Production 2019 Insight revealed

[MetroMPG]

Right! In profile, it already looks like a liftback. It would have made it a more useful car.

More expensive to manufacture?

Market resistance to the "hatchback" descriptor? Americans only want hatchbacks when they're in the form of a SUV.

[MetroMPG]

Honda says the Insight gets 55 mpg in city driving, about the same as those two cars (Prius & Ioniq hybrid)

source: https://www.edmunds.com/car-news/fir...irst-look.html

However, they appear to not know the facts about the 1st gen car:

All in all, the 2019 Honda Insight is not only shaping up to be better than previous Insights in terms of power, cabin size and fuel efficiency, but also more competitive with the cars in its class.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

However, they appear to not know the facts about the 1st gen car:

They probably didn't even consider the 1st gen considering the low volume. That comment may have been entirely based on 2nd gen.

[MetroMPG]

They said "previous Insights". That's what got me all up in arms.

Triggered me?

[hayden55]

I honestly don't know of any normal person who knows the Gen 1 Insight was a thing. Everyone thinks the Prius was THE Hybrid that started it all.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

They said "previous Insights". That's what got me all up in arms.

Yeah, I interpret their comment the same as you. They could have been referring to previous model years within the same generation (gen II), or they could just be uninformed about the gen I.

Originally Posted by hayden55

I honestly don't know of any normal person who knows the Gen 1 Insight was a thing. Everyone thinks the Prius was THE Hybrid that started it all.

The Insight was the first hybrid I was aware of, but I had no interest in it due to it being a 2-seater. That, and I was a poor high schooler, so I had no chance to buy it. I drove a '69 Beetle back in those days. I could fill the gas tank, pay with $10, and get change back. I could fill the motorcycle, pay with $5, and get change back. The Dodge van was expensive, requiring a $20 bill, but I got change back on that too.

[jcp123]

I kind of agree that this car will get ignored. It's a sedan. It looks kinda like the other sedans Honda has. I used to think the path to adoption of hybrids was through making them normal-looking, and figured the Camry and Civic hybrids would be the mainstays. I sorely underestimated how much many hybrid buyers wanted to make a statement of owning their hybrid, and so the perpetually weird-looking Prius is still the champ. And a nice-enough-but-anonymous sedan will likely end up selling low volumes.

As to Honda itself, actually driving my Civic from Honda's said salad days has been a revelation. I now entirely understand how it developed its legions of fans. The specialness Honda used to bake into its cars is essentially gone, although you can't say they've built total crap. This car vs. the 2012 Civic rental I had showed a really, starkly clear difference. The '12 was a nicer car in a lot of ways, but there was nothing very remarkable, fun, or charismatic about it. It seems like Honda has gone from an engineering company which happened to build cars to just another car company riding on its reputation and able to charge plenty for it (that's a shot at you, too, BMW).

Segment-for-segment, there's almost always a different vehicle I'd choose over Honda these days.

[ksa8907]

I actually don't like it because it looks like a normal Honda, boring.

Any published figures? I'm skeptical of any numbers better than maybe... 48mpg highway?

[Vman455]

Originally Posted by jcp123

I kind of agree that this car will get ignored. It's a sedan. It looks kinda like the other sedans Honda has. I used to think the path to adoption of hybrids was through making them normal-looking, and figured the Camry and Civic hybrids would be the mainstays. I sorely underestimated how much many hybrid buyers wanted to make a statement of owning their hybrid, and so the perpetually weird-looking Prius is still the champ. And a nice-enough-but-anonymous sedan will likely end up selling low volumes.

I wouldn't be so sure. Ford moved nearly 60,000 Fusion hybrids last year (almost as many units as the Prius); Toyota, 20,000 Camrys, and Honda, 22,000 Accords. There's definitely a market for hybrid sedans, it's just a question of whether the Insight's smaller size will put buyers off.

Cumulatively, Honda has sold 85,000 Insights across all model years. With results like that, it's hard to blame them for trying something different.

[redpoint5]

I'm interested to see how it stacks up against the Fusion hybrid, which is the one I'm always praising. The Fusion gets 45 MPG and has normal acceleration and handling, with a very quiet cabin.