2010 Honda Insight: The Hybrid For Everyone or At Least Nearly Everyone

2008 Paris auto show

The new 2010 Honda Insight has now been available to the consumer public for a little over a month and the Honda PR machine has been working overtime with ad spots and more to get the word out. You might remember back in March we reviewed the new 2010 Honda Insight and were impressed with the improvements that have been made from the last generation. Most people know by now that the 2010 Honda Insight is a completely new car designed from the ground up (even if there are look-alike complaints from Prius lovers), so this is a good time to check in and see what the word on the street is about the car.

2008 Paris auto show

If you have been paying attention to the Honda PR team then you might have noticed the Insight's newest tagline, “The Hybrid for Everyone.” Yes, the 2010 Honda Insight at a base MSRP $19,900 is the cheapest hybrid available here in the States. Let us pause here for a moment though; this is really only $500 less than the $20,400 base MSRP announced of the all-new 2010 Toyota Prius. Interestingly enough the Prius boast better fuel economy with a 51 mpg city rating and the people on the street are noticing, especially if $500 dollars is the financial separation. At that rate you could make up the price difference between the 2010 Honda Insight and the 2010 Toyota Prius in the first year of daily driving and in the long run you would be saving money on fuel.

So is the 2010 Honda Insight really the better buy and the hybrid that everyone can afford? The answer—maybe. The 2010 Toyota Prius has four package levels (read more here) that start from the base MSRP of $20,400 and go up to a level four trim that will set you back an estimated $26,550. This is $3,450 above the MSRP of the top of the line EX Insight package. So if we are evaluating the cars solely on base package pricing, then I personally (as much as I love Honda) would have to go with the 2010 Toyota Prius. This decision is mostly based on the fact that I know both manufactures have good reputations for quality, but in this case the cars look very similar and Toyota has the edge in performance and history of supporting the hybrid technology.

2008 Paris auto show

Bottom line—if you are in the market for a new hybrid then the 2010 Honda Insight should be on your list, but don’t forget to compare it to the competition because a 2010 Toyota Prius may end up saving you money in the long run and you can pop for the nifty solar panel. However, Toyota better keep their wits about them because Honda may have an ace up their sleeve with the reports of the new Honda CRZ hybrid sports car.

We invite you to stick around and check out our other hybrid coverage of the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid, 2010 Toyota Prius and of course the 2010 Honda Insight. Like what you see? Then drop us a comment or send email comments to JEMblogger at Gmail dot com.

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