Just wanted to report on my Insight Test Drive.

Appearance is nice in person. The one I drive stickered for 21,995. The car drives very nicely. I idled the car out of the lot withot feeling twitchy or jerky, and started flipping through the various mileage and drive assist options. The car murges well with traffic. The tranny is super smooth, just like the Civic CVT. As I accelerated, the car is a bit buzzy under acceleration compared to my 2005 Civic. The car accelerated to 60mph without much fuss, but I noticed wind noise on par with the Fit. At 60 my civic is virtually silent and accelerating to 60 creates no noise. The car I drove had 50 miles on it and was averaging over 35mpg. I pushed the car into some corners that my Civic might get bouncy or uneased. The Insight felt much more solid in the corners. The brakes also felt more secure. The sound system was nice. The cockpit felt busy, but that might just be me. The controls were easy to get and and the systems were easy to use. The stereo was very good. My daughter wanted to go home with the car, load up her rabbit, and black lab. The car had room and plenty of it. The paddle shift was actually real cool. The RPM's dropped and would rise instantly with a tough of the paddle. I did mash the accelerator down from a stop and found the paddle shifters clicked off the feeling of gears nicely. It ran to 80mph quickly flipping through the gears. The downshifts actually created a feeling of engine compression. The car is near perfect for a young family with an active lifestyle from my perspective. Reminds me of a Subaru Impreza Wagon without the AWD in terms of versatility.

I do not think I'll be getting the Insight. I cannot get over the wind noise and engine whine. I'm all over the place and can show no logic in my vehicle desires at this time. I'm all over the Volt. Gotta get a Volt. I've lost interest in replacing my Dodge Dakota with the 2 mode Silverado. Now I want to get a Convertible Camaro SS instead. I also want a Challenger SRT8. 5 years from now, we just might not see those kinds of cars ever ever ever again and I want some real Americana before it disappears forever. I plan to build a steel storage building this year that will allow me room to store several cars.

For those interested in the Insight, I think most will find it a far more comfortable car than the Prius. To me the Prius's seating position just feels akward and the instruments are just in the wrong spot. The insight feels good to sit in and the instrumentation is nice. Enjoy the car Insight buyers. I hope it sells like Honda has predicted.

 

It's a bit of a drive from Buffalo but have you considered the Honda dealership in Saratoga Springs? I HIGHLY recommend them! Picked up my EX today and received the KBB trade-in value for a CR-V in "Good" condition where I considered mine "Excellent". Guess they didn't like the smell of cigarette smoke it had acquired.

If you request an email price quote on the car they will respond quickly. My local dealer took 2 weeks to answer and only after I email the dealership to cancel the quote I never received since I had gone elsewhere.

 

I did my first hybrid test drive today with an Insight. I do have a question about starting from a stop. I would try to not floor it but take off easy, but it would "Buck"? Almost like starting a manual in 2nd gear. When I would take of briskly, I didn't notice the problem. Is this normal?

 

Not normal! Hal

 

I think I may understand why it did this? I drove another car today from a different dealer. While she was showing me the features, it showed the pack really low. She said it was due to sitting on the lot with no driving. We hop in the car and start off. Again it bucked a little. On this drive we went further. Near the end of the drive the guage showed more juice in the packs. On later starts, I didn't notice the buck. Could it have been the low voltage at the start of the drive causing this?

 

That is not normal. Pack should not affect the smoothness of the start. Sounds like a CVT problem ! Hal

 

I just got the EX Insight Friday - and love it. Seeing a few comments about wind noise my is silent - and the engine is pretty quiet as well....

Rick - mine has no "buck" as you describe, starts smooth a silk.

Mike

 

YOu should give it a second to engage the gas motor, what you are experiencing is typical of giving it gas before it is ready...