Jeremy Clarkson on Honda Insight: Possibly the worst new car money can buy
by Jeremy Korzeniewski on May 19th 2009 at 11:56AM 
2010 Honda Insight - Click above for high-res image gallery
Jeremy Clarkson's disdain for the Honda Insight was pretty much a foregone conclusion, leaving the way in which he actually went about expressing that hatred for the hybrid as the actual newsworthy bit from his review at the Times Online. We can't think of a instance when we've ever heard of a car being described as "Biblically terrible," but there's a first time for everything, right?
Other choice gems from Clarkson's review include the following: "Possibly the worst new car money can buy. It's the first car I've ever considered crashing into a tree, on purpose, so I didn't have to drive it any more." For what it's worth, opinions about a car's driving dynamics are often rather subjective. We have also driven the Insight, and somehow found it significantly more agreeable than Clarkson.
Clarkson doesn't entirely dismiss the need for alternatives to the classic internal combustion engine. Instead of the hybrid or purely electric car, though, he once again points to hydrogen power, and cars like the Honda FCX Clarity, as the much-needed solution to our transportation needs. Click here to read Clarkson's full review.
Gallery: 2010 Honda Insight
[Source: Times Online]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
paulwesterberg 12:08PM (5/19/2009)
Jeremy Clarkson: Possibly the biggest rocky mountain canary on television.
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paulwesterberg 12:50PM (5/19/2009)
I hope he crashes into a tree, so I don't have to hear about him any more.
Phil Kulak 12:22PM (5/19/2009)
Old news. He's been spouting the same specious arguments for years. He's always going off about diesel, like he's so impressed that a fuel with 20% more energy density (and usually 20% more cost) produces 20% more power. Then he spends two pages knocking the costs of the Insight before naming his favorite: a car made from the most expensive metal on the plant. Good idea, Jer.
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iDevin 12:38PM (5/19/2009)
Full disclosure: I own a Prius, I'm very pro-EV (active member of Plug In America), I'm a Top Gear fan, and I'm a fan of the original Honda Insight.
Jeremy Clarkson is right. I test drove the new Insight last week and I was very disappointed. It felt like somebody took a low end Civic and a Chevy Aveo and put them together. The interior was a sea of strangely laid-out hard plastic. The seats were uncomfortable and felt very cramped even though I had just come out of test driving a Smart ForTwo, which felt much more spacious than the Insight. The car was not particularly powerful or sporty feeling, merging onto the freeway it felt almost unstable. You get what you pay for I suppose, and if saving a few bucks on the price of a Prius, Civic Hybrid, Civic GX is that important to you and you still want a hybrid then I suppose the Insight is your car.
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augustus 1:23PM (5/19/2009)
Can you comment more on the engine noise and poor integration of the gas engine with the electric engine? Is he right here? I had considered buying an insight in a year or two as I like my 03 accord, and i'm a bit amazed to hear this criticism for a Honda. I need to check consumer reports on this.
downtoearth 3:14PM (5/19/2009)
augustus 1:23PM (5/19/2009)
> Can you comment more on the engine noise
Full throttle acceleration:
2009 VW Jetta TDI common rail (said to be quiet by VW salesmen, praised by Clarkson)
Db @ Idle: 47.7
Db @ Full Throttle: 72.8
Db @ 70 mph Cruise: 70.0
2009 Toyota Prius II (previous generation, considered a very quiet)
Db @ Idle: 39.2 (engine off); 42.6 (engine on)
Db @ Full Throttle: 70.0
Db @ 70 mph Cruise: 68.0
2010 Honda Insight EX
Db @ Idle: 44.2
Db @ Full Throttle: 72.5
Db @ 70 mph Cruise: 68.8
Sources:
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FullTests/articleId=132146/pageId=148684
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/Comparos/articleId=139686/pageId=158222
So the Insight is quieter on full throttle and when cruising than a modern, well soundproofed common rail diesel car which Jeremy Clarkson praises. This is measured by professional gear, not by some biased hybrid hater from a bankrupt country.
Jeremy Clarkson simply spews turd. And lies. That's the only thing he can do.
Cars like the Prius, the Camry Hybrid, the GS hybrid, the Fusion hybrid have no clutch, no gearbox, no high pressure direct injection, no turbochargers, no particulate filters, no NOx traps, no intercoolers. Yet he deems hybrids very complex which just proves he does not understand motoring at all.
Honda Insight automatic: 101g CO2/km
VW Golf 6 DSG 110HP: 140 g CO2/km
No Golf/Jetta diesel comes even close to certified fuel economy and CO2 ratings Insight gets. This is why Clarkson hates the Honda. Cause it's better. It burns less amount of cheaper (in the UK) fuel. And since he cannot change the independent European fuel economy certification results which are in favor of Honda, he blatantly lies in his review saying that "you could have a Golf diesel, which will be even more economical".
Clarkson is desperate and rabid. His country is bankrupt. UK debt to GDP ratio is one of the highest for developed world countries. Value of the GBP against the currency basket has been falling since 30 years and is now in the crapper. UK has brutal negative trade balance with the rest of the world. All the British motoring industry is either bankrupt or bought by Indians or Chinese. The United Kingdom is SINKING.
And now Japanese come with superior hybrid technology. It proved to be more fuel efficient, cheaper to run, cleaner and more environmentally friendly that any other mainstream propulsion for cars nowadays. He cannot accept this so he's gonna use his position, his TV program and his column to spew as much dung as possible againt hybrids.
Source: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_deb_ext_pergdp-economy-debt-external-per-gdp
Yikes 3:52PM (5/19/2009)
No augustus,
you need to go drive the Insight yourself and stop relying on the OPINIONS of idiots like Jeremy Clarkson.
slk23 5:18PM (5/19/2009)
I haven't driven the Insight II but I did take a detailed look at one at the dealership. As a fan of the first gen. Insight, I was expecting to to like Insight II. But I was really put off by the low quality feel of the interior and the so-so styling (interior and exterior). I came away thinking that spending a bit more on a Prius would be worthwhile. It seems like Honda has kinda lost its way in the last few years.
iDevin 6:42PM (5/19/2009)
@augustus
I found the noise of the engine itself to not be that bad, however the overall cabin noise on the freeway was noticeably louder than the Prius. The Insight is smaller, and clearly has less sound dampening as another way to cut costs. In regards to the poor gas/electric integration I didn't have too much of a problem with it. It felt sluggish off the line as the motors figured themselves out, something I've noticed in all Honda IMA cars I've driven, but nothing that you couldn't get used to with time.
The only other harshness I noticed after that was putting my foot down to get on the freeway where at one point I could feel something happen where presumably the electric motor realized it had some work to do. One of my biggest dislikes of Honda's IMA system in general is the lack of versatility of electric mode like Toyota's HSD. I feel that if the Insight used a system like HSD, it would be able to get much better mileage given the smaller size and lower weight of the Insight as compared to the Prius.
@slk23
I completely agree about the quality of the fit and finish of the materials. I think that the Insight will not be the ideal "people's hybrid" that Honda wants it to be. For that, I think we'll have to wait until Hyundai releases a hybrid. Hyundai can do cheap the right way. Honda was once able to but just seems to have forgotten how and it really shows in the new Insight.
Nikki Bloomfield 2:02AM (5/20/2009)
I couldn't agree more to your comment. I test drove the Insight a few weeks back and felt it to be a little less refined than the Prius. It almost felt like Honda were playing PC to Toyota's Mac.
http://www.aminorjourney.com/2009/04/25/identity-insight-crisis/
And don't get me wrong. I'm a Prius PHEV driver and a real EV advocate. But at the end of the day I'll drive the car which is the most comfortable, the most fuel efficient, the most practical and the most fun. The new Insight didn't seem to fill any of those. I suspect the iMiev will do better than both, but I'll just have to wait and see ;)
Sam 1:32PM (5/29/2009)
I think we need to take the whole sound thing in context, 40 db is about the sound a mosquito makes when it's right next to your ear, if you can tell the difference between 40 db and 42 db with out any sound equipment you've got superman ears.
win39 12:44PM (5/19/2009)
Not surprising. Clarkson just does not like Honda. Period. You can look where this review originated from and find a few other Honda reviews. Accord- ugly. Civic - just for old people. Civic Type R -"...its a disgrace". Does not much like Japanese. He has a tender back side and likes high horsepower. He has an prejudices and his reviews are tailored to back that up even to the Tesla smear he did and then denied he did it. He does turn a witty, outrageous phrase though. Entertaining, but not to be taken seriously. This is his first hybrid review.
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augustus 1:21PM (5/19/2009)
He seems to like the FCX clarity so I wouldn't say that he is anti-Honda. Perhaps some Insight owners could comment on his more particular critiques, specifically the engine noise and difficulty driving the car.
Yikes 3:54PM (5/19/2009)
Agreed.
Jeremy is just a shock jock like Howard Stern.
He will say anything to get a rise out of people.
win39 8:46PM (5/19/2009)
I hope A will forgive a little hyperbole in criticizing the king of hyperbole. Come on though, the Honda FCX Clarity is a future car estimated by some to cost $1 million a copy to build. It is future tech in a luxury package. I am sure that the stroking of Mr. Clark's ego to be allowed to drive a priceless, upscale hydrogen luxury prototype more than makes up for the fact that it is a Honda. Magazines here pick the Accord best in its class, year after year, but for Mr. Clark it is too ugly to buy. The current Civic when it debuted got the same praise, but Mr. Clark can't even bend to say it is even OK for ordinary people, but not his usual preference for a 500HP MB.
I agree that it will be interesting to get feedback from Insight Owners. So far road tests by real testers have been favorable though.
As for the Prius owners who are always disappointed by a Honda, I have not noticed that a Prius interior is also a sea of plastic. It is the way cars are made now. I think that Honda drivers tend to be drivers and Toyota drivers tend lo like to just make little inputs while they are transported by the car. I think Toyota drivers are always shocked when they feel the normal road sensations needed to make driving fun. They confuse it with cheapness when it is a designed driver's environment. They confuse a firm, drivers seat with "uncomfortable". With the Prius version it is even worse because they have thrown out proper instruments in front of the driver and reduced the sensation in the steering wheel even more. Evidently the new Prius fixes the steering and made standard the springs that were lately made optional after much criticism of the handling, but the new Serenity styling theme for the interior confuses a car interior for a meditation room. I find most Toyota interiors stifling to be in even as a passenger. Like being sealed in a tomb. Can't wait to get out of all that beige, sensory deprived nondescriptness. Don't misunderstand. I think what they have done with their hybrid technology is wonderful and worthy of great praise. It is just too bad it was not done by company that appreciated the driving experience more.
Nick 12:54PM (5/19/2009)
No-one should take Jeremy Clarkson seriously. He is just a spoilt little boy who thinks the world revolves around him. He is on the record (I've seen him say it on TV) as viewing pedestrians and cyclists as not entitled to use the road because they may hold him up in his need to get around as quickly as he likes. He thinks that speed limits (and speed cameras) are an invention of the devil and that motorists should be able to travel at whatever speed they deem appropriate, and everyone else should just get out of the way. He only cares about himself and no-one else and the scary thing is that some retards think he's got the right approach...
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brook 1:10PM (5/19/2009)
Clarkson FTW :D
Of course you can't take him "seriously", or else we'd be driving Lambos by now. He's more of an entertainer than a journalist, I guess.
Anyway, I think he's a good entertainer and I LOVE watching Top Gear. You can't call yourself a true pistonhead if you've never enjoyed watching Top Gear.
Whether you like him or not, you must agree that the golf will actually be even more economical than the Insight. It's a car that doesn't make sense. It's suppose to be all aboul fuel economy, but in the end is as good as a freakin diesel VW Golf.
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Patrick 2:42PM (5/23/2009)
Does the lower cost of driving the Golf include the $10K+ of parts and mechanic's labor it will take to get it to 100K miles.,
Luke 1:36PM (5/19/2009)
I haven't driven a Honda Insight, but I do drive a Prius regularly. I can state that, while the Prius is many things, it certainly is no sports car. I wouldn't expect the new Insight to be a sports car, either.
If Jeremy Clarkson only likes sports cars (and that seems to be what Top Gear is about), then there are a lot of reasons he might not like any hybird. That's fine. He can go back to driving laps on the racetrack, and I can go back to fetching groceries and power tools in low-impact CVT-provided smoothness. :-)
-Luke
P.S. A Prius-like vehicle isn't suitable for every purpose. I own a Ford Ranger, which is good for moving heavy objects. If we're hauling people and/or everyday purchases, we take the Prius. If we're hauling lumber or heavy/bulky/dirty objects, we take the truck. Easy!
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Yggdrasilly 1:52PM (5/19/2009)
STOP PRESS! Obnoxious Brit who's paid to be obnoxious, is obnoxious.
In other news: water wet, fire burns.
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