Ask any civilian on the street what the first hybrid to go on sale in North America was, and chances are that person won't answer that it was the Honda Insight. But in fact the two-seat, polliwog-shaped first generation was the first hybrid to make it to U.S. showrooms in the year 2000, beating a certain high-profile hybrid from another Japanese manufacturer by about six months. But despite that head start, the Honda Insight lost its prominence in America's automotive zeitgeist.
The first Honda Insight was a straightforward parallel hybrid. A dinky 70-horsepower, 1.0-liter three-cylinder in the car's nose was supplemented by a 13-hp electric motor working alongside it. A nickel-metal hydride battery pack located behind the two seats fed the electric motor up to 100 amps under hard acceleration. The batteries in turn were charged by the electric motor, which acted as a generator when the car was decelerating. All this constituted Honda's first-generation Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) system and it worked well with either the first Honda Insight's standard five-speed manual transmission or the continuously variable transmission (CVT).
But there was more to the first Honda Insight than just its hybrid drivetrain. It was built around an aluminum structure to keep weight low, had tiny low-rolling-resistance tires, and a body that was so aerodynamically slick it was surprising that paint stuck. By the time the first Honda Insight was leaving production in 2006, it was rated by the EPA at 48 mpg in the city and 58 mpg on the highway.
But the first Honda Insight was just too small and too limited in its abilities for most consumers. So after a couple fallow years, the Insight returned for the 2010 model year in a roomier, more conventional five-door body. With a more powerful four-cylinder internal combustion engine aboard and improved execution of a more advanced IMA system, it's a vastly easier car to live with than the original Honda Insight.
There are hard-core fans out there who swear by the original Honda Insight two-seater. But it's the original Honda Insight's successors that will sell in significant numbers.
