You in GB have always been lucky regarding japanese cars with your insistence on driving on the left side of the road. Heck even the japanese mandatory speed limiter wouldn't present a problem for Insight owners since the objective is minimizing fuel consumption instead of the opposite. Those of us on the continent can only look with envy at the array of direct import japanese cars in England, though from what you say apparently the Insights sold in GB were official imports rather than direct imports. I keep wondering who are the bigger fools, the rulers at Honda for not having continued to export Insights to Europe - and particularly to countries other than Germany - and for having apparently decided to end the Insight's production or all the people who didn't line up outside Honda dealers to buy an Insight. Given the dramatic and steadily worsening climatic conditions that have been sweeping across Europe - southern Spain turning into northern Africa, Portugal burning up, much of France suffering drought and water rationing, southern Italy drying up, etc., etc. - and the overwhelming evidence that we the human race are the source of all this, one would think that we'd be demanding governments to force all the manufacturers to produce cars that sip at the petrol trough the way an Insight does. But sadly despite seeing more and more Priuses on the road here in France, the increase in the number of resource consuming suv's - particularly the BMW's, VW's, and Mercedes - appearing on the roads dwarfs the number of Priuses, at least that's my visual estimation. The french love to criticize the US almost as much as they love to follow the american model they profess to detest. Will we ever learn.
Regarding my earlier comments on GM, not everything is negative with that company as apparently their german company, Opel, has some prototype diesel hybrid running around that is chalking up impressive fuel consumption figures, apparently numbers that could compete with the Insight's! Maybe news like that will spur Honda into rethinking their apparent decision to not replace the Insight because if that information was correct and Opel gets the car into production, Honda will drop even further back into pack as far as european sales are concerned because guaranteed Opel won't ignore euro sales the way Honda appears to do. And if Fiat jumps into the fray combining their terrific 1,3 liter multijet diesel motor with some sort of hybrid system, then things could really start looking good for those of us wondering what we'll eventually replace our Insights with, at least here in Europe since Fiat doesn't exist in the US.
I also read that the 3L Lupo will no longer be produced due to lack of sales. Another sad story as there was a car that could fully compete with the Insight for fuel consumption awards. Unfortunately VW also tacked something like another 5K euros onto the price over a standard Lupo. I never drove one but apparently it was, and still is for that matter, a fine car though you wouldn't want anyone leaning against it! Their use of aluminum and magnesium to lighten the car made her a bit fragile, or so I've read. Cool little car though with brand new ones still available in Germany at what are starting to be interesting prices, around 13 - 14K euros. Since most readers here are american, I'd best explain that VW's 3L label referred to a 3 liter per 100 km fuel consumption figure. The published fuel consumption numbers, similar to the EPA numbers in the states, were something like 2,7 on the rural highways, 3,6 for urban conditions, and 3,0 average. Even has a stop engine process but only after 4 seconds of not moving and through the use of the standard, but beefed up, starter motor. Not as efficient as the Insight's hybrid system in that respect. Four seats too, though one reason I like the Insight is because of the two seats. Also had special low resistance tires that, like the Insights, weren't spectacular for handling but definitely helped reduce consumption. If I needed to replace the Insight now, I'd hop up to Germany and score one for sure. The funny thing with the 3L Lupo is that supposedly VW came out with it because they heard rumors Renualt was developing a 3L Clio so VW went into panic mode and created a special Lupo. Well, Renault did indeed produce their 3L Clio, only the 3 liters referred to a 3 liter V6 sitting behind the front seats of the Clio where there used to be a back seat!
