How the Insight Drives: Our summary of what various reviewers have said.

Insight's sales in the U.S.: We've been keeping track of monthly Insight sales.

Sierra Club Excellence in Environmental Engineering Award: Given to the Insight, this was the first product award given by the Sierra Club in their 108-year history. In their words, this award was created "to help consumers distinguish between cleaner cars and those merely pretending to be cleaner."

International Engine of the Year Award: This award, evaluated by a team of 34 independent jurors, went to the Insight. For additional articles, see:  The world's best engine announced and: Honda wins engine 'Oscar'. Judging was based on performance, fuel economy, emissions, noise and smoothness.

Automobile Magazine 2000 Technology of the Year award: They said "the winner ... was self evident once we'd rigoursly tested the car that conforms to the strictest emissions regulations, turns in incredible gas mileage, and yet remains a blast to drive." We also have a transcript of the award presentation here.

A number of key awards: A Honda Press release listing some awards won by the Insight.

Natural Resources Canada: The Insight was ranked number 1 in fuel efficiency.

 

Little hybrid Insight is brilliant performer: Tony Swan's comparison of the Insight to other cars, including the Prius, focusing on efficiency and long distance driving comfort.

automotive.co.uk: A test drive of one of the first Insight's available to test in Europe. They were pleased with the efficiency, "slick gearchange", "impressive low down torque" and "swift" acceleration. They commented on limited luggage space, particularly the limited space for hiding items from "prying eyes". They quote Honda as saying that "the battery should last the life of the car", though this is the only place we've seen any battery life claims at all from Honda.

MSNBC test drove the Insight and did this feature-packed article. The article includes a video of their test drive, and an interactive demo of some of the Insight's technologies. The article makes reference to U.S. Department of Transportation front-impact ratings, in which the only small car to do better than the Insight was the Saturn SL 4-door. (Note: we don't believe their battery replacement information is entirely accurate.)

Car & Driver described the Insight as "a brilliant and difficult achievement". Included in this partially tongue-in-cheek article is a fantastic sidebar on "How We Won the Insight Fuel-Economy Challenge. Without Cheating. Much."

automotive-online.com: A test drive of the Insight, including a "2 km thrash down the autobahn". They describe the Insight as "surprisingly sprightly". They found the auto idle stop feature "slightly unnerving", but were pleased with the instantaneous restart.

Motor Week Television: This review praised the Insight's stability, braking, and "mainstream" application of hybrid technology. In our opinion they didn't do a very good job of getting good mileage out of the Insight, but they were still impressed by the mileage figures they saw. Their biggest criticisms were the grip of the standard tires during their slalom test, and the usefulness of its two-seat format for families.

Sunday Telegraph London: This European article compares the Insight to a number of other high-efficiency cars.

Insight sets fuel efficiency record for 'Round-Britain' run: The Insight achieved 102.65 MPG (imperial) in the run, beating the previous Guinness Book of Records record of 85.96 MPG.

Insight participation in NESEA 2000 American Tour De Sol: A number of U.S. Insight owners took place in the Tour De Sol, with Ed Dempsey leading the results at an average of 83.6 MPG (U.S.).

 

Honda corporate strategy press release: Includes mention of Honda's plans to introduce an IMA-equipped Civic in 2001 in Japan, with the intention of also eventually selling it elsewhere.

Honda's Increase number of Insights for U.S. in year 2000 to 6500, due to higher than expected demand.

Honda Canada press releases announcing Insight availability

 

Auto Speed: Partway down this page is a segment on the Japanese Insight introduction.

EV World Web site report: looks at the Insight from both technical and consumer reception standpoints.

Nightly Automotive Report did an interview with Robert Bienenfeld of American Honda. This page includes both a transcript and a streaming video archive of the review.

BusinessWeek did a feature on hybrid cars. This included the commentary "The Japanese Are Making the Right Bet on Hybrids", an interview with Tom Elliot at Honda, and an article entitled "The Eco-Cars".

 

Ecofriendly wheels can't get a break: An excellent article from salon.com on U.S. alternative vehicle tax incentives, some of which are denied to hybrid vehicles, while being offered to dirtier competitors.

How Hybrid cars work: This article on www.howstuffworks.com explains hybrid technology, and has some specific information about both the Insight & Prius.

Honda, GM, others raise environmentalists' hopes with engines: This article includes mention of waiting lists of Insights, and describes some of the "green" technologies that other automakers are working on.

ai-online compared Prius, Insight & other hybrid concepts: This article focuses on the gasoline engines used in the Insight & Prius.