Honda Insight History
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Honda has used the Insight name for two distinct models, both dedicated hybrids with no gasoline equivalent. The most recent is a subcompact five-door hatchback introduced for the 2010 model year, marketed as the lowest-cost hybrid offered for sale in the U.S. at a price just below $20,000 (before delivery charges). It competes with both the larger, midsize Toyota Prius, also a dedicated hybrid, and subcompacts like Honda’s own Fit, which is both more versatile and several thousand dollars less expensive.
The previous-generation Honda Insight, sold from 2000 to 2006, was a tiny two-seat, three-door hatchback that was the highest gas-mileage car ever rated by the EPA at the time. Its fuel economy ratings (adjusted for comparison to modern-day cars) were 48 mpg city, 58 mpg highway with a five-speed gearbox, or 45 and 49 mpg with the optional continuously variable transmission (CVT). It used a 67-horsepower, 995cc three-cylinder engine paired to the first generation of Honda’s Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) hybrid system, which located a 10-kilowatt (13-horsepower) electric motor between the engine and the transmission. The motor was used to restart the engine at stops, and add power under heavy loads, but it did not move the vehicle under electric power alone. The 2000-2006 Insight was both lightweight, using things like aluminum front brake disks, and very aerodynamic, with a drag coefficient of just 0.25, admirable at the time for such a short car. The first Insight, however economical it was, proved to be too small for most markets, and only 17,000 of the cars were sold over seven model years.
The new Insight launched for the 2010 model year has four seats and five doors, and a high-tailed shape similar to the Prius. Its 98-hp, 1.3-liter four-cylinder engine uses the latest iteration of Honda’s IMA system, still with a 10-kW (13-hp) motor between the engine and a CVT. The EPA rates the new Insight at 40 mpg city, 43 mpg highway. For 2010, it offered few options and just two trim levels: a base LX and a more luxurious EX.
The second-generation Insight did not sell as well as Honda expected in its first year, perhaps because the all-new Prius hybrid introduced the same year—which was both larger and more luxurious—cost only about $2,000 more and was rated at 51 mpg city, 48 mpg highway. The Prius is also a “full” hybrid that allowed some all-electric running on battery power at low speeds, while the new Insight remains a “mild” hybrid in which the electric motor assists the engine and restarts it after stops, but does not move the car by itself.
