Model Tested
Honda Insight ES-T
CO2 105 g/km
VED band B - £15 a year
MPG Urban – 60.1 Extra urban – 62.8 Combined - 61.4
Engine Petrol 4 cylinder 1.3 litre with i-VTEC, VCM and IMA
Bhp 97 (petrol 87 bhp at 5,800 rpm + electric 14 bhp at 1,500 rpm)
Torque 121 lbs.ft (petrol 89 lb.ft @ 4,500 rpm + 58 lb.ft @ 1000 rpm)
Euro NCAP TBC
OTR price £18,390 (Range £15,490 to £18,390)
The new Insight isn’t the fastest new car, it isn’t the cheapest new car, it doesn’t have the lowest CO2 emissions and once the 3rd generation Prius is launched in June it won’t even have the lowest CO2 emissions of any hybrid. However, despite this we truly believe that the Insight is the most important new car of 2009.
To understand the Insight you have to look beyond the raw numbers. There was some disappoint when Honda announced that the Insight wouldn’t duck under 100 g/km CO2. This was primarily based on two things. One, in three years Toyota have developed their hybrid system to the point where official CO2 emissions have fallen from an excellent 104 g/km for the current Prius to an outstanding 89 g/km for the new one. Two, in three years Honda have developed their hybrid system to the point where it emits between 101 and 105 g/km in the Insight compared to 109 g/km in the roughly comparably sized Civic hybrid. Oh and the Prius is a class bigger than the Insight. Not looking so clever hey?
Well Honda hasn’t been sitting on its hands for three years. The difference is due to a fundamental split in development ethos. The Prius brand is built on being at the forefront of hybrid technology. It is tech central. It is unthinkable that Toyota could have done anything other than pushed the boundaries with the new Prius. The result is that Toyota has added performance and reduced CO2 emissions but the new entry level Prius costs £18,370 and the top of the range model will be £21,210.
What about if you took all of that technological development and used it to reduce the price rather than increase performance? Well then you would have an Insight which costs between £15,490 and £18,390. And if you can get the price down more people will be able to afford it and you have a good shout of selling more of them.
The basic conundrum is do you want to make a hybrid with outstanding CO2 emissions that some people can afford, or do you want to make a hybrid with ‘only’ excellent CO2 emissions that more people can afford? We aren’t knocking Toyota here, what they have done and are continuing to do with the Prius and Lexus hybrids is remarkable, but we can’t help feeling that Honda’s strategy makes more sense and will be better for us all in the long term as the general point here is to replace as many higher CO2 cars with reduced CO2 cars as quickly as possible.
Honda has started from the point of setting performance benchmarks which they think are acceptable and then sized the engine and hybrid components to meet these. This is a dangerous business. How fast is fast enough? Ask 100 people on the street and you will probably get 100 different answers, but we think that Honda have got it right. The raw numbers are 0-62 mph in 12.5 seconds and a top speed of 113 mph. In short the Insight has no problem keeping up with traffic and contrary to some reports you don’t need a calendar to plan motorway overtakes.
The other big development decision that we think Honda has got right is to avoid taking on the Prius head on. Size wise the Prius is slightly bigger sitting in the bottom end of class D (think Toyota Avensis) whilst the Insight sits at the top of C (think Ford Focus) and of course their pricing strategies are very different.
We have no doubt that Honda could have tackled the Prius from a technical view point, the second generation Prius is far from perfect, and we are also sure that Honda’s IMA (Integrated Motor Assist) hybrid system is capable of going well below 100 g/km with the right battery, but the Prius has such a strong brand identity that it isn’t going to be easy for anyone to steal market share from it in a hurry. So for the rest of this article we won’t be comparing the Insight to the Prius, we will be comparing it to its real world rivals in class C. So how does the Insight stack up in some key battle grounds?
Official CO2 emissions
First things first. This is a hybrid so how does it compare to its class rivals on official CO2 emissions? The answer is that it goes straight to the top, and by some margin too. The closest diesel rival is the Ford Focus 1.6 TDCi ECOnetic which emits 114 g/km but it doesn’t have a Diesel Particulate Filter. The good news is that you can get the ECOnetic with more power and a DPF and that emits 115 g/km thanks to a combined fuel consumption of 65.7 mpg (extra urban 78.4 mpg, urban 50.4 mpg).
The closest petrol rival is the Audi A3 1.4 TFSI with the 7 speed DSG gearbox which emits 126 g/km thanks to a combined fuel consumption of 47.9 mpg (extra urban 57.6 mpg, urban 37.2 mpg).
The Insight emits 101 g/km in entry level SE spec and 105 g/km in ES and top of the range ES-T grades. This equates to a combined figure of 64.2 mpg for the SE (extra urban 67.3 mpg, urban 61.4 mpg) and 61.4 mpg for the ES and ES-T (extra urban 62.8 mpg, urban 60.1 mpg). The difference is due mostly to wider tyres and a bit of extra weight from the higher specification models.
So on the official tests the Insight has the lowest CO2 emission in the class but what about in the real world? Well more of that later.
Practicality
Front passenger space is good, rear legroom is also good but the teardrop roofline takes it toll on rear headroom. If you are approaching 6 foot you won’t have much headroom left, if you are over 6 foot you will want to be in the front. Boot space is excellent, at 408 litres it is one of the biggest boots in the class. By comparison the Focus has 385 litres whilst the Astra makes do with 312 litres and the Golf has 350 litres.
One of the issues with the Civic Hybrid is that the rear seats don’t fold because the batteries are hidden in the seat back. With the Insight the batteries have been moved under the floor so you get split fold rear seats, and it is a hatch. As long as you don’t specify a spare tyre, there is extra concealed storage beneath the boot floor which is great for wet clothes or muddy boots.
In all the Insight is more practical than mainstream rivals as long as you don’t need the extra rear headroom.
Performance
The Insight hits 62 mph in 12.5 seconds and will go onto 113 mph. The lower powered Focus ECOnetic takes 12.6 seconds to hit 62 mph and has a top speed of 111 mph. The higher powered version takes 10.9 seconds and will hit 118 mph.
The closest petrol Focus is the 1.6 litre engine which reaches 62 mph in 11.9 seconds and has a top speed of 112 mph but it only manages 51.4 mpg which is 159 g/km.
The Audi A3 1.4 TFSI manages a credible 9.3 seconds and 126 mph.
The Insight isn’t far off the pace and has good performance given the fuel consumption. If outright performance is essential then the Insight isn’t for you but then neither are its main rivals. Only the smaller and thirstier Audi is capable of ducking under 10 seconds for the 0-62 mph sprint thanks to a great engine and advanced gearbox.
Price
You might reasonably expect the Insight to do well on CO2 emissions, but the strong practicality may have been more of a surprise. Performance is about what you would expect, but what about price? Surely this is where the Insight will struggle.
Well the SE costs £15,490, the ES is £16,790 and the ES-T costs £18,390. The five door Focus ECOnetic costs £17,795 for the 90 ps version and £18,045 for the 110 ps model.
The 1.6 litre petrol Focus in five door Zetec trim will set you back £17,045.
The five door Audi A3 1.4 TFSI with the clever but expensive seven speed DSG gearbox is £18,840, although it does have the benefit of being from a premium manufacturer.
It is unfair to compare the A3 to the Focus and Insight as it is a premium product but the fact that the Insight can undercut not only the lowest CO2 diesel Focus but also the most representative petrol Focus underlines what Honda have achieved here. Never before has a hybrid undercut conventional rivals.
And it isn’t a result of skimping on specification either. Even the basic Insight gets VSA, an alarm, alloy wheels, climate control, electric powered and heated mirrors, electric front and rear windows, and a full complement of front, side and curtain airbags. The ES trim offers the best value with a very comprehensive specification adding larger 16 inch alloy wheels, automatic lights and wipers, cruise control, front fog lights, heated front seats, leather steering wheel and gear lever, paddle shift, privacy glass and a USB port for iPods. The ES-T adds just bluetooth and sat nav for a hefty £1,600.
So in four key battle grounds the Insight is able to hold its own and has won some impressive victories, but what happens when you actually drive it?
On the road
We sampled the ES-T model which is in essence identical to the ES apart from the addition of sat nav and bluetooth. Honda predict that the ES will be the biggest seller and we have no reason to argue with that as it offers great value for money.
Honda have worked very hard at making the Insight ‘normal’. In another departure from Toyota’s thinking, Honda reckon that mainstream buyers are put off by the quirky Prius and that they would prefer a more conventional interior and driving experience.
The evidence of this philosophy is clear from the moment you get in. The Insight has a conventional mechanical handbrake and a conventional gear lever in the normal place. When you turn the key the petrol engine always starts. This might not be the most efficient way to do it but Honda think that people are put off by silent electric starts. Up until this point there is very little evidence that the Insight is a hybrid and this is exactly what Honda wanted to achieve.
We think that Honda might be onto something here as there is anecdotal evidence that people are put off by their first impressions of hybrids and that isn’t helpful in the real world where a dealer may only have a few miles to demonstrate the car to a potential buyer.
Some of your first impressions of the Insight are good and some are less so. Firstly the driving position. The Insight offers a height and reach adjustable steering wheel and a height adjustable drivers seat, which makes getting comfortable easy. The pedals are straight in front of you and the seat has plenty of adjustment. In short it is excellent. A good driving position is one of the basics but it is amazing how many cars at all price levels fail to deliver, so full points Honda.
On the downside the dashboard is the first indication of where Honda has cut cost. We have become accustomed to sweeping single piece dashboards and high quality soft to touch materials thanks to the Golf and Focus, and Honda itself has a reputation for quality. The Insight disappoints on both fronts. The design is piecemeal and the material quality simply isn’t up to class standards. On a more positive note whilst the materials are a bit low rent we have no reason to doubt that the Insight is well screwed together, our quibble here is with material quality not build quality.
Thankfully the main contact points of the steering wheel, gear lever and handbrake are much better. In ES and ES-T spec the steering wheel and gearlever are leather wrapped. The steering wheel itself is a good size, attractive and highly functional with no less than fourteen switches.
Gearbox
The Insight uses a CVT gearbox which stands for Continuously Variable Transmission. Honda’s IMA system can work with a manual ‘box but the CVT aids fuel consumption. In essence a CVT doesn’t have gears but rather can vary the ratio between two end points, this means that it can be in the ‘right’ gear more of the time hence the fuel saving. The problem is that the workings of a CVT are pretty alien in the manual dominated UK market and the driving experience is very different.
The problem (and indeed strength) with CVT’s is that the engine revs don’t have to rise and fall in a linear fashion with road speed. So for instance the Insight can cruise at 60 mph at under 2,000 rpm whilst if you accelerate hard at 20 mph the revs will rise to 5,000 rpm as the system goes searching for power. This is very different to what most people are used to and it can be off putting.
The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the engine itself isn’t particularly melodic. It is a relatively simple (relatively cheap) 1.3 litre 4 cylinder unit with a distinctly retro 2 valves per cylinder so the sound of it trashing away at low road speeds undoubtedly hits refinement.
It also works against you if you want to drive the Insight at pace down a challenging road as it doesn’t give you the control that a manual gearbox does.
On the flip side the gearbox undoubtedly does aid the fuel consumption and paradoxically adds to refinement when the engine is under low loads. Most of the time the revs stay around 2,000 rpm which means that there is very little engine noise.
Whilst the system is great most of the time it can be a pain sometimes (when the engine is under heavy load) and it does leave you longing for a manual option. In fact the CVT is one of the main gripes that we have with the Prius and we are sure that it has put off potential buyers.
Thankfully the Insight has a trick up its sleeve. If you buy the ES or ES-T you get a semiautomatic setting. This adds seven ratios into the CVT’s repertoire which are controlled by two paddles attached to the back of the steering wheel. The system works brilliantly well with fast and smooth up and down shifts facilitated by the CVT system. The speed of multiple shifts is particularly impressive. The ratios are also very well chosen with the seven ratios closely spaced making the best of the power and torque on offer.
The system automatically upshifts at the top of the rev range and will automatically downshift if the revs drop too low but other than that you get full control. There is a gear indicator in the main instrument binnacle to let you know which of the seven ratios you are in. The system can also be briefly accessed when in Drive by pulling one of the two levers to fix the system in gear where it will stay until the throttle returns to a steady state at which point it automatically reverts to normal CVT mode.
The semi automatic setting transforms the Insight providing the undoubted benefits of the CVT with the option to drive the Insight in manual mode when needed. The only downside we can see is that the idle start/stop system is disabled when in manual mode.
Ride/handling
Honda set out to endow the Insight with an element of driver orientated fun. The suspension is on the firmer side but it does a decent job of ironing out most bumps. Where it does fall down, and perhaps this is another area where costs were saved, is when it meets a sharp bump which sends a distinctly under Honda like crash through to the cabin. This takes the edge off the refinement but in truth on 99% of surfaces the Insight does a reasonable job, although it is fair to say that it isn’t the most cosseting in the class.
When it comes to throwing it at corners it performs pretty well. Honda has placed the batteries at the back low down between the rear wheels. This helps to give the Insight a decent balance. Grip levels are good providing lots of confidence inducing front end bite.
In common with most electric power steering systems it could do with more steering feel, but it isn’t bereft of feedback. Confidence is helped no end by good steering weighting and once committed to a corner there is enough feedback to let you know what the front wheels are up to.
The Insight isn’t the sharpest in the class with the excellent Focus providing more fun, but it is far from disgraced. The Insight is very easy to drive quickly on twisty sections as it is very easy to place and is well behaved. Another bonus is that the VSA stability system can be turned off.
The brakes are powerful enough but they can be hard to modulate with the transfer between regenerative braking and compound brakes noticeable but not overly intrusive. In common with many modern systems the brakes are slightly over-servoed for our liking but all in all they do a good job of taking off speed.
Refinement
In general this is one of the Insight’s strong points. The Insight has good aerodynamics posting a cd of 0.28 and this contributes to low levels of wind noise. It also makes the Insight very stable in cross winds. Tyre noise is well suppressed too even with the wider 185/55 section tyres fitted to our ES-T spec car (SE’s get 175/65’s) and when the revs are held down engine noise is nothing to write home about either. The hush is only really dented by forays into higher revs and sharp bumps.
Things are also helped by the front seats which are comfortable and offer some lateral support too.
IMA system
The Insight uses a 1.3 litre four cylinder 8v petrol engine with Honda’s i-VTEC system which produces 87 bhp at 5,800 rpm and 89 lb.ft of torque at a heady 4,500 rpm. On its own this would leave the Insight terribly underpowered and with a massive hole in the torque curve. However the Insight also gets an electric motor which kicks out a very modest 14 bhp at 1,500 rpm but a very useful 58 lb.ft of torque at just 1000 rpm. In combination the engine and the motor provide 97 bhp and 123 lb.ft of torque.
Unlike the Toyota system, Honda attach the very slim electric motor to the crankshaft. This is the simplest and therefore cheapest way to add electric drive and is one of the fundamental reasons why Honda’s system is cheaper than Toyota’s. It’s simplicity means that it is also much easier to engineer into existing platforms and it will fit into smaller models. This has enabled Honda to use a modified Jazz platform with everything forward of the A pillar identical.
The Honda system is capable of powering the car under low loads and under 30 mph in electric only mode but unlike the Prius there is no electric only mode. However in reality the Prius offers such a short electric range, about 2 miles on a fully charged battery for the new model, that this is no great loss. During our time with the car the Insight did run in electric state surprisingly frequently on flat urban roads.
When accelerating the electric motor provides assistance and when you coast or start to brake the motor acts as a generator recharging the batteries. The batteries are nickel metal hydride which are cheaper and crucially market tested unlike lithium ion. Honda’s decision to stick with a tried and tested battery chemistry is supported by Toyota who have done exactly the same with the new Prius.
As the electric motor is attached to the crankshaft the engine continues to turn over even when the Insight is being powered by the motor alone. When this happens the injection of petrol is stopped and the engine valves are sealed which reduces the pumping losses making the idle pistons easier to turn. The valves are also shut when you coast and thanks the idle start/stop the engine is turned off when you come to a halt, so the Insight only uses fuel when the it is actually needed. Honda calls the system VCM (Variable Cylinder Management).
Honda have achieved some big technical advances over and above the system on the Civic Hybrid. The electric motor is much thinner at just 35.7 mm compared to 61.5 mm, the batteries have been reduced from 11 modules to 7 thanks to an increase in module output of 30% and at the same time the durability of the batteries has also increased by 30%. The result is a battery pack that weighs just 38 kg (roughly the same as a fuel tank of petrol) and that is compact enough to hide under the boot floor without compromising boot space. Honda has used all of these efficiency gains to reduce component size and cost rather than adding performance and this is key to the Insight’s lower price.
In a bit of a dig at Toyota, Honda say that their system isn’t designed to ace the official fuel consumption tests and grab the headlines but rather it is designed to work in the real world.
As a result of this as well as making the Insight efficient Honda were also keen to help owners to drive it efficiently. Following some real world tests with other Honda models they found that different driving styles led to a 21% difference in fuel consumption but that with different engine ECU settings this could be reduced to 12%.
Honda have applied this knowledge to the Insight by providing two separate modes. Pressing the ECON button engages what Honda call ‘super economy mode’. In this mode power and torque are limited by 4%, unless full throttle is required, the shift pattern for the CVT is altered, throttle response is dulled to filter out spikes, greater regenerative brake energy is captured, air conditioning is limited, the fan blower power is reduced more frequently and idle stop/start periods are lengthened.
It is worth noting that all of the performance and fuel economy data are collected in normal mode. So the official fuel consumption figures don’t benefit from ECON mode.
In addition to physical measures Honda have added ‘Eco Assist’ which is designed to encourage drivers to be more efficient. The system collects real time data and through a variety of methods shows how closely the current driving style matches the ideal. Some elements of the system are gimmicky like the electronic plants that grow and wither but others are genuinely useful guides for everyday drivers. In particular the speedometer is backlight in green, blue/green, or blue with green indicating good behaviour and blue bad. This is a very simple way of giving people an idea of how efficiently they are driving.
In addition to this more in-depth information is available through a display in the centre of the rev counter. Here you get the standard instantaneous and average fuel consumption information and general trip information but you also get an ‘eco drive bar’. If you accelerate sharply the bar will move towards the right of the display and if you break heavily it will move towards the left. The idea is to keep it near to the middle line. You can also access information about the state of charge of the battery and there is a setting where none of the information is displayed so if you take a particular dislike to any of it you don’t have to look at it.
A couple of features that we would have liked to have seen are an engine temperature reading rather than just a high temperature warning light and a tyre pressure monitoring system. The latter is a strange omission given the detrimental effect that low tyre pressure has on fuel consumption, but perhaps it is another victim of cost cutting.
It is worth saying that the instrument binnacle is well laid out and very clear. It is dominated by the analogue rev counter with the digital speedometer sitting above the rest of the instruments in your line of vision.
Real world fuel consumption
Up until this point the Insight has acquitted itself well. It isn’t class leading in any one area but it is consistently strong across the board. However this is the section in which the Insight must excel for it to get our vote.
When we picked up the car it was reading 54 mpg. We took on a 400 mile route which included a good deal of motorway running up to 70 mph, a good selection of A roads and B roads and some decent hills thrown in too. We spent most of the time with the ECON mode on and some time with it off, we tried out the air conditioning and the semiautomatic gearbox and we tested its overtaking ability and drove hard at times. In other words a mixed bag of everyday driving at the end of which the trip computer was showing a highly credible 58 mpg.
We then did a further 200 miles trying to get maximum fuel efficiency. The route comprised of a long motorway run this time at between 55 – 60 mph and about 30 miles of A and B roads. We engaged ECON mode all the way, avoided the air conditioning and left the gearbox to its own devices.
The result was an excellent 65.3 mpg. There is a long held belief that hybrids have poor fuel consumption on the motorway but the Insight finally puts this one to rest. At 70 mph on flat sections of road the Insight will return 55 - 60 mpg. At 55 – 60 mph it will do 65 – 75 mpg which lets face it isn’t bad for a petrol engined car of this size.
However what was particularly impressive was how well the system works on urban roads too. At the end of the motorway the car was showing 64 mpg and this then increased to 65 on the urban roads.
We started by saying that there was collective disappointment that the Insight can’t crack 100g/km in the official tests. But of course what’s more important is what the car is actually capable of in the real world. As it happens 65.3 mpg equates to about 99 g/km so the Insight is a sub 100 g/km contender after all!
Conclusions
The Insight takes a different path to the Prius and whilst it misses out on some of the headline grabbing figures there is much more to the Insight than meets the eye. It performs strongly across the board but it excels when it comes to fuel consumption. Honda promised that the Insight would be able to meet its official fuel consumption figures and we didn’t have too much trouble bettering them.
The Insight isn’t perfect, in particular the dashboard quality is bellow par, the suspension is caught out by sharp bumps and the combination of the CVT gearbox and the 1.3 litre engine does impact on the otherwise strong refinement at times.
However the inclusion of the semiautomatic gearbox setting on the ES and ES-T specs makes the Insight much more rounded. On that basis we would avoid the SE and would recommend the ES which offers great value thanks to a comprehensive specification.
Our remaining gripes are more than made up for by the reduced price that they allow. The Insight blends great practicality, good refinement, suitable performance, strong specification and excellent fuel consumption.
What Honda has achieved is underlined by the fact that it is not only the cheapest hybrid by some considerable margin but it also undercuts mainstream rivals. In ES trim it is £1,255 cheaper than the 5 door ECOnetic Focus with a DPF and a whopping £2,555 cheaper in SE trim. And the official CO2 emissions are around 10 - 14% lower and the Insight will have much lower NOx emissions than the diesel Ford. Compared to the lowest CO2 petrol option it is around 20 – 25% lower.
Honda have done a full life cycle analysis of the Insight and they claim that the hybrid bits make a negligible difference to the manufacturing impact and because the production phase is only 6% the marginal difference is easily made up during the use phase which is 78%.
The Insight adds up financially, practically and even offers an element of fun and that is why it has moved the hybrid market on far more than the raw data suggests. If you are in the market for a family hatch don’t buy one before you have tried an Insight.
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