TheOtherDave™

It looks like Honda may be responding quickly to some of the early criticism of its new Insight hybrid. Many recent reviews of the Insight have been particularly harsh, especially in comparison to the new Prius. While the Insight does manage to get excellent fuel economy, it can't really compete with the Toyota. In spite of Honda's claims that the insight is not a direct competitor to the Prius, AutoCar claims Honda engineers are working hard to get closer to the mileage leader. It's not clear how close they can get without some significant changes to the powertrain, and that's something that could take a while.

While Toyota clearly has bragging rights in terms of efficiency, one of the primary criticisms of the Honda has been its ride and handling. The Insight works well enough on smooth roads, but is far less well behaved over rougher pavement. Changes to the suspension could be accomplished pretty quickly and even rolled out as a running change.

Gallery: Review: 2010 Honda Insight EX



Photos Copyright (C)2009 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.

[Source: AutoCar]Filed under: Hybrid, Honda

Report: Honda fast-tracking updates to improve Insight originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Wed, 22 Jul 2009 09:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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bluetwo

Guess I can't blame 'em.... while some people realize that's not meant to get 60-80 MPG like the first gen Insight and that's like the Prius it was meant to show that a car can have room in it for a small amount of cargo and/or 4 people comfortably the general public just see's a hybrid and they think that while it looks like a Prius it doesn't get as good an MPG. So why not get the Toyota? That's my feeling anyway.

Hopefully Honda will get the comfort and handling part of it right so at least it'll have that. They might not be able to match the Prius in other ways but hopefully it will not be a total flop.

TheOtherDave™

If they turn the suspension to mush to cater to Joe Six-pack, I'm going to be disappointed.
The current setup allows you to carry a lot of momentum through corners.
It's entertaining enough to be the one hybrid I'd consider for a daily.

That is, if it weren't for all the noise... from the road, the tires and especially that little 1.3 crammed in up front.
All they need to do IMO is insulate the hood and add some butyl rubber mat on the cabin side of the firewall.
Then redesign the intake to quell the ceaseless drone when you get on the throttle.

bluetwo

...I can see that. That grindy little engine note does get kinda disconcerting. Of course they don't want to change to quieter tires because the LRR's help with gas mileage so insulating the car makes sense.

At the same time though: some auto-makers have managed to get a more cushy ride without completely losing all decent handling characteristics and there isn't a direct correlation that says low rolling resistance tires have to have hard tread, long tread life and be loud on the road. In fact some of the LRR's out there are reasonably quiet and the tread isn't overly hard with a long tread life though I'm not sure if there'll ever be a low rolling resistance tire with good grip.

(just expressing my opinion on LRR tires based on what I've read and because I don't think it's as black and white as people think)