The Insight is going away. I guess the Civic Hybrid name is no longer mud. Honda will retire the hybrid Insight to focus production on its 'core' models | Engadget
If they do really smart focus groups in North America and integrate Honda nostalgia into the design along with a tip of the hat to "right to repair" and ECU chip mod piggy back hacks and crowdsourced alt. firmware option, I'd say they're well prepared for the last years of fossil fools...
2000-2003 Honda Insight is by far and away the funnest little hybrid I've ever been blessed to work on. Weighing in at only 1600 pounds with an all aluminum chassis it doesn't take very much horsepower at all to make it go fast. If I had a Tig welder and a big shop and an extra space to store an electric project car for the race track it'd for sure be a Gen1 Honda Insight!
Plasmaboy Welcome to Plasma Boy Racing, home of White Zombie, the original world'squickest street legal electric door slammer in the 1/4 miledrag. and his Race team, did a Sliver Streak gen 1 Insight conversion to join with his original '72 Datsun 1200 White Zombie and later Blue Meanie EV conversions for the track and road. No relation to Road and Track Magazine. < shameless unplugging << On another unrelated note, I'll have to see when the time comes, how much Honda will offer on trade in for a new civic hybrid for my '06 gen 2 Civic hybrid. en blynken and nod.
The last time I hit my head hard enough to 'see stars' was trying to sit in a Honda Insight. Bob Wilson
I can see that happening with the original Insight that came out with the gen1 Prius. It was a spiritual predecessor to the CR-X HF. Small two seater really cuts down on the mass the car carries around. The Insight2 added a back seat, but the roof line for aerodynamics could catch the unwary. The current Insight is a four door 'compact' sedan that is really a Civic hybrid in all but name.
Despite it being a really small car, my friend plays a full size stand up Bass in lots of jazz bands and it fits in her Gen1 insight with less than an inch to spare. She's put 200K miles driving to gigs in that car and is currently having the engine replaced so she can keep doing the same.