Consumer Reports Rips Honda Insight for Ride Quality, Handling, Acceleration, Etc.
By Scott Doggett June 30, 2009
Magazine says hybrid is the most disappointing Honda it has tested "in a long time."
By Scott Doggett, Contributor
The new Honda Insight posted a lackluster "Good" overall road-test score in Consumer Reports' testing for the August issue, and fell short in ride quality, handling, interior noise, acceleration, rear-seat access and visibility.
"The Insight is the most disappointing Honda Consumer Reports has tested in a long time," said David Champion, senior director of CR's Auto Test Center. "The Insight is a noisy, stiff-riding car with clumsy handling that is nothing like the Fit on which it is based. Also, Electronic Stability Control is only available on the highline EX version."
About the only thing CR seemed impressed with was the vehicle's fuel efficiency. The Insight achieved an excellent 38 miles per gallon overall in CR's fuel-economy tests.
In a ratings chart of small hatchbacks and wagons, the Insight was rated 21st out of 22 vehicles, with a road test score of 54 points. It was followed by the Dodge Caliber, which scored 49.
All vehicles in the test group are Recommended by Consumer Reports except for the Insight.
CR only recommends vehicles that have performed well in its tests, have at least average predicted reliability based on CR's Annual Car Reliability Survey of its more than 7 million print and Web subscribers, and performed at least adequately if crash-tested or included in a government rollover test.
Full tests and ratings of the test group appear in the August issue of Consumer Reports, which goes on sale June 30.
About the Insight, the magazine criticized its cornering limits, saying the hybrid plows straight ahead early on in tight turns and the tail can slide out too quickly for stability control to completely prevent it.
The Insight EX, which carries a $21,790 manufacturer's suggested retail price as tested, merges an updated version of Honda's Integrated Motor Assist hybrid system with a 1.3-liter, eight-valve inline-4, and the powertrain produces a combined output of 98 hp and 123 pound-feet of torque.
The IMA system slots a 13-hp electric motor between the engine and continuously variable transmission and it is juiced by a nickel-metal hydride battery pack behind the rear seats. Consumer Reports found that the continuously variable transmission "performed smoothly." Braking was said to be Very Good. Cargo space behind the rear seats was merely Adequate.
Not long ago our sister site Inside Line compared the new Insight to a Toyota Prius, the most popular of the hybrids worldwide. Two of IL's professional drivers looked at both of the vehicles in terms of driving performance and how well they stacked up financially.
The drivers found that the Prius netted 54.4 mpg to the Insight's 51.5 mpg while they employed conservative driving styles in a controlled environment. Their opinions of the Insight differed markedly from those of the CR writer.
Perhaps the most loudly voiced objection from both IL drivers was that the Insight's cruise control consistently undershot the target speed when in Eco-Assist mode. Like a nun armed with a switch, this mode modifies the Insight's behavior to favor fuel-efficiency over drivability and comfort.
The Prius, which needs no such supplemental mode to achieve its stellar fuel economy, exhibited no such untoward tendencies.
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