Honda to revive the Insight as a Prius-fighter
The Insight Concept represent's Honda's next attempt to dethrone the Toyota Prius.
(Credit: Honda)Honda introduced the first gas-electric hybrid for purchase with the Insight in 1999, then came Toyota's Prius and everyone forgot about Honda's little hybrid that could. We all knew that Honda was working on a larger Prius-fighting, dedicated hybrid vehicle, but Honda has denied that they'd be reviving the Insight moniker for this new vehicle. On Thursday, Honda released the first official information and images of their Prius-killer concept and it's called, you guessed it, the Insight.
The Insight Concept carries over the styling cues of Honda's fuel cell vehicle, the FCX Clarity. It looks to us that Honda has been taking lessons from the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" school of thought, as the five-door, five-passenger hatchback configuration of the Insight is the same as that of the Prius. Squint your eyes and you'll see that the proportions from the a-pillar back are decidedly Prius-like. It's almost as though someone slapped the nose of the FCX Clarity onto Toyota's hybrid and called it a day.
Under the hood, the Insight will be powered by an evolution of Honda's Integrated Motor Assist hybrid technology, which powered the original Insight and the current Civic hybrid sedan. Honda is making almost as much of a big deal about the cost-efficiency of this power train as it is the fuel-efficiency and it's no secret that Honda is planning on winning the hybrid wars by undercutting the price of the incumbent Prius.
Honda will reveal a concept version of its new small hybrid vehicle at the 2008 Paris Motor Show and the production model is planned to go on sale in the U.S. next spring, the all-new purpose-built Insight will come to market at a price significantly below hybrids available today. Following the launch of the new Insight, Honda also plans to introduce another hybrid vehicle based on the CR-Z, first shown at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show.
left to right: CR-Z concept, FCX Clarity, Insight concept
(Credit: Honda)
Anyway, overall, right now the prius pretty much has the lowest drag coefficient of any car on the road today, along with being a roomy 5 seat hatchback. The karma may be pretty, but I have serious doubts about it being any sort of practical, as well as the fact that it doesn't exist.
I'm just worried with the back.... I don't like the Prius rearlights..
Anyways. This thing looks "A LOT BETTER" eh? It appears lower due to the larger wheels on the concept which will more than likely not make it on the production car. And sure, the front looks a bit more stylish than the Prius but how much better can the back be? It's obviously borrowing too much and for what? Most aerodynamic car on the road today? There are sports cars out there that now resemble F1 cars and you are attempting to claim this shoe is more aerodynamic.
The car pictured in the article is a concept, not the production car. In other words, things are bound to change, for better of worse.
As for getting a deisel, could you recommend a nice midsized four door hatchback diesel in or below the mid 20k range? Yeah I didn't think so. They are virtually non-existent at this point. I think there is a VW jetta wagon tdi coming up at some point here, though still no prius mileage, and VW reliability tends to be absolutely horrible (ranked 31st out of 36 companies by consumer reports). Oh, and you know diesel cars tend to command a premium of a couple thousand dollars over their gasoline counterparts, right? Just like... *gasp* hybrids! Not to mention huge much more expensive diesel fuels are. In the end, sounds like hybrids make quite a bit more economic sense at this point, but you are just desperately grasping for some way to bash them.
Anyway, not to bash diesels. They are going to be nice in the future, and I dream of a nice diesel plugin hybrid. I can't believe no ones even tried a diesel (non plugin) hybrid yet. You also mentioned the honda fit, which is actually one of my favorite cars on the road today. Before we got a prius, we actually did consider a fit as well (manual shift is also a big bonus), but unfortunately, it's quite a bit smaller than the prius. Can't exactly toss 4 people and all their stuff in there and take off on a long trip like we can in the prius. We certainly may end up getting that as our second new car here pretty soon.
How is a diesel more practical? As of the week of 9/01/08, diesel costs on average $4.121 cents a gallon nationwide, and gasoline costs $3.68. That is a difference of 44.1 cents per gallon! Yes, in general diesel has more energy threshold in diesel engines, but last I checked, the VW Jetta TDI gets combined mileage of 33MPG, while the Prius achieves 46MPG... BIG difference. That translates into $1913 a year in fuel costs for the Jetta, and $1217 for the Prius according to the EPA. So your paying nearly $700 more a year, or more than $50 more a month, just to drive a diesel. VW also tanks in Consumer Reports for their reliability, especially compared to Toyota.
Additionally, I've had my 2003 Civic Hybrid for 5 years now. Aside from oil changes, I've put less than 1000 dollars into it for mechanical issues. I don't feel like that is any different, and perhaps better, than any other car that one could own for 5 years.
So I'm not sure how you came to that conclusion.
BTW...hybrids , due to the added cost , takes 5-8 years to balance out. Then your batteries are gone and nobody will buy it.
More weight? Not really. The camry hybrid weighs 120 pounds more than a normal V6 camry (out of 3530 to 3650 pounds). Not that it makes any difference, considering the camry hybrid gets 34 mpg vs 22 mpg from the normal camry All this data is straight from consumer reports testing by the way, not that you can cite any of your sources.
Complexity? Maybe, but the prius and camry hybrid both receive "excellent" reliability scores from consumer reports, so more complex or not, they are just as reliable than the most reliable gasoline cars on the road today (the prius actually more so).
It's hard to counter what you say about your car considering you never said what is, but I highly suspect you are making up the 30mpg if it is really that big of a vehicle (not to mention I promise your car is heavier). Glad you feel superior because your car is bigger than a prius, but I'm sure people in large SUVs feel exactly the same way about you.
As for added cost, the faster gas prices go up, the faster they make up for themselves. Out of the 50,000 miles we have driven our prius in the first two years, we have more than made up for the cost over a similarly equipped toyota matrix (which is still smaller). So no, it has already more than made up for the 3k premium. As for the batteries going bad, they are covered for eight years by the warranty. I know people with 7 year old priuses, that still get the same mileage they used to. According to consumer reports, the prius has an "excellent" depreciation rating, meaning it will lose very little value over time.
So all that pretty much shoots down lie you just spewed. Try again next year. And cite your sources, so you don't look like... well, you.
Plus, your forecasting about hybrids complexity, costs, etc etc naysayer statements have been proven wrong with the Toyota Prius. My 2002 Prius is over 6 years old, paid off, and I still get 42-48MPG with 115,000 miles on the car. You should also take a look at the latest Consumer Reports about "balance out". Per their calculations, if would take *one year* to pay off the extra hybrid costs compared to a similar gas-only car. If any car is constructed with high reliability and is maintained per the schedule in the owner's manual, it will last.
Not everyone wants/needs to drive a *** Casket-On-Wheels
Assume you really kept it 5 years. It would need new batteries at a cost of $10,000 Might as well crush it at that point !
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by badger_prof
September 8, 2008 1:33 PM PDT
- I am always amazed by comments that appear to be motivated by "That is not what I want." Most of the negative Prius comments submitted so far sound pretty much like "That is now what I want." If everybody wanted the same thing, there would only be one car on the market. In one color. With no options. And, things would be boring. Boring? That is not what I want.
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(28 Comments)I have driven my Prius for 2.5 years. Is it the best looking car I have ever driven? No. Do I like the looks of my brother's Boxster better than the looks of my Prius? Yes. Could I afford to have bought the Boxster instead of the Prius? Yes. Do I think I made the wrong decision? No. Why not? Because I use more than one criterion when I make a decision on a car. Am I glad I bought the Prius? Yes.
Why am I glad that I bought the Prius? I use it mostly around town and it is a very comfortable, easy to drive car for in-town driving. Around town I average 40--45 mpg depending on the time of year and the particular driving I am doing. When I drive it on the interstate, I get about 50 mpg at about 72 mph. I actually like the way the Prius looks even thought I like the looks of the Boxster better. I love how much the Prius will hold considering it is not a large car. When I do not drive to work, I ride my hybrid Trek bike. With the back seat down, my bike fits in the car without taking a wheel off. If we drive more than a couple of hundred miles, we drive my wife's hybrid Camry. It is very comfortable and gets 40 mpg at 72 mph.
By the way, the insurance on my Prius costs me less than the insurance for the Passat that I drove before the Prius. The crash tests of the Prius suggest it is safer for driver and passenger than the Passat and any of the giant SUVs out there. Compare the cost of insurance for a large SUV to that of the Prius. You might be surprised. Oh yeah. Compare the reliability of the Prius to any of those SUVs.
One more thing. I care about the environment. The Prius is consistent with that value set.
My friends who do construction work drive trucks. Mostly big trucks. Could they drive a Prius instead of their big trucks? Of course not. But, ask your friends who do construction work or who are plumbers or electricians if gas mileage matters to them and see what they say. Those friends also care about the environment which explains why more and more of them are buying trucks that burn biodiesel fuel.
Is the Prius right for you? It depends.