The 2019 Honda Insight Touring. |
In 1999, Honda decided to be the first with a hybrid in North America. The first-generation Insight beat the original Toyota Prius to showrooms by seven months. The head start was of little help. In seven years, just as the second-gen Prius was setting sales records, Honda pulled the plug on the Insight. It was funny-looking (even compared to the Prius) and impractical, as it had only two seats.
Honda regrouped and in 2009, came back with an Insight that looked like it was meant to compete head-to-head with the Prius. Seating for five, styling that looked like someone had pretty much put a sheet of tracing paper over a Prius brochure and then made some adjustments to keep the lawyers happy.
It died in five years. It might have looked better than the first and been a couple of thousand dollars less than a Prius, but it wasn't nearly as good as a Prius.
Well, here we are, living in a year ending with a "9", and here comes Honda again---with the third Insight.
And it's just plain tremendous.