Online Test Drive

The 2000 Honda Insight
Base Retail Price: $18,880
Four and a half Stars

If there's any vehicle that makes you feel like it's the year 2000, it's the Honda Insight. With its futuristic design, and its hybrid gasoline-electric drive train, the Insight is by far the most high tech vehicle on the road.

With the Insight, Honda has brought the first hybrid vehicle to the U.S. market, beating arch rival Toyota by a few months. The Insight is really more of an engineering experiment than it is a car for the masses. The company will lose money on each one it sells. That's why they will only sell about six thousand a year.

The best thing about the Insight? It's cool and unique, one of those vehicles that people stop and ask you about. More people are going to buy this vehicle for that reason, than for environmental ones.

The Insight's hybrid technology combines a three cylinder gasoline engine and an electric motor. When the gasoline engine needs a boost, the electric motor kicks in. That electric motor is powered by a 144-volt nickel-metal hydride battery pack. The batteries are charged by recapturing energy from forward momentum and braking. However, they can also be recharged by a generator attached to the engine.

What's it like to drive? Like a typical small car. You don't expect much power, but the little three cylinder engine is certainly an overachiever. That electric motor certainly gives it an adequate "goose" when it's needed. That means that you aren't particularly concerned about passing on the freeway, or getting up to speed on an entrance ramp. You won't win any races, but it's adequate.

The Insight's real selling point is its technology. You won't find a cooler dashboard. You have gauges for battery charge and drain. You have an indicator that shows you exactly how your mileage is at that point. The digital speedometer looks pretty cool too.

Where the Insight is inadequate is storage space. There isn't any. Unless you consider a cooler sized compartment in the back storage space. The rest of the back is taken up with the batteries.

Here lies the reason for the Insight's existence. Honda has done everything it can to squeeze out every last mile per gallon. The aluminum body is as light as you can get it---three hundred pounds! The engine is as small as they can make, and still consider this a car, not a golf cart. The shape is pure aerodynamics. I think it's cool. Others disagree.

The Insight is also a two seater. I guess that cuts down on the dead weight caused by hauling around an extra kid or two. With no standard air bag cutoff switch, you can't even put your kids in the front seat.

The Insight comes with all the basic bells and whistles, including power doors and windows, air conditioning, etc. Since fuel economy is the vehicle's main goal, only a manual transmission is available. The radio is one of the worst I've ever heard.

Now, let's talk about practicality. In addition to no storage space, low power and only two seats, the Insight is a big pricey, around twenty thousand dollars. Now, it's time to do some math.

I own a 97 Saturn, stripped down, that I bought new for just over eleven thousand dollars. I get about 38 miles per gallon. During my week in the Insight, I averaged in the mid fifties. Assuming that you save twenty miles per gallon, and drive about 20 thousand miles a year...the savings are in the hundreds of dollars. Certainly not enough to justify the increased price.

That price is actually low, compared to what it cost Honda to make such a high tech vehicle. Consider it a marketing and engineering expense. Honda gets a lot of attention for bringing the first hybrid to market, and they can consider this a very large engineering experiment.

I would have loved to have given the Honda Insight five stars--my highest rating--just for being such a great, high tech vehicle. But, I just couldn't get over the practical concerns. Still, lets give this fun, high tech vehicle four and a half stars.




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