Picture Gallery: 2010 Honda Insight | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Discuss
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After letting the Insight die a slow, horrible death Honda has finally redesigned it, but this new one is not really related to the first generation by much more than the name.
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Now not only has Honda come out with a clone in the looks department, they have come out hitting hard by undercutting the Prius’ price by quite the margin. A base Prius starts at $27,710, while the Insight starts at $23,900 for the LX trim. My tester is an EX-trimmed model, which adds a whole lot of features to the base Insight and still just barely undercuts the Prius with a price of only $27,500.
On top of the 98hp 1.3-litre SOHC 4-cylinder with Integrated Motor Assist IMA and a slew of standard amenities, the EX trim adds: Steering wheel mounted paddle shifters, 15″ alloy wheels instead of steel wheels, VSA (vehicle stability assist) and traction control, side mirrors with turn indicators, a centre armrest with storage, variable intermittent wipers and two extra speakers for a total of six.
2010 Honda Insight EX
MSRP as tested (including destination): $28,810
For more information on Honda and the Insight visit Honda Canada
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Generally, I am a fan of Honda interiors and if you read me regularly you know I tell it like it is. I am not a fan of the Insight’s interior. It has its good points, like the climate control system which is perfectly-placed and uses typical Honda controls with easy-to-use, large buttons and knobs. I like the digital speedometer, even though some may dislike them with a passion. I find them just dandy and having it up high on the dash makes it easy to read.
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Good thing Honda provides volume and channel up and down on the steering wheel or I would simply be driving sans tunes this week. I have no interest in attempting to figure out the navigation system controls; the menu system on the radio was enough for me to realize it wasn’t worth the headache.
If you dislike the two-tiered dash, you’ll probably loathe the two tired view out the rear view mirror. It does certainly take some getting used to, though Honda CRX owners may feel right at home.
The rest of the interior is fine, with the hatchback bodystyle offering up a good amount of cargo space, as well as some room “under floor” in the rear of the vehicle, and 60/40 split seats allow for extra cargo space if required. Head room is average in the back, although leg room is a little on the cramped side. The Insight is more Civic than Accord in terms of leg room and comfort.
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Honda has provided a few displays and graphics in the driver information centre (instrument panel) to help you get the most out of your Insight in terms of fuel economy. They have also added a “leaf” gauge that lets you know how well you are doing at being environmentally-friendly in your driving technique.
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The speedometer also has a “green meter” that glows green if you are driving efficiently and changes colours from green to aqua to blue, and then to a darker blue when you drive more aggressively. Accelerate normally with traffic and you will be seeing blue; cruise at a constant speed and the green will be prominent. I have realized you can keep the display green and accelerate but you may have other drivers honking, weaving around you and generally ruining your day.
Unlike Hybrids from Toyota, Ford and Nissan the Insight requires that the engine be running at all times when in motion. It is somewhat disappointing when you are stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. The engine will turn off automatically when you come to a stop and will restart when you release the brake. Getting stuck in a traffic jam should be when you get to relish in your hybrid chariot as you creep forward for hours without using a drop of fuel. But in the Insight it becomes a pain as the engine constantly starts and stops and rocks you back and forth as you crawl along, already in the foul mood fostered by rush hour.
On the handling front, the Insight is somewhat fun to drive, with the typical Honda lightweight feel. It is easy to drive and toss around — which is good, because keeping the speeds up in the corners is a great way to save fuel!
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The Insight certainly does make a “green” statement and it was nice putting only $25 of fuel in the car to fill it up from nearly empty.
*Rating out of 5:
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*Rating based on vehicle’s classification
2010 Honda Insight EX
MSRP as tested (including destination): $28,810
For more information on Honda and the Insight visit Honda Canada
to our site.
May 10, 2009, 10:07:45 am
Conventional idling stop systems restart a vehicle's engine with an electric motor using exactly the same process as when the engine is started normally. Mazda's SISS, on the other hand, restarts the engine through combustion. Mazda's system initiates engine restart by injecting fuel directly into the cylinder while the engine is stopped, and igniting it to generate downward piston force.
In order to restart the engine by combustion, the pistons must be stopped at exactly the correct position to create the right balance of air volume in each cylinder. The Smart Idle Stop System provides precise control over the piston positions during engine shutdown to accomplish this. The SISS indexes each cylinder and initiates fuel injection before the engine begins to rotate. This enables the engine to be restarted in just 0.35 seconds*2, roughly half the time of a conventional electric motor idling stop system.
http://www.mazda.com/publicity/release/2008/200809/080909a.html
A long, long time ago, some Rolls Royce cars with combustion chamber in the piston top could be started this way sometimes. A puddle of fuel might be left on a piston top and judicious wiggling of the manual advance/retard lever could spark in that cylinder. Mazda's way looks like a better way to do it.
May 10, 2009, 11:17:18 am "don't have much time before PURE electrics hit the market". thus spake Zarayanoff!!!...........ZzzzzAAAAPPPP... me wif a VOLTA meter.........better build 13 Nuke Plants to PAY fer ALL this GREENISHNESS free energy............last time i looked' electRons' weren't Acorn Obama supporters but Free radicals.................NOT.................
May 10, 2009, 10:56:00 am
Yup. If it's money you're hoping to save, even the Insight is priced far too high compared to it's gas-only econo siblings to be economically feasible. And it seems that 4L/100km is only there by "hypermiling." In real driving, it doesn't seem to offer drastic savings. Our Corolla never breaks 7.5L/100km, often average less in all city driving, and can break into the 4's on the highway.
City driving is a subjective thing. In Toronto from light to light I easily go into double digits, with 'normal' diving style, that is trying not to keep everybody behind you and doing 70kph. It doesnt matter how small the engine is or how light the car is or what kind of transmission is in use. Acceleration and braking waste energy. Around 100% more in my own experience, as the best I got on a highway so far is 5.5L per 100 and that wasnt in ideal conditions.
Hybrid tech will come down in price if used widely. Car makers should offer vehicles that appeal to wider audience, not just greenies, that is full size sedans, CUVs and sport cars. They just dont have much time before pure electrics hit the road
May 10, 2009, 11:24:16 am
We all know Honda makes best small cars. We all know
Mid East biggest export in terms of impact is wahabi-sect teachings of the Koran,
not oil. Therefore how else could you halve your consumption of
oil than this and Prius. There is a huge need to change and I'm trying
the best I can to drop previous habits. I'm talking 1/2 the consumption
for same cost as my TL is worth selling. And moving up 4 model years.
Honda has terrific value in the Insight. The issue is beyond the rational
thinking--it is how to actually change our ways and the emotional impacts
of that change. The comments that irritate me most is that Prius
owners like to show off their "green" behaviour. These are the resistors
of change speaking. It is almost like tribal thinking of of the Saudi Wahabis.
WE NEED TO CHANGE OURSELVES FIRST.
A bit of a myth there...But the US buys more oil from Canada than it does the Middle East.....
May 10, 2009, 11:49:53 am isn't Ontario the middle EAST of Canada.......................where are U thou of early OIL fields.........................Oh read yer own History miscreants..................
May 10, 2009, 01:59:25 pm
We all know Honda makes best small cars. We all know
Mid East biggest export in terms of impact is wahabi-sect teachings of the Koran,
not oil. Therefore how else could you halve your consumption of
oil than this and Prius. There is a huge need to change and I'm trying
the best I can to drop previous habits. I'm talking 1/2 the consumption
for same cost as my TL is worth selling. And moving up 4 model years.
Honda has terrific value in the Insight. The issue is beyond the rational
thinking--it is how to actually change our ways and the emotional impacts
of that change. The comments that irritate me most is that Prius
owners like to show off their "green" behaviour. These are the resistors
of change speaking. It is almost like tribal thinking of of the Saudi Wahabis.
WE NEED TO CHANGE OURSELVES FIRST.
If your primary goal is to get off of petroleum for geopolitical reasons, the Insight is NOT the best answer. A Jetta TDI running B99 biodiesel (only 1% petroleum-based) is the best answer.
However, if your goal is to make a bit of a difference without spending a lot of coin or worrying a lot, all of a sudden the Insight makes a lot more sense. It may be smaller and have a less substantial feel, but it's cheaper to buy, much cheaper to refuel (unleaded gas is a lot cheaper than B99), much more convenient to refuel (unleaded gas is everywhere; you need to know where to look for B99), and there are fewer reliability question marks with the Insight (particularly given that VW apparently recommends B5 and now B20, but hasn't certified that its engines will run well long-term with B99. Source.).
May 10, 2009, 02:08:33 pm
Chevy Volt and the Electric Grid: Drive 15,000 Miles for $73
May 10, 2009, 09:13:11 pm A great deal of our current electrical generation capacity goes to ground during non-peak periods now. We just need to ensure that the kVa of the residential system is not below the capacity of charging cars.
May 11, 2009, 12:56:08 am
Given that utilities are starting to install smart power meters and smart thermostats, all we need to do is ensure that car recharging stations are only installed where they can be controlled by a smart power meter. It's very doable IMO.
May 11, 2009, 10:37:58 am 5.2 L/100 km is good but not good enough to make me buy one over a Fit. I use about 2 tanks a month and drive about 12,000km/ year. An Insight would save me about $10 a month in gas or $120 per year over the Fit.
Hardly enough to justify spending $9000 extra on the car.
May 12, 2009, 03:37:14 am yada yada yada yada yada.. This car is fugly (and this from a Honda fan). If I was in the market for a vehilcle, I might lean towards a diesel from VW personally..
Also, I hear that minining for lithium/nickel to make the batteries is a dirty dirty business. Sort of takes some of the shine off its eco-friendly badge, no?
May 12, 2009, 10:08:02 am I went to check out cars with a friend last night and I was a) surprisingly disappointed with the new Fit compared to the old one (it's not as roomy and comfortable as the previous model - there are more protruding bits from the front console that hit my knees and the floor under the front seats rises abruptly making the rear seat much more uncomfortable) and b) I was surprisingly taken with the Insight (it's sleek, cool-looking, comfortable, and I love the split rear window, now if only it came with a manual transmission like the original).
May 12, 2009, 10:58:36 am
May 17, 2009, 02:05:26 pm JC is not at all happy with the Insight
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/jeremy_clarkson/article6294116.ece
But he does rather like the idea of the Clarity.
May 17, 2009, 05:24:14 pm
I was disappointed to learn recently that the NADM 2009 Fit does not have "Refresh Mode" like the last-gen, because the NA seats are wider and taller than the JDM seats, so they don't fold properly. The JDM Fit still has Refresh mode, but I guess North Americans are too fat.
Other than that, the new Fit is very, very comfy, though.
May 18, 2009, 03:00:35 am What's refresh mode?
May 18, 2009, 10:24:46 am
May 22, 2009, 01:29:13 pm Hi all;
Its nice to see all the feedback on the 2010 Insight.
I could add a fair bit to it to, but for now I will just provide the following link as a very unsophisticated look at what this car do, at least from a fuel economy perspective:
Canadian 2010 Honda Insight EX - (In depth review)
Correction: Regarding electric-only propulsion:
Like the Honda Civic Hybrid II, this car will enter electric only propulsion at any speed above 20km/h, once it reaches stage S4 in the warm-up process (S3 with ECON button on). The electric-only range is then determined by your foot, SoC and road grade. Doing 1-2 km in electric only is quite easy once we hone in on the foot skill.
Cheers;
MSantos
May 23, 2009, 01:50:47 pm i read a recent article from a study done by several utilities that a plug in Prius would take less energy / cost less to charge than your typical new LCDTV.
So for those that talk about, how we're going to have the energy to charge "all these electric cars" is unfounded.
May 25, 2009, 12:26:40 am
Like the Honda Civic Hybrid II, this car will enter electric only propulsion at any speed above 20km/h, once it reaches stage S4 in the warm-up process (S3 with ECON button on). The electric-only range is then determined by your foot, SoC and road grade. Doing 1-2 km in electric only is quite easy once we hone in on the foot skill.
I Wish Wing still had the car to try that out.
May 25, 2009, 01:12:30 pm I agree, I wish he had a chance to test it again.
However... I only issued the correction for the sake of accuracy and not to promote the use of electric only operation.
In reality, the worse thing a new hybrid owner can do is try to run on electric-only and many mistakenly think that doing so it is the key to great fuel economy. Because many in the press have very little experience and knowledge in current hybrid tech they often make this mistake as well.
Cheers;
MSantos
May 25, 2009, 01:14:35 pm
Cool.
May 25, 2009, 03:15:46 pm There is no correction to be made, I said that you cannot drive the vehicle without the engine running. I never said you cannot drive on electric only.
Yes you can drive on a electricity only, but it is nearly impossible where I drive as it is hilly.
May 25, 2009, 03:57:38 pm Agreed. It is just the terminology.
The "engine running" can appear misleading to some as it often implies the engine is using some fuel or imposing a significant drag.
As you know, the IMA Gen IV and V cylinders are deactivated which means that a significant portion of the engine is actually offline and unable to provide propulsion, technically not running as in "normal duty"... but just spinning the camshaft, as frictionless as possible so as to not induce too much drag on the in-line electric motor.
When you power up the car the engine "runs" as any other traditional car does. When you Glide or EV-Glide the engine just "free" spins but does not "run".
The correction (if any) applied to the "above 40km" threshold.
With practice we "can" use EV-assist right after a hill crest. It is a viable technique if the pack's SOC is full from a previous descents.
Cheers;
MSantos
May 25, 2009, 08:03:52 pm “ …cylinders are deactivated which means that a significant portion of the engine is actually offline and unable to provide propulsion… “ – msantos
To make it a little bit easier to visualize the engine function, note that even in the EV mode, the ICE is free-running at the same speed as the E motor, since the E motor is mounted concentrically on the ICE output shaft in the same way as the flywheel of conventional ICE. This is the simplicity and beauty of the Honda design. When free-running all the valves are closed so that pistons bounce up and down with the air inside functioning as spring, making mechanical load small. (If any valve is open, pumping loss will cause drag.) Deactivating all the valves is done by Honda’s i-VTEC mechanism. In this case it has two modes; deactivation and mid-to-high rev cam profile. Although this design requires transmission, CVT or otherwise, it is simple and elegant nonetheless (high torque nature of E motor complementing low torque of ICE at lower RPM).
This system still has a room for extending EV mode run further by using higher capacity battery in the future. I think this is the reason why Honda and GS Yuasa set up a joint venture for R&D and production of Li-ion cells for automotive use.
Subaru’s H-4 engine is also suitable for this concentric ICE/E motor design since its north-south length is shorter and mounting a pancake E motor in the place of flywheel is easy. Although Subaru is a Toyota company I think it is possible that we will see Subaru PHEV with Honda-like design.