I almost pissed myself laughing.

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- It's not as refined as the Prius (which he hates as well);

- It's not so much a Green machine as a Smug person's status toy;

- Like the Prius, the production of its powertrains(s) borders on Allante-esque absurdity;

- Diesels are just as if not more fuel efficient, and for the Insight's money, you can buy one (in the UK.);

- CVTs suck 90% of the time.

I agree with all of this, as well as perhaps his best point: the money Honda will make selling these to suckers should go towards more rigorous development of vehicles that use something other than internal combustion of fossil fuels, if that's possible.

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"the first of the new cars with their new power systems must be better than the last of the old ones. Or no one will buy them. That's a tall order...That's exactly what Honda has done with its other eco-car, the Clarity. Instead of using a petrol engine to charge up the electric motor's batteries, as happens on the Insight, the Clarity uses hydrogen: the most abundant gas in the universe.

The only waste product is water. The car feels like a car. And, best of all, the power it produces is so enormous, it can be used by day to get you to 120mph and by night to run all the electrical appliances in your house. This is not science fiction. There is a fleet of Claritys running around California right now."

So there you have it. Nickel batteries and lithium-ion = teh sux

H2O - way to go

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I've read the following put forth several different ways, but like this one best:

The nickel for the battery has to come from somewhere. Canada, usually. It has to be shipped to Japan, not on a sailing boat, I presume. And then it must be converted, not in a tree house, into a battery, and then that battery must be transported, not on an ox cart, to the Insight production plant in Suzuka. And then the finished car has to be shipped, not by Thor Heyerdahl, to Britain, where it can be transported, not by wind, to the home of a man with a beard who thinks he's doing the world a favour.

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Although I think I'd tend to agree with him in principle, if not in degree. On balance I suspect the Insight is harmless.

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"...hybrid cars are designed solely to milk the smug and stʁolling playeʁ."

There, fixed it for you.

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