Road Tests: Long-Term Test

Video highlights of this vehicle

We're impressed with Honda's technological tour de force, the spunky little Insight electric/gas hybrid city car. So impressed are we that our editors voted it the Most Significant Car of the Year during balloting last December. Model year 2000 is the first time we've awarded MSCY, and we plan to add all future honorees to our fleet of long-term vehicles to better determine if the first impressions that led to declaration of a winner were sound.

Insight easily beat the runner-up in the competition, the Honda S2000. Though plenty of us would rather drive Honda's blistering sports car for two years instead of Honda's fuel-economy champion, our 30,000 miles with the first mass-produced hybrid car available for sale in the United States should prove interesting.

What makes Insight special is its powertrain and body construction. Dubbed Integrated Motor Assist (IMA), the engine is a 1.0-liter, three-cylinder VTEC-E lean-burn gasoline motor coupled with an ultra-thin permanent magnet electric motor whose 144-volt nickel-metal hydride battery pack is continually recharged through regenerative braking. Thanks to Insight's wind-cheating aluminum body and frame, which is 40 percent lighter than one composed of steel and slips through the air with just a .25 coefficient of drag, this engine can produce up to 70 miles per gallon on the highway, giving the 1,856-pound Insight a range of more than 700 miles from its 10.6-gallon fuel tank.

Helping to further conserve fuel are P165/65R14 low-rolling resistance tires and an idle-stop feature. This neat engineering trick shuts off the gasoline engine when the car is in neutral and the clutch pedal is released, but if you try to use it when the A/C is running, the software is smart enough to know you're going to need power to run this accessory. When the clutch pedal is depressed and first gear is selected, the engine fires again and off you go. But you won't go very fast. Insight only makes 73 horsepower at 5,700 rpm (6 of which come from IMA) and 91 foot-pounds of torque at 2,000 rpm (without IMA, the gas motor would only muster 66 foot-pounds at 4,800 rpm). But look at it this way. Insight, which meets California's strict Ultra-Low Emission Vehicle (ULEV) standards, is about conserving resources, not blazing trails.

In February of 2000, we bought, at a Southern California dealership, one of the first 90 Insights to make the journey across the Pacific. Supply at the time of our purchase was limited, with environmentally aware SoCal residents snapping these fuel-efficient eco-cars up as soon as they arrived on the lot. Furthermore, the online car-buying sites we usually consult didn't have the Insight programmed into their systems when we were shopping, making it impossible to obtain price quotes on the Internet. As a result, we had to travel more than 100 miles after extensive phone work to buy a front-loaded silver Insight from the only dealer within decent proximity that had one available and ready for delivery. Your mileage may vary. Demand for Insight is likely to prove regional, and will probably slow considerably after the first few months of sales. Honda plans to sell only 5,000 units annually, and there is some concern that this target may be difficult to reach.

Anyway, the bottom line is that we paid more than sticker for a car that came equipped with dealer-installed crap we didn't necessarily need. Which brings us to another interesting point about the Insight. It has a lousy residual value, a paltry $8,800 (42 percent) in the case of our test car. We leased the car for two years and 30,000 miles, and we're paying through the nose to the tune of $687 per month after a $2,000 cap cost reduction. Evidently, the only way to lease an Insight is through American Honda Finance - other leasing companies don't want to touch this unknown entity. If you want one, you're better off buying it outright.

One bonus to Insight ownership, and a timely one considering the rise in gas prices recently, is outstanding fuel economy, though we aren't coming close to the data reported by Honda and the EPA. Commuting in snarled surface-street traffic and wringing the powertrain for every last ounce of oomph during the break-in period, we're averaging little more than 50 mpg.

Extroverts who like to be the center of attention will thrill to the crowds the Insight generates. In an effort to keep questioning to a minimum each time we return to the car after parking it in a public lot, we've kept the window sticker attached so that folks can see the 61 city/70 highway EPA fuel economy estimates and the price of the car.

Downsides include rear wheel skirts that must be removed before running the Insight through a car wash or when a flat tire needs to be changed, and aluminum body panels that are expensive to repair and replace, which boosts insurance premiums. Mountain dwellers will lament the rapid pace at which the battery pack's charge depletes, leaving them with a low powered gas engine to labor up grades. And we've found that the car is highly susceptible to crosswinds and highway ruts.

During the next 23 months, our Insight will cycle through the members of our editorial staff, serving as daily transportation and road-trip wheels. We'll see if the fuel economy claims can be met (or exceeded), and test the reliability of the IMA system, while reporting monthly about the merits and demerits of Insight and hybrid ownership. See you next month.

Current Odometer: 1,173
Best Fuel Economy: 53.6 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 46.8 mpg
Running Average Over Life of Vehicle: 50.4 mpg
Body Repair Costs: $0
Maintenance Costs: $0
Problems: None.