ROADTEST - HONDA INSIGHT:The Insight should have been the hybrid king, writes Michael McAleer, Motoring editor, but with regular engines matching it in emissions and performance, why bother?
HOW WILL HUMANS get about in 2088? Will we get the flying cars many dream of, resulting in the mid-air crashes the rest of us fear? Will hydrogen power be the fuel of the future? Will it even be a car as we conceive it now, or some sort of flying sittingroom?
It’s just one of the topics under discussion at Honda’s global website, dreams.honda.com, a thought-provoking sub-site that’s worth a visit.
With such a strong engineering pedigree, this Japanese brand has never been afraid to grasp the future. While others dipped a toe in the hydrogen fuel cell, Honda dived straight in. Its FC-X test cars have already clocked up thousands of miles and proved hydrogen is a viable fuel source, if we can get the infrastructure.
Its engineers are renowned outside motoring circles; as its TV adverts colourfully illustrate, the brand stretches from speed boats to superbikes and from lawnmowers to dancing robots. Impressive technology from a firm with foresight. So why does this Insight seem such a short-sighted effort?
Honda may claim to have been the first to mass produce hybrid cars back in 1999, but Toyota stole the show with its Prius when it went on sale from 2001. No doubt Honda fumed, but the battle was lost. Several years later, Honda is ready to renew its attack.
The timing could not have been better – it’s launching an affordable hybrid hatchback sports coupé – the CR-Z – later this year, while Toyota’s new Prius has been hit by an embarrassing recall over potential glitches with its braking software. In the meantime, this Insight is a family-sized hybrid model arriving into an Irish car market ripe for change.
That’s why this car is so infuriating. Despite the best efforts of everyone involved to give Honda the wheel of the hybrid market, it has still opted to take a backseat. What we have is a car that follows instead of leads, from mimicking the design cues of the Prius to its eco-effort that doesn’t match the Toyota.
Furthermore, it seems underpowered. Let’s do a simple comparison with its arch-rival: the Toyota is powered by a 1.8-litre petrol engine and a 36bhp electric motor. Despite this, it manages emissions of less than 100g/km. The Honda, which is roughly the same size as the Prius, has a 1.3-litre petrol engine and a little 14bhp electric motor to take the strain in city driving. Yet it still doesn’t match the Toyota in either emissions or fuel efficiency.
Admittedly, it costs nearly €3,000 less than the Prius and that might win over the image-conscious who buy these cars for what they say, rather than what they do. But that’s not what Honda is supposed to be about.
And it begs the question: where are the rewards? There are several cars out there without hybrid paraphernalia that come close to matching this in terms of fuel consumption and emissions. Besides, once below 120g/km, there are no extra tax savings in buying a Prius or an Insight over a regular BMW 116d, Audi A3 1.6TDI or even Honda’s own Civic mild hybrid.
This raises a key problem with our current tax regime: if the Government is serious about using tax policy to promote carbon efficiency, why is there no added incentive for the models that strive to break below 100g/km? Once a model manages 120g/km, there’s no further incentive to improve.
So what’s the car itself like? Well, the exterior makes the hybrid statement clearly. The swooping shape with a high-set back window is fast becoming the template – the motoring equivalent of the Birkenstock.
Overall, the exterior is quite smart – if only the interior was of a similar standard. Where you expect it to rival the likes of the Ford Mondeo or VW Passat, what you get inside is a finish reminiscent of a bargain supermini. There’s plenty of electric car bling: the green leaf eco symbol shining from the dash, the blue and red swooping lines and eco-green backlit speedometer. It would work as well, if it was not encased in the sort of plastic that even the Koreans stopped using five years ago.
The interior is about functional comfort: there’s nothing dramatic about the comfortable front seats or the ample legroom and soft-seating in the back. It’s decent family car space.
We’ve addressed the sedate performance of the Insight already. In truth, anyone with even a modicum of motoring experience will query whether a car of this size can be properly propelled by a powertrain system with a 1.3-litre petrol engine at its core. And it’s not helped by a continuously variable transmission (CVT) that seems content to let the engine frequently drift into the redline zone of 6,000rpm, with all the accompanying sound and fury from beneath the bonnet, belying an overall lack of propulsion.
The same, rather sedate, feel is reflected in the car’s handling. It’s fine when at motorway speed, but there’s not the same level of feedback you get from its non-hybrid rivals. The ride is as soft as you’d expect from a family car, if tending to wallow a little in sharper bends.
The real problem for the Insight – and other hybrids – is that there are major advances being made in improving fuel consumption and emission figures for regular, non-hybrid cars these days.
Take the 1.6-litre diesel in Volvo’s DRIVe range. We’ve been raving about this car for some time now – and no, we don’t own one, nor have we a contract with Volvo – but it’s a regular family car that can match both the Prius and the Insight for fuel savings and is equal to them in terms of road tax. In fact, you don’t even need to leave the Honda forecourt: the Civic Hybrid delivers the same fuel economy as the ES version of the Insight.
The Insight should have been much better. It is fine that the designers wanted to make it look futuristic, but they could have retained a little more class in the cabin. They could have come up with a more powerful powertrain to boot. Honda had a golden opporunity here to take control of the hybrid debate. It has the advantage in terms of price, but not in the area of performance, where we really hoped it might excel.
Just where is the foresight we expected from a company that is questioning what our transport in 2088 will be? The Insight is not a bad car but, given that it comes from Honda, it should have been so much better.
Factfile - Honda Insight
Engine:1,339cc petrol engine putting out 88bhp @ 5,800rpm and 121Nm of torque at 4,500rpm, with electric motor putting out 14bhp @ 1,500rpm and 78Nm of torque @ 1,000rpm
0-100km/h:12.5 secs
L/100km (mpg):4.4 (64.2) in SE version with 15" alloys or 4.6 (61.4) in ES version with 16" alloys
CO2 emissions:101g/km (105g/km in ES)
Tax:Band C – €104 annual road tax
Specifications:auto climate control air-con, pollen filter, CD/stereo with MP3 and aux socket, dual front and curtain airbags, ABS with electronic brakeforce distribution and emergency brake assist, vehicle stability assist, ISOFIX childseat anchors, fabric upholstery, 15" alloys; ES version adds 16" alloys, cruise control, front foglights, leather multi-function steering wheel, illuminated glovebox, rear armrest, USB connection for radio
Price:€22,378 (€23,375 for ES)
Competition - The Rivals
TOYOTA PRIUS 1.8 HYBRID
Power:136bhp (100bhp engine/36bhp electric motor)
0-100km/h:10.4 secs
L/100km (mpg):3.9 (72.4)
CO2:89g/km
Tax:Band A (€104)
Price:€25,900
VOLVO V50 1.6D DRIVE S
Power:109bhp
0-100km/h:11.9 secs
L/100km (mpg):3.9 (72.4)
CO2:104g/km
Tax:Band A (€104)
Price:€30,236
HONDA CIVIC HYBRID
Power:115bhp
0-100km/h:12.1 secs
L/100km (mpg):4.6 (61.4)
CO2:109g/km
Tax:Band A (€104)
Price:€23,875
BMW 116D
Power:116bhp
0-100km/h:10.2 secs
L/100km (mpg):4.4 (64.2)
CO2:118g/km
Tax:Band A (€104)
Price:€24,995