazily jumbled to me.
A few reasons that I ultimately am going to buy the 2010 Prius over the Insight...
- Safer, heavier car with more standard safety features.
- I live 1.2 km from work and so I should be able to get to work on EV mode alone. Fingers crossed!
- I live in a very congested city with alot of stop and go traffic and I would not like having to start the engine to inch along with the Insight in traffic.
- I take many road trips and I feel the Prius will offer a better feeling and quieter ride on the highway.
- When I went to the Honda dealer they told me the base price of the Insight would be $22000 CAD. A couple weeks later the price had risen to $23900, and I wanted the EX version making it very close to the cost I project the base 2010 Prius to come in at.
The 2010 Prius looked much better in person than in pictures, and I'm very excited to receive mine in June! :canada:

 

I usually stick close to the speed limit with a few bursts of speed to pass slower traffic, however, the speed limit varies between 25 to 65 depending on where I'm driving. The 52 MPG figure is close to the 55.4 MPG that I've averaged over the last 2k miles in my 2000 Insight. Both have been primarily driven in hilly terrain, no trips longer than one hour one way, often including some stops.

I agree with donee. In stop and go traffic the Prius is the hybrid to beat due to the fact that it can operate in full electric mode to accelerate from a stop and up to 25?MPH. Of course the Insight can not do this. Obviously getting infinite MPG in stop and go traffic is going to better even 25 MPG in the Insight, assuming the Insight is lucky enough to catch a few green lights. On the other hand, on a extended trip where stop and go is minimized and where the higher speed electric propulsion capabilities can come into play, mileage differences between the two will narrow substantially. Will the Insight be better than the Prius or vice versa? Only time and actual driver experience will tell. I think the competition between the two will only improve the breed.

 

There ya go, disputing my statement with facts! Obviously I should have qualified my statement with the statement "most domestic hybrids". I have read some good reviews of the Fusion and certainly it bears consideration when looking at hybrids. However, not only is the Fusion somewhat more expensive than the Insight, it's also somewhat larger, being a mid-size vehicle. They're not exactly in the same class, not to belittle either the Insight or the Focus.

I've read some comments about the Focus' gas mileage exceeding that of the Insight. There are several ways of judging that: EPA figures, actual road tests, which may vary day to day even using the same vehicle, and actual verifiable real world driver experiences. Under a certain set of circumstances one car may beat the other and vice versa. The question one must ask himself is whether a difference of a few miles per gallon, perceived or real, is worth the extra expenditure up front.

For me the Insight has the correct mixture of up front cost, economy, features, reliability, fun, and comfort. All of us must decide what that mixture is for ourselves. Fortunately we have more choices than ever before. I think it's good that the domestic car companies have finally awaken from their long slumber to acknowledge that hybrids ARE an important ingredient in the overall mix of vehicles they produce. Up to now their hybrids have been mere lip service, a sop to environmentalists, a way to show how "green" they are. At long last, with cars like the Fusion, they appear to have become serious.

 

While I don't dispute your decision -- I'll leaning towards the Prius over the Insight too -- I question these two items.

Weight is not a good indicator of safety, and this rationalization was one of the common excuses for North America's shift to comparatively unsafe SUVs in the 1990s. Crash safety tests are not yet available for either model. Honda generally takes a back seat to no one in safety. Except for stability control missing from the cheapest Insight, what else does it lack?

For most people, a 1.2km commute is within easy walking or pedaling distance, and the car should be skipped. Since this is not meant to be a real PHEV or BEV, will the battery really hold up to every day use at this distance? I see it more as a feature for my nearby grocery trips for the loads too heavy to carry home, once or twice a month.

 

I completely agree with you about weight and safety, but until people stop buying these SUVs and trucks that clog up the road I'll stick with whatever weight advantage I can get. I've been rear ended twice by large vehicles in my compact cars, and each time my car was a write off and they drove away. With the Prius being more fuel efficient there is no trade off with the Insight's lower weight. But I do agree, the road would be much safer with smaller cars.

As for my short commute, I get off work at 2AM each night and it simply not safe for a 110 pound young woman to walk the Vancouver streets at that time. I wish the bus ran that late in my area, but it doesn't. I realize the Prius is not a perpetual motion machine but it'll make for nice bragging rights for the odd time that I feel like a less than 40 km/hour drive to work in EV mode.

I know my reasons may not all be completely valid, but they are what I needed to talk myself into spending the extra thousands more for the Prius. Primarily, I didn't want to be sitting in my Insight staring with envy at the new Prii driving by!

 

Honda makes a big deal about their ACE structure protecting during collisions with mismatched vehicle sizes. I don't yet know how well Prius does on that score, except that the outgoing version didn't do quite as well as the Civic Hybrid in U.S. government crash tests. The IIHS tests gave both the same top scores for front and side impacts, while the Prius didn't do as well from the rear. I'm eager to hear results for the new designs.

Downtown Vancouver is very clearly Prius territory. The Insight can't compete until you get away from the urban core.

I'm about 175km south of you, with a much different commute situation where 25km of pedaling is sufficiently safe, even at night. But I can't do it daily, and won't do it in the rain.

 

Yes, Vancouver is hell to get around, especially with the Olympics coming up. I definitely try to take transit as much as possible. I used to bike or bus to work 90% of the time when I worked day-shift. I do miss doing that, however, I don't miss waking up at 5AM! :yawn:

It will be interesting to see the crash safety results to compare between the two vehicles. I wonder how much longer it will take for the IIHS to collect the data for the Insight?

 

U.S. ICE (formerly Customs) is doing their part to reduce your Olympics congestion by imposing new passport requirements for visitors crossing our border just ahead of the event. Of course, that is not what the travel and hospitality industries on either side of the border wanted to hear.

As for IIHS crash tests, I'll guess that they will test the new Insight and Prius at the same time. I wouldn't use the old Prius as a guide for the ratings of the new one. The whole industry's designs have been improving fast this decade, and 6 years since the last Prius overhaul gives lots of room for a great leap forward.

 

I'll refrain from further comment after I say,
I don't shop for a car I shop for a Toyota.

 

i also live on the "rainy coast" and my commute is 7 miles with all but a mile being relatively safe biking (i pass many many riders on the way home every day) and i have riden it yearly (always on "alternative transportation day" when we are encouraged to either carpool, bike or take the bus) once a day... actually sometimes more.

i start at 6 am so i infrequently feel like riding that early although if i had less than a mile i would do it every day it did not rain, as i will concur with others here that i will not ride in the rain either.

 

I think thats pretty short sighted. Plenty of carmakers make cars that are as good, or better, than Toyotas. Honda makes great cars many of which are more solid and more reliable than current Toyota models. Hyundai is making some very high quality vehicles at much more attractive prices than Toyota.

Toyota makes a great car, but its not the only great car.

 

I agree. Toyota makes great cars, but so do others.

I would never buy the new insight though - why not go with the original and get a prius. Seriously - could the insight be any more like a prius? Did they hire someone from Toyota to design it??

When I first saw it, I thought it was a Prius and then realized it was the insight and said Wth!!

 

04 Prius is the first hatchback sedan ever. Aztec and A2 were more like mini-vans like the Fit.

There were many two doors hatchbacks prior to the Prius. Celica, Integra, Civic HX/VX, etc...

You could say the original Insight copied 2000 Celica and Celica copied, Integra, etc... But those are all two doors hatchbacks....

However, Prius is the first 4 doors sedan with a rear hatch.

 

What world are you living in? The prius actually looks alot like the 2002 Hyundai elantra GT (4door hatch) there have been 4 door hatchbacks since the 80s.... how about the Saab 900 available as a 4 door hatch since 78... The new insight design is as much of a ripoff of the prius as the prius was a ripoff of the old insight and crx.

 

?!? REALLY ?!?

What would you call this 1980 Chevrolet Citation?


Or this 1974 Citroen?


How about this 1965 Renault 16?

 

Never seen those before... I am not that old you know Were they even sold in the US?

I didn't know the Elantra GT had a hatch. I thought it was a trunk!