You will be hard-pressed to find a Honda you couldn’t like. Most of them are the picture of refinement and quality over time. Jump to the Acura brand and you’ll find even more levels of quality.
But this week we have a 2020 Honda Insight hybrid that I found to be a great-sized Hybrid. Honda was one of the first with Toyota to have a hybrid vehicle when they started mass-producing them. Now, the Insight is a veteran to the hybrid game and comes in a great-sized and great-looking sedan.
THE GOOD & THE BAD ...
The Good: Sedan characteristics, solid feel and good looks.
The Bad: Engine noise during hard throttle.
Under the hood is the 1.5L Atkinson Cycle engine with electric motors making around 151 horsepower and to the pavement through a CVT transmission and front-wheel drive. The Insight is by far the most refined and best-driving hybrid sedan. But there’s a glaring issue of engine noise. Especially on hill climbs where you are applying throttle at a consistent pressure, there’s a loud drone from the engine bay that’s extremely annoying. I could repeat it the length of my road test so I don’t know if it’s a problem you can fix or a design issue.
Exterior styling is a subtle Accord-like design with little hints to the Hybrid lurking below. The front has an upright grille flanked by LED daytime lights and a set of LED low/high beams as well. At each corner are 18-inch rims that resemble fan blades for an appropriate look. Around the back are narrow tail lamps with LED in them and a rear bumper trim piece that looks nice and covers the exhaust poking from below. The overall exterior appearance is a subtle but refined look that doesn’t shout "HYBRID" but the trained eye will see the differences from the Accord.
Jump inside and you’ll find a lot to love about the Insight. It’s got the typical hybrid instrument cluster where you can see how much power you are using and whether it’s charging or not in place of the rpm gauge.
Centering the dash is a large touchscreen with the HVAC controls just below and then the gear selection buttons below that. Honda is using this style of gear selector in all of their vehicles now and I am a fan of it. It gives the interior a new look and cleans up the design.
Rear seat legroom is ample for adults and I was able to install my daughter's latch seat with ease. Trunk space is also premium even with the hybrid because Honda relocated the batteries. I was able to load both hockey bags in there with ease.
On the road, the Insight performs like a regular hybrid and has a good amount of power. The engine, like I mentioned before, is loud during certain rev ranges but the overall performance of the hybrid system is spot on. Very efficient and mostly quiet around town. In fact, in town is where the Insight will really shine and show just how effective a hybrid can be. Steering, braking and other road characteristics are predictable and perform just like a gasoline sedan so you won’t lose that sedan feel.
After a few days, you really don’t notice it’s a hybrid and that’s the point. I enjoy driving hybrid cars due to this fact: You get incredible mpg numbers and don’t lose any performance numbers you enjoy.
Honda claims an average of 51 city mpg and I was able to get in the mid-40s during my road test of both city and highway driving. MSRP for the Insight Touring is just under $30,000 at $28,840. I highly recommend looking at the Insight if you’re looking for a refined yet simple hybrid sedan.
Will Chamberlain is a local freelance automotive journalist and full-time Realtor with eXp Realty in Beaver and can be reached at bill.chamberlain@icloud.com.
The Link LonkNovember 01, 2020 at 06:00PM
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Auto Review: Honda Insight is the right-sized Hybrid - The Times
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