I'll paraphrase my thoughts what advice I've been given from the folks around here when trying to choose between an XFi and any lean-burning honda. You have to aero-mod the crap out of a metro hatch to be able to come close to the highway MPG of lean burn. Lean burn will spank the sh*t out of anything else on the highway. When it comes down to city driving though, the sewing machine in the engine bay of the radio flyer we call an XFi is so light and easy to get up to momentum... lean burn has very little opportunity to shine in city driving. The above is in a world where both cars and their respective parts are equally available. I chose to pursue restoring an XFi because parts for it are cheap and they are EVERYWHERE. Honda parts in general, but especially the classics (CRX, VX) are often way overpriced, and the only VX I've ever seen in a junkyard was identified only by the VIN because EVERYTHING else that was VX about it was GONE.
For me this isn't a hands-down win for the XFi because if you get T-Boned in any metro, you are probably done.
It really all comes down to where you are going to drive the car most (city = metro, hwy = lean burn) how easily you think you can acquire parts for each, how much money you want to spend on car(s), and how concerned you are with safety. I prefer Hondas in general, but this is a difficult question for me. Each has very strong merits. Oh, and also think about the extra NOx you emit with lean-burn. IIRC, the Insight is the first and only lean-burning car to make effort to sequester as much NOx as possible, then purge it out as N2 and H2O using a small amount of fuel injected into the hot exhaust.
My vote: Honda insight, even if it weren't a hybrid.
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