Automatic Sport Cars

The 2011 Honda Insight gains a new entry-level model and expands standard features elsewhere to mark its second season as Honda’s answer to the Toyota Prius. Insight hasn’t been the sales or critical success Honda had hoped for when it debuted for model-year 2010 promoted by the automaker as the first “affordable hybrid.” This aerodynamic four-door hatchback rates a laudable 40/43 mpg city/highway, but its five-passenger cabin is cramped and noisy, and overall performance is tepid, even by hybrid compact-car standards. Moreover, Toyota stole much of the value impact Honda had banked on with the 2010 Insight’s $20,510 starting price by pricing its larger, faster, more fuel-efficient Prius at $22,750. Honda hopes to retake some value ground by adding the 2011 Insight base model at $18,950 while at the same time filtering such essentials as cruise control and a USB iPod interface from the top-line Insight EX model down to the less-expensive midlevel LX version.
 INTERIOR
The new Insight base model includes remote entry and has exclusive content compared to the other models consisting of unique seating fabric and a basic audio system with CD player and two speakers. The Insight LX gains features for 2011, adding cruise control, a USB audio interface, center armrest storage console and floor mats. The Insight EX adds to the LX features with steering wheel-mounted audio controls (previously exclusive to the Insight EX when equipped with navigation).

The Insight LX adds or replaces to the Insight with cruise control (new to LX), a four-speaker audio system, USB audio interface (new to LX), armrest console (new to LX), floor mats (new to LX) and a security system.

The Insight EX adds or replaces to the Insight LX features with alloy wheels; steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters; an audio system with six speakers; heated side mirrors with integrated turn signals; and much more. Exclusively available on the Insight EX, the Honda Satellite-Linked Navigation System3 (6.5-inch screen) with voice recognition provides routing and guidance to individual addresses and more than 7 million points of interest within the continental United States. Models equipped with the navigation system also include Bluetooth® HandsFreeLink® for hands-free operation of compatible mobile telephones, along with related steering wheel-mounted controls for voice activation of the navigation and hands-free telephone systems.
EXTERIOR
 The 2011 Honda Insight styling is unchanged. Its low nose, swept-back windshield, and long, gently arched roof reduce mileage-robbing wind resistance. They also let onlookers know that Insight is a gas-electric car. That message is important to many hybrid buyers, as evident from the success of the distinctively styled Prius.

The 2011 Toyota Prius is only about 3 inches longer than the Insight, but has enough passenger-compartment volume to be considered a midsize car. The 2011 Insight again falls into the compact class. It has fairly spacious front seating but rear accommodations are squeezed for knee and head room. The seating itself is notably supportive, though. And Insight’s hatchback design gives it fine cargo space: 15.9 cubic feet with the rear seatbacks up, 31.5 with them folded. However, a horizontal rib dividing the hatchlid’s upper and lower glass panels seriously interferes with the driver’s view of traffic behind.

The Insight borrows some chassis engineering from the 2011 Honda Fit, a slightly smaller and less-expensive four-door hatchback with a conventional gas engine. And in a bid to enliven its hybrid lineup, Honda cuts a few inches from the Insight’s overall length and wheelbase to create the 2011 Honda CR-Z, a sportier two-seat hatchback with a slightly more powerful version of the Insight’s hybrid powertrain and the added distinction of the only six-speed manual transmission available in a gas-electric car.  

The 2011 Honda Insight lineup expands to four models, from three. The newcomer is a base version that essentially replicates model-year 2010’s entry-level LX model, but at a price savings of $1,560. The 2011 Insight LX returns as the new midlevel model, while the Insight EX and Insight EX with Navigation again topping-out the roster. Visual distinctions between these models are slight: all 2011 Insights again have 15 inch wheels and identically size tires, though the EX is the only version with alloy wheels; the others have wheel covers. The EX also has exterior mirrors with integrated turn signals.    
 
 ENGINE
The 2011 Honda Insight gets one mechanical change: Honda’s Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) antiskid system is now standard on every model after previously being exclusive to the EX versions. Like other antiskid systems, this one monitors steering angle, speed, turn rate, and other factors to determine any difference between the path the driver intends and the path the car is actually taking. If the car begins to veer off course, the system activates individual brakes and modulates engine power in an effort to prevent a sideways slide. It employs some of the same wheel-rotation sensors used by the antilock braking system, which is designed to enhance control in emergency stops.  

Underhood, the 2011 Honda Insight again uses a small, 1.3-liter four-cylinder gas engine boosted by an adjacent electric motor to produce 98 horsepower and 123 pound-feet of torque. It runs primarily on gas and uses the electric motor as an assist to produce more net power than the engine alone can make.

Honda calls the system Integrated Motor Assist (IMA). It self-charges Insight’s nickel metal hydride battery pack; no plug-in is necessary. Under ideal conditions, IMA can save fuel by running the Insight on electric power alone at low speeds for short distances. It can also shut off the engine while the car is stopped, then automatically turn it on again when you touch the accelerator.

By contrast, the gas-electric hybrid systems in the Prius and in some Hyundai models more equitably shares gas and electric propulsion. They can run on battery power for longer periods than the Insight, and under a wider range of conditions. Consequently, they use less gas, but they also are more expensive.

Like its hybrid competition, Insight has front-wheel drive and, like the majority of hybrids, has a continuously variable transmission (CVT). A CVT performs the duties of an automatic transmission but delivers power in a seamless, rheostat-like fashion rather than by stepping up and down through a set of four-to-six gear ratios. CVTs can be more efficient than conventional transmissions, but tend to allow the engine to rev ahead of actual vehicle speed during acceleration. It’s an unorthodox sensation and can result in copious engine roar until the pace of acceleration and rpm equalize. The CVT in the 2011 Insight EX models again is equipped with steering wheel-mounted paddle “shifters” so the driver can trigger manual-type gear changes programmed into the CVT.

On the road, the Insight can feel strained when you want to accelerate rapidly off the line or overtake faster-moving traffic. In ordinary driving conditions, the powertrain acquits itself is well enough and the car is stable on the highway and goes around corners with confidence. On the downside, engine and road noise are prominent and the ride is quite firm. Worst of all, the electric steering system provides little road feel and inconsistent response when you turn the wheel.

Features: The 2011 Honda Insight doesn’t add any new features, though the new entry-level base model has its own unique seating fabric and comes with just two radio speakers instead of the LX’s four and the EX’s six. As per Honda companywide policy, the 2011 Insight offers no options: each model in the lineup escalates in features as you ascend the price ladder. Of note is Honda’s move to liberalize availability of conveniences such as cruise control and USB linking, but it continues to reserve for only the most expensive Insight model an item that can be considered a safety feature. This would be Bluetooth hands-free mobile-phone connectivity, which is again available in the 2011 Insight only on the EX with Navigation.      
SAFETY
Standard safety features on all Insights include dual-stage, multiple-threshold front airbags; front-side airbags with a passenger-side Occupant Position Detection System (OPDS); side-curtain airbag system; anti-lock brakes with electronic brake distribution (EBD); driver's and front-passenger's active head restraints; and a front body designed to mitigate pedestrian injuries. All new Insights also feature Honda's Advanced Compatibility Engineering™ (ACE™) body structure, which provides improved occupant protection and crash compatibility between vehicles of different sizes and ride heights in frontal crashes.

Honda is a leader in developing cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicle technologies, including the original Honda Insight, introduced as America's first mass-produced hybrid car in December 1999. Honda is also a leader in the development of advanced alternatives to gasoline, including the zero-emission, hydrogen-powered FCX Clarity fuel-cell electric car, the world's most-advanced production fuel cell automobile.
reference:www.autospectator.com,iguida.com/