Friday, September 4, 2009

Green Honda Insight has little black dress appeal


Sacramento, California – There’s something about a sporty-looking car wearing a window sticker showing 40 miles per gallon in the city and 43 mpg on the highway.

Call it the equivalent of the little black dress. Very alluring.

My recent week with the all-new 2010 Honda Insight – Honda’s Prius-fighter – was thoroughly enjoyable, because it had those decidedly aerodynamic lines and sipped gasoline at a most-conservative rate. Sure, the 2010 Toyota Prius has better EPA fuel economy ratings (51/48 mpg), but the Insight has charms beyond gas mileage.

For starters, it handled surprisingly well on freeways, zipping in and out of high-speed traffic with remarkable zest. Please note that this was while the car was not in optional “econ” mode, which reduces zip but promotes fuel mileage. “Econ” mode works best when you’ve escaped the beasts on the freeway.

A continuously variable transmission performed well, and steering was nicely responsive. The suspension provided a smooth ride and negated most road imperfections.

My tester was the Insight EX with the navigation system, the most expensive of three trim levels of the five-passenger sedan. Even so, a starting price of $23,100 was very easy on the eyes. And that included a load of standard goodies, such as heated exterior mirrors, programmable auto door locks, a technology-laden sound system and air bags all around. Please note: An Insight LX begins at a mere $19,800.

The Insight’s power plant combines a 1.3-liter 4-cylinder i-VTEC gasoline engine and a 10-kilowatt electric motor. While everything went well most of the time, the transition from engine to electric power was not always seamless. A couple of times, the respective systems seemed to argue over which was in charge. But this also could have been a byproduct of some indecision from my right foot, which sometimes wavered between hard force and tentative pressure.

The Insight has two forms of eco-reward that I found delightful. For one, the background on the digital speed readout above the steering wheel alternates between blue and green to let you know how efficiently you’re driving the car. Green is good. Blue means you’re using more gas than perhaps you need. Then, upon turning off the engine, you get a digital display of how “green” you were on your just-completed drive. You can “earn” a digital image of up to five leaves if you implemented the most fuel-efficient driving style during your trip.

This might sound like food-pellet reward to some, but I must confess that I loved it.

I have a small gripe with the lip across the glass of the rear hatch. It cuts the rear view out the car in half, horizontally. You could lose a fast-approaching car in there, but I found that my eyes quickly adjusted to it in the rearview mirror, and you can’t argue about the need for structural integrity at the back of the car.

The interior dash was nicely laid out, with easy-to-use controls. Everything was readily visible, with no clutter. Interior room was good, but three will be cramped in the Insight’s rear quarters.

So, there you have it: a car that combines green, go and good looks – enough to give the little black dress some competition.

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