Electric Vehicle Forums - 2005 Honda Insight CVT Hybrid Review

Hi Lakedude:

___As you have so well described, there really is no case for the CVT version of the Insight. The dealerships in my area used to order CVT’s because they thought that this car would probably sell in greater numbers if equipped with an Automatic vs. a stick similar to an Accord or Civic. Automatics are what people purchase in the Chicago area because they cannot drive a stick or because of traffic and such make a stick impractical. If it were not for the few dealerships that had stocked Insight’s in the past incorrectly, there would be far fewer CVT’s on the road imho. When I first started my hunt 2 + years ago, I knew of 2 new CVT based Insight’s on dealership lots within the Chicagoland sales area and they had been sitting on those lots for well over a year! You could not find a brand new stick on a lot anywhere in all of Illinois IIRC. This was simply the dealerships ordering incorrectly because of past automatic transmission bias, not knowing the actual differences between the CVT and the 5-speed, and how many had been burned with the Insight in the very recent past. I bet this exact scenario holds true in any number of other large markets even today?

___A bit OT but in the bigger scheme of things, if I was the owner of a Honda dealership today, I would hold as few HCH’s and AH’s in stock as my Honda distributorship agreement would allow. I would not order an Insight at all unless I had cash in hand from a motivated buyer. There is simply too much risk in holding a hybrid on the lot here in the Chicago area. Not to say that there is anything wrong with the HCH or AH but given past hybrid sales history, I would not risk it. I believe most Chicago area Honda dealerships are gun shy given how some had been stuck with Insight’s for literally years before the right buyer would come along and even then they had to move them at a song. I remember reading about a new Insight 5-speed hitting the street for something like $13,500 when gas was just $1.10 - $1.25 just 2 - 3 years ago. I believe it was a NY area Honda dealership? Do you know the hit that Honda dealership must have taken on that one Insight? Imagine 2 + years on the lot carrying $18K at 4 - 6% and then selling it for ~ $13,500 because that was the only offer that came through? Even today, my local Honda dealership (Rosen in Gurnee) has just 3 AH’s and 5 HCH’s on their lot. 3 of those HCH’s are 04’s! Even the Toyota Prius’ (01 - 03’s) languished and could be found for less then invoice when you did see them not so long ago. That was until the 04’s and the large spike in gasoline prices of course. Given the blistering demand from initial launch through today (the improved supply has made them easier to find as of the last 6 + months), I would stock as many as I could possibly purchase from TMC. With that, I would be watching other dealership inventories like a hawk attempting to gauge when the market is about to cool so as to not be hanging on to 10 + Prius II’s at $19 - $23K (dealer price) in my inventory as competition, technology, or even a drastic reduction in fuel prices (I doubt we will see $1.50 per gallon ever again?) makes them obsolete. There is no hint of this yet but it would keep me up at nights thinking about it if I were a large Toyota dealership with a large pipeline of Prius II’s arriving month after month after month. Then again, that same Toyota dealership owner has to consider why he has 35 Tacoma’s, 19 Tundra’s, 24 Highlander’s, 14 4Runner’s, and 3 Sequoia’s sitting out there as well? I guess that beats being a Ford, GM, or DCC dealership with that many more large trucks and SUV’s languishing as the sales of those large vehicles simply vaporize :(

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net