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Honda has a winner in the tertiary-generation Honda Insight meaty sedan. Y'all'll get fifty mpg without trying hard, an upscale interior, and decent room for 4. Subsequently building ii generations of weird-looking, and so kinda-weird-looking Insights, Honda settled on what looks like a Borough — simply nicer, and outfitted with a smaller version of the two-motor hybrid drivetrain in the Accord hybrid. Equally with the Honda Clarity plug-in hybrid, you lot'll meet marketing for the Insight that extols efficiency, more than the underlying technology that made it possible.

It's called the Insight, instead of the Civic Hybrid, because the car appeals to more affluent, older buyers who respond to different cues than the core Borough audience. So Honda wanted a separate model. The new Insight perks upwardly with a a nice next-generation infotainment display with real buttons (but notwithstanding no tuning knob), and the puzzling return of Honda'southward offbeat LaneWatch camera organization for DIY blind-spot detection on the passenger side only.

The Honda is quick around town cheers to the electric motor. If yous don't tromp the throttle, you lot'll easily acme 50 mpg in city driving. On highways, the Insight is tranquillity and stable, and as polished equally a car with a 106-inch wheelbase can be. Information technology's non a sports car, but it is a Honda, significant you won't wallow. Room is very good upwards forepart, and only skilful in back. Y'all'll recall you're sitting in the most luxe Civic ever congenital. The premium audio system is pretty good (the sound), although the improved Display Sound system could nonetheless use a tuning knob (the functionality). The Insight even spots highway signs and posts information, particularly speed limits. Other electronic goodies include an electronic parking brake with automated restriction hold at stoplights.

As the Insight shifts among its three drive modes, information technology does so effortlessly because information technology doesn't require one motor to both drive the car and regenerate electricity. Honda puts a detent, or bump, in the throttle pedal linkage at about three-quarters power to remind you to drive economically. Go by that and the noises from the hood grow a bit raucous equally y'all stress the system. You'll hear it for well-nigh nine.0 seconds on a timed run to 60 mph, which for 2022 is the border line between good and adequate dispatch. Pull back on the left-side paddle for regeneration at three levels. On the early product cars we collection, even max regen seemed weak. Ideally, the most ambitious setting should take the place of routine, not panic, braking. The Honda Sensing safety suite makes highway driving safer and backs upwards a driver who is momentarily inattentive.

The trunk is reasonable for a compact car at 15 cubic, helped by a threescore/40 folding seatback on the two upper trim levels. It would be close to 40 cubic feet, had the third-gen Insight been a compact SUV based on the CR-V instead of a sedan based on the Civic.

Honda says its two-motors, no-transmission hybrid drivetrain has less than one-half the friction of a conventional automated manual system car. Honda originally chosen this the Two-motor Sport Hybrid Intelligent Multi Mode Drive/Plug-in. Today it's the Third-Generation Intelligent Multi-Way Drive (i-MMD) Two-Motor Hybrid Arrangement. Thank goodness tweets are now 280 characters.

Honda's Dwelling Run: The Two-Motor Hybrid

1999: Ricky Martin unleashes "Livin' la Vida Loca," Honda the first-gen Insight. Note the rear cycle spats.

The new Insight is a two-motor hybrid.  This is not like the two motors of a Tesla or the new Jaguar I-Stride EV with one motor driving the front wheels and the 2nd a motor in back. Instead, Honda's are both up front. One electric motor powers the front wheels (the ones in back freewheel). A second, smaller unit is a motor in the guise of a generator, meaning it turns engine force into electricity (a motor does the opposite) to charge the lithium-ion bombardment or to power the first motor and propel the car. There'due south no traditional transmission, just in that location are clutch packs. The Insight runs in one of three modes: electric-simply, gasoline-only, or a combination of gas and electric.

On startup, the traction motor (the electric motor) is geared to the drive wheels direct and gets the automobile going, as long as there's battery power. With a total charge, it's skilful for a mile at 20 mph or less. At low-to-moderate speeds and loads — that is, when you're not tromping the throttle — the Insight works as a serial hybrid, meaning the engine turns the generator, which powers the traction motor that drives the wheels. This would be the system, too, if you lot're starting off with no juice in the hybrid bombardment.

As long as there's a modest load on the machine and you're going at a decent clip, the gas engine drives the front wheels directly. The ratio is equivalent to a transmission-equipped car in tiptop gear. Add load to build upwards speed entering an on-ramp ,and it'southward all hands on deck equally the i.five-liter Atkinson engine (2.0 liters on the Accord, which pioneered the engineering in 2022) is boosted past the electric traction motor and by whatsoever power still left in the battery.

The 60-jail cell LiIon battery is rated at 1.1 kWh and is small enough to fit under the rear seat along with the gas tank, stealing no torso space. The intelligent power unit (IPU), which contains the batteries, is 32 percentage smaller — in part past removing the DC-DC convert and moving it to the power control unit (PCU), which is unchanged in size. The engine is rated at 107 hp, the traction motor at 129 hp, and the two at a combined 151 hp. The EPA ratings for LX an EX are 55 mpg city, 49 mpg highway, 52 mpg combined. The Insight Touring is rated at 55/45/49.

2019 Insight Brandish Audio has an viii-inch screen and physical buttons/knobs for Dwelling house, Dorsum, Solar day/Dark display, Track Control, and Book. Yet missing is a tuning knob. The above screen shows LaneWatch, a rider-side way for the driver to judge blind-spot distances. The lines are 3, ten and 23 meters (10, 33, and 75 anxiety) from the dorsum bumper.

Honda Sensing Rocks. And so There's LaneWatch.

The Insight'southward technology is mostly good. Honda, along with Toyota, pioneered the no-cost safe and driver-help system systems on well-nigh or all of its cars. Honda Sensing is on every Insight. Information technology comprises frontward standoff alert (FCW), collision mitigation braking arrangement (CMBS), lane departure alarm, lane proceed help, road departure mitigation (that pulls the machine back if you become off-route), and adaptive prowl control with low-speed follow and traffic sign recognition.

Honda LaneWatch photographic camera in passenger-side mirror.

LaneWatch is one of Honda'due south genius engineering ideas that works okay at best in existent life. It's a rear-facing camera on the passenger-side mirror only (that'due south strike ane) that projects a view of cars in or near your right-side bullheaded spot, taking over the center stack display after you lot flip the turn signal or press a button. It works poorly at night because of headlamp glare (strike 2). You measure the intruding car's proximity by three horizontal lines on the display. If the other motorcar is in dorsum of the center (yellowish) line, it'due south at least 33 feet away, and behind the rear line it's at least 75 feet away. If it'southward between the center yellowish and the forward reddish line, information technology's as trivial as 3 feet from your dorsum bumper, as would exist the motorcar in the photograph in a higher place; LaneWatch gives y'all no information on whether that car's speed is abiding or accelerating (strike three or, politely, foul ball). If navigation is running, you lot only get to see LaneWatch on half the screen, which is barely enough (another foul brawl). LaneWatch precludes rear cross traffic alert, which uses the same sensors as BSD (a foul ball caught past the catcher).[I think we got the point. -Ed]

A couple years agone, Honda seemed to sour on LaneWatch in favor of traditional bullheaded spot detection, which covers both left and correct sides, and provides rear cantankerous traffic alert, the tool that protects your backside when backing out out of mall parking spaces. Honda says there was strong sentiment among owners who wanted LaneWatch back. Perhaps Honda should contract with someone skilled in handwriting analysis or discussion design recognition to see if information technology'southward not one LaneWatch diehard chauvinist with a hundred writing styles. LaneWatch would be super-absurd on an Acura (higher-finish vehicle) in conjunction with traditional blind spot detection, where LaneWatch e'er got the entire center stack screen when activated and the navigation prompts went to the instrument panel LCD or the caput-up display. No one believes information technology'south a bad thing to have a rear photographic camera and parking sonar.

Insight Infotainment

The current iteration of the Display Sound is an improvement from the all-glass-panel (no buttons, no knobs) version, or the 1 that got a volume knob. Only it nonetheless would benefit from a tuning knob and the menus could improve. We'd too debate against Honda'southward decision to not offering Android Auto and Apple CarPlay on the cheapest Insight (less-affluent folks don't get lost?), and applaud the decision to non include on-board navigation in the middle trim level, since smartphone navigation is pretty proficient and getting improve at present that Apple caved and agreed to permit Android Motorcar and Waze to be used besides as Apple tree Maps.

Wi-Fi for occupants is on the elevation trim line, the Touring, equally part of the integrated telematics organization. There is a center console slot for an iPhone X with example (Honda claims space for only upwards to iPhone 8+), just Qi wireless charging isn't bachelor. The shifter buttons — push a button for Drive, pull dorsum on a 2nd for Reverse — take getting used to, but they are not a bulwark to choosing the automobile.

Insight Touring, the peak level of 3 trim lines, gets leather seats with contrasting piping, and lots of padded surfaces. Insight seats lack lumbar back up.

The Insight Trim Walk

One of the best things about ownership a Honda is yous don't wade through trim lines, so features packages, and then options. As the trim line goes up, and so practice the features. But it also means you can't mix and match the features the exactly the way you want them, order the car, and drive information technology a couple weeks later. The three Insights are:

Insight Sixty, $23,195 (including shipping). Information technology includes Honda Sensing, sixteen-inch alloy wheels, LED headlamps-running lights-taillamps, auto high axle, car high-beams, a 7-inch TFT screen and 5-inch color audio screen, six speakers, heated door mirrors, and HandsFreeLink. You do not get Apple tree CarPlay or Android Auto, as mentioned earlier.

Insight EX, $24,955. It includes smart entry, Honda LaneWatch, remote get-go, 8-inch Display Audio, viii speakers, Apple CarPlay and Android Machine, satellite and Hd radio, and a lx/40 separate rear seatback. Honda says this will be the about-purchased trim line.

Insight Touring, $28,985. It adds on-board navigation, a moonroof, 17-inch blend wheels, LED fog lights, leather seats and steering wheel, HondaLink (telematics), a 10-speaker premium audio, heated power front seats (viii-way driver, 4-way passenger), dual-zone climate command, remote garage door opener, and automated wipers. Mileage falls off.  In comparison, a loaded Honda Civic Touring would run $27,695, also with Honda Sensing and LaneWatch, and get 37 mpg (EPA combined), for $1,290 less.

The 2022 Insight looks a normal automobile (like a Civic, only unlike). Honda believes buyers are looking for a hassle-free mainstream car that but happens to be hybrid.

Should You Purchase the Honda Insight?

The 2022 Honda Insight is a polished machine with a smoother, superior hybrid system and splendid mileage. At this calendar month's average cost for regular gasoline ($2.85 a gallon), you'd spend merely $820 to drive 15,000 miles in the next twelvemonth, or half the cost of driving the average 2022 vehicle. Honda Sensing is a meaning safety benefit. LaneWatch is a drawback.

Competition to look at includes the Toyota Prius (the plug-in is better than hybrid, we establish), and the Hyundai Ioniq hybrid. Among mainstream cars, the Mazda3 Touring is the best sporty compact sedan/hatchback; the Toyota Corolla is a reliable best-seller, light in the fun-to-drive category (try the Corolla hatchback instead); and the Kia Forte is solid all-effectually, and more enjoyable to drive than the otherwise solid Hyundai Elantra.

We buy into Honda'southward marketing pitch that even while Insight is Honda's entry alternative-energy vehicle — with the Honda Accordance in the middle and the Clarity Plug-In Hybrid on top — the Insight heir-apparent differs enough from a Civic intender that a unlike vehicle makes sense as the company's compact hybrid offering. We're likewise on lath with de-emphasizing the hybrid underpinnings and wait-I'm-a-hybrid designs.

That said, it's unclear why Honda is pulling back from the out-there shapes of the kickoff two Insights, even so information technology didn't go mainstream in a more compelling style and offering the Insight as a crossover/SUV, not a sedan. The Usa market place is now voting ii-1 against sedans in its electric current ownership patterns. Note that within the Hyundai corporate family, the Kiro Niro hybrid (and Niro plug-in) crossovers are outselling the Ioniq sedans well-nigh 2-1.

The 2022 Insight looks a normal, stylish car. In fact, like a Civic, but dissimilar. Honda believes buyers are looking for a hassle-free mainstream vehicle that, by the mode, turns out to be a hybrid. The bottom line on the 2022 Insight is that the hybrid technology, telematics, and nicer cockpit justify the upcharge over the stock Civic. Information technology's a very good car and worth a look if you lot drive a lot of miles each year. It'due south competitive against traditional meaty sedans and holds its own against other hybrids. The middle trim line, Insight EX, offers the all-time blindside for the cadet.