I have driven both and to be quite honest both cars are viable choices. The Prius C is a better new car. A slightly used Insight is an absolute bargain.

The Prius C can drive on battery power itself (for small distances) and a better choice for city style driving. Battery only driving is possible for small distances.

The Insight has a smaller battery and the IMA is more of a helper style hybrid (assisting in acceleration and can go into battery only mode at very low speeds. It cannot start and stay in battery only mode like the Toyota). The advantage of the Insight is the system is lighter and more compact than the Toyota version.

The Insight is excellent in hwy mileage. I regularly exceed the EPA mileage rating with my Insight (I do the bulk of the miles on highways 20 miles each way and usually average right around 50 mpg).

Both companies have stellar reliability ratings but Toyota has the edge on creating a whole model Prius model line. The Insight will not be made after this year as Honda is introducing a newer hybrid system. Best of luck on your search. Drive them both and get a better feel to both cars.

 

Are you looking to buy new or used? The Gen2 Insight is one of the real "hidden hybrids" in the used car market and you can pick them up for fantastic deals because the demand is low. I have a Gen1, my daughter picked up a 2010 Gen2 EX this spring with 37K miles. It had come off a lease, she picked it up for $12,500 and loves it. I actually find myself asking to borrow her car because it is actually much nicer to drive than my Gen1 Insight.

The other question is what kind of driving do you plan on doing? Hwy? Hills? Flat and level? City? Mixed?

 

The Insight is a Honda and will feel like one when driving. It also has the instrument cluster in front of the driver where it belongs. The Prius will be smoother and quieter (well, maybe not the C) and have a detached driving experience. As others have said, if you can buy used, the Insight is a steal on the used market. The Insight will seem cheap and tinny compared to the Accord though.

 

For me it was value.

For example, I bought my 2010 ES-T sat nav model with 55k for £7200 from a Honda dealer. If I wanted the equivalent spec in the Prius range I would have paid £11000. I couldn't justify the extra 55%.

Plus, I'm a Honda guy

 

I would echo that. I paid £7100 for my 2010 ES-T as a private sale with 34K + leather, but I have about £800 to spend on a few bodywork repairs and a second key... so I think unsed Insights are trending as a bit of a bargain when compared with the Prius.

My own evaluation was that the Insight 2 should be compared with the Prius 2, in looks and economy... there isn't much between them to be honest, it boils down to a few things:

1. I think the Insight is fractionally narrower than the Prius 2, very god for the city when parking.

2. Manufacturer preference. I have traditionally been a Honda fan, I still have my 2001 Accord Type-V, and have had a string of other Honda's in the past. The Insight is notably Honda, and you get all the traditional Honda feel... hard to describe, but it's the all round package rather than anything specific. Recently I have switched to Toyota, having a Yaris D4d and Rav 4 in the family... also both were good cars.

3. And this is what swing it for me... accelerator pedal engagement. Due to the inherent differences between the Insight and Prius hybrid systems, I found the Prius gave a delayed accelerator response to the Insight, which was annoying when you want to make a quick pull away. The Insight still does this to a degree, but is no where near as noticeable.


The Insight was for my wife, and the choices I recommended to her were the Insight 2, Toyota Verso-S, and possibly the Kia Venga/ Hyundai IX20... She mandated auto, so on balance it was a narrow choice between the Verso-S and Insight, but the Insight is cheaper for more car, and I have become very fond of it since I bought it.... one note of warning, any colour coded parts that you may need for the Insight are highly expensive...

Other than that, if you do a lot of town driving and want an auto... its a great choice. I would opt for a manual turbo diesel, but this had to be evaluated in the post diesel particulate filter age.

So in summary, the Insight will make a Honda fan feel right at home, deliver very good fuel economy, and the purchase price difference on a used model will probably deliver any savings over the discrepancy in MPG to the Prius, which may give a few more MPGs... so it comes down to personal preference if you want a hybrid.

 

Good advice

Hey guys,

Many many thanks for the great posts. I am going to buy new as my last new car was in 2000 and was the CRV. Like I said my wife's car is a 2001 Accord. I still love both of them and we will replace hers with a Civic after I get the new toy for me. I will keep my CRV. I went to Honda yesterday and the guy told me that the CRV is worth some bucks. He said those years are in high demand. Go figure but it is a Honda even though I will keep it to do some light towing with a small utility trailer.

I have been doing my research for over a year and was pretty well decided on the Prius C and than I started seeing some Youtubes on the Insight. Guys are claiming 65 mpg on the highway. I dont know what the Insight will do in City type driving?

I live in Central Florida and yes we have some hills here. I am about 14 miles north of Disney and go there often. Rte 192 can get some traffic on it. So the question is what would real world city driving as far as MPG be I wonder on the Insight? The Prius C claims 53.

I went to the Honda dealer last night after I made my post and they had a nice Insight Ex for around $22,000. I am thinking I could probably get the car for like the $18,000 mark as Toyota is trying to get rid of their 2014 stock and I could get a Prius C 3 for about the same price. The original price was 23,000.

I do like the Honda although it does not have the navigation system standard on the Prius C 3 but I am hearing the Honda system is nothing to shake a stick about. Having said that I do like the car and it is a Honda.

I am buying the Hybrid to get really good mileage. With this being said, please keep those comments coming in. They are so helpful.

Here's the magic question? If you were to buy a new car today would you buy the Prius C or the Insight? Also, mileage wise, how do they compare? I guess that's the meat and potatoes as they say here in the states. If its very close mileage wise, than I guess my question is answered being a Honda man. Was the guy on Youtube right?

Thanks again guys for all the help, it is so much appreciated,

Jeff

 

Hey guys,


Here's the magic question? If you were to buy a new car today would you buy the Prius C or the Insight? Also, mileage wise, how do they compare? I guess that's the meat and potatoes as they say here in the states. If its very close mileage wise, than I guess my question is answered being a Honda man. Was the guy on Youtube right?

Thanks again guys for all the help, it is so much appreciated,

Jeff

Add up the purchase cost, the servicing costs over the life time of the vehicle, and the estimated fuel costs. Subtract the estimated value at 3, 5 and 7 years or whatever your projection is, and you have your answer.

If I was buying new, I would probably opt for the Prius, as it is not officially discontinued yet. Though if I were you, I would get on the phone and play all the dealers off against eachother for the absolute best buy. Your choice should be guided by what you prefer to drive, so do test both cars to satisfy that criteria.

You never know, there might be a dealer at the end of the month that will give you a great deal if they need to meet their quarterly sales targets, especially on a demonstrator, don't forget it will be discontinued at the end of the year, and it will impact used values.

You might be able to get the best new deal in the country if you play your cards right.

You can check the real MPG reports here:

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/honda/insight-2009

its a UK site, but just take the number and divide by 4.52 and then multiply by 3.9 to get the Imperial to US gallon correction.

Eventhough the original Insight came out before the Prius, the Insight is the mee-too product copy of the Prius, which is the market leader. Prius is synonymous with Hybris, while Insight is probably not to the wider audience.

 

I briefly looked at the Yaris Hybrid (the European version of the Prius C) but it did not have enough boot space. Same for the otherwise bigger Auris and Civic.

I am biased though, as I don't like the looks of the Prius and do like the Insight. Call it road presence, it stands out.
If you buy a Prius nobody will ever stare at you dumbfounded and say:

what... do you own a Ferrari ????

like one of my coworkers once did

 

My 2 cents: 1) Prius supposedly is better for city / short drives because it can run on battery when driving something like less than 30 mph. However, when I was commuting straight through Indianapolis from the south side to the north side (25-30 miles), I could time the lights and was consistently getting 55+ mpg with a max of 70 once or twice (over the course of a year). On the highway, I get about 49 average doing 70 MPH. If it is really hilly on your commutes, this will go down quite a bit I think. MUCH depends on your style of driving. So, if you don't start/stop much, I think the Insight II is the way to go. 2) You should be able to find a slightly used Insight II for around $15k. I got a 'fleet' car from work that had 14k miles on it for $13k. 3) While you cannot run on 'battery only' with the Insight II, you CAN run gas only if the battery failed (My understanding is that the Prius cannot). So if/when the battery needs replacing, you can still run the Insight II, getting like 35 mpg (I think). Don't think I'd run it for long that way, but at least it can run. 4) I believe that the batteries of the Insight II can be 'refurbished' whereas in the Prius they go to the landfill? At any rate, I've heard that replacing the battery / cells is cheaper with the Insight. 5) All things being equal, I personally would go with the Insight (though they look essentially the same, I still like its appearance better and I like Hondas). But my brother had one of the first Prius out, and had no issues over the 7+ years he owned it. I'm sure he'd choose it over the Insight. If you do mostly highway and can time lights with no problem, I'd go Insight II. Oh and some people don't like the rear view looking at a 'bar'. That comes with any hatchback though, and I do think the placement makes it ok. I've certainly gotten used to it. Oh, and I do like down shifiting with the pattle wheels. ;-)

 

I'm sick to death of hearing how a Prius can travel on the battery alone.

For how far? Under a mile. Perhaps only 1/2 miles or less if you left the battery less than fully charged. And you can't go to over 20 mph or uphill..... BS. Hype.

BTW - When an I2 is in a "coast assist mode" I can travel over a mile at 70 mph just feeding some battery power and no fuel. Does it make a difference the engine turning? Not to me.

In real world driving with a mix of back roads and highway (70+ mph) passing Priuses left and right I get from 47-52 mpg. And I don't have to worry about my dick falling off and growing a vagina.

 

I just have to say the last statement made me laugh out loud at work, much to the strange looks of my coworkers.

 

You need to sit in the Prius C and take it for a drive - I did and though I was blown away by being able to move off battery only in silence I was really disappointed with the feel of the interior and it's design. It just feels cheap and nasty and not something you'd be happy to have spent good money on long term. Toyota CVT engine combination just sounds harsh and laboured too.

The rear three quarter view is awful and the view through the back window is severely restricted by the slope on the roof. Take your most likely passengers with you on a test drive and see how they like the headroom in the back.

I like a decent rev counter and speedo right in front of me not in the centre of the car.

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever" there's no joy in a Prius C interior.

Cars are expensive liabilities - so pick one that makes you go wow id like to sit in there and drive that. Pick one with leather seats nice wheels and a metallic paint and you'll feel good and you'll get better residuals.

I'm very happy to have a paid premium and bought a 9 year old Gen 1 insight instead. Sure it's some bugs that are being slowly ironed out thanks to info on this forum but it's a pleasure to look at, drive, sit in and drive daily.

 

Great advice again!

Fantastic comments guys and I was all set to buy the Insight today but was a little baffled at my local Honda dealers attitude and lack of competition. While Toyota is offering me all of these end of model year incentives, Honda took $800 off the sticker price for a car that does not have a navigation system, lacks a backup camera and is being discontinued. The salesman was scratching his head as he used to be a Toyota Salesman? We both were baffled on this one? The saga continues but keep those comments coming in! I will let you guys know how I make out, thanks again, Jeff

 

Fantastic comments guys and I was all set to buy the Insight today but was a little baffled at my local Honda dealers attitude and lack of competition. While Toyota is offering me all of these end of model year incentives, Honda took $800 off the sticker price for a car that does not have a navigation system, lacks a backup camera and is being discontinued. The salesman was scratching his head as he used to be a Toyota Salesman? We both were baffled on this one? The saga continues but keep those comments coming in! I will let you guys know how I make out, thanks again, Jeff

I would have to agree that Honda dealers are WORST at actually dealing —

I wanted to buy a brand new 2012 civic hybrid from a local dealer (keep in mind this was in March of this year 2014) it has been sitting on the lot for about 2 years — the best they would do was 21k or about $2800 off

Local Hyundai dealer had a loaded Sonata Hybrid also a 2012 for 20.5k or about $8500 off. Granted not the same class nor MPG. Bought it the next day. Get about 40mpg on my daily trek; and on long distance highway trips about 47MPG. And it really does drive in EV mode much of the time including highway speeds for 3/4 a mile at a time at 65MPH…. and in ‘city’ traffic can drive in all electric for about 1.5 miles at any speed up to 65. NOTE these don’t have any way of selecting EV mode, the car sets it for you and it favors that it seems?

 

There are a lot of nice Hybrids out there now, do not just focus on Honda and Toyota, the Koreans make some excellent cars (the Sonata hybrid is VERY nice with lifetime battery warranty) with long warranties too. The Ford Fusion can do some incredible things also. If you really like the Honda brand try out the Civic hybrid, it is better in almost all aspects than the Insight. The nicer hybrids from Honda (Civic), Ford (Fusion), and Hyundai (Sonata) are all arouind the 26K range but are significantly better cars if you can afford them. Also do not rule out the Nissan Leaf all electric vehicle which is leasing for a ridiculously low $199 a month or buy for $21K

 

to be honest, as much as i love my insight, with all the gains made in the last couple years to the lowly ICE, i wouldnt buy a hybrid right now - so many cars get 40+ mpg on the highway cycle ... plus there are too many compromises and too little selection of hybrid cars ... if my I2 died or got totaled tomorrow i'd buy a mazda 3 5 door

 

The I2 and Jazz hybrids are still pretty much the only hybrids I'd consider buying. And then, Is only buy a used one. The price premium on everything else means it's hard to justify most other hybrids financially. Not interested in the Civic hybrid due to lack of hatchback practicality.

 

I recently had the same deboggle. I drove both the prius and the insight. I priced both out at local dealerships and got their best prices. Then I compiled a 5 year cost of ownership at ~25k miles a year. The insight was not only cheaper but significantly cheaper at around $5,500 (I priced in a replacement battery as at 125k battery warranty will be out and you most likely would need to replace if u had not bought the extended warranty. I also gathered difference in fuel economy between the insight and prius is negligible. Prius will get around 2-3 mpg in the exact same driving scenarios (I did a personal test on the same roads on the same day). Real world on different days different traffic I call it a near wash. Check fuelly.com for a rough guideline as to approx mpg. Last I checked the prius had a 2mpg better average.

Personally, I chose the insight. The prius drive was "lifeless" it felt like a grandpa should drive it with its super squishy suspension to dampen hemmeroids. I like a car with a little feedback, spirit and soul. Occasionally, you'll want to take a turn faster then the posted speed limit or maybe whip between a couple cars. The insight hands down is more fun to drive. Sure, it is slow (real slow); but both are. Also, when comparing the insight to a prius C u must note the hatch space in a prius C might meausure a close total volume capacity but the trunk is much less usable, it is more vertical rather then deep.

In the end, both cars will get you from point A to B with great fuel economy and comfort. Do your wallet a favor and buy the insight!

Also, for what it's worth you can buy the insight for significantly under sticker. Go to a different honda. I got my 2013 EX w/o NAV for just under $18k. Sticker was $23k and change.

 

Many Many Thanks!

Hi Guys,

The epilogue to the story.

I went with the wife first to Toyota and she did not at all care for the Prius C for all of the reasons you all listed. Its a great car for the right person but not for us and yes she used the same term like plastic and noisy.

We then looked at the regular Prius and we both did not care for the Shift bridge in the middle of the car. Again personal preference. The Prius is a great car but she just did not care for the look and feel.

She looked at the Honda Insight and I was able to get the EX model in White. It has the later trim and she really liked it as did I. I will be picking the car up on Monday. I am hoping that I will have it for many years and I am sure that you will see me on the forums much more now.

Thank you, Thank you and Thank You for all the great comments both good and bad. It made all the difference in the world to hear it from real owners.

All the best, Jeff

 

Hi Guys,

The epilogue to the story.

I went with the wife first to Toyota and she did not at all care for the Prius C for all of the reasons you all listed. Its a great car for the right person but not for us and yes she used the same term like plastic and noisy.

We then looked at the regular Prius and we both did not care for the Shift bridge in the middle of the car. Again personal preference. The Prius is a great car but she just did not care for the look and feel.

She looked at the Honda Insight and I was able to get the EX model in White. It has the later trim and she really liked it as did I. I will be picking the car up on Monday. I am hoping that I will have it for many years and I am sure that you will see me on the forums much more now.

Thank you, Thank you and Thank You for all the great comments both good and bad. It made all the difference in the world to hear it from real owners.

All the best, Jeff

Congrats to you and your wife. I think you made a fantastic choice. Also, in reference to the console bridge in the regular prius it's one of the reason I didn't like the prius as well. If you were to read my previous post you would see where I made reference to the exact same thing. I am a larger guy and I like to have my legs situated in a particular way and that console prevented that.

Anyways, welcome to the forum and be sure to post with your initial thoughts of the insight once you take ownership. Btw, after approx 6,000 miles your fuel economy will get substantially better. (Once the motor breaks in and you do your first oil change the fuel economy will jump quite a bit.)

 

Congrats on your choice... and white is also a great colour for the Insight and my personal preference, but I just happened to find a black one at a great price, which is also a very good colour... for reasons probably going back to the DC2 Integra, great Honda's should be white... I hope you enjoy your new car.

 

Appreciate it guys

Thanks to both you guys. I am very excited about getting the new car. Should be a lot of fun to drive. Thanks again!

 

I'll be honest with you... Insight is a terrible car in my opinion... Low on power if you drive on hills often which will result in terrible mpg. The CVT is pretty crappy if we're comparing this CVT to Honda's new CVT on the Civic, Accord, and CR-V. I would probably never recommend the Insight if someone is looking for a new car as of today when there are many more options that can achieve decent mpg without being a hybrid such as the Mazda 3 or Honda Civic, achieving about 38-40mpg on the highway which is pretty good. The Insight really struggles on highway if you want to keep up with the traffic flow on fast lanes (not going to say how fast I'm driving...). The LX Model back in 2010 isn't that well equipped either.. Kind of annoying to me and my passengers when there is no vanity mirror.

On the positive side, the car is pretty spacious, a unique car, and it's a Honda after all, so it should last a while (hoping the battery doesn't die after warranty expires), and a decent revving engine. A good trunk space with a flat folding rear seats. Love the automatic climate control.

I've driven this car for over 4 years, loved it at first, but as it aged and newer cars came out, I don't think the Insight is worth it. I know I regretted getting the Insight about 6 months in when I did more research on tax credits when the VW Golf TDI qualifies for some taxes, making it about the same price as what I paid for the Insight. Hybrid don't seem to pay itself off unless you drive a lot of miles every year. Might have been a better value to get a Honda Fit or something cheaper.


edit: congrats on the car, didn't see the part that you bought it already lol, didn't really read through the thread

 

Maybe not all Insights are alike in the power delivery department.
Mine feels lively and powerful, it will jump to 6000 RPM in a second even in eco mode.
I have redlined it at least 3 times; I thought the CVT would make that impossible, but it did redline anyway.
On the German Autobahn, climbing 4% grades at serious speed it was still accelerating. At 6000 RPM.
If the incline gets much steeper than that, then it won't be able to hold high speed, but as the speed drops the CVT will adapt and the output torque will rise.

I had a lot of fun climbing the steep banks of the Mosel. Hairpin, short stretch at 20%, hairpin, etc.
Not having to shift is perfect. Once you reach say 70 km/h the oomph is gone, but getting there from the hairpin goes really fast.
I had some potent cars behind me starting the climb, they were a few zigzags back when I reached the top.

Can't say that it learned or adapted to that behaviour as I usually drive very moderate, and often reach my destination without ever getting above 2000 RPM. Or sea level for that matter, not having hills here helps.

 

Maybe not all Insights are alike in the power delivery department.
Mine feels lively and powerful, it will jump to 6000 RPM in a second even in eco mode.
I have redlined it at least 3 times; I thought the CVT would make that impossible, but it did redline anyway.
On the German Autobahn, climbing 4% grades at serious speed it was still accelerating. At 6000 RPM.
If the incline gets much steeper than that, then it won't be able to hold high speed, but as the speed drops the CVT will adapt and the output torque will rise.

I don't find it lacks power either but like any small petrol engined Honda you do need to rev it to access that power. If you're used to a turbo diesel that will climb 8% inclines at 70-80 mph in top gear, the I2 can feel a bit revvy.

 

Jeff
No one can do a through comparison for you. We are all biased in one way or another.
I'd suggest you figure out what kind of driver you are then match it as well as possible to the features of the car you want to drive.

My take on the comparison you ask about is:
If one drives a hybrid like one drives a non hybrid then any honda or toyota will do.
If one drives a hybrid for one of the many other reasons there are for driving a hybrid
then an Insight or a C is a good choice for getting more of what you want from the car.

But which, an Insight or a C, is better for you, just depends on you, really..

Damn, I missed all of page 3 too
You and your wife should be happy with the Insight. Hondas are usually very reliable.
And it always helps when your partner likes the car too.

 

I own an 11 insight that now has 55k trouble free miles on it, my wife is the main driver of this car and it fits her driving style and daily commute well, I however find the car very boring, it can struggle at freeway speeds on windy days and the headlights suck! This commercial pretty much sums up the insight for me

 

If that VW passes the Insight that quickly, then it almost certainly will not be as economical.

I remember when the Polo Bluemotion TDI was being advertised as a Yaris TDI beater in the UK... Unfortunately in the real world the Polo never got the MPGs the Toyota did by quite some way, even if the official tests suggested otherwise.

You cant have low emissions and speed/power without some trade off. Diesel provided this to a degree, but there are almost no diesel hybrids out, and diesel is proving to be rather aweful as far as particulate emissions go.

In Europe all cars are rated by grams of CO2 per Km, so it forms a good basis for comparison (even if we use miles).

TDIs do very high mpg, but there is more carbon in diesel as it is more energy dense than petrol, so a TDI doing 60mpg is a totally different thing than a petrol doing 60mpg.

In any case, I agree that the Insight is a slouch going up hill... but so is any 1.3 litre automatic car.

 

That Insight in the VW ad couldn't be flooring it, right? "Oh no, 3000 RPM already, dare push it no further down (shiver)"...

I had a '86 second gen Golf (Rabbit) Diesel with the 1.6 single cam engine, 4 speed manual and all. 0-62 mph in 20 seconds. When it was good.
I had to downshift to 3rd gear pulling a trailer on the highway, and to 2nd to cross a bridge, full throttle, long line of cars behind me.
There might have been several Hondas in that line. Trailer wasn't that big or heavy either.
No doubt the Insight can climb hills much faster that that Golf.
There you are VW. Show THAT in your commercials!

 

Admittedly that particular engine was before the advent of high pressure common rail fueling, modern turbochargers and piezo injectors....

In any case, VW may have traditionally made great cars (especially the run through the late 70s to early 90s), but they have made an awful lot of crap in the last two decades as well.

At least the Japanese have been relatively consistent in their reliability and predictability, and there are few horror stories, the same cannot be said for any other nation's vehicles as a whole... ever had the pleasure of driving a Citroen... don't bother.

Indecently, my wife had a 2006 Beetle cabriolet with a normally aspirated 1.4 engine. The gearbox seals, ABS pump and piston rings all failed within 40,000 miles... would proceed with caution. She replaced that with a 2004 Rav 4, which has been completely fault free in over 40,000 miles, now reading 90,000. The difference in longevity does not even compare.

 

Who wants German reliability?

Not me.

 

Seriously? While I own an insight I also have a vw that so far has proven very reliable

 

Another round of great comments

Great round of comments from all you guys both good and bad.
Here's the bottom line on why I went with the Insight.
I was originally going to go with the Prius C and possibly the regular Prius.
My wife looked at all three cars and liked the Insight better hands down. Are you starting to see a pattern here? (LOL)
Anyways, I actually like it better also as I just like Honda's. Toyota makes a great product but in this case the Insight was nicer to me.
As far as the speed issue and not being able to get out of its own way, I am a retired law enforcement officer and had to go fast so many times, faster than I would ever want to. Being retired now, I am not going any faster than 55 mph. I am the guy in the right lane all the time that people drive around. After what I have seen after 32 years, your reactive distance is so much more increased at a lower speed. I am not going anywhere fast so I will definitely drive this car like a Hybrid and maximize gas efficiency. What's the rush? Thanks again all.

 

Great round of comments from all you guys both good and bad.
Here's the bottom line on why I went with the Insight.
I was originally going to go with the Prius C and possibly the regular Prius.
My wife looked at all three cars and liked the Insight better hands down. Are you starting to see a pattern here? (LOL)
Anyways, I actually like it better also as I just like Honda's. Toyota makes a great product but in this case the Insight was nicer to me.
As far as the speed issue and not being able to get out of its own way, I am a retired law enforcement officer and had to go fast so many times, faster than I would ever want to. Being retired now, I am not going any faster than 55 mph. I am the guy in the right lane all the time that people drive around. After what I have seen after 32 years, your reactive distance is so much more increased at a lower speed. I am not going anywhere fast so I will definitely drive this car like a Hybrid and maximize gas efficiency. What's the rush? Thanks again all.

As a keen motorcyclist as well (in London), I am astounded at the extremely poor decisions made by most motorists. Although I probably drive faster on the bike, the perceptive element of riding a bike has vastly changed the way I drive cars. I am now slower, and more calculated, and I think I have rid myself of quite a few of the poor habits I developed before I started to ride. I am simply blown away (thankfully, not literally) by the poor road positioning and lack of indication when changing lanes shown by the majority of drivers. To that end, I thought that the driving scoring system and eco-representation of ones driving habits is a unanimously good thing, as it should train the driver to develop smoother (and hopefully a more calculated) driving style. In a much better way than a V8 Crown Victoria would.

... of course there are two caveats to this. 1) that the driver understands how to read the thing (and cares in the first place) and 2) that you don't pay so much attention to the dashboard that you drive in to a brick wall.