Honda Insight

Futuristic two-seater was the first hybrid car on sale in the UK

- Matt Robinson

What we said then

ISSUE 575 NOVEMBER 1999

"Honda's Insight brings a glimpse of the future to today's showrooms. It should prove encouraging for buyers, because this car tells us we needn't drive dull machinery to do our bit for the future. Perky to drive, easy to live with, interesting-looking and practical to boot, it's a step in the right direction."

IT'S easy to think of hybrid cars as a relatively recent thing. But while their widespread adoption might have only happened in the past few years, the oldest mainstream production hybrids are now a quarter of a century old.

Distinctive - Everything about the Mk1 Insight was chasing maximum fuel efficiency, from the Honda's slippery shape to the spats that covered the rear wheels

At the forefront of this push were the original versions of the Toyota Prius and the star of this feature, the Honda Insight. The much more radical of the two, it wears its eco credentials on its sleeves. Every part of it seems designed to eke out the best economy possible; the Insight is a far more 'pure' take on hybrid driving than the average heavy PHEV SUV rolling on huge wheels.

Here, there are 14-inch wheels shod in super-skinny 165-section low rolling-resistance tyres, and the rears are partly hidden under wheel spats and sit 110mm further inboard than the fronts, to lower drag. The spats aren't a token afterthought, either, because the whole body was designed to be as slippery as possible, with a teardrop shape giving a drag coefficient of just 0.25Cd while resulting in a car that looks like a retro-futuristic spaceship.

The main structure, body panels, wheels and a lot of the suspension components are made from aluminium. There's even magnesium used in the engine to trim the fat, and there are no rear seats. This results in a car weighing 835kg.