The 2010 Honda Insight shows you its moves
Now that you've had a chance to read all about our time with the fun-to-drive 2010 version of the Honda Insight and browse through the photo galleries, we can now offer you the opportunity to see this fuel-sippin' hybrid in motion. Yes, the Honda-supplied footage of their latest pride and joy is now available and allows us to see how the next-gen Insight handles the straights and curves of their test track as it makes pass after pretty pass for the cameras. The video comes in different flavors. Once you've had enough of watching the gun metal grey copy of the car do its thing, scroll down and check out the red.
In between we also have footage from inside the cabin. The camera stays glued to the instrument cluster long enough for you to check out various display options before moving on to examine practically every inch of the interior from the dash to back hatch. We're pretty sure there's enough footage here to satisfy the curiosity of anyone interested in this potential Prius-killer. Just hit the jump.
Gallery: ABG First Drive: 2010 Honda Insight
Gallery: 2010 Honda Insight
[Source: Honda]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
noz 4:59PM (1/12/2009)
This car looks so freaking ugly and disproportionate. Compared to the concept, it looks downright ghastly.
Way to go Honda...you could have hybridized the Fit and had a hit.
Reply
Shaun 5:52PM (1/12/2009)
Look, even though I feel that the new Insight is much better looking then the 2009 and 2010 Prius; I must admit that 40/43 MPG is a joke. How does Honda expect to "Kill" the Prius by underperforming it?
Reply
Dave 6:12PM (1/12/2009)
A base price that is about 30% lower than the Prius would help.
Although I think they'd have been a lot better off by at least matching the Civic Hybrid's highway fuel economy. Seems like they downsized the IMA a bit too far given that the car should be much more efficient in every other measure.
Of course, ABG already reported getting mid 40s when driving "sportily" and low 60s when driving economically, so perhaps the EPA ratings are artificially low for the Insight for some reason. Low 60s is not that easy to reach on the current Honda Civic or even the Prius unless you really have empty roads and moderate speeds which don't fluctuate too rapidly.
Snowdog 6:50PM (1/12/2009)
Price is the only reason to go Insight IMO.
Looks OTOH are subjective. I think the new 2010 Prius looks better than the new Insight.
Collin 8:06PM (1/12/2009)
How sad. I was hoping that despite its extremely ugliness/resemblance to the Prius, it would get the same or better mileage. They now have info posted on honda's website and its mileage is... 40/43/41 city/highway/combined. With all this extra technology and almost identical mileage to the 1996-00 Honda HX. To top it off, no manual transmission, CVT only with optional "paddle shift"
Reply
GoodCheer 11:01AM (1/13/2009)
You mean like my '98 HX: 30/39/34
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/findacar.htm
I wouldn't call that identical, especially in a 4-door hatch that's significantly bigger.
gerrrg 6:44AM (1/13/2009)
Now that the new Prius has a combined 50 mpg rating, the bar has been raised even further. If the 2010 Prius is cheaper than the 2009 model, the Honda Insight would have to do much lower than $20,000 to compete.
Reply
Honda Homer 7:06AM (1/13/2009)
My guess Honda's approach is offering a value based hybrid that gets great gas mileage and is actually fun to drive unlike the Prius. Whether that combo works will be determined by its sales #'s.
Reply
Rick 9:03AM (1/13/2009)
I've been a strong Honda fan for over 40 years but that doesn't mean I think everything they produce is tops in its class..but they usually aren't too far off the mark. But I'd buy the Insight even if it didn't quite get the mileage of the Prius simply because the Prius has become a "me too" car and I find that unappealing. I think the Insight's looks stand up well with the '10 Prius also.
Reply
DanAB 9:15AM (1/13/2009)
The exterior looks ok to me. I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the dash. It is a disaster. Take the display panel for instance, it's a rectangular panel set into a trapezoid shape and, placed off center to the right. Not to mention the rest of dash. Driving this vehicle would make me feel like a 13 year old playing around with a hand-me-down 7 year old Sanyo boombox.
Reply
JM 10:06AM (1/13/2009)
I like the fact that Honda cars are proven to be reliable. But to be frank, i've never been a big fan of the Civic's dashboard - especially that part that display's your car's current mph (and now we're going to see this in the new Insight). It so silly that when I'm driving on the road beside a civic, I could easily see what mph speed that other guy is moving at as well as how fast his car could accelerate. What's funny is if I match my car's speed to his, while we're cruising on the highway, his digital mph reading is different from what I'm seeing in my own car's analog speedometer.
Reply
Howard R 2:27PM (1/13/2009)
I am surprised at people complaining about the Insight dash. Yes, it is a controversial dash; especially the speedo. However, it is wonderful compared to the abomination on the Prius. Anyone who accepts a dash with the instruments in the middle is crazy. IMHO. Toyota does it so they can put the same dash on cars in America as well as in Europe/Asia. What a joke that people in this country would accept such a thing. After the Prius dash, the Insight's dash is wonderful.
Reply
bebop 12:40PM (1/13/2009)
I suspect that the new Insight's price - which Honda claims to be "well under" $20k - signals it will compete very strongly with the new Prius. Toyota which has not published a price for their new Prius (I think I know why) but even it's base model will almost certainly be several $K more expensive than the base Insight.
Honda seems to be targeting the green AND the frugal buyer who wants both high MPG and low initial cost. In these tight financial times that combination could indeed make the Insight a "Prius killer" (and a Civic competitor?) within the lower end of the market.
Reply
MikeW 2:49PM (1/13/2009)
Can you get normal sized tires on this? (will they fit?)
205/55 15
and Honda might consider a sport model with 205/50 16 to rival the sport Prius.
Reply
MikeW 2:57PM (1/13/2009)
Will 14s fit? (clearance between inner rim of wheel and steering tie rod) 195/65 14, 205/60 14, 175/70 14