2010 Toyota Prius vs. 2010 Honda Hybrid

i should stop reading here... Writer does not even know how large is Prius wheelbase, lol.

 

Yup, I guess it was a poor auto news day. Comparing two cars we really don't know anything about, other than rumor and innuendo.

Maybe I should write an article on the cold fusion powered Prius (due out sometime in 2020) with the current Ford Fusion.

 

Why? The Fit has an EPA interior volume of 111 cubic feet. The Prius has an interior volume of 112 cubic feet. The Fit has essentially the same interior volume as the Prius even with a wheelbase that is 10 inches shorter. If Honda stretched the wheelbase of the Fit a couple of inches it would easily have a larger interior volume than the current Prius. The space utilization in the Fit is amazing.

 

This belongs in the Gen III forum, not the Gen II forum.

Tom

 

More like it should be back in the archive. It's nearly 2 years old.

 

Yep, needs a time capsule.

It is kind of interesting looking back on the article as we now know how things have turned out.

I honestly feel sorry for Honda and The Insight. I think it's a better product than it's gotten credit for being. But reading that article a huge problem is The Insight hasn't been able to undercut Prius. Even today, one local Honda Dealer (shall remain nameless) has Insight EX's for $25,000+. Okay I think they have Navigation, but besides that they are equipped comparably to Prius II's and III's. Given Insights are smaller and get less MPG's I think most people would be hard pressed to choose an Insight.

 

I test drove & compared an Insight EX with a Prius 2. After long negotiations I got the Insight price down to invoice & figured the absolute best I could get the Prius II down to if I was lucky was 450 off MSRP.

$20,700 vs $22,700
$2,000 less with my Insight.

 

That's fine, I'm sure that is happening. Plus my "sample" pool is one local dealer, of which I've never been very impressed. My point is Insights are being advertised at $25,000+, which even if you can negotiate down from, still will head off a lot of buyers. Some people just start at looking at the posted prices, if I see Insight- $25,000 and Prius II -$23,500 where do you think most people are going to head toward first? I concede this might just be a greedy dealer who is making a mistake in how they present the car's price but it's bad for Honda and The Insight.

Also $2000 is a significant amount but depending on your financial circumstance, for a lot of people it's not enough of a difference imo.