To me the Prius has the worst visibility not only from the rear but the front and side. The “velvet” fabric reminds me of the horrible American car fabrics of the late 90’s (or the velvet ceiling material that always seemed to be falling down on my friends cars back when I was in college (late 80’s early 90’s)). I ignored the dash area- too much info to glance through to find what you wanted, felt the nav system had way too many menus and screens- thank goodness my passenger was fiddling with it so we could find radio functions, etc.. I do like the extra space in the rear seating, extra glove box, under floor storage in the hatch area and thought the solar/ sunroof was a neat gadget, however, I was really uncomfortable driving this vehicle. Both times I felt like I wasn’t connected to my surroundings. I had the road noise and bumps but honestly couldn’t feel the road in the steering. I truly want to love the Prius but don’t.

When I drove the Insight I felt like I was in a car. That’s the best way I can describe it. It didn’t have the get-up-and-go of a normal Honda, but it’s a hybrid and I was prepared for this. The fabric reminds me of my old Element (sort of), I love the steering wheel – did I mention I could feel the road while steering? It is laking a few items and the nav looks like it was just shoved in, but overall it’s a good little car. I like the grill, the alloy wheels and the ipod/phone connection.

I may be a bit biased toward Honda as I did grow up in a Honda household – my mom’s 1st was in ‘76 – and I have owned my fair share… ‘83 Accord hatchback, ‘94 Civic 5-speed, (‘96 4-runner), ‘05 Pilot (for 6 months-yuck!), ‘03 Element (loved it!). I currently own an ‘06 Infinit FX35- it’s nice with loads of power but not nearly as fun as my old Element. Most people think I’m a bit crazy for wanting a hybrid over my current car but I’m sick of $45 fill-ups and sending so much money to OPEC. I normally never buy a car unless it is used but I am seriously considering the Insight.

It is a fun car to drive, I do not have any complaints. I have received great compliments and people inquiring about it at the gas station.

I use to have the 2006 Civic Hybrid and I do like the Insight better.

On top of which I am sure the manual in the Cobalt cruises at a nice low RPM on the highway at real highway speeds, while the FIT is in the high 3K rpm range (close 4K rpm?) at real highway speeds (75 mph).

There is an Insite billboard on my way home that I have noticed over the last week. The billboard is a clean design and has a simple message, but the message’s font is narrow, small, and light colored on a white background, and so it’s rather hard to read without taking my eyes off the road more then I should (so much so that after looking at it three or four times I can’t tell you what it says?).

I understand branding and all (as I use to work in corporate marketing), but didn’t their marketing group consider making the billboard message easy to read for drivers? IMHO the billboard is not as effective as it could be and therefore wasted marketing dollars.

I do hate cars in general, and I have been riding around in and sometimes driving a 2nd gen Prius for a little over 3 years. The car seats in the Prius hurt my tail bone. While they may be soft to the touch and cushy feeling, there is no support.

My Insight seating is not cushy at all, but has way more support than other cars I’ve test driven including the Fit. So far my passengers have commented that it was “comfortable”. IMHO it is quite fun to drive. It handles well around corners& U-turns quite well. As an added bonus I have been able to achieve better gas mileage than its EPA estimates. I’ve gone to the gas station a total of three times since I’ve owned it (about $18 per tank) and have averaged about 47-52 mpg per tank.

The only two complaints so far are the tiny back seat and the plastic like feel of the dash. One or two cleanings from the car wash and it already has swirl-like scratches :(
Since I mostly only transport my dog in the back seat, the fact that it doesn’t have any headroom doesn’t bother me that much.

I was originally going to purchase a Fit since I couldn’t afford a Prius. When the Insight became available I jumped at the chance to own it and I am still quite happy with my purchase.

And get used to reviews like this. With the latest CAFE standards, these things should be polluting our dealers over the coming years. Whether or not anyone actually buys them is anyone’s guess.

And so what about it being the best selling car in Japan. They’re notorious for wanting the latest “gadget” and this is the biggest right now. Same thing we saw with the Prius a few years ago in the US…It was the “cool” car to have. That’s why only the Prius seems to have taken off while no other hybrids did. And somehow the Prius wasn’t the exception, it was the hybrid rule in this country.

I tell ya, I grew up in the 90’s with Hondas. Civics and early 90’s accords (before they blew up into Crown Vics), friends had Integras. We LOVED our cars. They were cheap as hell to run, didn’t break, got great mileage, were zippy handling and light on their feet with sharp reflexes, and the engines were a ton of fun to wind out (even though the power wasn’t so amazing). Then the 2000’s hit and Honda started going downhill. The Civic got fat and out of proportion and lost its zippy handling. The Integra became the RSX, which actually wasn’t too bad, but it just didn’t have nearly the feel of the old GSR. The Accord got huge and ugly and lost its zippy feel. I started driving Mazdas and VWs. Other friends moved on too, mostly to Mazda and those who bought Hondas because they were bulletproof commuter cars got Toyotas.

Maybe they know something I don’t, but Honda got where it is by offering fun, cheap, bulletproof cars with decent styling and what they’re turning into is about as far from that as they could possibly get. I suspect my future days as a car owner are likely to be Honda-less. Its a shame. Alienating your customer base is a dangerous gamble…..look what the domestics did in the 70’s and 80s….

Worse than a Vega or a Trabant?

Nissan seems to be doing a good job. For everyone else it seems to be the least reliable solution available.

Toyotas Orbital gear power couple is bullet proof in comparison (not to mention being much more versatile).

If I was in this market, it would be the 2010 prius all the way.

I have driven both the new Insight and the 2010 Toyota Prius. They are both really good cars for what they are designed to do. Efficiently move around town and keep away from the gas pump. I do tend to like the Insight a little better in the fact that it’s dash is in front of the driver instead of being in the middle of the dash where you have to take your eyes off the road to see how fast or slow you are going.

One thing is for certian, the US. automakers need to get their head out of the sand and smell the coffee before it’s too late and come up with something that people want instead of giving us what they want us to buy. OOPS, too late they are already dying and are going to hold on to the same philosophy that has them where they are now. The concept that the auto industry is too big to fail is wrong. They need to fail if they are going to keep putting crappy cars out and expect us to buy them just because they are made here. They need to cut back on production of monster trucks and start building smaller more efficient vehicles before gas hits $4.00 again. Follow the Japaneese into lower fuel efficient cars with a few trucks as a bonus. Build them with the upmost care and use the highest quality materials. And for goodness sakes, stop using the cheapest plastic that can be found for the dasboards of the cars.

The problem is multifold:
* A turbodiesel is really expensive, rather heavy and quite complex next to a gas engine. A normal diesel is slightly less expensive and significantly more gutless.
* A diesel doesn’t handle stop/start as easy or as seamlessly as a small gas engine
* Fuel efficiency and power of a small gas engine versus a similarly small diesel isn’t significant, especially when paired to a system like Toyota’s HSD, which keeps the gas engine running at it’s most efficient.

It doesn’t make a lot of sense to hybridize a passenger car diesel. It’s more sensible to hybridize a rotary or turbine.

Cargo space. The Civic hybrid has about as much as the Pontiac Solstice and a little less than the Smart Fortwo, where the Insight can fit actual stuff.

The Camry and Prius are similar: the Camry has 10 awkwardly-shaped cubic feet, or about enough for a small grocery run or an overnight stay for one. The Prius can take a family for the weekend.

regardless, i’d take a diesel over a regular gas hybrid. hybrids are pretty much a massive wank-fest imo

The Mazda Miatus

I think this whole thing about gallons per mile doesn’t really change anything besides being less intuitive to most people.

I know in Canada where we are heavily metric, many people still have issues with l/100km not because of the units but because of the less intuitive arrangement.

40mpg to 50mpg is still a 25% difference in fuel usage whether it is in mpg or gpm.

The main thing I see people use GPM is to highlight the difference in a paired comparison. as in: “You save more gas moving from a Hummer to a Enclave you “save” more more gas than moving from a Prius to a Camry.”

But those kinds of comparison are pointless. The guy in the Prius is still using much less gas than the guy in the Enclave.

If you are just comparing between two cars. MPG or GPM is just about irrelevant.

It is. There are no controls placed in front of the gear stick. All controls are in the same horizontal plane. Like in 1980s ergonomy conscious Saabs.

One of the (few) things I hate about my Toyota Avensis are the rather complex heating/AC/fan controls placed in front of the gear stick. A place you must look at while you are driving.

This tester couldn’t wait to escape from the prominent, non-adjustable lumbar bulge and head-prodding headrests

The head-prodding headrests is the best design. Volvo has been using that design since late 1990s.

It takes some time, but you really get accustomed to those headrests.