Road Tests: Long-Term Test

Video highlights of this vehicle

"Coming back to the Honda Insight is like returning to an old friend," Technology Editor Scott Memmer proclaims. OK, so it's a small, slight, low-slung, narrow-tired, blindspotted, futuristic two-seater of a friend, but a friend nonetheless.

From that opening, you might think that Memmer doesn't like the Insight, but you'd be wrong. Actually, the more he drives this car, the more he likes it. And although the Insight, by nature of its design, is somewhat limited, our technology editor still feels it represents a viable alternative to more traditional cars on the road. And, heck, it's a Honda!

Perhaps Memmer owes the Insight an apology. The first time he drove it, he complained of its slow acceleration and relatively poor mpg fuel performance. (In comparison with the car's official EPA rating of 61 mpg city/70 mpg highway, our long-term Insight is averaging just 49.9 mpg -- not horrific by industry standards, but a far cry from the promised numbers. This represents seat time of more than 10 different editors, with 15,000-plus miles on the odometer.) Memmer's previous review generated a nastygram from one of our readers, an engineer and an Insight owner himself, who pointed out that the car isn't that slow, and that our tech editor must have a lead foot or be accustomed to driving only Formula One racers to get such lousy mileage figures. Our perceptive fan also pointed out that he was getting very close to the rated EPA mileage in his Insight.

Feeling duly contrite (actually our tech editor was fuming and defensive, but that's a different story), Memmer decided to put our reader's comments to the test. He vowed that the next time he got some good seat time in the Insight, he'd drive for mileage versus performance. And he did.

And what our technology editor discovered was -- d'oh! -- our reader was right. We hate when that happens! (Just kidding. Actually, we love when that happens. See our Letters to the Editors department.)

So Memmer began to experiment with the Insight. Coasting down hills without accelerating. Setting the auto-stop to kill the engine at every stoplight. Treading as lightly as possible on the accelerator pedal. And guess what: Our mileage improved dramatically!

In fact, with a partial tank of gas, our tech editor was able to drive 330.1 miles, consuming a miserly 5.309 gallons, for a combined city/highway mpg tally of 62.1. (The onboard computer showed a slightly different number of 60.8 mpg. This can be accounted for by the slight variations in refueling. Hey, even engineers might allow for this discrepancy. The 62.1 figure was based upon the actual amount of fuel put into the tank upon refueling, whereas the onboard computer calculates as you drive along. During refueling, Memmer took pains not to top off the tank or overfill.) It became clear to our technology editor that driving the Insight more conservatively would improve the fuel economy performance. Memmer also noted, however, that pushing our long-term Insight over about 65 mph seemed to reduce gas mileage measurably. This would appear to be where the trade-off between the Insight's low profile and minimal drag coefficient (0.25) meet the laws of physics. For best fuel economy, Memmer surmised, keep it below 65 and drive gingerly.

Whether today's drivers, with so many fleet-of-tire offerings on the marketplace (even econoboxes like the Ford Focus and Mazda Protege are sprightly and sure-footed), will settle for this trade-off between performance and economy is another matter. Driving the Insight this conservatively falls somewhere on the yuks scale between a dental appointment and a hairline fracture -- fun is not the first word that comes to mind. With U.S. fuel prices the cheapest in the world, do American drivers even care? The continuing popularity of SUVs in light of last year's run-up in fuel prices would seem to argue against it.

As for acceleration, the Insight is not an Acura NSX, but it's also not Hummer. Honda press officials told Memmer the car goes from 0 to 60 in about 10 seconds, a respectable figure that may not threaten records from the Bonneville salt flats, but also doesn't put the car in the desert tortoise range. When you put your foot into it, the car responds decently. It's not as slow as Memmer originally thought. "Geesh, these mea culpas are killing me," he says. The rest of the car is intriguing. As always, the main instrument cluster reminded our tech editor of a cross between Flash Gordon and Woody Allen's Sleeper, with enough dancing diodes, lights and LEDs for a floor show at the Tropicana. But fun, at least.

Our senior editor, Brent Romans, also spent some brief seat time in our long-term hybrid. He agreed that it was a fun vehicle to drive:

Romans wrote, "I needed to drop a package off at the post office. On a whim, I decided to take the Insight. It has been 3-4 months since I last drove the car. Man, what a cool car! I think I had kinda forgotten how neat it was. It's so perfect for around-town stuff. Well, OK, it gets better fuel mileage on the freeway. But even around town, its small size, quick steering and sharp turning radius make it perfect for maneuvering around traffic and into parking spots. This is even more apparent for me, since I've spent the last week driving a mongo Ford Excursion with the Power Stroke Diesel engine.

"On the way back from the post office, I was making a left turn at a light. Right before the light turned, another silver Insight drove past in the opposite direction. I flashed my lights in acknowledgement. The driver, a young and seemingly hip woman, grinned and waved to me as she drove past. That certainly put a smile onto my face. It's neat when you drive niche cars like the Insight. When you see other drivers of the car, you share something in common with them."

While in Memmer's possession, our long-term Insight went in for its 15,000-mile checkup to Honda of Santa Monica. This included a whole litany of services -- changing filters, lubing the chassis, checking tires and brakes. Overall, the car was pronounced in good health, with 4 millimeters of brake pad depth front and rear, the best tires already on the front (and thus no rotating necessary), and no major illnesses found. Interesting to note: The dealership found a single bad battery cell in the rechargeable battery pack and replaced it. Other than that, the hybrid charging system required no service. Total cost: $163.91.

It was with a tear in his eye that Memmer handed over the keys to our Honda Insight. In his opinion, this is one fun car to drive. With a zippy little shape, a six-disc CD changer and more range than a camel in the Gobi Desert, this is one cool car.

And hey, it's a Honda!

Current Odometer: 16,497
Best Fuel Economy: 62.2 mpg
Worst Fuel Economy: 52.4 mpg
Average Fuel Economy (over the life of the vehicle): 50.4 mpg
Body Repair Costs: None
Maintenance Costs: $163.91 (15,000-mile service)
Problems: Bad battery cell in battery pack.