lets not compare apples to oranges.
the insight is a compact car while the prius is a midsize car.
second, who drives 55 on a highway? i guess in Georgia you can get away with 55 on a 65 because theres not that many cars or insane drivers. here in california, you drive 55 and 3 things will happen to you... 1.) you get a ticket for driving that slow on a 65 or 70. 2.) sooner or later youll get hit by a stupid driver. and lastly, people will throw stuffs at you for driving that slow. you would be surprised by what people would do here in SOCAL.
so an average 53-56 MPG doing 55 isnt really realistic.
i drive at 65 and im getting 50MPG. is 3MPG really worth your life? sometimes i go 60 and i would hit 55MPG.
it is true that the prius commands a premium with the price. i was considering of buying it for the love of god. but, after two months of haggling, the lowest i got was 22500 inclusive of destination. MSRP was 23150 so i could have saved 650 off MSRP. with the insight, i saved 1310 off the 22010 MSRP and got it at 20700 with destination. so i saved like 660 more off MSRP from an insight compared to a prius or in real terms 1800 difference. most people who buy a car dont care about the total loan amount which is sad. those are the people who end up paying MSRP. but really, if you look at it, 1800 more for a midsize sedan? its not really bad. sure 1800 is a lot of money but that only equates to $39 a month more. some people ask, whats 39 bucks more a month? thats like 450 a year. one car payment. you cant pay cable with the 39 and certainly cant pay your cellphone bill with that. thats a tank and 1/3 of gas a month and hmmm, credit card minimum payment?
what im saying is that 39 a month isnt really a big of a deal with unwise buyers. it equates to 480 form 440 or 440 from 400. but you have to take in consideration that youll be getting a midsize rather than a compact.
so why did i get the insight? first, i really dont mind about midsize or compact. i just wanted to go green. second, i like the looks of the car. third, if i need more room, i have a 2005 Honda Odyssey EX-L for hauling stuffs and people. so the car is really just a beater. i also have and M3 which they say is a compact but really its a midsize when you look at it from the inside in my opinion.
it really boils down to people i think. its either your a honda person or a toyota. a BMW or a Benz. i have owned a 1992 civic, 2008 civic Si, 2005 Odyssey and now the insight. also a 2001 525i and a 2008 M3. i could not get myself to like toyotas although they are cheaper than hondas generally. and i could never see myself in a benz.
lets face it, toyotas are cheaper than comparable hondas. look at the prices of thier vans and the camry accord and the corolla civic. honda always have about 1-2k or greater as the segment goes up, over the price of its rival toyota. therefore, toyata will always out sell hondas. look at thier sales report for the past 5 years, toyota out sells honda every year by about 100-200k cars. i remeber my brother back in 1990 when he really wanted to get a civic but said the corolla was much cheaper so he got that one instead.
so its not just the car and the consumer report and other factors like EPA and reviews. there is what we call the human factors and money factors, image and size class requirements as mitigating circumstances.
Even though I make plenty of money to be able to afford a car that costs much more, I prefer to spend less than $20K on a car. I mean really, if a car CAN cost as little as $10k brand new (Hyundai) then why on earth would someone spend over twice that for a car. It pained me to pay what I did for my Insight, but I wanted a new car for the first time in my life and I have a rule that I must always get a more fuel efficient car than what I am getting rid of. So for me the $2000 premium for the Prius was a no-go.
It just doesn't make sense to me... And then you get into the cars that are $50k or more for something that isn't that special (BMW, Mercedes, Cadillac, etc.) I just can't comprehend buying something like that even if you have the money. Maybe its just the way I was raised.... Maybe its just that I put more value into my money than other people... I don't know
You were raised right. I agree with you wholeheartedly.
After owning a new BMW, it's not all that big of a deal. I'm just as happy with my Honda, if not happier.
I am just thrilled to be able to go up to 7 to 9 days between fill-ups. I've never owned a car that let me go that far before.
Does the INSIGHT handles well? or the prius? which has a superior GAS
mileage? I want to buy an insight but the reviews i see for the insight is all
negative, especially its handling..can anyone chime-in
thanks
Does the INSIGHT handles well? or the prius? which has a superior GAS
mileage? I want to buy an insight but the reviews i see for the insight is all
negative, especially its handling..can anyone chime-in
thanks
The Insight has a tighter suspension than the Prius. For me that is a good thing. That means you feel more of the bumps in the road, but it also means you have a much better 'feel' for how much grip you have. So far I have been very impressed with the stock tires, even in snow and ice. I have always felt well connected to the road. With the low center-of-gravity taking corners and curves are no problem (and can be fun). This is my first car with ABS let alone the traction control and Vehicle Stability Assist. A BIG plus of the Insight over the Prius is that traction control can be turned off (if you get stuck in mud or snow for instance). MPG is an interesting question. It is really more up to the driver. The Prius 'may' have an advantage, but I'll take the simplicity of Honda's IMA approach to Toyota's system any day.
For the most part, just take them out for a test drive. If you prefer a 'sportier' suspension feel, the decision will be clear You may also want to read some of the posts from priuschat.com to get an idea of what Prius owners have to say. I didn't like the dash (or lack of) in the Prius, among other things, but it is a matter of taste.
Does the INSIGHT handles well? or the prius? which has a superior GAS
mileage? I want to buy an insight but the reviews i see for the insight is all
negative, especially its handling..can anyone chime-in
thanks
The people giving those negative reviews should be sued.
My Prius doesn't feel at all like any of the negative things they say other than the headroom in the back seat for tall people. The handling in this car is much better than the Civic's I've owned in the 1990's. The acceleration seems a lot better than a smart car. Both the smart and the Insight supposedly do 0-60 in 10 seconds, but this Insight sure feels like it's a hell of a lot faster than the smart.
I have a 2010 Prius and did not even consider the new Insight despite of loving Hondas because I needed a FE car with better cargo room and MPG hwy estimates as high as possible because I do 99% hwy-only driving, so the extra cost for the Prius compared to the Insight or other FE car was justifiable financially in my case.
I'm not trading my Prius because I stick with a car as long as I can to avoid financial losses but if I could...
My Prius is really way bellow my expectations for 3 huge reasons (let's forget about small issues).
1-MPG in cold temperatures simply plunges! Because of the winter, my lifetime MPG will never be able to keep up with what I was expecting... despite of what EPA says... (This winter drop may be an issue with the Insight too).
2-Interior quality is deplorable. Everything looks cheap plastic inside the car and mine rattles even in the smoothest hwy.
3-Regular maintenance (oil change, tire rotation, etc...) is costing me more than twice as much as I paid for my Odyssey and CR-V combined, which is a lot more than I was expecting.
I believe I read somewhere that the EPA's newer, lower mileage ratings were due to a more aggressive "course" run on the treadmills at the test center. The mileage stats for the Japanese testing were reportedly much higher.
It's my understanding that any small 4 cyl or 3 cyl engine vehicle may struggle when the test includes aggressive acceleration above 70 mph. As soon as some of Chrysler/Fiat and Ford's new small car attempts hit this test cycle it will be modified.
Look at the numbers for a Honda Fit or a Hyundai Accent. Any reasonable person without a lead foot can beat the EPA. Don't make your decisions on those skewed stats. IMO Toyota is the next GM, they've gotten very big and they're marketing will outshine production. I know it was only a floor mat, but millions of cars were recalled recently. Six months after my wife bought her CRV in 2007 we both knew we'd be buying more Hondas.
Does the INSIGHT handles well? or the prius? which has a superior GAS
mileage? I want to buy an insight but the reviews i see for the insight is all
negative, especially its handling..can anyone chime-in
thanks
You can google the following which are all positive, especially in terms of the handling:
Car and Driver
Boston Globe hybrid comparison
Washington Post Warren Brown Honda Insight
Detroit Free Press hybrid comparison
CNET
MSN autos
Hybridcars.com
From my point of view, the handling (besides the MPG) is what I like most about the car. Putting aside issues like the size of the back seat and road noise, it's as much if not more fun to drive than any car I've owned, regardless of cost.
Even before the 1st 2010 Prius roll of the plant, I was expecting the brand new Insight II receiving the knockout punch when the Big "T" decides to cut their 3G Prius price while dropping the outgoing 2G even further.
Honda will need to pick another fight on their own terms in their next hybrid rather than getting bloodied again in the wrong category.
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You may also want to read some of the posts from priuschat.com to get an idea of what Prius owners have to say. I didn't like the dash (or lack of) in the Prius, among other things, but it is a matter of taste.
