Rich Rambles:

                LOL, it seems like my rants are working.  http://www.richrambles.com/?p=9   I know, specious logic and all that, but still, a bit funny. 

                  $20K buys a 50 MPG hatchback.  Wow. 

                  The new Honda Insight may not have the most original look (Looking much like a Prius or the Chevy Volt), but it does have something anyone shopping for a new car will like.  A low price tag.  Once again, I wish this was a test drive review, but hopefully one of those will be forthcoming. 

                   A friend of mine was asking me for advice on what models they should look at when they go car shopping.  They gave me a price range, and a few parameters, so I started looking for them.  I was surprised at the Insight.  $19,780 for the base model, which was very nicely equipped; I didn’t add a single item from any of the options for a vehicle that’s EPA 40 City, 43 Highway, 41 Combined on the new EPA test cycles.  Real users are reporting the gambit, but high enders have been in the 50’s, including a “high score” that I’ve seen of 57.3 MPG.  On a first tank, that’s one heck of a number.  Combined with a very low price tag, and a heavy advertising route, I can see the new Insight being a hit.  I’ve already seen two (2!) here on the roads of the Motor City. 

                    The thing that continues to floor me is the price.  Under $20K.  This makes it the most reasonably priced hybrid on the market, and even if it can’t deliver the 100+MPG’s it’s ancestor can, it’s still got a lot going for it.  Against a similarly equipped Prius, there’s a more then six (6) thousand dollar difference in the Insights favor, almost regardless if you’re comparing just base model to base model or loaded with voice navi to loaded with voice navi.  This is actually greater then the difference between most hybrid to non-hybrid counterparts (Ex. Ford Escape Hybrid is $4K more then a standard Ford Escape)  With gas prices stable at $2 a gallon, if you have an overperforming Insight and a just at EPA Prius, you’ll always be ahead with the Insight.  That’s hardly the fairest comparison, but still, it’s there. 

                  Now, what’s bad about the Insight?  Well, from reports it doesn’t seem all that peppy.  However, it’s also IMA – Integrated Motor Assist, which means it’s the type of hybrid that is a gasoline car with a electric help.  This means it’s not particularly well suited for city driving, while the ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) will cut off during a stop, you get no electric drive at low speeds.  However, you do get far better highway performance with it, as when you need to accelerate at highway speeds without taxing the engine too heavily, as it instead uses the electric motor to assist, as well as at other times as well.  Don’t think of it as being poorly suited for City as much as being well suited to Highway/higher speed/cruising speeds style driving. 

             I’m looking forward to test driving one.  Hopefully it won’t be that long.

                  EDIT:  I’ve since tested the Ford Fusion Hybrid:  Rich Test: Ford Fusion Hybrid Days 1 and 2 – http://tinyurl.com/yzo9hl2  Rich Test: Ford Fusion Hybrid Long Drive – http://tinyurl.com/yzzoga5  Rich Test: Ford Fusion Hybrid The Loop – http://tinyurl.com/yzot7qj

                  Well, it seems Ford stepped up to my open letter ( http://www.richrambles.com/?p=8 ) and is actually producing the Ford Fusion Hybrid.  As much as I’d love this post to be about my test drive of the vehicle, I’m sad to say that isn’t so. 

                   However, I did talk to an owner this week.  They really like the hybrid system, and are getting 37 MPG in their real world driving, and it’s their first hybrid.  They’ve been able to get up to 35 MPH in EV mode, and they’re getting better all the time.  Sounds great, I eagerly look forward to a test drive of one. 

                  In addition, a Ford team working for charity managed to get a 1000+ tank out of one, though using techniques no real driver would use I don’t think, but that they managed to do so is a testament to the hybrid technology.  It’s a real feather in ones cap to have a vehicle that can go month or months between fillups.   

                   Now the bad news.  Talking with engineers and looking over the specs, they can’t help but note that the phenomenal MPG the FFH (Ford Fusion Hybrid) achieves is by deep cycling the battery often, and I can’t see any other way as well.  As any electronics and battery expert will tell you, deep cycling the battery leads to one inevitable result; a dead battery.  Part of the reason why the first two years of the FEH (Ford Escape Hybrid) have such ICE (Internal Combustion Engine – Gasoline) heavy functions as opposed to such heavy EV (Electric Vehicle – Battery) functions over other HSD (Electric vehicles with gasoline assist type hybrids) is because Ford wanted the battery to outlive the useful life of the frame of the vehicle, that is last more then 15 years without needing replacement.  This ranged from building the best battery they can to including several small programming notes to wear out the battery slower then other similar vehicles, like Toyota’s hybrids.  While the 2009 features the “loosest” programming yet, it still doesn’t work the battery too hard.  However, if the FFH (Ford Fusion Hybrid) is deep cycling the battery, and doing it often part of me can’t help but worry that the useful life of the battery is far less then it is in every other hybrid on the road, which means that FFH (Ford Fusion Hybrid) owners may be the first owners to worry about replacing their batteries later in the vehicles life. 

                 While the persistant myth about why you shouldn’t by a hybrid is their costly batteries, the reality is that while the batteries are costly, they are also essentially never replaced.  During the first few years, when a bad battery or hybrid is likely to go bad, you’re protected by the hybrid warranty that you get when you automatically buy a hybrid.  Later in a vehicles life, it’s only at the end stages that anyone has to worry about the battery.  A handful of original Insight owners and a freak generation 1 Prius owner or two are the only only people who had to really replace their battery, and that was mostly because it was early generation technology that was programmed to, stay with me here, deep cycle the battery over time.  Ugh.