DRIVING HONDA’S LATEST PRIUS FIGHTER
Strapping into the original 2000 Honda Insight, I was never more certain about anything: This will be a hit.
The radically aluminum, slippery teardrop of a two-seater looked like an eye-catching cross between a Chiclet and a space pod dropped from Venus. In the end, a few engineering professors bought them—but there’s only so many of those— and then it quietly disappeared.
In 2009, I picked the second-gen Insight over the recently redesigned third-generation Toyota Prius in a battle of four-door, five-seat hybrids. Call it temporary insanity, but I was too enthusiastic about the Insight’s cheapskate cost of ownership during the frightening downdraft of the Great Recession and not nearly disturbed enough by its otherwise dreariness. In the end, a few car-hating accountants bought them— you know the rest.
Should I be as optimistic for Honda’s third attempt at dethroning the Prius? Perhaps. Honda has packed the 2019 Insight with the first edition’s caliber of technology and the second generation’s compelling value proposition.
This story is from the September 2018 edition of Motor Trend.
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This story is from the September 2018 edition of Motor Trend.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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