Honda:Honda Insight hybrid was an "unmitigated disaster"

Hm, i like the Insight, but then i don't. It's very bumpy, loud, the CVT reacts too slow. I rather like the feel of Toyota's planetary gear set, then Honda's belt and cone type. The dash is very thin and cheap feeling, and does not feel...well..."good". When Honda announced the new Insight back in 2009, I was so excited, thinking it was going to be like a Gen.II Prius and feel good on the inside, and I don't know...I was let down though.

 

The 2010 Insight is actually a pretty good looking car. In many ways I like its style better than the new Prius. It's easier to get comfortable in it although a tad small for me. Rest is all downhill though. It's not even recommended by CR. Overall, it's a disappointment.

Honda better get on the stick and build full hybrids. They cannot compete with that IMA system. Insight - lesser FE and much smaller.

 

As for the Civic, it is a fabulous little sedan - the Corolla can't touch it in ergonomics or fun to drive factor.

But, Honda seems retarded for not bringing a 4 door hatchback version of the Civic. It would whomp on the Matrix and surely have better reliability than a Mazda3. I guess they figure it's not a big enough market. Fit not good for tall drivers. CR-V gets pricey quickly.

Honda is introducing too many bombs these days - Insight, Crosstour, CR-Z may well have limited sales.

 

It's too bad that Honda feels that the Insight didn't meet expectations. I hope they try to improve upon it rather than shelve the car.

Cycledrum, have you had a chance to sit in the new CR-Z? I saw one on 880 (between 238 and 92) as I was driving to work. Nice looking car. While it isn't the gas mileage king that my car is, it certainly looks good.

 

Yes. It sits just like a sports car - you're very low to the ground, so there'll be some climbing up out of it n vice versa. Big legroom for tall people and think the headroom was good for me. Looks like it will go around turns on a dime. Wide stance. It is very sharp looking and petite. Would I drop this Prius for it? No.

 

Wow.

He might be right, but to publicly make that statement is surprising.

I feel sorry for Insight owners. It's bad enough when Jeremy Clarkson is taking shots at your vehicle, but when top Honda Executives are calling your car an unmitigated disaster that doesn't live up to standards of value and quality? Well you don't expect that from the manufacturer...I'd be mad if I was an Insight Owner.

I'd like to see the whole quote or be priviledge to the entire context. A VP of a major branch of Honda shouldn't publicly be calling one of their own products a comparitive bad value, of lesser quality and an unmitigated disaster. (even if an arguement can be made that it's probably true).

 

I think this is a harsher judgement than the Insight deserves:

	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4	Column 5	Column 6
0	model	vol ft{3}	user MPG	ft{3}*mpg
1	Civic CVT	09	101	46.3	4	676
2	Insight CVT	10	101	47.0	4	747
3	Jetta mT	10	107	44.8	4	794
4	Golf mT	10	109	44.8	4	883
5	Insight A7	10	101	49.5	5	000
6	Prius eCVT	10	116	49.2	5	707

From Fuel Economy ordered in volume*MPG order.

The Insight has the same internal volume as the Honda Civic but significantly better mileage. This is brilliant engineering giving it the second best, user mileage bar none. What is sad is the EPA numbers show the Insight a lot worse and nothing close to the actual MPG.

These cars are ordered using Chris Hogan's metric, by volume times MPG. It looks like a slight stretch of the Insight, adding 5 to 8 ft{3} would make it a significantly better value compared to the diesels. Stretched, it could gain rear seat and front leg room and thus fix a major problem. Drop the CVT and voila, the Insight would be much improved.

As for the Civic, let's see what the new one looks like.

Bob Wilson

 

Disaster is a little harsh, unless their goal was to outsell the Prius! I think the insight isn't that bad, could use some tweaks, electric AC and the like. But they'll probably scrap it!

 

I couldn't agree more.

I tested an Insight after the excitement of waiting for it's release and was so disappointed with the quality of the thing.

I have a diesel Honda CR-V which I wanted to trade in. This is a great, quality car so for Honda to screw up on this was a big let down for people..and the dealers knew this

Anyhow I've now placed my order for a 2010 Black Prius T-Spirit (UK) with Privacy Glass and LED Headlights.

The 10 week lead time can't go quick enough!

 

I think he meant disaster sales-wise, not engineering-wise. Yes technically it's a failure, but not a disaster. But a slip from a VP like that? That's a real disaster!

 

I originally went to look at the Honda, but was put off by the poor rear leg and head room and that dreadfully cheesey tree growing economy thing on the dash.

Also, when it was released it wasn't much cheaper than the new Prius, so the compromises in having the Honda wasn't worth the savings against the Prius. It wasn't a bad car compared to the gen2 Prius, but no match for the gen3/2010 Prius.

 

Um, the entire assalt on the new insight is a year old:

The Honda Insight 1.3 IMA SE Hybrid: “It

So . . . I guess I don't get it since a bunch of us already beat this dead horse. I'm all for letting honda fix their blunder ... like I said last year when many were flailing away.

.

 

the insight is like a turd hanging out of a dogs nice person.


you have to shake it off to get away from it.

 

The Insight was the victim of bad timing and marketing. It was never intended to be a direct Prius competitor, but somehow fell into that slot. It is smaller, cheaper, and less equipped, and was always meant to UNDERCUT the Prius by appealing to entry level buyers who wanted a hybrid, not compete with it. The fact that it's styling is so close to the Prius didn't help (even though the Prius technically ripped off its styling from the Honda CRX and Insight 1). The timing of its introduction was the biggest killer, though. Gas was under $2 and all the flaws of an economy car were magnified. Had they released the Insight a year earlier, when gas was $5, it would have been a sales success for sure.

 

no way. it was supposed to be an affordable prius, the price difference was negligible compared to quality and technical difference. wouldn't have mattered when they introduced it. a dog is a dog.
"honda vp calls insight unmitigated disaster", "castro says cuban model didn't work" tell us something we don't know.

 

Prius is very similar to 2000-2005 Celica. It is pretty much a 4 door version of it. The Insight II is said to derive the styling from the FCX (2005 concept) but FCX looked very much like a 2004 production Prius.

 

My wife has had one for 6 months, and it's a great little car. $5K cheaper than my Prius cost me. She likes it better than the Prius.

Last time I looked, they were selling almost as well as the Ford Fusion hybrid. No.3, I believe.
Pretty good, considering Honda has about 1/10 the dealerships of Ford, and probably 1/5 as many as Toyota.

Don't believe everything you hear or read in the media. Judge for yourself. There has to be something behind all this negative stuff about Honda and Toyota. Sounds like all that phony political attack advertising.

 

The Insight look's good. Just the quality and ride is horrid.