The third time is not a charm for the Honda Insight. The dedicated hybrid Honda is dead, again, to make way for something that will probably make us forget all about it—more on that in a second. But it’s worth pausing for a moment to ponder what we’ve lost: an excellent compact sedan that checked a lot of boxes for consumers. It looks pretty cool, offers a great ride, and even handles nicely. The Insight transcended its hybrid classification to stand out as simply a great little car, full stop (it led our compact car rankings until recently being overtaken by the newest Civic).
If the Insight had an Achilles’ heel, it is the odd single-speed transmission setup, wherein the little 1.5-liter engine’s speed is mostly disconnected from road speed while it serves as a generator for the primary EV motor, only engaging it to the drive wheels at higher speeds or under full throttle. In such instances, the engine was mostly a thrashy, howling mess (or at the first hint of a hill), a tuning issue that we wish Honda had dialed out. Sadly, time’s up, and the Insight—solitary gripe and all—is no more.
We’ll miss the slick Honda hybrid an order of magnitude more than its sad-sack predecessor, a tadpole-shaped wannabe Prius that bet that cheapness was a better draw for buyers than goodness. You can imagine how that turned out. “The joy of driving is absent here,” solemnly intoned editor Art St. Antoine at the end of a yearlong test.
It was a far cry from the innovative, highly specialized fuel miser that the 2000 Insight debuted as—the first mass-market hybrid ever sold in America. A little two-seat hatchback that offered a manual transmission (!) and featured lightweight aluminum construction, tipping the scales at about 2,000 lbs and returning 70 mpg on the highway. It wasn’t sporty, but it was so purposeful and futuristic it became an instant cult classic. (And also a great future platform for hot-rodding with various Honda engine swaps, but that’s another story.)
Sun Sets On Insight, Rises On Civic Hybrid
So, why is the appealing Insight falling on its own sword? Well, to make room for a model that’s essentially a direct lateral move: a new Civic Hybrid. The Civic Hybrid has been an on-again, off-again situation, depending on the availability of a suitable Insight model to take its place. The tenth generation Civic didn’t offer a hybrid because the excellent Insight was there to do the job, though, ironically, the latest Insight was really just a hybridized, dressed-up Civic. As good as the Insight is, the fantastic reception of the revamped Civic makes a Hybrid version of the model, with all the weight and respect the Civic name carries, seem like a stronger move than a next-generation Insight, even if the two cars would be one in the same, effectively.
Also, the current Corolla introduced a hybrid model for the first time, borrowing the Prius’s powertrain and selling for an affordable price. Given how Honda had positioned the Insight as a premium Civic alternative that happened to be electrified, we could see the forthcoming Civic Hybrid reach for a lower rung of the Civic family pricing ladder to do battle with the Toyota, delivering up-front value to pique buyer interest as gas prices remain high.
Look across the Atlantic and we have a strong preview of what to expect. The Civic debuted over there officially as the Civic e:HEV. It pairs a 2.0-liter I-4 with a two-motor hybrid system for a total output of a very healthy 181 hp and 232 lb-ft of torque. Compare that to the Insight’s 152 total system ponies, and it seems fair to say the e:HEV is a big:UPGRADE, falling closer to today’s Honda Accord Hybrid, which gets 212 hp. (That midsize uses a similar hybrid setup to the Insight, only with a larger 2.0-liter engine. ) We wouldn’t be surprised in the least if the e:HEV arrangement made it to the States with minor, if any, changes, giving us a great preview of what to expect.
If that’s truly the case, then we’ll miss the Insight, but we’re even more excited about the Civic picking up the slack to offer its dynamic and stylistic excellence in an even more efficient package. Be ready to welcome a Civic Hybrid back into the market soon.
Keyword: The Honda Insight Is Dying, Again, So That the Civic Hybrid Can Live, Again