I spent quality time with a white Touring Insight today at Charlie's Honda in Augusta, Maine. IMO, it's the best-looking car Honda has produced in a long time, one-upping the Civic sedan, which I thought was the best-looking until now. The proportions and accents are just right. The driver's seat was comfortable (lack of lumbar aside), but the passenger's seat was oddly low and the bottom flat (not at all tilted back). Can't say I understood the reason for that.
The car has a very smooth, settled feel on the road, with nicely weighted steering. It corners reasonably flat, although I would upgrade the sway bars if aftermarket ones became available. The disconnect between the engine and the drive motor becomes apparent on a long uphill, where the engine tends to drone at a fairly high RPM -- don't know what because there's no tach -- as the motor digs in to deliver the needed torque. Putting it in ECON mode and keeping a light foot on the throttle helps, but of course you lose speed going uphill that way. The brakes felt firm and the transition from regen to disks was seemless. All in all, the Insight drove very nicely -- much more connected than either Prius or Prius Prime.
The system whereby you get a video image of what's to the car's right when you turn on the right signal (Lane Watch?) is a bit baffling. I can see how that's helpful on an interstate where you're in the left lane and signalling to move over to the right. But when you are going down a country road and signalling a right turn at the stop sign ahead, as I did, you see cows in the field or, more likely, just the side of the road. Blind-spot monitoring seems FAR more useful.
BTW, if you look under all the Styrofoam in the trunk, you will find a normal wheel-well, with an actual place to screw down a spare tire. Yes, they put a threaded bracket there. Some review I saw said that Honda was going to sell them, but my dealer didn't know anything about it, and it's not on Honda's list of accessories. I imagine you could get a wheel/tire, jack, lug wrench, etc. from a wrecked Civic, and they would fit just fine. But that's just a guess. If I buy an Insight, I will get jack & spare tire, although I suspect few people will.
The car has a very smooth, settled feel on the road, with nicely weighted steering. It corners reasonably flat, although I would upgrade the sway bars if aftermarket ones became available. The disconnect between the engine and the drive motor becomes apparent on a long uphill, where the engine tends to drone at a fairly high RPM -- don't know what because there's no tach -- as the motor digs in to deliver the needed torque. Putting it in ECON mode and keeping a light foot on the throttle helps, but of course you lose speed going uphill that way. The brakes felt firm and the transition from regen to disks was seemless. All in all, the Insight drove very nicely -- much more connected than either Prius or Prius Prime.
The system whereby you get a video image of what's to the car's right when you turn on the right signal (Lane Watch?) is a bit baffling. I can see how that's helpful on an interstate where you're in the left lane and signalling to move over to the right. But when you are going down a country road and signalling a right turn at the stop sign ahead, as I did, you see cows in the field or, more likely, just the side of the road. Blind-spot monitoring seems FAR more useful.
BTW, if you look under all the Styrofoam in the trunk, you will find a normal wheel-well, with an actual place to screw down a spare tire. Yes, they put a threaded bracket there. Some review I saw said that Honda was going to sell them, but my dealer didn't know anything about it, and it's not on Honda's list of accessories. I imagine you could get a wheel/tire, jack, lug wrench, etc. from a wrecked Civic, and they would fit just fine. But that's just a guess. If I buy an Insight, I will get jack & spare tire, although I suspect few people will.
