[Fr3AkAzOiD]

I took a test drive of the Insight yesterday, wasn't impressed.

The base model didn't have a real time tire gauge so I don't know what the pressure was at, I'll assume around 28 - 32 when I would normaly have it at 38.

Battery was at 80% charge when starting so that wasn't an issue.

It seemed to give a steady mpg instead of having good speeds and gears to drive in.
I did an loop that was about 7 or 8 miles and I did reset the counter at start and only ended up with 44 mpg, now I know adding air to the tires would kick that up to about 47mpg.

I did floor it twice to see if it had any get up and go.... It would move if you needed it but my Cobalt XFE could accelerate much faster. I'll give it another 2 mpg if I hadn't done that to put it at 49mpg.

The instant MPG readout was simply a bar from 0 - 100 mpg marked at 0, 25, 50, 75, 100 mpg marks so it was hard to tell what you were instantly getting.

Due to the regenerative braking it won't drift/glide worth snot.

Didn't like how it rode, maybe it seemed soft due to lower tire pressure and added weight of the batteries but it just seemed heavy and sloppy.

You can see out of the rear window but it's not the best view.

8yr/100,000 miles warrenty on the batteries seems a little low, especialy when it will cost you $2,000 + instalation for a replacement battery pack.

They probably could have just removed the hybrid part and swaped the 1.3 liter engine for a 1.5 or 1.6 liter (probably droping a few hundred pounds in the process) and thrown in a manual transmition and would have only lost maybe 3 - 6 mpg and it would end up costing $16,000 - $17,000 instead of $20,500.

Estimating that with practice you could get a steady 50 mpg out of the Insight with
80% highway / 20% city driving unless gas got up over $7 a gallon you would be better off just picking up a Cobalt XFE for $14,500 and get 38 mpg winter, 41 mpg all spring/summer/fall.

The $6,000 you save at the dealership is better then the few hundred in gas savings and it's probably better in the end when it comes to disposal of the vehicle.

They need to make the old style Insight with the 1.3 liter engine in the new one (97hp I believe) with a 6 speed manual and a high final gear for highway cruising.
Granted it won't have the lean burn of the old one (probably) but you would have a
50+ mpg 2 person comuter car that they would sell for $16,000 - $17,000 (I believe the old Insight sold for $20,000 - $22,000).

Hybrid systems are just too expencive for the little added mpg that it returns to be overly popular.

In the end this car won't help a ecodriver/hypermiler much as the tricks we do to get extra mpg it does automaticly, however somone like my wife who dives normaly (I did pump up her tires to get how some mpg gains) and is coming from a mid sized sedan that gets 28 mpg will easily be able to get 40 - 45 mpg with the Insight it would be worth it.

It's a little greenwashing but since the idea is popular and it pulls some socker moms out of their SUVs it will be for the better.

Though I'll still be able to laugh at them when they boast 40mpg and I tell them I get that also but paid $6,000 less for my car and my insurance is lower.

I am planning on hitting up another dealer soon, this time with a tire gauge and a route planned to see if I can get any better.