Quote:
Originally Posted by E27006
It seems that Hybrids do not sell in Canada, be they Toyota or Honda.
I also think the CRZ should be the new Insight.
The appeal of the shape/style of the Gen2 has grown for me.
Perhaps Honda might salvage something from this Car, remove all the IMA, fit a manual transmission, a few mods to suspension etc, and sell it as a conventional non-hybrid at a lower price.
I'm a non-believer when it comes to the automatic transmission, give me a manual every time
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I'd take a CRZ manual transmission without the IMA with some lost weight(whether aluminum or not), some improved aerodynamics, add the back seats that the US isn't getting and I would call it the 4 seat version of the Insight, albeit without the hybrid system, but I rarely even use the assist anyway. ...I'd change my mind if I thought the CRZ would eventually have MIMA coming to it but based on the engine size and no lean-burn, I think it would be tough to get the mileage we get on our Insights even with additional pack capacity unless we went completely nuts on how much we add.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RobertSmalls
My solution to this, around the internet, is to refer to a first-gen as "an Insight" and the second gen as "second gen Insight". Just kind of ignore the second-gen pretender to the name "Insight".
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People don't know what "an Insight" is, in my neighborhood the 2nd Gen Insight seems to be extremely popular, I'm seeing them everywhere it seems. Even more than I see a Corolla, Accord, Camry, or Civic(not combined) driving down the road. I drive when there aren't many cars out on the road and I've driven past plenty to the point where I've lost count. When I tell people I have an Insight and the gas mileage, if they have seen the 2nd Gen or heard its specs, they accuse me of lies if I tell them I get MPG in the 60's, sometimes riding up into the 70's on my daily commute. It isn't until I show them and I hear, "Oh, this one doesn't look like the Prius one" and I get a chance to discuss the lightweight aluminum body, have them lift the hood and inspect the aerodynamics do they understand why this car is as good as it is. When someone asks what I drive, or cars come up in a conversation, I specifically tell people "I drive a 1st Generation 2000 Honda Insight" to differentiate what I own to what they would otherwise assume I own. Once showing people or explaining my car to people about the only thing negative left to the conversation is always along the lines of "What about the batteries, how long do they last? What happens when they die?". I then go on to explain that too, I can justify taking care of the battery, even moreso after seeing how reliable the rest of the car is and the fact that the car has zero body rust to make it ugly and never will, unlike my other car that went from a nice looking car to having rust blisters all over after 4 years of ownership at 16 years.
I'm going to withhold my opinion about the I2 though, mostly due to my opinion about the economics of buying new cars and the overall cost of ownership for a vehicle, which clouds my judgment a bit when it comes to the thought of owning an I2 but this goes for everything on the road.
...regarding them dropping the car, I think that the market of the Civic Hybrid and Insight are a little too close, to the point where I think if you combined the sales you can see a number that seems a little more appropriate in my opinion to what Honda's market share really is for the hybrid vehicles it is selling now. The EPA rating on the Civic Hybrid is actually higher than the Insight, I didn't expect that until the first time I checked out the two cars in a Honda lot and started scratching my chin knowing the legacy of the Insight. I thought the Civic Hybrid was bigger too. I think this is where people get a little lost and walk away or get something else.
Which is why I wish the insight name should have been specific to the 1st gen. Maybe I should take off my Insight badge, and stick on a CR-Z badge. I wonder how many people I could fool 
