OMG, 2010 Prius has been beaten by Insight!

If there are folks who want an Insight then let them buy it. It is a cheap rip-off of the Prius design but it is better than having a 15mpg, smoke spewing clunker on the road.

 

I call that clarity of thought.

However!! Honda and Toyota have been using this kind of design for years and it's actually impossible to say which one came up with it first and because I believe this so much (and of course I could be wrong but it's on you guys to prove it) I'm going to go to the trouble to demonstrate below.... and I went to some trouble to find similar photos and upload them so at least look. And by the way, for anyone who says one automaker copied the other know that you have to be BLIND to miss the glaring similarities in these models (well, that or not looking) and work on these two, the FXC Clarity and 8th generation Civic, started WAY back, lets say in about 2005 for lack of looking into the exact details. I present to you, who copied whom? And of course the point!!! It's all about aerodynamics people!!! A car can only be shaped to cut through the wind to a certain extent and these designs are about as good as it gets right now.

 

Oh I suppose that on the Insight forums you will get people that say they can get 80 mpg (or better). And I'm sure that you will get people on this forum claiming the same thing. However if you take a neutral party that has standards which apply to all gas vehicles - the EPA for example, and test the Prius against the Insight, the Prius consistently gets better mileage (Insight 40/43 MPG, Prius 51/48 mpg).

Keith

 

Spare me your holier than thou attitude. I will only make an exception between 11 and 12 on a Sunday morning. Please show me where in my post I put anyone down. All I did was relate what I read earlier today.

 

I do know what you mean. Same for many other automakers if you think about it.

 

And the new tail light design on the '10 Prius looks like old American car tail fins...

 

PriusChat used to be filled with intelligent people appreciating great hybrid technologies. Now this forum is becoming more and more like other car-forums, which are filled with fan-boys(girls).
It is very disappointing to me. Why so many people hate Insights or laughed at Insights' relative poor sales figures?
Does that make you feel better?
In Japan, Insight is selling 1 to 2, though in US it is more like 1 to 10, compared with Prius. Selling is 10K unit per month in Japan is not a disgrace by any standard.
A rebate of $2000 for Insight can easily change the ball game. It depends on whether Honda is willing to do it. After all, Toyota is LOSING MONEY, while Honda is NOT.

 

It isn't hate about the Insight but resentment about:

• CNET reviewers who left a lot details out of their review
• Consumer Reports that in 200 pages about the 2010 cars has only three weak sentences about the 2010 Prius
• A long list of reviewers who have omitted, obscured or otherwise had an amazing ability to omit facts and data about the 2010 Prius

As a vehicle, the Honda Insight is a fine car as is the Prius. But when a reviewer tries to compare the two and leaves out facts and data it is not the Insight's fault ... it is the reviewer.

All anyone wants is a fair evaluation, a level playing field. Bringing out these missing facts and data finishes an incomplete job the reviewer started.

Bob Wilson

 

It should go both ways though and people shouldn't be all resentful. If the Insight's design is copied from the Prius is that not just flattery in the form of immatation? I'm not saying it is a copy, in fact I was looking closely at all these cars before they even came out and I specifically remember Honda having more designs, more models with this kind of architecture.

I'm saying lets just give each car credit on what is right about it and not exaggerate just to prove a point. By the way I'm NOT accusing anybody in particular of anything.

 

Before I bought my 2010 Prius I was strongly biased against it. What I wanted is a sporty car that gets high MPG that I could fit my family of three with a dog in. First choice was a MIni Cooper, but that failed the daughter in the backseat test.

So I decided on the Jetta Sportswagon TDI. But I am afraid of the bad track record for reliability. For due diligence, I decided to look at the Insght and Prius. I never drove the Insight because it failed my size test: I could not sit in the back seat (headroom), and was tight in the front.

Then, I drove the Prius and was blown away. So, when I see someone coming down and saying that the the Honda Insight is a better clearly are not factoring in interior room. I guess that, if room is not an issue, then it does not matter.

 

CNET is beyond it's field(s) of expertise here. I just bought a new DSLR and several of the CNET reviews on cameras I was considering were demonstrably inaccurate (said they were missing features that not only weren't missing, but readily available - CNET must have formed their opinion with 10 minutes hands-on experience and no research at all).

If you just like Honda's (dislike Toyota), weight handling very high, weight the dash glitz very high, think the Prius can't be had for a price near the Insight - then you may well prefer the Insight. But the sales numbers confirm that Prius buyers the world over prefer the Prius over the Insight, so far at least.

There have been plenty of Prius vs Insight reviews in which the Prius prevailed. Why be concerned that the Prius doesn't win every one, and certainly not a CNET review...

 

The basic problem with the "media" these days (radio, TV, now the Internet) is that commercial media entities lack the time, patience, and/or will-power to do accurate, unbiased, and in-depth reporting. This is especially true when reporting on high-tech (whether it be cameras, computers, or complex cars). I've said it before - the problem with technology is that the devil is in the detail.

Keith :focus:

 

This afternoon I listened to this podcast:

• Robert Llewellyn's CarPool
• "John Kingston Honda UK CarPool"

One thing I heard that finally stuck was 'steering precision.' Understand that handling can mean many things to different people so I've always had a problem understanding what it means. Llewellyn described it as 'steering precision' and that made sense.

I grew up driving an International Travelall or a Model A Ford. Later, my first car was a VW MicroBus and a long series of minivans, station wagons and other vehicles of indistinct steering. So I never really thought of our Prius as being anything more or less than another vehicle that tends to roll in the general direction I want it to go.

I understand from the podcast that Honda has a goal for a higher proportion of hybrids but when numbers were mentioned in the conversation, they were modest. This is not a ding, just something that came out.

Still, a nice listen while driving down the road.

Bob Wilson

 

I don't see a lot of 2010 Insights around, but tell ya what ...

I see a lot, I mean bunches of new Honda Fits around. I heard they are fun to drive. If I was a shorter guy, I'da checked that out too.