5/20/2009

This is the funniest review of a new car that I have read in a long time: the Honda Insight 1.3 IMA SE Hybrid

You really have to read this the entire review here by the London Times:

Much has been written about the Insight, Honda’s new low-priced hybrid. We’ve been told how much carbon dioxide it produces, how its dashboard encourages frugal driving by glowing green when you’re easy on the throttle and how it is the dawn of all things. The beginning of days.

So far, though, you have not been told what it’s like as a car; as a tool for moving you, your friends and your things from place to place.

So here goes. It’s terrible. Biblically terrible. Possibly the worst new car money can buy. It’s the first car I’ve ever considered crashing into a tree, on purpose, so I didn’t have to drive it any more.

The biggest problem, and it’s taken me a while to work this out, because all the other problems are so vast and so cancerous, is the gearbox. For reasons known only to itself, Honda has fitted the Insight with something called constantly variable transmission (CVT).

It doesn’t work. Put your foot down in a normal car and the revs climb in tandem with the speed. In a CVT car, the revs spool up quickly and then the speed rises to match them. It feels like the clutch is slipping. It feels horrid. . . . .

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2 Comments:

Blogger Mike Gallo said...

This guy is hilarious on Top Gear (a BBC show). Sure, they're pretty much 100% ignorant when it comes to America, but they're entertaining enough to get away with it, IMHO. The Prius review was equally as funny, and he sure does love the turbo diesel Golf.

I have to admit, I was upset when I didn't see the trubo diesel Honda in '08 or '09 I had heard rumors about, so I had to go out and get a car with WORSE gas mileage than my last Honda: a Civic Si...

5/20/2009 6:21 PM  
Blogger Paul Gordon said...

This review makes it obvious that the next step is to forbid trying out a car before you buy it, as you might not feel like buying it after you do.

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5/21/2009 12:34 AM  

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