Circling back to the eco-themed cars, it is not very often that I see a first-gen Honda Insight, and for good reason! A whopping 45 Insights were sold in Australia, but I think it is one of the most remarkable cars ever built.
The first generation Insight is a pretty exceptional car, and one of the most hardcore cars ever brought to the market. The body is composed completely of aluminium, which allowed the weight of 827 kg (1823 lb) (with AC), while the aerodynamic coefficient of drag figure of just 0.25 was one of the lowest ever achieved. The 1L 3-cyl engine weighs an incredible 56 kg (123 lb), while the just-under 1 kWh battery pack added just 20 kg (44 lb).
Photo from www.autospeed.com
Apart from the obvious 2-seater limitation there were some downsides including a fairly rough ride due to the low rolling resistance tyres and a rather unrefined suspension setup, plus high noise levels due to scant sound insulation.
The most significant issue though was the price being charged, a whopping AUD$48,900 which meant that while the second batch of 10 customer-ordered cars sold quickly to early-adopters, some of the initial batch of 33 demonstrator and promotional cars sat on dealer lots for literally years. That comes to just 43 cars; subsequently two black 2002 models were imported presumably to order. All were manual transmission cars, however more recently there has been a privately-imported CVT car arrive.
Silver was the most common colour, followed by red and citrus yellow; which you might call green. While only one of the first generation cars is known to have been written off, a couple now reside in museums so the herd left on the road is diminishing. One of the cars has covered more than 300,000 km (190k miles).
I don’t think any have been modified with a conventional Honda engine, which interestingly does not have a normal alternator but rather one integrated with the flywheel (above); in the US there a few with normal Honda K-series VTEC engines swapped in and one has even been an awd conversion using CR-V parts!
Photo from www.insightman.com
It is telling that the second-generation car was much more conventional, less ambitious and a huge chunk cheaper – 60% the price of the first model. Just 17,020 of this revolutionary Insight were produced in total, and by far the majority (~13,600) were sold in the USA. It is uncanny that the Insight, S2000 and NSX all went out of production in 2006; perhaps a sure sign that Honda had fundamentally changed.
Further Reading:
In Motion Outtake: 2000 Honda Insight – The First Hybrid Is Getting Scarce
Science experiment.
Compared to the “sales king” the Prius, it is hard to believe that Honda considered this a serious competitor. 2 seat only, noisy and rough riding, this was a proof of concept at its heart and I’m sure let Honda prove that certain ideas would and could work.
The second gen Insight and the CR-Z didn’t sell all that well either.
The Honday hybrid I was most intrigued by was the V6 Accord Hybrid in which Honda stated that the electric system was a way of adding performance. But that experiement only last from model year 2005-2007.
I’m wondering if you’re not comparing the first generation Insight against the first popular Prius – the second generation. First generation Prii aren’t all that common on the ground, and if you see one, it’s easy to understand why. The car managed to make a like year Corolla look absolutely sexy.
I do remember the first gen Insight making a lot bigger splash than the first gen Prius in the US. Then Toyota regrouped, restyled, reengineered, and so much for the competition.
I see one of these, in dark blue (yawn), around my area a lot. I was impressed with Honda for trying this, but the car never seemed that practical, and then the Prius came out and it was game over.
I used to see a fair number of these while briefly living in VT, but haven’t spotted one in recent memory. The CR-Z didn’t prove to be a big seller either. Perhaps in a rare mis-step Honda failed to acknowledge that the 2 seat hatchback runabout is just not a viable body style in today’s culture where people expect one vehicle to do it all, with comfort for at least 4, oodles of cargo space and an upright high visibility driving position. The original CRX was a winner, but times have changed and folks aren’t willing to accept 2 seats these days unless they’re attached to something with some real sporting genes (ie: Porsche, Corvette, Miata, etc.). Kudos to Honda for bringing this niche-mobile to market, but all things considered it really was probably never expected to be more than an eco friendly halo model to attempt to steal a little thunder from Toyota and the gen1 Prius.
IMO Honda should’ve offered a “sporty” version of the 5-door 5-seat Insight with the CR-Z’s suspension tuning and manual transmission. There was demand for a stick hybrid but it was largely from people who needed a “do it all” car; early adopters/hardcore hypermilers who had who had outgrown their gen1 Insights and sales reps who chose their own cars thus weren’t stuck with a fleet Prius but wanted its’ benefits without the dullness drawback. Honda could’ve owned that unserved niche but completely missed it.
Heck, if they had noticed it at the start of gen-2 Insight/CR-Z development they could’ve cancelled the latter in favor of an Insight Si and the savings on body tooling alone would’ve put the whole project solidly in the black.
I give Honda credit for “exposing” America to hybrid cars. Someone had to test the waters.
A first generation Insight passed me at 80+ MPH yesterday on I-10. With the low co-efficient of drag and hyper fuel economy, the driver didn’t seemed too concerned about Jolly Polar Bear in the Arctic.
I used to see one in the parking lot at work during the non-salt months, but haven’t noticed it out there this year. It was pretty tatty-looking when I saw it last, so maybe it’s been retired.
Noticed that the second gen looked more like a Prius and less like a Insight.
The Insight was Mr Honda pulling his pants back up as quick as he could after Toyota pulled them down with the Prius.
Fact is that Honda was known in the US for having high MPG cars and they didn’t want to let that go.
So the edict was to get a Hybrid to the market ASAP and it better take the MPG crown.
Having little time or budget they focused on the traditional things to improve MPG, reducing weight and better aerodynamics. They also went the traditional route to improve the efficiency of the engine by cutting it down to 3 cyls for less internal drag and figured out a way to implement a lean burn steady state cruise strategy that would still pass US emissions, the biggest technological achievement of the original Insight.
Then they were Oh Crap that is right this car is supposed to have a battery and motor in it. So again constrained by time and budget the developed the Motor/Generator that gets sandwiched between the engine and flywheel. That allowed them to keep the conventional manual trans and by putting the motor in front of the trans they were able to take advantage of the torque multiplication it provides, and limit the rpm range of the motor to put it in the most efficient part of the curve most of the time.
The interesting thing is that while they decided that they didn’t need an 12v alternator, they weren’t willing to give up the 12v starter, despite the fact that it is designed to never be used if everything is working properly. It is only there as an emergency back up. I have to wonder how many of those cars never had the starter engaged even a single time. Technically one of the standard items you are supposed to do when you change the oil in an original Insight is to exercise that 12v starter. You shut off the traction battery and then ask the car to start. You can then turn the engine off and turn the traction battery back on. I highly doubt it was even done at the Honda dealer and you can bet that no quick lube ever did it unless the guy doing the oil change had one himself and actually took the time to learn about the system.
Theres two here locally one silver and one citrus I see them in motion fairly often but never parked to get a real good look there was a road test done when they first arrived claiming one couldnt get over the Rimutaka hill leading out of Wellington, I cant see how that happened meself anyhow I think they are quite cool looking and certainly standout as what they are meant to be.
Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, there are quite a few of these rolling around.,The generation 1 Insight and the first generation Prius are the only “alternative” vehicles i would consider until something proletariat with a hydrogen fuel cell comes out. i am also intrigued by the Saturn Vue hybrid, so that is on my list as well. My daily driver is a 1975 Renault R5, twin choke progressive Weber fed, and basically emissions control-less, it has a sister back up vehicle same vintage, so unless lottery winnings are in the crystal ball, at 60, I’ll be a Renault man until the end. The R5 was ahead of it’s time and quite brilliant, a very successful engineering/ manufacturing exercise, despite the constant “LeCar” bashing you still get here in the states. Real world 28-33 mpg, so not too bad, and it is more than capable of getting out of it’s own way when the secondary kicks in, Walter Mitty afterburners!
The first photograph is taken somewhere in Melbourne, Australia where I live. I have two first generation Honda Insights, a red one and a green one – although it is not my car in the photo. There are a very small number of G1 Insights in Melbourne (my guess is no more than about 10) and I rarely see them on the road – maybe less than once a year!
Most of John’s Australia specific information about G1 Insights seems to have come from a thread I started on the Insight Central website back in 2007. Some of that information I now know to be not correct. For example, I am now fairly sure that at least three cvt cars were brought into Australia as used imports. I looked at one in 2004 not long before I bought my red mt Insight. I looked at another, different, red cvt car in 2015. There is also (parts of) a green cvt car at a Honda wreckers in Melbourne. I don’t know if there is any way of finding out the exact numbers of used G1 imports brought into Australia – even if more than 3, it is still only a very few.
John is right about there being 35 mt G1 Insights being officially imported by Honda for sale. I believe one was wrecked several years ago and, only recently, there was a post on Insight Central by a person seeking front end parts (lights, radiator etc) in Australia for a car they had recently bought at auction. I don’t think they’re going to have much luck and may just write it off. If so, that seems to make it at least two of the originals gone.
I looked at the 300,000km car John refers to before it sold to a museum south of Melbourne. It was not bad for a high mileage car and appeared to still be with its original hybrid battery. I believe it had travelled across the Nullabor plains to Western Australia (and back) 9 or 10 times. The other museum car (green) is in Sydney – although it is not one of the 35 but is, rather, the car brought into Australia for compliance testing purposes. Under government rules the car could not be registered for the road. It was used as a display for a number of years by Honda Australia before being donated to the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo.
Honda never officially imported G1 Insights into NZ – the G1 Insights there are all second hand imports (mostly from Japan). An Insight enthusiast in Nelson has imported a limited number. I don’t know if anyone else has. Compared with Australia, NZ has permissive used import laws, although with the coming end of car manufacturing in Australia the rules here may be relaxed. However, I don’t think that a flood of G1 Insights is imminent!
I posted about G1 Insight ownership on CC a little while ago when Paul put up a photograph of one. Many of the criticisms are fair, but I think miss the point. They are quite wonderful little cars. Full of character and enormous fun to drive. I’ve owned my red car since 2005 and the green one since 2012. I don’t think I’ll ever sell either of them. I would buy another if a good one came up for sale. I would love to buy one of the two black G1 Insights in Australia, but I last saw one for sale in 2007. G1 Insights of any colour rarely come on the market in Australia.
Finally, a point of clarification. Below the photograph of an Insight engine, John refers to an “integrated alternator”. I’m not sure if this is what he meant, but what is being displayed is the hybrid electric motor – the one that provides the motive power as the “Integrated Motor Assist” (i.e. IMA). I believe it also acts as an alternator – mainly charging the NIMH hybrid battery although, presumably, it also charges the conventional 12v battery.
I saw one at a recent Japanese show day opposite La Trobe Uni, owned by a gentleman who also has a Mazda Cosmo 110 and Mazda R130 coupe.
Hi Ghillie, you are spot on regarding the source of information! Also I found that someone has scanned the Australian Insight brochure on I think Flickr.
I must admit I have not seen a schematic for the hybrid system, so that makes sense. It is larger I suppose than an ISAD (integrated starter, alternator and damper) that would be a lot less powerful.
I think the photo is on Burwood Hwy in Burwood. I don’t doubt that they are an interesting car to drive, and comments about ride quality and suspension refinement by car reviewers are in relation to ‘normal’ cars but in comparison to older cars that we love they are probably perfectly fine. I’m thinking of original Minis for example, to set a low bar!
Hi John – some of your comments did look familiar, but I couldn’t remember if it was my information or if it was provided by others responding to my initial post. A bit of both I think. The photo of the black Insight was from when it was advertised for sale by a dealer in Queensland – but uploaded on to IC by someone else, not me.
I thought it might be Burwood Highway, but it also looked a bit like the Nepean Highway over the back of St Kilda Beach. Neither are roads I drive on except rarely.
I’m used to the ride, suspension and noise of an Insight so I just don’t think about it much. It’s not punishing – I think it’s pretty much what you’d expect from a small, very light car. Some of the posters on IC have modified their suspensions for better handling and ride quality but I haven’t bothered – yet.
G1 Insights are not a “science project”. I have driven mine to and from work most days for years. They’re reliable and practical (as practical as most other two seaters and more practical than many). They have good aircon and enough space under the hatch for a weekend away. You don’t have to be an enthusiast to enjoy a G1 Insight – but it does help.
The MA is often now referred to as a Motor/Generator though it is AC and really an alternator and motor.
It is the inverter that supplies the 12v to run the accessories and charge the 12v battery as needed. The source of that power can come from either the high voltage battery pack or the Motor/Generator depending on circumstances.
Yes they must be used imports not really a surprise though the rules have recently tightened an Insight would meet the new criteria for age and occupant safety, I saw the silver one when I was out today in my Hillman returning my Kombi friends brake bleeding kit damn camera is in the Citroen, my bad no pic. Is the hillclimb fail even remotely true? I doubt it but still there must be a reason Honda didnt import any here.
Someone in my town had a red one like this, I think they have a crz now.
The G1 Insight had its moment in the sun during the big run-up in oil/gas prices during Hurricane Katrina. It was one of those exceedingly rare moments in history when someone who had bought a hybrid of any sort could drive it for a while, then actually resell it for ‘more’ than they paid.
But then fuel prices stabilized and the über-fuel economy of the Insight couldn’t offset the other trade-off compromises. One of the biggest was how Honda, in order to achieve those lofty fuel mileage numbers, sacrificed traction battery longevity. Toyota took a more pragmatic approach, trading somewhat less (but still above any other ICE-powered vehicle) fuel mileage for greater battery life. It turned out to be the better strategy.
Prius traction batteries, of even the earliest models, rarely wear out and need to be changed. The same cannot be said for G1 Insights. Although the price has reduced significantly over the years, Insight traction battery replacement is still costly and easily eats up any fuel mileage savings. So the Insight, with all its limitations in the name of fuel economy, has, indeed, become relegated to the ‘science project’ category.
The traction battery in my red G1 Insight is 15 years old and still going well (with a degree of love and attention from me). It’s a car anyone can use and enjoy (especially in cvt form) but is probably best suited to an enthusiast (especially in mt form) – but that doesn’t make it a science project.
How many miles?
About 80,000km (about 52,000 miles). Not a lot – although the 300,000km car I refer to above also appeared to be on its original battery.
There is no doubt that Toyota has been more successful in managing battery life than Honda As I understand it, the cvt Insights also seem to do better than the mt cars. There is also considerable variation from one car to another, probably depending on luck as well as climate (hot, humid weather seems to not favour the NiMH batteries).
Although there is a dedicated enthusiast community it represents only a very small proportion of G1 Insight owners – most of whom probably drive their cars around day to day like anyone else. I believe that well over 10,000 G1 cars were sold in NA – not a lot by most standards but it hardly qualifies the car as a “science project”.