[Mindy Shepard]

Last Saturday I walked into a Honda dealership, intent on getting a CRV and ended up with a 2019 Insight Touring edition. My better half spotted this gorgeous car sitting in the showroom and dragged me over to it.
So the thought of a CRV went out the window.
The car is that crimson colour, and being the Touring edition, so of course it’s loaded to the nuts.
We picked it up last Wednesday night and even though I’ve only had it a few days, I absolutely love this thing.
I find it and the Accord hybrid to be about the best looking hybrids on the market and they don’t look like taxis. As just about every taxi in Vancouver is a Prius.
I cannot wait to get that sweet ride out on the road this summer and drive it down to the Oregon coast.
In closing, thanks for having me and I look forward to reading the posts and getting input and and information from other Insight owners.

 

[insightfully]

Welcome to the forum! Do you feel like you've given anything up by opting for sedan versus SUV? Or did the Insight Touring offer more than the CRV you were initially considering?

 

[andrew28]

Last Saturday I walked into a Honda dealership, intent on getting a CRV and ended up with a 2019 Insight Touring edition. My better half spotted this gorgeous car sitting in the showroom and dragged me over to it.
So the thought of a CRV went out the window.
The car is that crimson colour, and being the Touring edition, so of course it’s loaded to the nuts.
We picked it up last Wednesday night and even though I’ve only had it a few days, I absolutely love this thing.
I find it and the Accord hybrid to be about the best looking hybrids on the market and they don’t look like taxis. As just about every taxi in Vancouver is a Prius.
I cannot wait to get that sweet ride out on the road this summer and drive it down to the Oregon coast.
In closing, thanks for having me and I look forward to reading the posts and getting input and and information from other Insight owners.

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your new Insight! It probably saved you some headaches from the CRV which is currently undergoing fixes for oil dilution.

• Oil Dilution in Honda's 1.5L Engine - Honda Problems
• https://www.carcomplaints.com/news/2018/honda-cr-v-oil-dilution-fix.shtml

 

[highmiler]

Welcome to the forum!
Good choice to be making over the CR-V. I always thought Honda could have done more to its SUV line up. An Insight SUV or something to that effect would be great but if it happens, I imagine that would be years from now.

 

[PHILBERT]

Welcome, and congratulations on the new Insight.

Your wife has a keen eye. It's a sharp looking car, but wait until you start driving it! Hugs the road like a magnet. Smooth and quiet. Quite a nice car to drive. I love Sport Mode, as it's even tighter and more powerful. Maximum regeneration is like an energy recovery automatic break when you let off the throttle. But then again I really like playing the mileage game some days, and it's fun to see how good you can get it without being a total dog in traffic. Normal mode works best (at least around here), as I have actually seen decreased mileage in Econ Mode. My favorite game is to fully charge the battery in Sport Mode, and then run Econ and EV mode, which will let EV run down to the minimum of 20% battery left, and see how far I can go in EV (only electric motor) Mode. Believe it or not, EV mode will work at highway speeds. Just don't push the throttle into the gray section. Stay in the Blue as much as you can...or even better green.

You made a good choice. It's a gorgeous car! Congrats again.

Phil

PS - I told my dealer to put an Insight on the showroom floor, and they would sell a lot more of them. For some reason they are not pushing the Insight. Maybe it's the "follow the crowd cause everyone has an SUV now thing", I don't know. Hopefully Honda will promote the Insight in the spring and summer...and fall.

 

[andrew28]

Welcome to the forum!
Good choice to be making over the CR-V. I always thought Honda could have done more to its SUV line up. An Insight SUV or something to that effect would be great but if it happens, I imagine that would be years from now.

They have a hybrid CRV in Japan that offers up to 7 seats. :wink:
https://www.gen3insight.com/forum/7...on/1976-buy-now-wait-2020-model.html#post8380

PS - I told my dealer to put an Insight on the showroom floor, and they would sell a lot more of them. For some reason they are not pushing the Insight. Maybe it's the "follow the crowd cause everyone has an SUV now thing", I don't know. Hopefully Honda will promote the Insight in the spring and summer...and fall.

I kind of wish I jumped on the hybrid bandwagon sooner but I had to wait for something like the Insight to come along. Regenerative braking and EV mode makes a big difference in city driving due to traffic getting worse each and every month it feels like.

 

[hasarad]

PS - I told my dealer to put an Insight on the showroom floor, and they would sell a lot more of them. For some reason they are not pushing the Insight. Maybe it's the "follow the crowd cause everyone has an SUV now thing", I don't know. Hopefully Honda will promote the Insight in the spring and summer...and fall.

The dealer will always push vehicles with the higher profit margin. Those get the prime floor space. I still can't believe they sell the Insight for as little as they do.

The first dealer I visited had difficulty finding the Insight on his lot - it was buried at the back of the lot. I'll bet he knew where to find the CR-V though.

 

[PHILBERT]

They have a hybrid CRV in Japan that offers up to 7 seats. :wink:
https://www.gen3insight.com/forum/7...on/1976-buy-now-wait-2020-model.html#post8380


I kind of wish I jumped on the hybrid bandwagon sooner but I had to wait for something like the Insight to come along. Regenerative braking and EV mode makes a big difference in city driving due to traffic getting worse each and every month it feels like.

It sure does. And I too waited so long. I had NO PLANS to buy a new car. Maybe a used 2014 Insight, just for around town, if I could get a killer deal on one. Boy, was I hooked once I saw this thing. NO REGRETS!

Phil

 

[PHILBERT]

The dealer will always push vehicles with the higher profit margin. Those get the prime floor space. I still can't believe they sell the Insight for as little as they do.

The first dealer I visited had difficulty finding the Insight on his lot - it was buried at the back of the lot. I'll bet he knew where to find the CR-V though.

Same here! Way back of the lot where no one is allowed to go. Almost like they were hiding it.

Look at it this way, we got a low price point that may never come again if this thing takes off. I would hate to see it flop though. :sad:

Mixed feelings.

Phil

 

[insightfully]

I kind of wish I jumped on the hybrid bandwagon sooner but I had to wait for something like the Insight to come along. Regenerative braking and EV mode makes a big difference in city driving due to traffic getting worse each and every month it feels like.

I found this comment interesting because I bought the Insight DESPITE it being a hybrid car.

I was pretty certain my next car was going to be a non-turbo Civic, but I couldn't come to terms with the "racer boy" styling. Price negotiations on Civics were also tough; more Civics are sold than Accords in U.S.; I also only wanted silver exterior, which was hard to come by at Civic model year end.

After test driving the Insight, I said to the salesperson, "well, I guess I don't HATE it..." The Insight styling and availability of volume knob (versus 2018 Civic design available at the time of purchase) were plusses to me, along with other advantages of the Insight. This AND the ability to negotiating Insight price more easily than for a Civic won me over. Hybrid was the last consideration and/or almost a compromise when making my purchase.

 

[andrew28]

I found this comment interesting because I bought the Insight DESPITE it being a hybrid car.

I was pretty certain my next car was going to be a non-turbo Civic, but I couldn't come to terms with the "racer boy" styling. Price negotiations on Civics were also tough; more Civics are sold than Accords in U.S.; I also only wanted silver exterior, which was hard to come by at Civic model year end.

After test driving the Insight, I said to the salesperson, "well, I guess I don't HATE it..." The Insight styling and availability of volume knob (versus 2018 Civic design available at the time of purchase) were plusses to me, along with other advantages of the Insight. This AND the ability to negotiating Insight price more easily than for a Civic won me over. Hybrid was the last consideration and/or almost a compromise when making my purchase.

The Insight just happened to be on my radar cause the prototype design caught my attention when Honda unveiled it. I did want a car with better fuel economy but it wasn't a priority. LED headlights, CarPlay, advance safety features, modern classy design, quiet cabin, comfort, and decent hp were more of my priority. The test drive sort of convinced me this is the car... Starting the car up made no noise, sport mode didn't feel like a fake mode, and the user interface (on the tablet and driver display) actually made sense.

I considered the following cars...

• 2019 Ford Fusion - Previously leased a 2017 and had access to amazing incentives.
• Chevy Volt - Had access to amazing incentives.
• 2019 Mazda 3 w/SkyactivX - SkyactivX intrigued me and new generation redesign.
• 2019 Honda Civic - Had a good ownership experience with my previous Civic.
• Honda Accord Hybrid - The Insight got me to look into it.
• 2019 Hyundai Elantra - Decent value for the money.

Reasons I didn't choose these cars....

• 2019 Ford Fusion - I liked the handling of the Insight better and the push button transmission. Ford still use a rotary like transmission which I sometimes turn to park by accident after reversing. Also while driving the 2019 Fusion, Ford never fixed that weird feeling I get while driving on the highway, where the steering feels kind of like your tires aren't touching pavement. My previous Fusion got poor fuel economy (20-25mpg) but it could be due to AWD.
• Chevy Volt - The rear middle seat was a deal breaker, not much rear passenger room, no Chevy dealerships within Boston if I ever need urgent service, would had been a lease(not willing to own a Chevy Volt), and I wanted to own my next car.
• 2019 Mazda 3 w/SkyactivX - Car still in development.
• 2019 Honda Civic - The Insight had LED headlights without needing to spend Touring trim money.
• 2019 Honda Accord Hybrid - The car would had cost more than I wanted to spend if I wanted certain things like LED headlights and CarPlay.
• 2019 Hyundai Elantra - I didn't like the cheap looking interior, the way the car drove, and potential lower resale value compared to Toyota/Honda.

If the 3rd gen Insight didn't exist, it would had been 2019 Honda Civic EX, or wait for the 2019 Mazda 3 w/SkyactivX.

 

[Moviemike]

Impressive process of comparison shopping!


Guess I'm just the opposite. I buy for quality and high mpg. My wife bought a gen 1 in 06. I bought a '10 gen 2, it was #77 off the production line, sold it and got '15 Civic Hybrid, wife got '14 gen 2 in 15 (low low price on a base model which didn't sell) and now I'm 3 weeks into '19 gen 3 EX which has the BEST tech and the MOST fun to drive of all of 'um