2019 Honda Insight: Solid green wheels with a dash of sport

"Overall, this gas-electric hybrid system works pretty well. Drivers feel a good initial punch from the electric drive system, which is typical of most hybrids. But just like the Honda Clarity that we recently tested, when the engine kicks in, it's with an intrusive and gravelly hum. This characteristic is the car's most glaring fault."

-- Mike Quincy, Consumer Reports

"Honda's two-motor hybrid system effectively uses the engine only to power the electric motor under most circumstances, and clutches in to drive the wheels mechanically under limited circumstances at highway speeds.

Putting the car into Sport mode only changes the engine note filtered in to the cabin, and tips the accelerator in sooner, but a faster car the Sport mode doesn't make.

Econ, by contrast, settled the engine (and its noise) further and tamed how aggressive we could be with our right foot, although it didn't change regenerative braking force."

-- Aaron Cole, Green Car Reports

"My first drive was in an Insight Touring trim level, the fully loaded model. Right away you notice how quiet it is at low speeds. It's still quiet at lower speeds when the gasoline engine kicks in. Its noise cancellation does knock out much of the low-frequency engine sounds, but when you pick up speed and the engine jumps to higher revs, you hear it pretty clearly.

Floor it and the little four is spinning like mad to make more electricity to power the electric motor to make the car go forward. In this state, the car feels like it has a CVT, but of course, it doesn't. Then at steady highway speeds, the gasoline engine connects directly to the drive wheels and the whole powertrain quiets down again.

Compared to a Prius it's a handling dream. It's not like a Civic Type R but it's way better than a standard Prius. At the lunch break, I actually drove a Prius and found that while it still had a somewhat wooden feel behind the wheel it felt very comfortable in a straight line."

-- Mark Vaughn, Autoweek

"Usually, the Insight operates in electric mode, employing electricity stored in the battery pack to provide motivation and using the gas engine to recharge the battery or power the generator for more oomph. It results in leisurely acceleration, but it doesn't feel underpowered. It's meant to emphasize efficiency over sportiness. Put your foot down, however, and a clutch allows the gas engine to connect directly to the wheels and provide actual propulsive force, as well. This enables more rapid acceleration, but at the cost of serious engine noise — that little four-cylinder revs its guts out, and you hear all of its efforts in an unpleasant drone. It all works seamlessly without any input from the driver, leaving you to try and discern what the system is doing by watching the power-flow display on the multimedia screen and listening to the considerable engine note."

-- Aaron Bragman, Cars.com

"Because the gasoline engine isn't connected to the wheels, there's an odd, CVT-like effect to the drive. You press the gas pedal and hear the engine rev, but it's out of sync with the resulting acceleration. The note just sort of climbs and then hangs discordantly. However, the e-motor is way more responsive than a traditional continuously variable transmission could ever hope to be, so you don't feel any lag between your toe on the pedal and what you sense at the seat of your pants.

In other words, around town, the Insight sounds laggy, but feels responsive and torquey like an EV. It's really nice, and also really awkward, but it doesn't take long to get used to this sensation. By the end of my second day of testing, I only noticed the engine sound weirdness under hard acceleration. Like an EV, however, the Insight tends to run out of steam at high speeds, where it can feel a tad underpowered.

Overall, the Insight returns solid performance -- especially at city speeds where the e-motor is in its element. More importantly, it promises fuel economy that's right up there with the best of its class."

-- Antuan Goodwin, Roadshow by CNET

"The 2019 Insight is a joy to drive around town. Because forward momentum primarily comes courtesy of an electric motor, there's a near instantaneous response to any prod of the accelerator at urban speeds that puts more mechanically complex hybrid arrangements — those from Toyota or Hyundai, for instance — to shame. And at those speeds, even under moderate acceleration, the engine doesn't need to rev much to keep up with the power demands. At lower speeds of up to roughly 20 mph, the Insight will go up to a mile without the gasoline engine firing up, according to Honda. Pressing the EV mode button prioritizes engine-off operation momentarily but at the expense of overall mpg, as the engine will have to do more energy generation later.

The Insight is also genial on the highway, provided you stay light on the accelerator; it's at these speeds when the gasoline engine is mechanically clutched to the wheels and the traction motor tags in and out judiciously. While viewing the power-flow display, we saw this mode engage in various steady-speed conditions at about 40 mph and above, to a maximum of 81 mph in ideal conditions. However, the tables turn if you're not maintaining a steady speed, at which point the engine can struggle to respond to nudges (or inclines) and emit a coarse, unpleasant drone. A strong detent about three-fourths of the way through the accelerator pedal's travel aims to keep you out of that particularly raucous region."

-- Bengt Halvorson, Car and Driver