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Honda Insight Hybrid [American Drivers Get Ready]
Sunday Times (London) ^ | May 17, '09 | Jeremy Clarkson

Posted on 05/23/2009 1:04:17 PM PDT by T.L.Sink

Much has been written about the Insight, Honda's new low-priced hybrid. 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 it comes. It's terrible. Biblically terrible. It doesn't work. Acceleration is poor. And the sound is worse. So you're sitting there with the engine screaming its head off, and your ears bleeding, and you're doing only 23 mph and you're thinking things can't get any worse, and then they do because you run over a small piece of grit. There's more. Normally, Hondas feel as though they've been screwed together by eye surgeons. This model, however, feels as if it's been made from steel so thin, you could read through it. And the seats, finished in pleblon, are designed specifically, it seems, to ruin your skeleton.

(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: automakers; cafe; chat; honda; hybrids
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To: Nathan Zachary

I paid $48K for my first HOUSE, LOL!


61 posted on 05/23/2009 2:34:04 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: knarf

My guess is that when forced to design something that’s aerodynamically styled and almost weightless to get more mpg - you always end up with a flying potato.


62 posted on 05/23/2009 2:35:44 PM PDT by T.L.Sink
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To: org.whodat

Hey ,I am on your side man. I hope you buy one.


63 posted on 05/23/2009 2:40:43 PM PDT by Venturer
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To: Venturer

Nah...the Volt is how Hybrids should be built. It’s designed to use electricity first then gas as needed. The drivetrain is designed around the electric motor so there’s no mixed drivetrain which causes awful acceleration.


64 posted on 05/23/2009 2:41:55 PM PDT by Bogey78O (Don't call them jihadis. Call them irhabis. Tick them off, don't entertain their delusion.)
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To: T.L.Sink
"My guess is that when forced to design something that’s aerodynamically styled and almost weightless to get more mpg - you always end up with a flying potato."

An expensive flying potato that isn't worth $100 by weight for salvage of the steel it contains.

65 posted on 05/23/2009 2:43:10 PM PDT by Nathan Zachary
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To: Bogey78O

No, the Lightning is how electric vehicles should be built.

Hybrids don’t save anything, they are even more environmentally taxing than a regular gas powered puddle jumper.


66 posted on 05/23/2009 2:45:56 PM PDT by Nathan Zachary
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To: org.whodat

“you either know something are you don’t where the link”?

Huh?


67 posted on 05/23/2009 2:48:38 PM PDT by RoadTest (For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus - I Tim 2:5)
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To: Venturer

Right, but what will those imports look like if they have to conform to American CAFE standards of 39 mpg? The American market is too big for them to ignore. This is likely because many of those models are assembled here and could be legally forced to comply. Don’t put anything past the liberals in Congress.


68 posted on 05/23/2009 2:49:11 PM PDT by T.L.Sink
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To: Zakeet

I’m laughing so hard I can hardly type! I’m going to move on fast because if I look at it too long I’ll start crying!


69 posted on 05/23/2009 2:54:35 PM PDT by T.L.Sink
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To: org.whodat

The puts the torque in the area of a 6 good cylinder and the horsepower in the area of a good 4 cylinder.

It’s speed and performance really isn’t much of an issue. I remember early 4 cylinders had so little torque that you could almost hold them in place if the person didn’t gun the engine.

My parents had a Datsun way back when that they’d have to gun it just to get over the curb into the driveway.


70 posted on 05/23/2009 2:54:54 PM PDT by Bogey78O (Don't call them jihadis. Call them irhabis. Tick them off, don't entertain their delusion.)
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To: T.L.Sink

Another question is what about Ford.

Their stock has surged since they didnt take the bailout and they are doing well right now

The question is what will the government do to force Ford to produce the same junk GM and Chrysler will be forced to produce.

Ford’s success in not taking the bailout makes one wonder about what would have happened to GM and Chrysler if they had gotten no bailout. Would they have found funding elsewhere?


71 posted on 05/23/2009 2:55:10 PM PDT by Venturer
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To: Nathan Zachary

If you were to buy it in 2020, it would be a LOT cheaper.


72 posted on 05/23/2009 2:55:50 PM PDT by Right Wing Assault ( Obama, you're off the island!)
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To: Nathan Zachary

The European version of the Volt is the Ampera. IIRC there is no American version of the spark.


73 posted on 05/23/2009 2:56:10 PM PDT by Bogey78O (Don't call them jihadis. Call them irhabis. Tick them off, don't entertain their delusion.)
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To: Venturer
"The question is what will the government do to force Ford to produce the same junk GM and Chrysler will be forced to produce."

Good question. But I fear the answer is kill foreign competion and allow Ford to up it's sticker prices to keep in line with Government Motors.

74 posted on 05/23/2009 2:58:28 PM PDT by Nathan Zachary
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To: Nathan Zachary

I don’t care about saving the environment. I want a car that is designed not to depend on a specific fuel. The Volt is the way to go on a hybrid. The Lightning and the Tesla are great cars, but they’re too expensive and impractical at this point for most people.


75 posted on 05/23/2009 2:59:01 PM PDT by Bogey78O (Don't call them jihadis. Call them irhabis. Tick them off, don't entertain their delusion.)
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To: DoughtyOne

What impressed me is that the writer is a Brit and is much more used to seeing and driving this sort of crap than we Americans. And when a EURO says it’s dangerous, uncomfortable junk - believe it!


76 posted on 05/23/2009 3:00:34 PM PDT by T.L.Sink
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To: Bogey78O
"I don’t care about saving the environment. I want a car that is designed not to depend on a specific fuel."

Depends on Gasoline, doesn't it. And it SUCKS. I'd rather drive a 6.1 hemi V8 that has had it's compression upped to about 17:1 and burns cheap ethanol $1.04 a gallon (wholesale) and puts out 600hp of raw wheel smoking horsepower. (and is environmentally friendly to keep the geeks off my back)

77 posted on 05/23/2009 3:04:14 PM PDT by Nathan Zachary
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To: T.L.Sink

Folks here need to realize the article was written by Jeremy Clarkson (one of the last sane minds in the UK - by way of sheer insanity!?). If you don’t know what that means, you need to do some research (and watch a couple of dozen episodes of Top Gear). Hint: most people who know his work don’t need to see “/sarc” “tags” or other such stupidity to understand what he’s on about.


78 posted on 05/23/2009 3:04:48 PM PDT by Moltke
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To: Venturer

No, not if they maintained their current cost structure with the union wages and benefits. Now, if they had just gone Chapter 11 from the start, and with no government involvement—that would have been another story. I believe you would have seen massive private capital put up to restart the company quickly.


79 posted on 05/23/2009 3:08:25 PM PDT by mtrott
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To: mtrott

I will never EVER, buy a car from Government Motors, and support that commie union. NEVER.

You are absolutely right. Had GM gone Chapter 11 and dismissed that anchor, then it would be a different story.


80 posted on 05/23/2009 3:11:34 PM PDT by Nathan Zachary
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