May18
Honda will discontinue the Insight hybrid this year, the company said. The car was introduced in 1999 and sold only 320 units in the first quarter of 2006. Production will stop in September, according to Honda Executive Vice President Richard Colliver, who was quoted by Bloomberg News during a teleconference. A replacement will appear in 2009 and will be priced below the hybrid Civic.
The replacement is the Fit. They have discussed this already. Smart move for everyone but California market. Doesn’t sell well anywhere else.
There is a DJ out here in LA and he says they look like gay UFOs. I agree with him.
Quoth Nelson Muntz: “Ha Ha!”
> [gay UFOs]
those `gay UFOs’ keep our children from having to fight oil wars for cynical old
men in DC. go gay UFOs!
-mt
I also agree with the ‘gay UFOs’ statement. IMO they are one of the ugliest cars on the road along with the Aztec and the Prius.
Marshall: The Insight isn’t going to have any effect whatsoever in ‘keeping our children from having to fight oil wars…’
I don’t understand why they have to make hybrid cars so ugly looking. Not to mention that hybrid cars really are not worth the extra premium over other high mpg cars out there in almost all cases. I have to agree with the South Park episode on this issue. And are we not going to see any hybrid vehicles with the engine displacement control, MDT or whatever it is called that GM and Chrysler are using?
I’m glad you guys agree, but I mean to make my point further, look how cool and aerodynamic an F1 car is. Couldn’t they borrow some of that look instead of the…well… ugly look? I believe in hybrid cars. They offer good things for the environment and I like breatheable air. They just need to stop looking so damned goofy. I’m completely against fighting wars for oil, but part of that is giving people a viable alternative. Would anyone call this a viable alternative to anything other than a Ford Focus ZX3?
f1 cars are’nt aerodynamic at all. the average drag coefficient for a f1 car is in the 1.0d-0.60d range. all those wings and what not, plus they are open wheeled and are no longer allowed to offer any wheel shrouding devices. in fact the aeros are so bad that at speed, if you let off the gas you get just over 1g of decelerative force BEFORE you put on brakes! for comparison the 06 ZO6 doesn’t generate that much decelartive force under full emergency braking from any speed and it stops from 60mph in less than 108ft!
Ok I’m wrong, but can’t they just make hybrids look less stupid?
Hybrid = Bad idea if you’re paying 2.80 a gallon and driving on open rural highways.
Hybrid = Great idea if you’re paying 3.45 a gallon and driving in stop and go traffic.
Plenty of sub-compacts get great Highway milage, but remember, the milage doesn’t change just because you keep seeing blue shields with red tops that say interstate.
The Insights milage INCREASES in stop and go driving conditions. If you’re driving in Montana and want good milage, heck, buy an old fashioned Civic. The Insight will NEVER pay it’s self off for you.
However, if you have some money, you can save a bundle buying an Insight to commute with and parking the Mercedes in the garage until you want to impress a date on Friday night.
If a hybrid version of the Fit is supposed to be the replacement, I hope to god they incorporate some aluminum in it’s construction. Or, um, come up with something else. I can’t imagine anyone with male genitalia driving a Fit, unless they like to play with other mens genitalia.
They never advertised the Insight. Most people I talk to about it had never heard of it. They had no idea that Honda was producing the most fuel effecient car in the world.
Is it just me, or are they going slightly retarded? A six cylinder hybrid sedan that gets exactly the same milage as it’s four cylinder version….and then canceling a HUGE Public Relations advantage without ever letting most of the public know it existed?