I have watched and read a bunch of reviews, and other than one that just dismissed the Insight as boring -- can't imagine what the guy thought of the Prius -- the main criticisms have been about electronics (if that's the right word) choices that Honda made.
One of them is the addition of engine buzz to the cabin via the speakers when the car is put in Sport mode. Getting performance out of the engine necessitates pushing it up to high RPM, and reviewers have said that the noise can be pretty shrill. Amplifying that would seem nonsensical, except maybe to boy racers, just the demographic likely to stay as far away from this vehicle as they can get.
The other is eliminating blind-spot monitoring and bringing back an old system that shows vehicles in the right lane when the right turn signal is activated. I suppose the latter can be useful, but it could be included as an an option to activate if desired. Why in the world Honda would eliminate blind-spot monitoring from the Honda-sensing suite is beyond me, when the cheapest Mazda 3 has it. That could be a deal-breaker for some folks, maybe for me. If someone from Honda is reading this, I think it would be a good idea to include blind-spot monitoring and retrofit the cars already made.
One of them is the addition of engine buzz to the cabin via the speakers when the car is put in Sport mode. Getting performance out of the engine necessitates pushing it up to high RPM, and reviewers have said that the noise can be pretty shrill. Amplifying that would seem nonsensical, except maybe to boy racers, just the demographic likely to stay as far away from this vehicle as they can get.
The other is eliminating blind-spot monitoring and bringing back an old system that shows vehicles in the right lane when the right turn signal is activated. I suppose the latter can be useful, but it could be included as an an option to activate if desired. Why in the world Honda would eliminate blind-spot monitoring from the Honda-sensing suite is beyond me, when the cheapest Mazda 3 has it. That could be a deal-breaker for some folks, maybe for me. If someone from Honda is reading this, I think it would be a good idea to include blind-spot monitoring and retrofit the cars already made.