By Aaron Gold, About.com
Getting to know our Honda Insight
We've now completed the first month of our downsizing experiment, in which we shelved our trusty mid-size Honda Accord wagon for a subcompact Honda Insight hybrid hatchback.
My biggest concern was that my wife Robin, who would be doing most of the driving, would hate the Insight. Robin likes small cars, but she also likes to go fast, and at 98 horsepower the Insight is anything but. So how does she like it? Well, the fact that she's put over 2,300 miles on it in the first month is a pretty good indication. As I mentioned in my First Thousand Miles blog entry, Robin doesn't find the Insight's small engine a problem. The Insight certainly doesn't take off like an Audi RS4 -- her favorite car; does she have good taste, or what? -- but it cruises comfortably at the supra-legal speeds she prefers.
My second concern was space for our family, which includes two kids, one who is 5'10" and rising, and a good-sized dog. I'm 5'6" and wasn't very happy with the Insight's back seat headroom, but 13-year-old Robert (the tall one) finds it comfortable enough -- you know how young people slouch today -- and 10-year-old Andrew isn't voicing any complaints either. The one thing we haven't done is stuff all five of us into the car at once; that'll happen next month when we take the kids and dog to my parents' place in Arizona for Thanksgiving.
Beast of burden
Robin used to do a lot of heavy hauling in the Accord wagon, primarily her massage table and all sorts of gear relating to our two horses. The massage table won't fit without folding the rear seats down, so that means she has to shift it in and out of the car as needed, although she doesn't mind. "I have to haul it in and out when I get to people's houses anyway, so it's not a big deal," she says. As for the horse stuff, well, this month she moved them to a new stable. No, we didn't use the Insight to haul the horses themselves, but she did manage to fit all of her horse-related gear into the Insight's cargo bay, as this photo shows. And if that wasn't enough, she even used it to carry a bail of hay. However, something dribbled onto the back seat and left a stain. I haven't tried cleaning it up yet, and I'm hoping like crazy that the Insight's environmentally-friendly "BioFabric" seat cloth will be as easy to clean as the regular cloth in our Accord; otherwise the Insight's cabin is going to look pretty ratty when we return it to Honda in 11 months.
Initial quality
The Insight didn't exhibit any build-quality problems aside from a slightly misaligned glovebox door, but then I wasn't expecting any -- not because it's a Honda, but because our Insight arrived with a little over 400 miles showing on the odometer. Honda insists our car's pre-delivery inspection wasn't any more thorough than what customers get at the dealerships, but it's clear they did a fair bit of driving just to make sure there were no bugs to be worked out. If that was the case, they seemed to have missed the Bluetooth speakerphone system; it seems to connect and disconnect from our Nokia phones at will. I'm not sure if it's faulty, badly designed, or if this is simply a case of user error.
Fuel economy
Fuel economy tells an interesting story. We averaged just over 40 MPG through most of the month, but as the odometer climbed past 2,000 miles, our average fuel economy began to increase suddenly, and we finished out the month at 41.4 MPG, even though neither Robin nor I have changed our driving styles. I've heard tales of hybrids getting better fuel economy after the first couple of thousand miles, so it'll be interesting to see if this trend continues. Incidentally, Robin prefers not to use the Insight's "Econ" mode, as it shuts off the air conditioning compressor when the car is stopped. (It's still pretty warm here in Los Angeles.) Between that and her Han Solo driving style, I'm very pleased with the Insight Hybrid's fuel economy. -- Aaron Gold
October 2009 summary:
Starting mileage: 412Engine mileage: 2747Mileage this month: 2335.4Total mileage: 2335.4Fuel economy this month: 41.4 MPGAverage fuel economy: 41.4 MPGRepair/service costs this month: $0Total repair/service costs: $0Problems observed this month: Misaligned glove-box door, stained seats, spotty Bluetooth speakerphone operation
Previous: September 2009 (Introduction)
Source;
http://cars.about.com/od/2010hondainsight/a/lt_10insight_oct09.htm
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