Honda Insight: millennial marvel

By Greg MacLeman

| 20 Sep 2024

Classic & Sports Car – Honda Insight: millennial marvel

In the traditional game of bar-room Top Trumps it’s easy to decide which is the fastest; the lightest; the most valuable.

What’s more challenging, however, is gauging those models that will have real influence – the groundbreaking automotive developments that go on to effect the greatest change in the direction of car design, and the way we live with and use our vehicles.

By that measurement, a number of cars spring quickly to mind.

Machines such as the Citroën Traction Avant – the first mass-produced front-drive car – or leaders in safety such as the Saab GT750, the first car to be fitted with safety belts as standard.

The Honda Insight feels perhaps surprisingly conventional once behind the wheel

American enthusiasts may make a case for the Chevrolet Corvair Monza or Oldsmobile Jetfire – two early pioneers of turbocharging – while race fans will perhaps think about the Lotus 25 and its revolutionary alloy monocoque, or the carbon monocoque McLaren F1 that followed 31 years later.

But the impact of all of these models may pale when compared to that of a funny little car from Japan that arrived with little fanfare and sold in modest numbers before slipping into relative obscurity.

The Honda Insight first edged into the public consciousness at the 1997 Tokyo motor show, when the J-VX hybrid concept car on which it was based first broke cover.

The Honda Insight’s teardrop-shaped body helps it achieve an impressive drag coefficient of just 0.25Cd

An interesting combination of fuel efficiency and sporty styling, the concept boasted strong environmental credentials, lightweight construction and a cutting-edge powertrain that combined a conventional three-cylinder, 1-litre engine with electric assistance – dubbed ‘Integrated Motor Assist’ – capable of achieving a staggering 80mpg-plus.

And while most concept cars remain just that – or at best contribute some of their technology to road cars – Honda was determined to make the J-VX into a viable proposition, both in an economic sense and as a means of practical everyday transport.

By the time the Insight had gone on sale in the UK at the turn of the millennium, its styling had evolved from that of the 1997 show car.

The front end was softened with more rounded headlamps replacing the triangular items of the concept, while the panoramic glass roof gave way to a conventional, cost-saving tin-top.

There’s surprising torque from the Honda Insight’s three-cylinder engine and 10kW motor

The aggressive hips of the J-VX were smoothed out, leading into the most notable feature of the Insight – spatted rear wheels that helped contribute to an incredible drag coefficient of just 0.25Cd and a saving of around 5mpg in real-world fuel economy.

But the secret to the Insight’s efficiency stretched beyond the styling studio and the wind tunnel.

Beneath the Citrus Yellow Metallic paint this car shares with the original concept is an extruded aluminium spaceframe chassis clad in aluminium panels, built at considerable cost alongside the NSX in Suzuka.

This kept the overall weight to just 835kg – a whisker more than a contemporary Lotus Elise and 47% lighter than the then-current Civic.

The Honda Insight’s dashboard design still appears futuristic

It also contributed a great deal of strength, with a 38% improvement in torsional rigidity over its more conventional unitary steel stablemate.

Even the wheels were engineered for lightness, cast in aluminium and shod with skimpy 165-section high-pressure tyres to reduce rolling resistance.

The brake calipers and rear drums were also aluminium, and the fuel tank was plastic.

All of that weight-saving and aerodynamic refinement is very clever, but the Insight’s real party trick is its clever petrol-electric powertrain.

The Honda Insight’s aluminium wheels are shod with skinny tyres

At its heart lies a three-cylinder, 12-valve, 995cc engine – petrol rather than diesel, owing to the latter’s unpopularity in the US and Japan – with variably timed valves, a single overhead camshaft, and direct fuel injection with a high-swirl combustion chamber designed for lean burning, which enables the engine to operate at an air-to-fuel ratio of 22:1 for extended periods.

Alone it’s capable of producing 67bhp, but when allied to the Honda Insight’s tiny 10kW brushless electric motor, which is just 60mm wide and mounted on the crankshaft, peak power touches 76bhp.

That isn’t very much, but where the motor contributes most is in bottom-end torque.

On its own, the petrol engine musters 67lb ft of torque at 4800rpm, but when both units are working together they put out 83lb ft at just 1500rpm.

‘The Honda Insight features the sort of technology found more often in Le Mans racers and Formula One cars than small hatchbacks’

It’s enough to give the Insight the characteristics of a bigger-engined car and a 0-60mph time of 12 secs.

Top speed, meanwhile, is a very respectable 112mph thanks to clever aerodynamic tweaks such as its small frontal area and tapered body that wraps tightly around the narrow-track rear, with each back wheel sitting 55mm further inboard than those at the front.

Behind the two seats, and hidden beneath the Honda Insight’s load bay, is a series of nickel-metal-hydride batteries that are crucial to the operation.

When called upon during hard acceleration they drive the electric motor – but more revolutionary is the motor’s ability to act as a generator during braking, enabling the batteries to be recharged; the sort of technology found more often in Le Mans racers and Formula One cars than small hatchbacks.

Honda’s evolution of the 1997 show car turns heads even today

Unlike its less-efficient rival the Toyota Prius, which operated a planetary gear set that switched between internal combustion power and an electric motor, the Insight’s engine remains running the whole time – apart from when the then-innovative (and now ubiquitous) stop/start system kicks in, switching the engine off when the car comes to a halt and restarting it when first gear is selected.

For those of us whose experience of hybrids is limited almost exclusively to the use of taxi apps, it’s difficult to know what to expect from a pioneering machine such as the Honda Insight.

There’s a vague feeling that, in some way, it ought to present as something of a prototype, still unfinished and not ready for use in the real world.

The Honda Insight’s rear echoes the J-VX hybrid concept car

So I’m surprised while walking up to the streamlined, fish-like Insight to discover a familiarity – and practicality – I wasn’t expecting, with everything broadly where you would expect it to be and finished to a high standard, from the ’90s sci-fi-flick seats echoing the futuristic J-VX to the presence of optional air-conditioning.

Perhaps the biggest shock is the lack of any rear seats, owing to the tapered teardrop body and the limited rear load space, beneath which lies around 35kg of battery packs.

Bar these limitations, however, it appears – at least on the surface – to be much like any other small hatchback.

If the seats make you feel as if you might be on a movie set, the all-digital dashboard completes the illusion with high-tech LED illumination for everything from the water-temperature gauge to the rev counter, which bursts into life along with the thrumming three-pot.

Spatted wheels on the Honda Insight

There are more unusual dials, too, with read-outs for both battery charge and charge/assist, but it’s the latter that provides the most intrigue on the road, swinging one way or the other depending on whether the motor is charging the batteries or draining them.

It becomes a bit of a game, with the car rewarding sparing use of the throttle, and giving a gentle ticking-off for those with a heavy foot.

The Honda Insight is very easy to drive frugally, and while the CVT versions pick the most suitable of a near-infinite number of ratios, in the manual car the decision is left to the driver, albeit with a prompt by the onboard computer to change up at the correct time.

Follow the car’s instructions and you’ll cruise along at barely more than tickover, so much so that the engine feels on the verge of lugging, but, thanks to the assistance of the electric motor, it never does.

The Honda Insight’s rear track is narrower than the front’s

It’s a relaxed way of driving, and before long you become accustomed to the long gearing, avoiding hills and sticking to the open road in a bid to improve the fuel economy.

Eventually – purely in the interests of a thorough review – it becomes too tempting not to test the Honda Insight’s acceleration, and we risk the wrath of HAL 9000’s blinking lights of disapproval and pin the throttle to the floor.

Unleashing the full potential of the engine and motor’s combined 76bhp doesn’t set the world alight, but it’s still remarkably quick off the line thanks to its feather weight.

Hold the gears and you’ll be touching 70mph in second, with the remaining long ratios more useful for economical cruising than outright acceleration.

Honda Insights have just two seats and little boot space, which hurt sales

If there’s one area where the Insight is less accomplished it’s the ride and handling, which feel unresolved compared with the engineering prowess of the rest of the car.

It’s almost as if the designers at Suzuka, having invested so much in the new Honda’s drivetrain technology, decided to cut back and settle for the MacPherson struts at the front, and a twist-beam axle with springs and separate dampers at the rear.

It’s smooth enough on the highway, but feels under-damped around town, with the front end bobbing up and down like a buoy in rough seas when negotiating speed bumps and the weak rear springs unable to prevent bottoming out when riding two-up.

Cornering is also uninspiring, with a tendency towards understeer, while the combination of rock-hard skinny tyres, a narrow track and weighty batteries ahead of the rear axle doesn’t equate to much mechanical grip, particularly in the wet.

Honda’s characterful trailblazer has a trendy interior

But while it might not be the most dynamic hatchback of the past 25 years, that won’t bother devotees, who quickly become infected with mpg fever, perfecting their light-footed driving technique and seeking ever greater fuel economy – many owners have managed to get their cars to average over 100mpg, making it more frugal than most machines of the era, with the notable exception of its all-electric contemporaries.

The first of those belonged to Honda itself, which brought out its EV Plus all-electric hatchback in 1997, leasing around 300 examples before eventually pulling the plug two years later in favour of the Insight.

The most accomplished – and the biggest influence on the Insight, at least stylistically – was GM’s EV1, which began production in 1996 and could achieve 80-140 miles per charge.

More than 1000 were built but none were sold – as with Honda’s EV Plus, all were leased.

The Honda Insight proves hybrids can be cool

After realising that the model would never be profitable, the firm recalled and crushed all but a handful, with the only intact example residing in the Smithsonian.

In the European market, the Insight was challenged – albeit weakly – by Peugeot’s 106 Electric, which was hamstrung by woeful performance.

The French hatch mustered the equivalent of just 27bhp, took 8.3 secs to reach 30mph and fell 4mph short of reaching 60mph, all while taking six hours to charge with a range of – at best – just 45 miles.

Brim the Insight in London and you’ll be in John O’Groats before you have to think about visiting a service station.

Just 70 Honda Insights were sold in the UK

So far, Toyota’s Prius has won the battle of the petrol-electric hybrids.

Despite an inferior 41mpg, buyers – particularly in North America – were drawn to its more conventional styling, four doors and large boot.

By the time Honda updated the Insight with similar features in 2009, it could only better the first-generation Prius’ fuel economy by 1mpg.

Despite the Insight’s incredible fuel-saving credentials and cutting-edge technology, it never really took off in the UK, where Honda sold just 70.

The relatively high cost at launch of £17,000, a fear of tumbling residuals and controversial styling put many off, but perhaps the Honda Insight’s greatest failing was its lack of rear seats – a feature buyers associated more with weekend toys and sports cars than with a daily driver.

But for the devoted few, whether today or at the turn of the millennium, the inconveniences we so readily accept in the name of performance are a small price to pay for owning one of the most fuel efficient, characterful and intriguing cars of its generation.

Images: Tony Baker

This was first in our September 2018 magazine; all information was correct at the date of original publication

Factfile

Honda Insight

Sold/number built 1999-2006/17,000+
Construction extruded aluminium spaceframe, aluminium panels
Engine all-alloy, 12-valve, 995cc three-cylinder VTEC, with 10kW DC current brushless electric motor
Max power 67bhp @ 5700rpm (petrol only)
Max torque 66lb ft @ 4800rpm (petrol only)
Transmission five-speed manual or CVT, FWD
Suspension independent, at front by MacPherson struts, anti-roll bar rear twist-beam rear axle with trailing arms, coil springs, telescopic dampers
Steering power-assisted rack and pinion
Brakes 9in (231mm) discs front, 7in (180mm) drums rear
Length 12ft 11in (3945mm)
Width 5ft 6½in (1695mm)
Height 4ft 5in (1355mm)
Wheelbase 7ft 10½in (2400mm)
Weight 1840lb (835kg)
0-60mph 12 secs
Top speed 112.5mph
Mpg 81.3
Price new £17,000