Honda Insight's Disappointing Mileage

Honda has just released a smattering of new details on it's all-new Insight. The car will be the cheapest hybrid vehicle available when it goes on sale in the spring of 2009, but it won't be the most efficient.

I was truly hoping that the new Insight would take after its father. And while, obviously, it couldn't have hit the ridiculous numbers (beyond 70 mpg) of the original, tiny, two-seater Insight, I was at least hoping it would beat the Prius. But alas, the Insight will come in right around Honda's current hybrid offering, the hybrid Civic, about 42 mpg.

So what makes this car so great then, if it has the same mileage as a hybrid Civic and worse than the Prius?

Well, a few things, actually.

1. It's cheaper than either the Prius ($22k) or the Civic Hybrid ($23.5k). So despite being less efficient, it might be more green just because more people will buy them. Honda is banking on selling 200,000 of them per year...a lofty goal.
2. It's a dedicated hybrid...the only one besides the Prius (and the old Insight, if you want to count it.) Which isn't important at all for the environment, but it's important for people's desire to want to buy them. It's like having the whole car be a bumper sticker that says "I'm on the cutting edge of green technology!"
3. It's pretty. Again, not important for the environment, but important when you're trying to sell 200,000 of them a year.
4. Going from 40 to 50 mpg doesn't actually save all that much gas. Don't believe me, see our article on why MPG is a stupid measurement.

So yes...we want one. But we'd actually rather have a Volt, or some other car that doesn't burn any gas at all under normal circumstances. But I predict broad consumer appeal for the Insight...I think my wife is harboring a secret desire for one, so that may be a point of conflict between us.