Hi TigerHonikar:

___Yes, the factory sound system is pretty plain.

___Insightcentral and or the Yahoo Honda-Hybrid group should have much of what you are looking for.

___No, it won’t really hide the road noise but the Insight wasn’t designed to be as quiet as a Lexus LS 430 either. What the Insight was designed for was to achieve the highest FE of any mass-produced automobile on the planet. The diesel guys will debate this but I do not see any VW Lupo owners with > 90 lmpg’s after a few tens of thousands of miles in my reads yet? Because of its excellent real world FE capability, you have to live with the design sacrifices and trade-off’s.

___Before you get your heart set on an Insight, go drive one first. They are relatively quick, handle ok over most roadways, and are truly a blast to drive. They are not however a luxury automobile. Some of the questions you have asked can only be answered by you after you have had 15 minutes behind the wheel of one. How about contacting JeffKinTN and driving out his way for a behind the wheel - hands on experience if he is willing to let you mess up his current segment FE for a 15 minute test ride/drive

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net