2010 Honda Insight

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Summary

Honda appears finally to have learned how to play in the hybrid game. Simply putting a hybrid powertrain in a regular car doesn't cut it. It's smaller than the Prius, for instance, which isn't necessarily a plus, as interior room suffers. Perhaps the most significant change Honda brings to the hybrid market is price competition. The 2010 Honda Insight's $19,800 Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price just slightly undercuts the $21,000 MSRP of the all-new 2010 Toyota Prius.

Full Review 2010

The 2010 Insight comes in one configuration: a four-door, five-passenger sedan. Power goes only to the front wheels through a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT). In the top two of the three models offered, steering wheel-mounted shift paddles manage a computer-generated seven-speed, simulated-manual gearbox.

Trims and Styling

The 2010 Honda Insight comes in three models: The LX is well-equipped with automatic climate control; powered windows, outside mirrors and central locking; a four-speaker, 150-watt, multi-media-capable sound system including speed-sensitive volume control; a multi-information display showing, among other data bits, estimated fuel economy[1] (40 MPG city and 43 MPG Highway), average speed, exterior temperature and a real-time map of the hybrid system's energy flows; tilt-and-telescope steering wheel; manual driver's seat height adjustment; and 60/40-split, fold-down rear seatback.

The EX adds cruise control; the paddle shifters; front center console with armrest and storage bin, which, however, drops the drink holder count from eight to six; driver and passenger seatback map pockets; map lights; and two speakers and a USB connector to the sound system. The EX with Navi includes a navigation system with 6.5-inch screen; voice recognition; routing and guidance; and Bluetooth hands-free capability.

Safety features include front, side-impact and curtain airbags, antilock brakes, electronic brake-force distribution and brake assist; tire pressure monitoring system; and rear seat child safety seat anchors (LATCH). Only the EX gets electronic vehicle stability assist, which includes traction control.

Exterior Styling and Features

Although in every dimension the 2010 Insight is an inch or three smaller than the Prius, only with the two parked door to door does this become visible to the eye. Slit-shaped vents to each side break up the expanse of the front bumper and accent chin-link splitters at the corners that help keep the front end planted while it cleaves the air.

Roofline continues the arc over the passenger compartment and equally fast backlight, ending abruptly at a sharply chopped, relatively high, hind quarter. The beltline runs straight back beneath black-framed side glass, rising gently, from just aft of the centerline of the front wheelwell to just forward of the centerline of the rear wheelwell, emphasizing the Insight's short wheelbase (distance between the centers of the wheels, front to back). Tires don't quite fill the wheelwells, implying light weight and compactness. A shallow, sculpted character line across the bottoms of the doors links matching indents creasing the lower portions of the front and rear bumpers.

The rear aspects hews the closest to the original Insight's super-aero styling, showing lines that, if extended, would taper to a pointed terminus some 10 feet or 12 feet behind the mostly vertical rear fascia. Smallish, triangular taillight housings tuck into the upper corners of the rear fenders. 

Interior Style and Features

The flattery game ends inside the new Insight. There, Honda looks to its most recent hybrid, the Civic version, for inspiration. In the Insight, however, it serves another purpose, indicating by gradual changes between otherworldly bluish and greenish tints the efficiency a driver is achieving with the hybrid powertrain. To see this, it's necessary to have pressed the ECON button at the left end of the dash to activate a collection of efficiency-enhancing alternative algorithms in the engine control computer that optimize throttle control; CVT operation; idle-stop activation and duration; air conditioning; and cruise control for best-possible fuel economy[1]. Front seats are comfortable, if not especially assertive in terms of side bolsters on the bottom cushion. Where the Insight should have stuck with imitation is in interior roominess. Although it ekes out a win over the 2009 Toyota Prius in two measurements, front seat legroom and front seat hip room, both are by less than an inch. And against the 2010 Prius, in not one interior measurement does the Insight come out on top. The rear seat trails especially, by more than two inches in every dimension.

First Drive 2010

The 2010 Insight is a hybrid, so expectations for ride and handling rightly ought to be on the conservative side. Straight-line acceleration is not a strong point for hybrids. Neither is heart-pumping response to quick, right-left-right steering inputs, or even impressive stickiness around long sweeping curves. Transitions between power sources are markedly smoother in the new Insight than in the Civic Hybrid and easily on a par with the '09 Prius. The paddle-shifted, simulated manual seven-speed seems to us an unnecessary, even wasteful, gewgaw, more a gratuitous tipping of a braggart's hat to Honda's high-tech heritage than a functional addition to an already very competent powertrain.

The aforementioned ECON button is more in keeping with the Insight's mission. The new Insight's regenerative brake system is slicker than the Civic's, too, masking more fully the system's disengagement as the car nears a full stop. Road and tire noise is more intrusive than in either the current Prius or the most recent Civic hybrid. Wind noise, though, is minimal; props to that wind-cheating, Prius-like body. Likewise, fit and finish is Honda-spec, for the most part quality plastics with consistent gaps between panels. Summary

2010 Conclusions

Honda has done almost everything right with the new, 2010 Insight, with that almost relating exclusively to the hybrid's fuel economy. "Given its impressive talents and attractive price, it's hard to fault the 2010 Honda Insight. Until the next Prius arrives, at least, the Insight is the new ruler of the hybrid-hatchback roost." says Edmunds Believing its faithful prefer a more responsive gas pedal over fewer visits to the local gas station, Honda geared the Insight accordingly. And while the jury's out on whether Honda guessed right, the result is a clear choice in the hybrid segment.

[1]  Based on 2010 EPA mileage estimates, reflecting new EPA fuel economy methods beginning with 2008 models. Use for comparison purposes only. Do not compare to models before 2008. Your actual mileage will vary depending on how you drive and maintain your vehicle.