Best HYBRID

No. It is my understanding that the C gets the best mpg of all non plug in hybrids. That being said, my wife's car is a 2006 Smart For 2 diesel which is currently getting about 73 mpg. Mercedes discontinued offering diesel Smarts in North America on 2007 and never offered it in the US (as far as I know). Our Smart is a great little car to drive but it is limited in its practicality for most people.

 

Let's face it nobody beats Prius in the gasoline hybrid space.
That's part of the reason the USA is more interested in Plug_in electrics as an area we can take leadership. So you might consider a Leaf or Volt or Ford plug-in if you want to go that way.

 

In terms of the EPA ratings, nothing beats a Prius c.

In the real world:
- If you have a lot of low-speed time in the car the Prius c will definitely be the one for you.
- If you're predominantly a highway driver, then depending on speed and conditions the Honda Insight, which seems to return better-than-EPA fuel economy, could be close enough that you'd want to look into it, especially given that you should be able to get a very good price on one as sales number are low. If you're dealing with very hot conditions for a significant part of the year you'd really also want to look into how they perform under heavy A/C load.

If you're thinking about it in $$$$ terms then some more information about your driving patterns (miles per year and city/highway split) would help you get appropriate advice.

 

In the subcompact arena you only have one choice for now, unfortunately. Other manufacturers only offer hybrids in their bigger, heavier, more expensive vehicles.

 

If used cars are on option, the original Honda Insight (not the -II) in a 5 speed transmission is still the champ for Highway and Combined ratings, though not City. But at this age you would likely have to deal with some battery problems.

 

You've answered your own question.

 

For long highway trips, the Prius hatchback. For city driving, commuting and shorter errand duty the Prius c. No one else does this as well as this pair... for the price. Plug ins are great for city... but there's a bit of a price increase involved and EV range is fairly limited. Pure electric cars are still a tad expensive, but would most likely be the best for city type duty, as long as the range exceeds the route length.

Ford's all electric Focus range is 76 miles (EPA) and costs $39,995 with destination... but their web site mentions a whopping $10,750 incentive that brings the price down to $29,245 or so. Not sure if that includes tax incentives as well.

So if you typically drive less than 76 miles a day... that would probably be the most economical car to drive. Same with the Leaf, but the Leaf's not as good looking in my eyes.

I would really like to see a similar electric in Fiesta size. Unfortunately I ski and the shortest round trip to my ski area is 100 miles. Prius c would still have to be my choice, until the electric range moves up a little more.

I really wanted to buy one of the original Honda Insights. Looked at and drove a manual... very good little car. Perfect commuter... and not a bad longer trip car. Wife did not concur... she found it too small for the price... even if it was aluminum bodied and had a great interior. Wish I would have gotten one. Still like them. Coworker bought one. Never had a problem with it. He moved away due to a medical condition, so that car went south to Florida with him. As far as I know, that Insight is still going strong.

 

Yep, I think Honda screwed up when they dropped the original Insight to try and compete with the roomier Prius. Should have just added another version, kind of like Prius did with the new V.

 

Yup, they screwed up big time. Totally agree!

 

Anyone seen a hybrid Fit? I know - not available here. We have a 2007 Fit and love it - MPG is not so good but a very versatile vehicle. My wife won't give it up - I even offered to buy her another car.

The new Insight - I went to look at one before I bought the C. Not impressed and they didn't seem anxious to sell it. If they had a hybrid Fit - I would have bought it on the spot.

Honda is supposed to roll out a "new" hybrid system which works more like the Toyota system.

 

I think there's an electric Fit available only in California? Not completely sure about that.

 

Fit EV - Not recommended for over 70 mile commute.

EV - only the Tesla is equivalent in range to ICE vehicles....but the price!! and doubts about reliability.

 

They really couldn't. The Insight relied on lean burn, which raises NOx and it wouldn't meet toughened emissions standards. Besides that, ever-toughening safety standards would naturally add weight and lower the efficiency.

Sales were very low, under 100 per month. Even with rising gas prices, limited utilty combined with changes that would lower efficiency would have made it hard to compete with the Gen 2Prius and grow sales.

They really needed a different approach.

 

The Fit EV is going to be expanded to the other CARB states.

 

Honda could have upgraded their first Insight engine technology or gone with a modern atkinson cycle power plant. Don't think the car was intended to be a big volume seller. It was a little ahead of it's time... and unfortunately sold in a country where you could get a huge hulking car for the same price at a time when gasoline wasn't all that expensive.


I really think Honda was on to something, but they dropped the ball.

 

In 2006 Katrina caused gas to go up to $3.09 locally and I knew this was the way it was going to be. I test drove a new Insight and TDI looking for a solution. I tried to check out the Prius, but there were none available in the DFW area. If you wanted one, you paid the deposit to get on the waiting list, pretty much got whatever came in, then the arrogant pr--ks charged $4,000 over MSRP...because they could. This was the last year the Insight was available and the last year for the TDI before the EPA got their hands on them. I was reluctant to buy a hybrid because of the replacement cost of the battery and my perceived dependence on Honda for all maintenance. Sound familiar. So the 3/4 Ton V10 was replaced with a TDI Beetle with a lifetime 40 MPG. The Insight was getting 65-70 MPG then and that is one "do over" I wish I had. I purchased my 2010 Prius right before the Tsunami for a fair price (lifetime 50 MPG) and passed the VW down as my Son's first car. Dealer stock was high then and they were much more friendly this go around.

At this time...Prius or Prius C depending on use, is the best Hybrid...but Toyota better not rest on their laurels. The competition is ramping up.

 

Fit-EV doesn't have the "magic seat", which really kills its usefulness.

 

IMO, the Toyota Hybrid power split setup is really a marvel of technology that has put them ahead of the hybrid pack. They got rid of one of the most wasteful components, the slush box. With an automatic transmission running on gears and controlled by a computer, they really can eek out the MPGs. Sure, improving the electric side of the equation will help MPG's, but not without significant cost.