The Battle of the 2010 Hybrids
Toyota recently released their new price for the 2010 Prius.The Insight is much cheaper than the Prius by a few grand. Costing a few grand less earns the Insight the honor and distinction of cheapest hybrid in the U.S.
A great feature on the new Insight is an ECO assist that will help educate the driver to become more efficient.The ECON setting can be switched off so that the insight will produce more HP, or when left on the car will help you drive more efficiently.An electric motor gives the engine a nice boost, this system is called the integrated motor assist or IMA. This system in the next generation hybrids from Honda are greatly improved and result in reduced weight, cost savings, and greater cabin space. The Insight also has an i-VTEC® engine equipped with a CVT (continuously variable transmission). Features included on some Insight models are: alloy wheels, cruise control, 6 speaker audio with USB interface, steering wheel mounted paddle shifters, Stability Assist, and a satellite navigation system with voice recognition. The goal of Honda is to make the Insight the top dog in the hybrid market, and this would entail selling more cars then the ever populat Prius.
Toyota’s answer to the Insight is the Prius with a 160hp 1.8L engine and features three different driving modes. These 3 modes are the Power Mode which increases the performance of the Prius, the ECO mode which makes fuel economy the #1 proirity, and finally a EV mode which stands for Electric Vehicle.Toyota has a new Smart Collision system called the PCS which is available on the new Prius.The Pre-Collision System is similar to the intelligent cruise control found in other cars which will apply brake pressure if your car get too close to the car infront of you. The touch sensor system relocates certain buttons onto the steering wheel to lessen driver distraction.
When it comes to price the Insight is hands down the winner, but the gas mileage rating is another story altogether.Early test put the Insight at a combine fuel economy of 41 miles per gallon, and the Prius is reported to get a 46 combined miles per gallon rating. So, if you commute 20,000 miles per year (and gas costs $2.50 a gallon), owning the Honda would cost $1219 in gas per year and owning a Prius would cost $1086 per year. Rolling around in a Toyota Prius will save over 50 gallons of gas per year as compared to the Honda, but it would take 27 years of driving to recoup the lower cost of the Insight.Yes the Prius gets much better fuel economy, but the low starting price of the Insight more than makes up for that difference!
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 at 4:05 am and is filed under Auto Insurance News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.