Delta Flyer said:
Last night I noticed about one of the few cars smaller than an Insight on the road - a Mini Cooper. Of all things, it's a four-seater.
Here is my thought - Honda should build a hybrid styled like the Mini Cooper. I think it should be a little larger. You could almost argue that the Element is a Mini Cooper trying to be an SUV. Some say the Mini Cooper is ugly, but it sells. The Insight gets about double the mpg.
I own both a 2001 Insight and a 2002 MINI Cooper. While I would like to have a Hybrid Civic to compliment the Insight, I ended up with the MINI for mostly personal bias. However, for us, couple with no children, the combination of both cars works out perfectly.
The Insight is perfect for highways, and gets really good mileage if the conditions are optimal. But for short trips and city streets, MINI is a better choice. The quick acceleration, driver's visibility in all directions, the small footprint, etc. all make the MINI a great car for the hectic city environment.
There are many obvious reasons why Insight gets better mileage, but I'll only concentrate on the issue of shape. In order to maximize interior space over a small footprint, you'd notice that MINI is designed with the bonnet to be only about 20% of the car. The boxy body and tall profile gives it a much larger drag compare to the Insight. Again, as a compliment to the Insight, I get A LOT of cargo space for a small car that's easy to park anywhere. Now that I don't have a trunk (but I do have a "boot"), I don't keep TRASH or useless stuff and haul around extra weight like I used to.
With traction control and great handling, when the weather is really bad, we usually park the Insight and carpool in the MINI. And of course, when we have more than two persons in a group, we have to take the four-seater MINI.
While I feel that we are doing well as ANTI-SUV advocates, the MINI had done a far better job than the Insight. While I don't get as great of mileage from the MINI, I am just as proud to drive both cars.
I will probably trade in my MINI for a Diesel version of the Cooper, once the new Diesel laws kicks in the next few years, and MINI can finally import the One-D. And with a Diesel vehicle, I may even look into home-made biodiesel...
BTW, since the original topic is about building hybrids that's smaller than the Insight, here's my old post about the Hybrid mini-car:
http://www.insightcentral.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728