GO
GoAutoLogo
MENU

Make / Model Search

New models - Honda - Insight

Sydney show: Honda Insight priced below $30K

Value equation: The Insight is cheaper to buy than a Prius but will cost more to fuel.

Insight to become Australia’s most affordable hybrid with starting price of $29,990

15 Oct 2010

HONDA sent a shiver through the Toyota ranks when it peeled the covers off its new Insight hybrid at Darling Harbour this morning and announced it will go on sale December 6 priced from less than $30,000, making it Australia’s cheapest hybrid car.

There are two petrol-electric five-door Insight models, the VTi at $29,990 – exactly $10,000 less than the starting price for a Prius – and the VTi-L at $33,490.

However, while the Insight undercuts the Prius on price, it cannot match its efficiency, having a combined fuel consumption figure of 4.6L/100km (compared with 3.9L/100km for Prius) and CO2 emissions of 109g/km (versus 89g/km for Prius).

15 center imageLeft: Honda U3-X. Below: Eli Evans' Honda Civic Type R rally car.

Honda’s latest hybrid model employs a smaller, lighter and more powerful version of the Civic Hybrid’s electric motor-assisted 1.3-litre four-cylinder powertrain, but is encased in a lighter and more slippery body that has an aerodynamic drag co-efficient of 0.28Cd.

The new-generation Honda Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) hybrid system incorporates a 10kW electric motor and a compact ‘Intelligent Power Unit’ that harnesses energy via regenerative braking.

The system can run on electric-only power in certain low-speed driving conditions, while the engine includes cylinder deactivation during deceleration and a stop-start feature at idle.

The Insight’s nickel-metal hydride battery pack is 31 per cent smaller and 35 per cent lighter than the Civic Hybrid’s.

Attention to detail in the packaging department has seen the compact battery and IPU located underneath the floor at the rear of the vehicle, allowing for a 60/40 split-fold rear seat.

Honda claims the 40-litre fuel tank can deliver a driving range of around 650km.

A comprehensive on-board computer scores how economical the driver has been driving, among other functions.

Honda kept the hybrid theme going in Sydney this morning by also showing the CR-Z coupe, which is due on sale here mid-2011.

Though it has been previewed before, Honda spiced up its new hybrid coupe offering by displaying a modified version by its Japanese tuning house, Mugen, with wings, bigger wheels and carbon-fibre interior highlights.

Meanwhile, personal mobility is back on the map – despite the Segway’s lack of traction – with Honda demonstrating its new U3-X mobility concept.

Looking like a boom box from the 1980s – only more rounded – and weighing just 10kg, the U3-X has fold-out pegs and seat, taking on the appearance of a futuristic unicycle.

Powered by a lithium-ion battery pack that provides an hour of charge, the user sits on the device and simply leans in the direction of intended travel. Keeping the U3-X upright is an inclinometer refined during Honda’s ASIMO robot development and a wheel structure that enables movement in all directions, including forward, backward, side-to-side and diagonally.

Honda’s entrant in the Australian Rally Championship, a Civic Type R driven by Eli Evans and Glen Weston, was also on display at Darling Harbour, fresh from its podium finish at the International Rally in Queensland.

As part of Honda’s new ‘What if, What’s next?’ brand campaign, the company also displayed a ‘Dream Wall’, which uses high-speed object recognition and software to detect faces and objects, determining gender, age and emotion.

Motor show patrons are greeted by a hummingbird, which detects their position and encourages them to smile before leading them through the experience of generating their own Honda dream on a wall of plasma screens.

2010 Honda Insight pricing:
VTi $29,990
VTi-L $33,490

Read more

1st of January 1970

GoAuto can help you buy a new Insight

Customer Terms and Conditions – New Car Lead enquires

Agreement

This is an agreement between GoAutoMedia Pty Limited ACN 094 732 457 of PO Box 18, Beach Road, Sandringham, VIC, 3191 (“we/us”), the owner and operator of the GoAuto.com.au website (“the website”) and the person wanting GoAuto.com.au to provide them with a lead for the purchase of a new car (“you”).

By completing a New Car Lead Enquiry, you agree to the terms and conditions and disclaimers and acknowledge the policies set out below.

Terms and Conditions

  • In order for us to effect a lead you must you must complete a New Car Lead Enquiry (“Enquiry”).
  • We will call you as soon as possible after you complete the Enquiry and certainly no later than the next business day. When we call, we will discuss with you your new car requirements.
  • You consent to our passing on the Enquiry and your requirements to an appropriate authorised motor car dealer as a lead.
  • We will contact you again in approximately eight days following your initial enquiry to check on the progress of the Enquiry.
  • While we will provide the dealer with the Enquiry and details of your new car requirements, we take no responsibility for what happens after passing on that material as a lead.
  • You acknowledge that we are a new car information service providing new car editorial information, pictures and prices to our customers as a guide only. Any new car prices published on the website are the manufacturers’ recommended retail prices and do not include delivery charges and on-road costs. Any authorized motor car dealer to which we pass on your Enquiry as a lead will provide you with full details of the price at which the vehicle will be sold to you.
  • You acknowledge that we do not sell motor vehicles. Any sale of a new car to you by a dealer after we have passed on your Enquiry to that dealer as a lead, is a sale by that dealer not by us.

Privacy Policy– New Car Lead Enquires

  • We take privacy very seriously. We understand that you will only complete an Enquiry if you can trust us to protect your personal information and use it appropriately. Our policy is to ensure that the personal information collected when you make an Enquiry is only used for the purposes of connecting you with an authorised motor car dealer.
  • We do not on-sell information collected from you or any other customer.
  • From time to time, we may email you with information or promotions that may be relevant for car buyers. You will continue to receive communications from us unless you tell us that you do not want to receive any advertising or promotional information in the future by unsubscribing from these communications.
close
* Denotes required field
** Australian inquiries only

Click to share

Click below to follow us on
Facebook  Twitter  Instagram

Honda models

Catch up on all of the latest industry news with this week's edition of GoAutoNews
Click here