Non-members can see only five Honda Insight reviews per section.
Join us and see them all.Why the Honda Insight?
Price or payments: The 2010 Honda Insight is probably the cheapest new hybrid currently available.
Fuel economy: It's EPA rated at 41/43. That's around what I'm getting.
Brand reputation & image: Honda has a good reputation for dependable cars.
Safety & braking: It's bare-boned, but it has good safety features (assorted airbags, and VSA). You can turn off the VSA, which you can't in a Prius. The Insight depends on VSA less, which avoids problems Prii are having. Also, the Insight isn't silent, so walkers hear it
Why Not the Toyota Prius?
Safety & braking: Numerous reports of over aggressive Traction Control shutting down Prius engines on slippery/snowy/icy conditions; e.g.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/01/prius_winter.html
It didn't sound like Toyota was going to fix this in the new model.
Price or payments: Even the low end Prius was a few thousand more than the mid-range Insight EX.
Why the Honda Insight?
Exterior styling: Front end look, tail lights and overall shape
Control design: ECO feedback is a great feature. High bright speedometer is easy to see. Easy to switch display modes. Tachometer, charge/disarge gauge. Over all colorful asthetic is well designed.
Interior styling: Seats are comfortable, head rests rear go down for better rear visability. Spilt seat folds flat for plenty or room. Storage bins under rear floor a useful. Placement of cup holders and storage are well layed out as well.
Handling: Feels like a responsive small car. Good feel of road, tight turning radius.
Price or payments: Lower price is a bonus on what is a nicer car
Why Not the Toyota Prius?
Exterior styling: It looks like an egg. Clear tail lights are too big. Front looks boxy.
Control design: Dashboard in the middle is a no go, too high and far away, must look to the left, hard to read. Flying buttress console in the middle looks ridiculous and takes up to much room. Cup holder placement too far back.
Interior styling: Rear head rests obscure view. Bland looking color of dash display.
Handling: Sluggish on acceleration from stop. Feels heavy.
Why the Honda Insight?
Price or payments: Less expensive than the Prius
Fuel economy: Just about the same as the Prius. Look at Fuelly.com and see for yourself.
Brand reputation & image: Honda makes great cars
Exterior styling: A bit lower to the ground and smaller than the Prius = better handling
Handling: Honda's handle well. Toyota's generally do not. When pushed, this Insight responds well. The Insight's great reputation is all over the 'net.
Why Not the Toyota Prius?
Handling: Softer, floaty ride. Not fun to drive.
Dealership practices: Big mark-up.
Reliability & durability: nothing except for Toyota's business practices.
Price or payments: Several thousand more than the Insight.
Why the Honda Insight?
Materials & workmanship: Honda, no problems so far
Fuel economy: 40-45mpg. Slower you drive, better the milage
Why Not the Volkswagen Jetta?
Reliability & durability: 1 year old, shop needed to work on motor at least twice.
Fuel economy: 20-22 mpg
Why the Honda Insight?
Price or payments: The price/value for what I was getting cinched the deal.
Why the Toyota Prius?
Rear seat room & comfort: Rear seat legroom is excellent, even with front seat all the back. One of the roomiest backseats of any car I have owned including much larger cars.
Quietness: Very quiet in city driving.
Powertrain performance: performance is stronger than Insight. Less engine noise and smoother acceleration off the line.
Fuel economy: Highest fuel economy of any vehicle I know of.
Reliability & durability: My Prius has been absolutely flawless for 106,000 miles. It still drives like new and has needed nothing other than routine maintenance. Not even a burned out light bulb.
Why the Toyota Prius?
Fuel economy: Who doesn't like 50mpg?
Quietness: Very quiet while driving; engine is quieter than Insight, road noise is less than Insight.
Audio & nav systems: The JBL audio system sounds very nice. Still getting use to the Nav system. There is alot of menu choices.
Powertrain performance: You have power when you need it.
Why Not the Honda Insight?
Quietness: Too much road noise. Honda has alot of refinement in the Insight. I wanted to buy Honda over Toyota.
Ride smoothness: Felt too much of the road while driving.
Interior styling: The interior seemed very plastic and not put together well.
Dealership practices: Sales people tried to sell us car on lot. We wanted specific color and options. We wanted to know if they had our choice coming in. They wouldn't tell us. Folsom Lake Honda, Folsom, CA.
Why the Toyota Prius?
Rear seat room & comfort: I have had people 6ft 2 inches in the back and they had head and leg room. The Insight is very tight and I, whom is 5 foot 10 inches tall had my head touching the roof, well the top the rear hatch actually.
Available features: Nice range of options. You can go basic or go deluxe with the Prius 5 with the self parking, safety package, and radar cruise control. The Insight has limited options and 90% of the ones I was seeing on dealer lots seem to be the basic edition.
Materials & workmanship: The Prius feels more solid and like a real car, not a go cart.
Powertrain performance: Both the Prius and Insight will not win any sports car races, but the Prius has better power at any speed. The Insight feels slightly sportier, but that is not saying much.
Fuel economy: The Prius 50 MPG mixed driving is realistic. The worst MPG I have seen is 45 MPG and the best was 56 MPG. I can only compare that to tests results I have seen where the Insight is 38-42 MPG
Why Not the Honda Insight?
Ride smoothness: The Insight has a stiff ride. It makes it seem more sporty, but being more sporty than a Prius is not saying much. If I want sporty, I will get a Boxster or S2000.
Materials & workmanship: I think the workmanship is the usual Honda top notch for the money, but the materials feel cheap. Both the Prius and Insight could use simple upgrades in their dashes.
Quietness: The engine noise is annoying in the Insight. Both the Prius and Insight have engine noise, so if you dead quite inside, you will need to get a Lexus.
Rear seat room & comfort: This is a glaring issue with the Insight. Leg room is for children and my head hits the roof and a little bit of the rear hatch. There is a warning sticker about making sure go watch the heads of your rear seat passengers when closing the hatch.
Available features: There are more safety and luxury options on the Prius. You can tell Honda think the Insight will only be for econo car buyers, while the Prius is trying to appeal to mainstream buyers.
Why the Volkswagen Tiguan?
Safety & braking: Standard ABS and stability control.
Cargo capacity & towing: More space to carry stuff compared to many sedans.
Powertrain performance: The 4-cylinder turbo accelerates almost like a 2007 BMW X3 I had. It's an absolute joy to drive.
Ride smoothness: When the engine is at idle, you can hardly even tell it's running.
Price or payments: VW Credit gave me incredible financing even though I had a foreclosure and a bankruptcy the previous year.
Why Not the Honda Insight?
Powertrain performance: Not as easy to pass due to the weak 1.3L engine.
Rear seat room & comfort: Rear seat is super uncomfortable to get in and out of if you are tall.
Driving position & visibility: When looking out the back window to back up, the headrest blocks the view.
Dealership practices: The Honda dealers don't want to wheel and deal on price.
Price or payments: Higher interest than what I got from Volkswagen.
Why the Honda Insight?
Fuel economy: Econ Mode for just a three mile drive and got 53 mpg though traffic was very light. Afterwards during normal traffic driving, not using the Econ Mode, plus a very short drive 1/2 mile up and 1/2 mile back I got 36 mph engin cold.
Exterior styling: The front styling was another reason over the Prius offering. Side appearance was also to my liking
Ride smoothness: Only City driving thus far, and the Insight seemed to be as smooth as my 09 Civic EX.
Front seat room: For my 6-3 height, I had plenty of leg room.
Cargo capacity & towing: Cargo space was another reason for this purchase in that it has plenty of it for larger items.
Why Not the Honda Insight?
Discounts & incentives: There was none
Rear seat room & comfort: For tall people, its a no go. Did not like it one bit and had to think about this short fall if I ever wanted to carry friends. Luckly I normally drive alone
Powertrain performance: A little harsh sounding but expected it for the size of the engine.
Interior styling: Seems the interior styling could be a bit more matured with a better rear window layout. Tough to see out the rear with the split glass designe.
Control design: The area around the center where either the radio or Nav system would be seemed cheap to me. Too many dials that cluttered the dash.
Why the Honda Insight?
Brand reputation & image: All my past Hondas were good cars
Interior styling: The dash board layout and ergonomics are great ( better then a Prius)! Full iPod integration and clever eco features.
Reliability & durability: Honda has been making the IMA drivetrain for many years!
Exterior styling: Looks much more sporty then a Prius.
Fuel economy: It allows for much greater then EPA ratings if you drive conservatively.
Why Not the Honda Insight?
Powertrain performance: A bigger battery for the IMA motor would be good.
Why the Honda Insight?
Fuel economy: Getting excellent fuel economy (10+mpg above EPA) in the Insight is easy. Getting amazing fuel economy (70mpg on state highways) is possible with practice.
Handling: The Insight drives like a Honda. We tested a bunch of cars in the sub-$20k range and the only car that drove better was Honda's own Fit.
Safety & braking: Advanced safety features like Honda's ACE body structure, full complement of air bags, etc... Safety rating average of 4.5/5 stars.
Cargo capacity & towing: Folding 60/40 rear seats allow longer objects for cargo carrying. With seats upright, the trunk volume is still enough for two large carry-on bags.
Exterior styling: The exterior is sharper looking from all angles than the Prius. For some reason, Honda has been promoting the Insight in blues and lighter colors. It actually looks best in Black or Dark Metal in my opinion.
Why Not the Honda Insight?
Rear seat room & comfort: The roof line slopes substantially in the rear making headroom a challenge for anyone 6' or taller.
Why the Honda Insight?
Fuel economy: Getting near 50 MPG is fantastic after owning several cars that barely got 20 MPG.
Exterior styling: Modern, sleek, a little sporty
Reliability & durability: Honda is generally a company that builds reliable vehicles.
Price or payments: Pretty good price for a 4 seater hybrid.
Safety & braking: Lots of air bags, new body structure to help in crashes with larger vehicles
Why Not the Honda Insight?
Available features: There are almost no options, which sucks. would have liked a moonroof, seat options, remote start, etc.
Powertrain performance: It's got enough pep for general driving, but would be nice to have more power when needed.
Why the Honda Insight?
Audio & nav systems: The Nav system not only adds native navigation (functional but it needs a good face-lift) but integrates nicely into the rest of the vehicle adding voice commands for nav/stereo/environmental controls and bluetooth for calls.
