Road Tests: Long-Term Test

Video highlights of this vehicle

When our car buying consultant, Phil Reed, stepped into the Honda Insight this month he found himself harboring several negative impressions before he even took his turn in the little hybrid.

First, he had heard jokes around the office about the Insight's acceleration. Secondly, he had assumed that he would have to modifying his driving style to suit the low-horsepower gas/electric powertrain. And finally, during a brief trip in the Insight last September, he received a speeding ticket and blamed it on the officer's curiosity about the car's unusual looks.

In other words, the deck was stacked against a favorable assessment of the Honda Insight. But as the month wore on, his respect for this vehicle slowly grew.

"It's like driving the future," he observed, noting that during his month in the car, Edmunds.com received Toyota's entry into the hybrid category, the 2001 Prius, for a short-term test drive. Also, Ford began to tout the introduction of its hybrid version of the Escape SUV for 2003. The hybrid propulsion system, it appeared, was pulling away from the pack, establishing itself as the brightest hope for fuel-efficient, low-emission vehicles.

"You don't have to be a tree-hugger to love this car," was another note Phil made. "When you see the miles stacking up, and the gas gauge barely moving, you can't help but enjoy the ride that much more."

But did he find the driving experience compromised? It was different, for sure, but not seriously compromised. Yes, there was less power to work with, particularly midrange acceleration for passing. This forced the driver to choose wider openings in traffic. And the lack of acceleration gave fewer options to work with when navigating city streets.

But in terms of off-the-line acceleration the Insight actually seemed lively. Not Mazda Miata-style lively, but respectable. One surprise for Phil was how broad the rpm band turned out to be.

"Several times I found myself going 65 mph in third gear," he wrote in the logbook. "And the engine doesn't even seem to be asking for an upshift."

A yellow arrow on the Insight's instrument cluster indicates when to upshift. For several days Phil changed gears when the arrow appeared. But eventually he stopped doing this. "If I shift when the arrow tells me to, I feel like I'm lugging the engine to the point where I will damage it." Instead, he wound the engine up to higher revs before upshifting. The car performed well in this way, but it did deplete the batteries more quickly.

The Insight's high shift points was the feature that gave Phil the most concern. He found himself shifting frequently in the 55- to 70-mph range; in other vehicles this wouldn't be necessary. And, since much of his commute involved freeway travel, this became annoying. He even blamed his speeding ticket on a subconscious desire to find the best cruising speed for fifth gear.

And speaking of traffic stops, he was pulled over a second time only days after taking the Insight's keys. "You're missing the front license plate," the motorcycle cop told Phil as soon as he came to the window. "We're cracking down on this because of the video cameras in the intersections," he added cheerfully.

The front of the Insight is aerodynamically designed to slice through the air with little resistance. We were disappointed to be required to attach the ugly license plate bracket. It was like lashing an orange crate on the front bumper. The bracket was unjustifiably expensive — $33.35 for an extruded plastic dingus attached with only a single bolt ($2.52) and another $4.74 for two nuts.

"That's probably going to lower our gas mileage too," said Brent Romans, our senior features editor. We looked at the gas mileage figures after this unsightly addition and saw that the Insight was still traveling 50+ miles per gallon. We will have to drive the car longer to see if the front license has affected the gas mileage.

Driving the Insight home for the first time, Phil's heart skipped a beat when the idle-stop feature shut down the engine. "I was in the middle of an intersection waiting to turn left and when I felt the engine stop I thought I was dead meat," he remembers. He quickly got used to having the engine stop and even began to enjoy the feeling that, at long lights, he wasn't wasting gas.

Phil's notes revealed that he found a glitch with the idle-stop feature. Normally, the engine fires back up when the driver puts the clutch in and moves the shift lever into first gear. However, if the clutch pedal isn't all the way to the floor, the engine doesn't come back on. This could slow down the time it takes to restart the engine. In heavy traffic this delay could be critical.

The Insight's handling was surprisingly good, almost sports car-like, Phil wrote. He particularly liked the precise, smooth action of the five-speed shifter. But the combination of the low resistance tires and the lightweight body design gave a harsh, jumpy feel to the ride. At one point, driving across transverse grooves on a toll road, the vibration was so strong, "it reminded me of having my teeth drilled by a dentist," he reported.

Another design feature that bothered Phil was the poor rear visibility. "Not only is it tough to spot motorcycle cops pacing you, but it's particularly hard to change lanes to your right. You can't easily see out the back. And when you are looking behind you into the right lane, your view is blocked by the roofline. For me, as a commuter, this is a serious safety problem."

The Insight did, however, easily pass the "Terraine Test," the ability to pull a U-turn on the narrow side street where Phil lives. Many other cars have failed this test. It was also easy to park and maneuver the Insight into tight spaces.

From the outside Phil thought the Insight had a dated futurist look, "like a '50s idea of what cars were going to look like in the year 2000," he wrote. The interior was very appealing to him, however. The seat fabric allowed him to slide in and out easily and the cushioning was adequate and gave decent support. The dash was simple and attractive and the climate control system was easy to use. His 10-year-old son, Tony, fell in love with the ever-changing digital speed indicator and the other sweeping yellow gauges and blinking lights.

While the six-disc CD changer required opening the hatch and peeling up the fabric cargo floor covering, the sound system was good. With the lack of noise insulation in the small Insight the treble-prone sound was audible over the rush of road noise.

The Insight's keys were given to Edmunds.com's technical editor, Scott Memmer, for a weekend. He already spent a month in the car but enjoyed the opportunity to reassess it. "I really enjoyed driving the car," Scott reported, "even more than I did the first time I drove it. It's pretty amazing to go over 500 miles on a tank of gas and then only put in 10 gallons on a refill. How miserly can you get!

"This car grows on you. It feels fairly stable on the road. Even at 80 mph, it's solid. The shifter is easy to use, and I love the auto shutoff gas-saving feature while at a stoplight. This would be an excellent choice as an urban commuter for a single person with no kids."

As Phil's time in the Insight drew to a close he discovered his fondness for the Insight had grown. "I think we all want to save energy," he wrote. "And Honda has built a vehicle that allows us to be gas-misers without losing the fun of driving and the practicality of a real car."

Would he buy one for himself? Because of his family situation, it is definitely not the car for him. However, he will be keeping his eye out for new hybrids coming into the market now that Honda has proved that these vehicles are a practical alternative to the standard gas-only car.

Current Odometer: 13,257
Best Fuel Economy: 56.4 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 41.4 mpg
Average Fuel Economy (over the life of the vehicle): 49.72 mpg
Body Repair Costs: None
Maintenance Costs: $43.97 (for a front license plate bracket and fasteners)
Problems: None