First Insight

[M'coli]

Where have all the Honda Insights gone? I've always thought these were cool cars, a properly thought-out and nifty little hybrid - narrow rear track and rear wheel spats - but they seem to be all but extinct on the second-hand market.

[dollywobbler]

I see one locally quite often. They're pretty pointless, but I like the looks.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

My mate has got one, owned it for about 10 years. Its done 160k and has been totally reliable apart from an EGR valve which clogs up once a year. He gets 65mpg in normal use and can squeeze 80 on a long steady run. Amazing! He loves it and has no plans to replace it evAr.

[Shep Shepherd]

I've always liked those, as to me they are a more interesting and less self-righteous car than the Toyota Pious.

[M'coli]

That's what I'd heard about them too, Bo11 - I quite fancy one as they're a bit on the extreme side and not trying to compete for the company-car tax break with the Prius, unlike the later 5-door abortions.

[Polystratus]

Where have all the Honda Insights gone? I've always thought these were cool cars, a properly thought-out and nifty little hybrid - narrow rear track and rear wheel spats - but they seem to be all but extinct on the second-hand market.

 

Only seen one once, and thought they were cool too,always remind me of some sort of 70's concept car. Just a shame it wasn't in production long and was replaced by some crappy Prius clone

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

167 of them currently on autotrader!

 

EDIT: WTF, is the new hybrid also called the In Shite?

[Spiny Norman]

167 of them currently on autotrader!

 

Think they're all the new ones, I've never seen one of these first gen ones on the road, which is a shame because they're fantastic looking wee cars.

Am I alone in wondering if a 2 litre type R Vtec would fit?

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Wow! I had never realised how rare these are- there were a couple of them that I kept seeing out and about in Leicester, so I had assumed that they weren't a complete flop.

[lancashireclamper]

A visitor at work turns up in one pretty regularly, its red with a black bonnet (omg ratlook etc) but seems to run ok, despite me and several others saying surely you can't get batteries, fuses, bits of tin foil etc for THOSE anymore, evidently the owner can, think the road tax is something like ten quid a year or something like that so could make a lot of sense!

[maxpower]

i watched a programme about these and the guy was saying that people couldn't get the mk1 version for love nor money, and the ones that were available the prices being asked was so high that some of them were costing more than the mk2 version

a day or two later one drove past me, that's the only one i have ever seen on the road.

[John F]

Not my taste TBH, I've never liked spatted rear wheels.

 

I have to say it's less ugly than a Pious though, and impressive mpg.

[mattblack]

I've seen one around Leicester a few times, same colour as the one in the pic.

[hairnet]

bloke we used to deilver parts to bought one in 2000 when they came out

 

he moved to hebrides in 03 far as i know still has it

[peter9000uk]

There is one exactly that colour parked not far from V6TURBOS place of work. The bloke has 2 Avantimes parked in the drive at times too!

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

According to howmanyleft, there must be around 150 of them in circulation.

[trigger]

I've only ever seen one myself, there's a older chap in town i sometimes see driving his vomit coloured one about, It's about a V reg i think, I must try and get a photo.

[Cavcraft]

They're a right funky little thing, only seen one or two though one was fairly recently.

[M'coli]

Somewhere between 12 and 18 months ago, there were usually between 5 and 10 on Autotrader and more on eBay; now there's only one on eBay! I'm wondering if the batteries have suddenly reached the end of their charge-discharge life and Honda have bought most of the cars back, having done their job as a proof-of-concept production vehicle.

 

They probably also worked as a proof-of-concept in another way - it proved that the general public probably wouldn't buy a car that looked like a 1980s concept car and couldn't take a designer pushchair/"baby travel system".

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Never mind ebay UK, there's only one of them for sale in the 437* countries covered by Autoscout, and that one is priced at TEN THOUSAND EUROS.

[MrSteve]

There's a guy near Lancaster that has a couple- even goes rallying in one- not sure if he still does though.

 

http://jalopnik.com/5816595/hybrid-rally-car-banned-for-being-too-fast/gallery/1

[KruJoe]

That's just wrong.

 

 

Wrong diddly wrong wrong.

[messerschmitt owner]

I love insights - it's how hybrid cars should look - straight out of a film set!

[AnthonyG]

There's a smart one that lives in Carmarthen, West Wales. Its the only one I've seen for a long time. The new rather gopping one seems to sell well to giffers. The motoring press were well disappointed as most got the wrong impression it would be a petrol/electric version of the hydrogen FCX Clarity, a considerable more futuristic and swoopy looking thing!

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_FCX_Clarity

 

The current CRZ is interesting and definitely hybrid-shite of the future. I like the early gawky looking Prius saloons too, a few made it over here, although god knows who bought them, perhaps they were for Toyota management and selected fleets only.

[eddyramrod]

There's one in The Day After Tomorrow.

Yeah, that's really going to encourage everybody to go out and buy one, isn't it!

[gtd2000]

Never mind ebay UK, there's only one of them for sale in the 437* countries covered by Autoscout, and that one is priced at TEN THOUSAND EUROS.

 

I take it that the * equates to some sort of disclaimer that there's nothing like 437 countries in the world ?

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

Not at the moment, at least!

[gtd2000]

I had to look this up - I thought it was under 200 and it appears 196 is the likely answer.

[vulgalour]

I've only ever seen one of these on the road, and even then it was only once, in bright lime green. I was so excited at the time I had to go home and find out what it was on the interwebs straight away! Very rare I get excited by a new car as it was then, rarer still that it still excites me now.

 

I don't know that I'd want to own one myself, but I'd love to see them more often.

[jonny69]

I was trying to talk the missus into one when we were getting rid of her old Renault but she wouldn't have it. They do come onto the market from time to time and when they do they seem to sit there unsold for a very long time. They hold their value now as well, I don't think you'll lose anything to depreciation any more.

 

Bloke on OcUK used to have one and had made a few tweaks to the drive system. He could get 100-105mpg out of it by running it lean and sitting at a particular speed on the motorway where the motor assist didn't kick in or something. The auto version didn't have the lean burn facility, so never hit the numbers that the manual did.