Honda Insight Test drive since 2009 hatchback

Honda Insight

People's hybrid
Honda Insight is a truly affordable hybrid, in which green technologies are elevated to Absolute. Are the advantages of Insight to lure Toyota Prius buyers? We searched for the answer to this question in Spanish Valencia

The new Honda product is green hatchback, a hybrid, a means of transportation about two motors excites consciousness. The laws of Mendel and the conceptual revolution in genetics come to mind. No wonder: the Insight project for Honda is primarily green technologies. Ecolution’s new slogan speaks for itself. Motorsport ceases to be dominant development. Eco -projects are the new corporate religion. Honda experts genetically adjust the variety of Japanese rice of mosichikari, fight the destruction of forests in China and with pollution of coastal zones in Japan. Car ecopots are also indicative. The release of the world's first gasoline engine without a low level of emissions, the production of the world's first serial hydrogen car with zero exhaust (FCX Clarity), the launch of Civic FFV and FIT FFV models with the possibility of 100 percent work on bioethanol. The list can be continued. In full -time acquaintance with a hybrid, fairy -tale associations are born. I would like to liken a two-engine car with a hunchbacked silhouette, and its technical filling of Emely’s stove, boom-rosemers, a carpet-aisle and other magical assistants. You stay with a hybrid alone and immediately pulls to understand the miracles: climb into the engine compartment, get to the bottom of the battery block hidden by all kinds and plugs, look under the bottom. Such is the InSight car, the name of which in English can sound as a guess, insight, the ability to penetrate in essence.

Japanese in Spain
At a press conference dedicated to the InSight test drive in Spain, the name Toyota Prius has never been uttered by representatives of Honda. To advertise the main and only competitor stupidity and Moveton, especially since his third generation is about to enter the market. The Hondians recall that Insight adopts the baton in the first generation car of the same name. So he himself is a 2-seater three-door of the 1999 model. It was exhibited at the entrance to the conference room. This car was ahead of time. The impressive fuel consumption 3.4 l/100 km in a mixed cycle, like a low level of emissions, was not evaluated by the key consumers of the Americans. The average Yankee preferred the voracious SUVs and pickups then, and the current crisis seemed an impossible event as the arrival in the White House of the Black President. Be that as it may, Insight I lasted on the conveyor until 2006, however, it was a very modest circulation: about 18 thousand cars over seven years of production.
The new InSight against the background of a slightly angular predecessor looks salt and dynamic. The secret in a combination of sharp chopped and rounded shapes. The former correlate a hybrid with a modern model row. The InSight ANFAS clearly mimifies under Civic and Accord, which brings to the appearance of a hybrid even weakly sounding, but still aggressive notes. The roundness and inflame of the body, in turn, emphasize the status of a family car. But the highlight in another. The contours of the body simply shout about similarity with the main competitor Prius. From afar, two cars can be confused. As the Khondovites explain, this is a similar similarity. Insight was conceived as an easily recognizable global car with an ecological component. Thanks to Prius, this form of the body is associated with hybrid technologies and fuel economy. In other words, Honda successfully played in association, while presenting an original product. This is what a couturier does this, pushing in his design revelations from classical patterns.

Environmental games
Spacious Insight Salon is one of the main trump cards of the model. Having settled in a driver’s place, you involuntarily wonder how the engineers were able to cut off so much space. After all, the hybrid is built on the basis of the baby Jazz, albeit 50 mm stretched, and it is 170 mm shorter than the Civic sedan. The guarantee of comfort in striving for the minivan forms of the body, low landing of the driver and competent glazing. Poil head -on and broken rear window provide an excellent review. And the trunk is 23 l more spacious than that of the Russian bestseller hatchback Ford Focus.
Interior design largely resembles the stylistic solutions of the Civic hatchback and the same spirit of computer gaming. The rounded central console is deployed towards the driver. The displays and the instrument shield glow green and blue, the speed indicators are displayed on the display under the windshield at the driver's eye level. It is extremely convenient to read large white numbers. At the same time, the spirit of green technologies and Japanese obsession with gadgets reign. What is the only one of the ECON button, green in the gold section of the front panel. The iron rule of the composition works the button immediately catches the eye. You immediately understand: it is the main thing here. Like the villain of Uri from the Soviet films adventure electronics, you pull your hand to the treasured button. With its pressing, a number of settings are changing, fuel economy becomes the main priority: the accelerator pedal loses in sensitivity, the maximum torque is reduced by 4 nm. The settings of the variator and even air conditioning are adjusted.
The quintessence of green technologies system Eco Assist, which is included in the basic equipment in all sales markets. It reminds itself of a square mini-screen in the center of the tachometer. The system is didactic, but still not as intrusive as color and sound dolls in Volvo cars. Eco Assist offers the driver a virtual game like the famous Tamagochi, where you need to competently feed a virtual pet. The driver of Insight will have to grow graphic trees. You go aggressively (read: non -ecologically) the plant drops the leaves and eventually dies. A calm driver will put virtual gardens and receive a cup award on the aforementioned square display. The most interesting thing is that even with the complete rejection of computer fun in Ecosigro Honda, you finally start playing Eco Assist skillfully involves the instinct of competitiveness.

The quieter you go, the further you'll get
The organizers of the test drive intentionally laid the route through the city center banned by cars. After the first meters behind the wheel, it becomes clear: the cork natural habitat Insight. When stopping at the stream and at the traffic lights, the Stop-Start system helpfully disconnects the 1.3-liter 88-horsepower gasoline engine, and the on-board systems nourish the electricity exclusively. However, it cannot crawl on the electric motor in traffic jams in traffic jams or hybrid Lexus, Insight cannot: the 14-horsepower electric unit performs only auxiliary functions here, working with a gasoline engine when accelerating and restoring kinetic energy during slowdown. The electric unit feeds, in turn, from the miniature by the standards of modern battery hybrids located above the bottom in the back of the body.
When both engines work in pairs, the machine accelerates from the place of a rather briskly combined peak moment is in such a situation 199.5 nm. However, for any aggressive riding, Insight is not calculated. In the city stream, the car is kept quite confident. But acceleration from 100 to 120 km/h, like from 120 to 140 km/h on the highway, rather lethargic, you need to prepare for overtaking in advance. In addition, in such modes, the gasoline engine behaves noisily. In a word, 102 hp, which are issued together by two engines, only the minimum sufficient potential, especially since only a stranded variator is not provided for mechanical transmission. However, thanks to him, acceleration turns out to be a lullingly smooth, without a hint of jerking. You can slightly spur insight by steering wheel switches. They convert the unavailable KP into compulsory control mode. However, I do not want to spur and pick up Insight. His element is a comfortable riding in civilian regimes. In addition, for frisky starts from traffic lights and sharp accelerations on the highway, the Eco Assist virtual eco -custody will certainly scold the ECO Assist system will change the green lighting of the instrument scale to the blue, and leaves will begin to fly around from virtual trees. A more than moderate fuel consumption will be a bonus for a calm ride. Our experience has shown that Insight consumption is highly dependent on the driving manner: 5.5 liters in mixed mode with calm movement and 7.1 liters with frank provocation in the form of regular spums of the accelerator pedal.
In terms of controllability, Insight turned out to be a pleasant and predictable car. On the mountain serpentine in the vicinity of Valencia, the hatchback stubbornly held on to the trajectory, did not roll in corners and sensitively reacted to corrective actions by the steering wheel. The empty at low speeds of the steering wheel was completely rehabilitated at speed. The chassis of the hybrid is tuned for a comfortable ride. On road irregularities and lying policemen, you can’t shake the body. The suspension scheme here is simple and typical for golf class cars that do not apply for sports achievements: in front of the McPherson racks, behind the H-shaped torsion beam. The placement of the battery and control blocks in the underground reduced the center of gravity and contributed to the tenacious in steep turns. InSight braking is also no complaints. Unless every slowdown in a hybrid occurs with sound accompaniment: the InSight electric motor, when a speed is reduced, works as a generator produces electricity and recharges the nickel-metal hydride battery. Recharging occurs with a characteristic electric whistle always remember that you drive a hybrid car.

A hybrid for the people
Honda positions Insight as the first truly affordable hybrid, a kind of Dacia/Renault Logan in hybrid performance. It is planned to select customers from Prius through the use of less powerful, and therefore cheaper batteries and less productive (read: cheaper) electric motor. The Honda agreement with state and municipal structures of consumer countries will also reduce vacation prices. In many countries, tax benefits for buyers of hybrids have already become a serious argument for buying. For example, in France, 2000 euros are deducted from the retail price of a hybrid, a 50 percent discount on sales tax is introduced in Portugal, in Switzerland, a discount on VAT, calculated with a 50 percent value of a car or a one-time discount of 5,000 Swiss francs.
In Valencia, Honda employees were intensely interested in the prospects for Insight sales in Russia, especially the attitude of Russian security forces towards hybrids. This interest is not idle. Tax benefits from the city governors of Russian megacities could cut the Insight window to Russia. In the meantime, with the withdrawal of a hybrid to our market, Honda is in no hurry. Sales promise to start in the next two years. With an attack on other global markets, the Hondians decided. In Japan and the USA, Insight is already sold, in Europe it will appear in mid -April. InSight will be released exclusively in Japan, at the factory in the city of Suzuka. The predicted sales volume of 200 thousand cars per year. Information about the cost is still preliminary. On the sidelines, the Hondians promise 20 thousand euros the average European price. More accurate numbers will be called at a car dealership in Geneva. Be that as it may, the price of the new Insight will be less than on Toyota Prius. Both the next and the current generation. If you take into account not quite democratic prices for hybrids, it becomes obvious: Honda created the first folk green car.

Vasily Sergeev
Photo by the author and the manufacturer




Technical characteristics of Honda Insight
Dimensions, mm
4375x1695x1425
Base, mm
2550
Trunk volume, l
408
Equipped mass, kg
1204
engine's type
gasoline L4 + electric motor
Working ICE, cubic meter. cm
1399
Max. Power, L.S./rpm
88/5800 + 14/1500
Max. moment, nm/rpm
121/4500 + 78.5/1000
Transmission
started (cuneiform variator)
Drive unit
front
Max. speed, km/h
186
Acceleration time 0100 km/h, with
12.6
Fuel consumption (average), l/100 km
4.4
Tank volume, l
40

Source: Avtopanorama magazine