Honda Insight: Sayonara.(Brief Article)

Consider it an experiment in teaching old dogs new tricks. Take a pack of lead-footed journalists, trained to eke maximum performance (or at least maximum fun) out of German steel and American muscle, and see how well they do over the course of a year with the 21st century technology of a Honda Insight.

With the year now over, we're mildly surprised that the novelty of miles per gallon over miles per hour wasn't lost on us. In fact, we took it as a challenge, amused in seeing the digital mpg gauge swell every time we eased off the throttle. After logging 14,963 miles, our little green Insight returned an average of 52.61 mpg.

Okay, so we didn't ease off that much, considering some of our more conscientious readers manage 10 miles more per gallon with their own Insights (Insight has an EPA combined average of 64 mpg). Still, topping the 50-mpg mark, while driving as normally as we know how, feels pretty satisfying.

But there's more to driving than fuel efficiency, even in a car as ``green'' as our Insight. We look at durability, reliability and performance-real-world stuff, all-with every long-termer, no matter how much ``space-age'' technology is involved.

We expected the Insight's interior, with seats that resemble nylon mesh-covered lawn chairs more than Recaros (and feel that way too), to take a beating. (The car's high-mpg purpose requires their lightweight construction.) But after a year, they actually fared better than many other cars' seats in terms of wear and tear. Same goes for the rest of the interior. The simple dash layout and hardy plastic materials made for an easily maintainable car-on the inside. Outside, the plastic panels (front and rear fascias, front fenders, door sills, rear fender skirts) seemed to thwart highway flotsam with little ill effect, but the aluminum bits-particularly the rear lower bumper piece-succumbed quickly to the dings and bangs of daily use. When one editor mistook a bumper pole for a parking spot, the pole won (blame it on poor rearward visibility). Seven days and ...