last thing Toyota needs is ANOTHER superior product.

Where does the fit fit in whith the new insight?

“a full-range of sub-compact hybrids ahead of its rival Toyota.” WTF is a “full range of subcompacts?”

I was driving Wednesday to a greenie-mart in Vista, with “Seek and Destroy” blasting from my SUVs sound system. Damn, it felt good to park in that “Reserved for Hybrids” space! Sprout-eaters shouldn’t mind walking.

tripleonefive: Well since there is NO D3 competition its between Honda and Toyota. Toyota will redesign the Yaris in 2010 and have a hybrid version so its WAR.”

Who cares? I’m a grown-ass man, I don’t need a subcompact.

“May the best ‘superior to the D3 competition’ Japanese car company win” I cant think of such a company, but there are a couple that are Superior to Chrysler. Of course, using a subjective definition for “superior ….”

mayer_ray_nagin: “It’ll still be retarded, like all honda buyers.” I’ll say it, not all Honda Buyers are retarded. Not even all Honda Car buyers are retarded.

DearbornBred: “I wouldn’t put a deposit down on Japanese vaporware.” IU don’t tjhink the Hondas are Vaporware. “The Honda’s are no where near the sophistication of Toyota and now Ford Hybrids.” I can agree with that.

JakeK66: When the Bruins went Belly-up, I started Following baseball.

STUDEBAKER HAWK: “Anybody else remember the 1993-95 Civic VX 5 spd.? … 72 MPG seems like a typo. Think about how much more stuff is in today’s Civic. People want their Civics Accord-sized these days.

coolguy8157: “It seems that all the future left is full of these junk econoboxes running everywhere….good lord….these look and drive like crap…nothing to be proud of…” a man after my own heart.

parts guy: Just get a diesel.

Hyperion: “If Honda built an NSX, and put it on sale here with an “H” on the front, I might be interested in testing it out against a GT-R as my mid-life Crisis car. The S2000 and all the other miata knockoffs can burn!

Hybrids and IC engines in general are dead-end technologies, no matter what.

The Fit has far more usable space and a more comfortable rear seat.

It would be nice if there were a few more offerings from the D3 – Fusion (and Escape) hybrid and upcoming Volt could use some help in the non-conventional vehicle category. This is assuming of course that there are people still willing to buy them in sufficient numbers. If not, then I agree with Studebaker – there have been some very efficient cars available that surpass many of todays offerings. Some manufacturers could adopt similar strategies to increase efficiency on today’s cars. However, let’s not forget that some of those were built way before government safety regs came along and added substantial mass to the vehicles. They also were pretty base cars that many wouldn’t consider today – no power windows, automatic transmissions, air conditioning etc. I’m not sure how much of a market there would be for them, but I for one still admire a durable, simple car that can get the job done. Even though Honda has done a lot to reduce the hybrid price penalty, more technology still means more sticker price.

My handle might not give it away, but I’m a long time Honda fan, a Honda dealer employee and admirer of the Honda corporate philosophy. Having said that, the new INSIGHT is a unbelievably awful car. The first time I sat in it, my heart broke and taking it for a drive, didn’t improve my opinion. Cheap crap and very unlike the Big Red H. I am really disappointed. I hate this whole category. The Prius is a terrible, mechanical dump too.

The Fit, however is great. Not a category loved (or even liked) by mainstream America, but a really brilliant little car and I’ll wait for the Fit Hybrid at any cost before buying that shit wagon Insight. It feels more like a Skoda than a Honda.