Honda to Revive the Insight as a Prius-fighter

HONDA, the (Yoda voice) "...no try...do!" car company!

...now, if only GM, FORD and CHRYSLER would "try" the same philosophy!

Don't forget there is a reason the Prius has been converted into a plug-in and the Insight never was. They are built on different platforms. If Honda keeps it's old platform, anyone wanting to convert to a plug-in will still have to stay with the Prius. Honda already has a winner with the Civic GX running on natural gas. Honda should combined Compressed Natural Gas with the Hybrid. Now THAT would be a real Prius fighter.

hello mschultz,

i give you a good answer. of course the oil companies won't like this and will fight it to the death. reason, natural gas and electricity are delivered by the utility companies not the oil companies. finally saw the natural gas home fueling stations that are small and mount on the wall of your garage. plumbed to the natural gas line of the home. fills your car with compressed natural gas overnight. no need for oil companies, except for lubricants. this is right now. no need to wait, unless your home does not run on natural gas. the electric hybrid version makes a lot of sense to me.

joe

Is there some rule (written or otherwise) that says fuel-efficient cars MUST be ugly as sin?!? Please! If they want to sell a boatload of 'em, style 'em so people will want 'em for their LOOKS, not their mileage! We've already seen that most people (especially us Americans) can't be trusted to buy the "right" thing...just the "pretty" thing, for cryin' out loud! They'd sell like ice cream at the county fair in August if they looked like...

My theory is the american auto manufactures don't want efficient cars to success. especially electric cars. (see "Who Killed the Electric Car") I had a salesman admit that they make half their money when they sell the car and half on the maintenance. Electric vehicles will take a bug chunk out of their profit. People should be willing to pay a higher up front cost because the long term cost are going to be less. Even compressed natural gas reduces wear on the engine. I agree that the first Prius was hard on the eyes but I am happy with my 05 Prius. Over a half million sold so far. That's not bad. The Honda Civic GX running on compressed natural gas is identical in looks to the gas power Civic. American car companies have be come fat and lazy. They have no imagination. They just want to do what they've always done. Our vehicles would be even worse if it had not been for competition from Japan. That forced them to make improvements on the quality of their traditional cars. Now, once again, Japan is showing the way. Detroit will either figure it out and compete, or go under and run to the government to get bailed out.

Too true about the maintenance. Why else would dealerships have Service and Parts departments? Not for the "good" of the customer, they're profit centers. And very profitable ones, at that! And all that warranty protection work that has to be documented? Best, if not the only way to do so is the computerized service record at the dealership. Buy a new car, become a captive consumer.

These cars are designed for the "vertically challenged".

They are also way over-priced.

I cannot fit my 6'5" frame behind the wheel anyway.

That's two reasons I shall not ever buy a "midget car".

Kind Regards....

Have you ever tried to sit in a prius?

Hello mschultz

Yes.

Are you trying to sell me one?

Kind Regards....

If my memory is correct (a big if) there were cars being sold in the US around forty years ago that got 40 to 45 miles per gallon. And they were not tiny little things like the Prius and Insight. Is there an explanation for the lack of fuel efficiency improvement over the last forty years?

Bill Morrow

Other than greed, you mean? Probably not...

Could it be that pollution-control equipment has significantly reduced the efficiency of cars? It would be rather ironic if government-mandated pollution controls are a contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.

Bill Morrow

Some pollution control equipment probably reduces horsepower, but I don't recall hearing of any that reduces mileage. Not impossible, though. Isn't our government pretty much based on irony?