My How You Have Grown

[jcp123]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

Not when you think about it, though. The cost of that engineering could be spread over millions of vehicles sold each year, where the more expensive exotics have to recoup their engineering costs from a few percent of the sales volume.

Certainly from that standpoint, you're right. What I'm getting at, though, is that we still had relatively crude expectations from compacts and economy cars at the time. Honda could certainly have dulled the mechanicals hidden far from John Q. Public's eyes, and still have had a winner (a formula they followed with the 7th gen Civics). But at that time, they didn't, and we're all just a little bit better for it.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by jcp123

But at that time, they didn't, and we're all just a little bit better for it.

And so is Honda :-) Things like that tend to encourage repeat customers, while my decades ago experience with a Chevy Vega means I'm unlikely to ever buy another GM car.

[jcp123]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

And so is Honda :-) Things like that tend to encourage repeat customers, while my decades ago experience with a Chevy Vega means I'm unlikely to ever buy another GM car.

Yup. Honda went through three generations of meh Civics and still sold tons of them. Luckily it looks like they came to play once again with the new one.

Toyota almost lost me when my Mom's brand new Sienna minivan turned out to be an epic failure. So many problems - she kept it about a year and a half before giving up. Then I inherited my wife's Echo and it was so good to me, I'd take a Toyota again in a heartbeat.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Xist

I think so. I only remember renting three times and once they gave me a Mercedes.

There were a couple of times that I had tire damage on rentals in the United States and it was included in the rental, but a tire blew on that Mercedes, I put on the spare, and after I left the Army and returned to Arizona, Sixt started sending me bills for hundreds of euros.

Is anyone going to argue that I should have paid that?

It should've been supposed to be all included in the rental.

[jcp123]

Originally Posted by Xist

I think so. I only remember renting three times and once they gave me a Mercedes.

There were a couple of times that I had tire damage on rentals in the United States and it was included in the rental, but a tire blew on that Mercedes, I put on the spare, and after I left the Army and returned to Arizona, Sixt started sending me bills for hundreds of euros.

Is anyone going to argue that I should have paid that?

If it was in Germany, it's par for the course. TÜV wheel regulations are super strict there, a price you (literally) pay for having de-restricted Autobahn. As far as I know, of that wheel got damaged in any way, it cannot be repaired, and must be replaced with a TÜV approved wheel.

[RedDevil]

We can add another one to the list:
1st gen Honda Insight:


2nd gen Honda Insight:


3rd gen Honda Insight:


Makes me fear what the 4th gen will be like?
The 10th gen will likely have a swimming pool and a heli platform.
The 15th gen will have a population and armed forces.

[Ecky]

For the most part, they seem to be 3 unrelated cars sharing a name - 2 door aluminum no-holds-barred proof of concept , 4 door steel "for the masses" attempt at wide appeal, low cost and profitability, upscale hybrid sedan "positioned above the Civic".

Maybe Honda is trying to catch the same group of buyers, who are now in different period of their lives and have different needs?

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Ecky

Maybe Honda is trying to catch the same group of buyers, who are now in different period of their lives and have different needs?

Haven't done a survey of 1st-gen buyers, then. I think most were (like me) technically-minded types without kids &c, but plenty of disposable income. As we were then, so we are now.

Of course I'm not really in the market for a new Insight. The old one still goes, and will be even better once I fix that $@#! transmission input shaft bearing!

[Xist]

They expect demand for a car smaller than the Accord, but larger than the Civic?

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Ecky

For the most part, they seem to be 3 unrelated cars sharing a name - 2 door aluminum no-holds-barred proof of concept , 4 door steel "for the masses" attempt at wide appeal, low cost and profitability, upscale hybrid sedan "positioned above the Civic".

Even though the Insight nameplate being used in models targeted to noticeably different users might not be so much of an issue, just like Toyota does with the Prius and its derivatives Prius c and Prius v, positioning the Insight above the Civic doesn't seem to make so much sense.

Maybe Honda is trying to catch the same group of buyers, who are now in different period of their lives and have different needs?

It doesn't seem to be so out of question.