2000 Honda Insight 995cc petrol Electric Hybrid from UK and Ireland
Summary:
Exciting, economical coupé that looks like something from a Gerry Anderson series
Faults:
Nothing.
General Comments:
Very economical: I calculate that savings in road tax and fuel add up to £500 a year. I've got 84.9mpg overall since I bought it.
It's fun to drive if I choose to drive it like the coupé it is, and the instantaneous readout of fuel consumption, second by second, gives me the information I need if I choose to drive for economy.
The cargo deck is huge, and has four lashing points to secure things with.
Rear three-quarter (five o'clock) visibility is a little limited, and I have to position the car carefully and make good use of the mirrors at acutely-angled junctions.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 22nd January, 2005
8th Sep 2005, 16:38
Oh, I think people asked the question. The problem is that the auto industry didn't have the answer and hybrids are simply an interim solution until someone figures it out.
What was the question? People want four things: big vehicles, horsepower, fuel efficiency, and low to 0 emissions. How do auto manufactures provide a solution?
If it's big, it's going to need and have lots of horsepower, but it's going to guzzle gas and exhale toxins by the boatload. ie - the SUV craze.
If it's fuel efficient and environmentally friendly, it's going to be small and anemic (even though power to weight will be acceptable). ie - Geo Metro (Swift, Firefly, Sprint) and various Hondas. Take the battery out of an Insight and what do you have? A Geo Metro. 1.0L, lightweight vehicle that gets 50-60+ mpg.
Look at any SUV and/or truck hybrids out there (and even the Civic and Accord hybrids) and you'll see that the fuel efficiency already drops significantly as the vehicle gets larger. Notice how city mileage is higher than highway mileage? The electric engine doesn't run at all at highway speeds, so small engines have to pull around heavy bodies relying on inertia to keep them going. Plus, the gas portion of the engine produces just as many hydrocarbons as any gas engine out there.
No, I'm sorry, but I don't believe that hybrids are around to stay (unless they're forced on us by government). They're simply a short-term solution to a problem nobody is quite certain how to solve. Basically someone needs to develop a powerplant that is small, lightweight, powerful, efficient, and can run on a multitude of fuels.
Until that happens we'll be stuck with the ever-faithful (if somewhat inefficient) internal combustion engine and a lot of trial-and-error methods.