Motor Trend Video Comparison - 2010 Prius vs Insight

After viewing this it appears that the only praise you can really give the Insight is that it's cheap and many people can afford it.

It's noisier, lighter & slower steering, and seriously, I've heard people complain about the Prius dash, but did you see the dash on the Insight??? It was seriously funky looking. The Prius dash is "different" for sure, but as the reviewer noted it is a clean looking design. It has nice lines to it and doesn't look like a "first effort Hyundai type of design" like the Insight.

Impressed and can't wait to try out the ride that he described as substantial, high end Lexus like quality. That's saying a lot. I'm hoping he's not exagerating because the one thing I typically hate about sub $30K cars are the suspensions and noise.

 

The Insight was built from the Fit platform and if you ever ridden in a Fit its a busy ride on uneven highways. Its not a car for any long rides since the seats don't provide that much support and I'm not a big guy either.

Hondas have always tuned their suspensions toward a more "sporty" feel so it should not come as a surprise that the Hondas feel tauter and the Toyotas feel more plush.

I've driven the Insight and it feels spritel around the city but didn't take it on the highway or up any slopes so can't really say that this car will inspire me since I live up a hill.

 

True. Prius is probably better than Insight in many aspects.
However, people take $$$ into consideration when purchasing or leasing their vehicles.
Insight became the best selling vehicles (among ALL - gen-II Prius included) in Japan.
The tile was held by Fit in March. It sold more than 10K in Japan for April.
We will see how the new Prius will do when the time comes....
http://www.vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=831501

Base prices comparison is not that meaningful either. You just know that there will be a price gap between Insight and Prius. The market demand will strike a balance between the two.
I was behind a new Insight the other day. From behind, it looked an old Insight/CRX, not a Prius. The front looked like nothing like the Prius, either. The side profile of Insight definitely resembles the Prius. My daughter will need a vehicle in a couple of years. I will definitely choose one between the two.

 

I've taken two test drives in the new Insight EX w/o NAV at two different dealers. The biggest issues I had were:

rear seat headroom and legroom (I'm 6'2")
noisy engine while it's going up hills (very high revs)
lower fuel economy (own a 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid 5-spd)
$3000-$4000 markup the dealers wouldn't budge on

Both test drives were over approximately 15 miles with mix city/highway and the best average mpg was around 39MPG with Econ enabled with 9 out of 10 leaves acquired (driving efficiency). My current HCH would return around 48-52mpg on the same loop.

On the plus side the interior noise was less then my HCH and it had a fold down rear seat.

I can't wait to test drive the new Prius to see if I will be trading in my HCH. The new Insight was definitely a disappointment.

 

I would say the 2010 Prius is much better than the Insight. According to Motor Trend and Car & Driver magazines, the new Insight is better than the 2009 Prius.

 

In fairness, both the interior and exterior of the Insight look surprisingly better in person (than in photos - or even on video)

 

From L.A. Times 5/12.

"In this corner in the red trunks the Contender - Insight.
And in this corner in the White trunks the Champion - Prius".


Ding!!! Round One. And they come out fighting....


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Insight vs. Prius battle heats up

Head to the movies this summer and you’re going to see some battles. Harry Potter vs. Lord Voldemort. John Connor vs. angry motorcycles. Mr. Spock vs. true fans. But one more battle is shaping up to be a knock-down, drag-out slugfest: the battle between Honda’s 2010 Insight and Toyota’s 2010 Prius.

Back in March, Honda struck first when it announced the pricing on itslittle eco-baby: $20,470. It was a clear shot across the bow of Toyota, whose own green darling (the third-generation Prius) hits U.S. and Japanese dealers in a week or so, with a starting price of $22,750.

Ostensibly, Honda’s bargain-bin pricing shook Toyota up a bit.

In April, it announced, despite the fact that theaforementioned base Prius “provided more than $2,000 added value,†a super-cheap Prius would be available in the fall, with a slightly reduced MSRP of $21,750.

Then came Honda’s “populist†ad campaign, which nearly anyone with a TV has seen by now. The ads feature Insights and their owners at the beach or an urban rooftop, multiplying like rabbits (the animal…not the car). The narrator then tells you the car is “a hybrid for everyone.†Given our advanced powers of deduction, we’ve surmised this means Honda thinks the Prius ain’t. Ouch.

Then came Monday’s news that Honda’s Insight was the best-selling car in Japan for the month of April, making it the first hybrid to top the country’s monthly sales charts. Maybe Honda is onto something with this hybrid-for-everyone kick.
Toyota, as you might have guessed, isn’t resting on its proverbial laurels. While Honda was touting its sales success on Monday, Toyota pulled the wraps off its new ad campaign, bearing the slogan “Harmony between man, nature and machine.†A close look reveals that the flowers, clouds and sun are actually dancing people, animated, no doubt, by the fact that the car driving before them gets 50 mpg versus the Insight’s 41. Expect to see the ad in heavy rotation.

Where won’t you see harmony? Between the two automakers. With all the auto industry in dire straits, and Toyota posting its first annual loss since 1950, expect both companies to wage an all-out battle for your green dollars that would make even the Terminator proud.

 

The Insight is basically a Honda Fit undeneath. To be honest I think Honda would sell more Hybid Fits than Insights. The Fit is very practical and has a lot of headroom unlike the Insight. I do like the dash in the Insight.

 

Where the comparison lost it for me was when they preferred the Insight due to it cost $3000 or more less than the Prius.

Of course, they made that claim before they saw Toyota's new reduced pricing on the 2010 Prius.

Will Motor Trend re-evaluate the two cars with the smaller price differencial?

 

They should have compared the the Insight to the Prius II instead of V.
He made no mention of the very large price difference between the two as tested models. The V also has 17 wheels and the faster steering than the Prius II and this affected the handling.
When the Prius I comes out, that will be the most fair comparison.