MPG should be much more concrete. People considering a hybrid often will look at MPG before and over any other quality. The fact that CR reports such falsely low mpg is very damaging to the Insight. Even the EPA figures (which are also proving to be abysmally low) are higher. Again, what was CR doing?!?!
Mayhaps they could not find the clutch to shift from M4?
__________________
2010 Insight EX/NAVI Clear Sky Blue Metallic
ex- 2005 Prius Millennium Silver Metallic
pkg#6
ex-2004 Civic Hybrid Opal Silver Blue Metallic 5spd manual
ex- 29 other vehicles
Perhaps they forgot to remove the hand break, that could be why they had some complains about the center console as well :
CR guy#1 : "Geeze, what is that thing in the way between the harm rest ad the shifter thing, it hurt. I will write a bad review on the center console..."
CR guy#2 : "I don't know man, may be it has something to do with this big weird round thing in front of you. Not sure what its for though..."
CR guy#1 : "Yeah, what is that thing, should I touch it or something ? But for sure, if I don't touch it, the car drive weird and clumsy... I will write a bad review on that...".
CR guy#2 : "And what with this noise comming from the rear wheels ? I see smoke from the rear wheel when you move man... this car is really noisy and it's annoying, let's write a bad review on that"...
Perhaps they forgot to remove the hand break, that could be why they had some complains about the center console as well :
CR guy#1 : "Geeze, what is that thing in the way between the harm rest ad the shifter thing, it hurt. I will write a bad review on the center console..."
CR guy#2 : "I don't know man, may be it has something to do with this big weird round thing in front of you. Not sure what its for though..."
CR guy#1 : "Yeah, what is that thing, should I touch it or something ? But for sure, if I don't touch it, the car drive weird and clumsy... I will write a bad review on that...".
CR guy#2 : "And what with this noise comming from the rear wheels ? I see smoke from the rear wheel when you move man... this car is really noisy and it's annoying, let's write a bad review on that"...
Point proven, they forgot the hand break...
Yup, I just did that this morning. It actually seems pretty normal when you have the car in reverse!
Anyway, if you want to write in to Consumer Reports, here's a link: Contact Us
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2010 Honda Insight EX Polished Metal driving it since April 7, 2009
Anyway, if you want to write in to Consumer Reports, here's a link: Contact Us
Note that you must take one additional step to submit your comment AFTER it appears you are finished. My comment was:
"I had regarded CR highly for decades. But your review of the Honda Insight is so erroneous in its assessments that I must consider your reporting methods to be grossly flawed. I'm sure you will hear from others who own this car and will strongly dispute your findings, so I will close by saying that CR has fallen from journalistic integrity, and thus from my reading list."
So, we don't know, except for the oft-quoted summary and a vague allusion to equal testing, somehow.......
At least when the performance guys work, they use racetracks and common roads, and state what was going on (press throttle, accelerated hard for 1/4 mile, etc......)
CR is a waste of natural resources and bandwidth
__________________
2010 Insight EX/NAVI Clear Sky Blue Metallic
ex- 2005 Prius Millennium Silver Metallic
pkg#6
ex-2004 Civic Hybrid Opal Silver Blue Metallic 5spd manual
ex- 29 other vehicles
I am curious on their methods and especially what they did to measure that dismal 38MPG....
Racetrack, open road? Whatever the road condition, was this the normal place that they test alla cars?
There must be a standardized regimen and testing pattern that they use for all car tests, otherwise, the baseline data that they use is invalid.
Anyone know?
I believe that the CR testing center is in eastern CT and includes a small track and testing area for standardized avoidance maneuvers, etc.
They have one or more standard driving loops on roads in the area that they use to measure mpg. Even so, the results could be affected by the particular drivers involved. And of course if one drives a hybrid like a conventional car with the same acceleration rates, braking, etc, the mpg will suffer.
I suppose there are two groups of people that buy hybrids:
A = those who buy a hybrid so they can get better mpg without changing how they drive at all;
B = those who are willing to change their driving style to take advantage of the full mpg that a hybrid can deliver.
CR seems to be testing for group A.
Even so, it seems incredible that they managed to get just 38mpg.
I tried to get onto their website and pull a copy of the actual report and it appears that you have to be a member and possibly pay money. Don't think so... Anyways, on the 38 MPG figure. I did a little experiment with my third tank of gas to try and drive it "like a normal American" and I still got over 41 MPG. We're talking jack-rabbit starts every time!!!
Seriously the only way to get worse is to really drive like an idiot, or get on an interstate with the cruise set at 82 MPH
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It actually seems pretty normal when you have the car in reverse! 
