Tag Archives | Honda Insight looks like a Prius

2010 Honda Insight EX (Navigation) Review

By on August 25, 2009 in Reviews

By Chris Haak

08.25.2009

Insight TitleThe first time I saw a 2010 Honda Insight in the flesh, I was underwhelmed.  It was as the 2009 NAIAS (Detroit Auto Show), and was the main focus of Honda’s more subdued product introduction plans in light of the poor economy.  At the time, I felt that the car was small, had a cheap interior, and worst of all – for a car whose whole raison d’être is fuel economy – had some relatively disappointing numbers on the window sticker:  40 mpg city/43 mpg highway.  Toyota made a splash at the same auto show with a 2010 Prius that stole some of the Insight’s thunder with a 50 mpg combined number – far better than the Insight’s approximate 41 mpg combined figure.  Also not good:  the car looked like a cross between an original two-door Honda Insight and a Toyota Prius, and its only good angle (at least to my eyes) was the front end.

Honda doesn’t necessarily want you to necessarily compare the two cars; they are different sizes (the Prius is larger and heavier) in spite of their likely-not-coincidentally similar shapes.  The Prius was engineered from stem to stern as Toyota’s environmental flagship, with maximum fuel economy as its primary mission.  The Insight had a similar mission, but with the added wrinkle of bringing the entry price of hybrid ownership further into the range of affordable cars. Continue Reading →

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2010 Prius vs. 2010 Insight Cage Match

By on January 15, 2009 in Features, News

By Chris Haak

01.15.2009

In a situation that is ironically similar to what occurred at last year’s Detroit Auto Show when both Ford and Dodge unveiled all-new full-size pickups, yet with a completely different product this time, the two dedicated hybrid names probably most recognizable to consumers over the past decade – the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight – were both officially revealed at the same auto show, only a day apart from one another.

The Honda Insight in its first generation was Honda’s first foray into the hybrid market, and was the mileage champion for a number of years.  However, the car’s anemic three-cylinder engine and two-door, two-seat layout consigned it to the dustbin of history.

Meanwhile, its arch-rival Toyota Prius also had a dorky looking (almost like a restyled Echo) silhouette in its first generation, was underpowered and not particularly popular.  Instead of abandoning the franchise the way Honda did (at least for a few years), Toyota elected to roll out a much improved, larger, more efficient, and more powerful Prius for the 2004 model year.  The Prius became the default answer to the question, “which hybrid should I buy?” or “what’s the most fuel efficient car I could buy?” and it became the standard-bearer for the green car movement. Continue Reading →

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