[slideways]

As a newbie to the world of the Insight I've gotten a big kick out of the comments the car gets.

The best so far came from the Sax player in my band who is also a car nut and owns a 1961 Caddie. Upon seeing my new Insight he exclaimed "Oh no, you're not not one of those guys are you?" I proudly replied that indeed I am (concerned about gas, the enviornment etc. kind of guy) His come back was.........

"The ashtray in my Caddie weighs more then that thing!!!"

What's your best?

AJ

 

[Mitch53]

My best ........ " what-do-ya-do when the sun isn't shineing ?" He swore that he read that all 'lectric' cars got there power from solar panels :lol:

 

[Tim Maddux]

Comments heard on a cross-country drive:
California (in a Cheech voice) - "All right, man!" (and thumbs up signs)
Arizona - "How does it handle the heat?"
New England - "How does it handle the snow?"
Texas - "Whut in the hell is that?"

 

[Rick]

So far I've had two classic ones. One was waiting to make a left turn leaving the bank. I had my windows rolled down. Two girls in a car pulled up next to me in the right turn lane.

Her "Excuse me, is that one of them energy cars?" (Already I could see where this was going)
Me "It's a Hybrid"
Her "A what?"
Me "A Hybrid, it's gas and electric"
Her "Ohh, so when do you plug it in?" (Praying for any clearing in traffic to just justify dumping the clutch and taking off as fast as possible)
Me "No, it recharges itself while you slow down"
Her "So it uses sun light?" (The air head discription came out)
Me "You put gas in it like any other car and get up to 70 miles per gallon"
Both of their jaws dropped at this point
Her "Where can I get one?"
Me "Honda"
I finally get a clearing and catch a little chirp getting out of there. Energy cars, hah, I could have answered that in so many ways which would have confused them.

The other good comment was while I had the car up in laughlin for the anual Harley river run. If you can just picture this for any of you not familiar with it just imagine tens of thousands of motorcycles and bikers comming together in laughlin and absolutely crowding it. Most of them have had some alcohol by 9 at night when I decided I had had enough of the show to leave.

Battling the crowds to get out of there it was bumper to bumper creeping along anywhere in laughlin, and of course we had choosen the middle of the strip to go eat at one of the hotels. It was my mother and me in the car. I had the windows rolled down as trying to recirculate air seemed to only make the fumes worse. And also you have to imagine the side walks jam packed with people, most drunk.

So anyways, we were creeping out way out of town and I get a nice loud "What in the hell is that?" He must have been from Texas :wink:
My mom turns to me and comments "It's a smart car, and your a dumb person." You probably had to be present to recieve the maximum humor value, but it was really funny.

Ohh, and the next day I decided the whole biker scene wasn't for me so I drove up to the Vegas Speedway and went to NEDRA's Wicked Watts. It was great.

 

[Aaron Cake]

I spend most of my days driving, so I get lots of this. Some of the best are below..

Filling up at a gas station, leaning against the car with the gas nozzle clearly visible as I'm counting the litres going in. Woman walks up, looks reasonably intelligent, well dressed, etc. Looks at gas nozzle, then at me and says "Is this one of those new electric cars?". I sort of look at the gas nozzle, look back and her, and with a completely straight face say "Yes" as I put the nozzle back on the pump and screw in the gas cap. She said "Oh cool" and walked away. To this day, she probably still doesn't get it.

I had just parked in the lot of a movie theatre with a friend. It was lightly raining, and just as we were exiting the car a man came running up with a genuinely concerned look on his face. He looked at me, and the conversation went like:
Him: You shouldn't be driving that in the rain!
Me: Huh.
Him: Someone might get electrocuted!

It took all of our control to stop from breaking out in laughter while I explained to him why it was perfectly safe to drive in the rain.

There's always those who "know" more about your car then you do. :roll: I was at a local speed shop (who I will not name) buying my K&N filter, and the owner was telling me all about electrics and hybrids. Of course, 90% of it was wrong, and I just got tired of correcting him. You'd figure that he would quickly learn that I know what I was talking about and he'd stop his BS'ing....

I always get "they copied the rear wheels from Citreon". Uh, no, I believe it was done for aerodynamics...

Or the guy who, while looking directly at the "Honda Insight" logo asked "Is that a Ford?".

There's the standard "How fast does it go?" and "can you drive it on the highway?". These people almost nearly freak when I say that I've had it up near 200KM/H.

The question "Do you have to plug it in?" is ALWAYS asked. It's a shame that these people see plugging in as a chore. They plug in their cell phones, laptops, and even block heaters in the winter, yet seem to have this mental block about plugging in a car for traction power. Anyway, I always try to put a negative spin on the fact that I can't plug in the car. Talk about how nice it would be to drive without using any gas at all. Some are very enthusiastic, some are VERY anti-EV and seem to fight back with all the standard misconceptions.

"Does it get good mileag?" is popular.

"Why don't you take off the wheel covers?" is common as well. Why people want to do this, I have no idea. Perhaps they just want to look more "normal". I guess they forget about all the older (50s, 60s) cars with wheel skirts.

I once and a while get "How do you change the rear tires?" (my answer is usually "Well, the dealer just swaps the car...")

I love it when I open the hood, they see the little 12V battery and say "Wow! That's the battery?"

Many don't believe my mileage claims, and have to be shown the guage.

I also get the real jerks. Stuff like "Good car, but why did they have to make it look like that?!?", "You think you're better then I am?" (no idea where that came from, but from the impression you gave, the answer is yes), "How do you like your nerd-mobile?" and the classic "Those things are fu..ing slow". To which I generally answer with a tire smoking launch at the green.

That's pretty much all I can think of at the moment, but there are undoubtably many more.

 

[opal]

Here's one I got on Thursday when Liam and I had our Insights at the NCR car "show" ("show" because where there were 20 cars and an antique tractor last year, there were two insights, a 69 Mustang and a Yamaha YZR bike - the only car show in history where Insights out-numbered the muscle cars!).

I started my car for a crowd of gawkers who wanted to know how loud the Insight was.

The car started... there was a nifty pause, and out of the crowd comes "YOU'RE ****TING ME! MY FRIDGE MAKES MORE NOISE THAN THAT!"

Edited to add: Oh, and just for contrast, I was informed by a bozo in a pickup truck today that I was driving "the ugliest car he'd ever seen in his life." His passenger had the sense to roll up the window before I replied. Smart man.

 

[Guest]

Just after pulling into a parking spot in front of the Wild Oats Market, a couple walks behind me (toward a Lexus SUV, I believe). The woman takes a look, then another look, and says "Honey, is that one of those solar powered cars?"

There's of course the ubiquitous "So, do you take it on the highway?" or "Is that your only car?"

And I have been asked many times if you "feel it" when it goes from electric to gas, or if there's a switch that changes it from electric to gas.

 

[amplifiedmouse]

i was at a gas station and i was filling up my tank and this lady driving a beat up pick up truck was like 'is that one of them cars that runs on light?' and i was like 'omg, did you just ask that?' so i had to put it in terms that she could understand because she, too, did not understand the term 'hybrid'. i thought it was funny

 

[bassplayer]

I was pulled over by a local city police officer for a speeding violation,
First thing out of his mouth was " How fast will this car go ??" , I replied " The speed limit" .. He replied " Well the radar showed 93MPH" ... I replied" Its only a 3 cylinder, hybrid, you know gas/electric car" ..
He still wrote me a ticket , but at court the judge reduced it to no points just a fine.. I later saw the officer off duty , and as we talked I confessed that I have had it up to 107MPH .. He was shocked ...


Stephen

 

[dflach]

"Insight-ful" comments

I'm sure that there are many who dislike the looks and technology of the Insight, but the only comments that I've received about mine have been positive, and came from many people driving gas-guzzlers. I've had several brief conversations with people in traffic that love the technology and seem to be duly impressed. As a result, some of these people will be looking at hybrids for their next purchase. I believe this was Honda's intent when the Insight was designed. I love to go over the two-page bulleted list that I've put together that describes all of the advanced engineering features of the Insight. I refer to it as the "Tucker" of the 21st century because it is so advanced when compared to anything else on the market.

 

[The Citrus Smoothie]

dflach - It would be great if you could e-mail me your two page list of features on the Insight. I am constantly giving interested people a ten minute lecture on the wonders of the Insight. I almost have a complete sales patter (keep meaning to offer my services to a Honda dealership with four unsold Insights). It would be alot simpler to have a comprehensive document like yours. Thx!

 

[Gobo]

I've had umpteen discussions on my Insight go the same way:

"Gee. It must suck to have to plug that in every night, huh?"
(No, it's a Hybrid, you can't plug it in.)
"Oh, so it's electric AND gas? Do you shift it over or something?"
(No, it's seamless...)
"Oh. So how fast can it go?"
(Well, I was going about 80 a little while ago...)
"Whoa! What's the gas mileage?"
(Around 50-80 mpg, depending..)
"Where can I get one!?!"


:wink:

 

[amplifiedmouse]

i get the whole 'plugging it in' or 'can you feel it switch over?' a lot.

i also get 'is that one of them battery cars?'

sadly, i live in a town full of people who, for the most part, dropped out of high school. not that that's bad, because i know some people who dropped out of high school, got their g.e.d., went to a community college, switched to a 'real' college, and they're about done with school now. but these people are just dumb.


sorry for talking about my town. this is an insight bored. ahh, i'm tired. must sleep.

 

[Yves M.]

This is true for all of us,

I was told be a passer by on a Montreal street as I parked, only those word then the guy went away
"Your level of conscience is higher than the majority"

 

[The Citrus Smoothie]

I have now completed a comprehensive but presentable, one-sided information sheet on the Insight. Very useful for handing out to interested people and complements the 'Ambassadorship' material on this website. It is aimed at a UK audience but can easily be tweaked for USA/Canada. Feel free to send me a private message with your e-mail address if you would like me to send you a copy (Word doc).

 

[ucffool]

I've created a US version of Christian's flyer.

http://home.cfl.rr.com/ucffool/hondainsight.doc

EDIT: Good work by the way.

 

[The Citrus Smoothie]

Thanks very much Andy.

If anyone would like the UK version please send me a private message or e-mail me.

 

[monolith]

http://monolith.orblivion.com/files/car/hondainsight.pdf <-- PDF format of US document.

 

[james]

""Your level of conscience is higher than the majority"

Little do they know just how much fun I'm having

Afterthought: You know, maybe I just accidentially stumbled onto one of those deep philosophical truth thingies. After all, asking people to make sacrifices for the sake of principles, the common good, &c doesn't seem to get results. Maybe asking them to have fun would work better...

 

[Mitch53]

Pulled in for my monthly gas fillup this AM and the guy in the bay next to me ask's the usual question " Hey, how many MPG ya' get ?" I replied and we chatted for awhile and he say's " my friend got one of those European adaptors for his GMC Jimmy ( Vortec 6) and he's gett'n 70 MPG on his truck now, better than you " :shock: I've never heard of that and find it very hard to beleive. He told me it's only sold in Europe. I asked him how it works and all he would say is " thats a secret " :wink:

Yeah, bet it is!

Any of you across the big pond ever heard of this ....... :?: