Every Monday we’re serving you up a delicious slice of pure postulation. That’s right, once a week we’re using our expertise and passion for the subject to predict what motors are destined for classic car stardom. This week, Parkers finance editor and former Classic Car Weekly news editor, Murray Scullion proposes the Monday Modern Classic: the Honda Insight
If you’re reading this, you’re probably a self-confessed car enthusiast. Maybe you’re even an anorak. Maybe, just maybe, you’re a petrolhead, consumed by all things that suck, squeeze, bang, and blow. And we bet a majority of readers will shun at the idea of a hybrid being considered a future classic. But whether you want to believe it or not, the innovative, aerodynamic, and ever-so green Honda Insight is well on its way to becoming a desirable, maybe even lustworthy, bonafine classic.
Honda Insight: History
Back in 1997, a car called the Honda J-VX was unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show. It was designed as a showcase for Honda’s Integrated Motor Assist technology, albeit in an oddly angular three-door coupe. This spawned a second concept car, called the VV, which in turn, became the fully production ready Honda Insight.
When Honda’s spacecraft-like Insight was released in the UK in 1999 it cost £15,490 - or just a smidge over £29,000 in today’s money. Honda knew it wouldn’t shift boatloads of its tiny little hybrid, powered by a 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol engine and inline brushless electric motor. Like the concept cars that preceded it, the Insight was a showcase of Honda’s technology, albeit this time in a real world application.
The 1.0-litre engine makes 68bhp, while that Integrated Motor Assist hybrid tech adds around another 8bhp. But what makes it really novel is that this tech acts as a generator to top up the battery when braking. The Mk1 was sold in the UK from 1991-2006, before being replaced with the blander-than-an-egg-and-cress-sandwich Mk2.
Honda Insight: rarity
During the 1999-2006 production run, Honda sold 17,020 Insights - globally. Only around 250 made it to UK shores. This is where things get interesting. It’s pretty hard to determine precisely how many are left in the UK, but according to howmanyleft, it looks like the vast majority have survived.
In this column, we usually talk about a car’s rarity, and how over the years it increasingly becomes rarer. Whether it be lack of love, or an ability to rust, modern classic numbers tend to go down before they go up. It doesn’t look like this for the Insight. This is probably due to a few factors - generally the Insight has proven reliable, and from the start they had an air of enthusiast-car about them.
Why should you care?
Just look at the little eco warrior. It’s a bold-looking car, especially from the rear thanks to its teardrop profile, while from the side, your inner child can’t help but be impressed with the spats over the rear wheels. The front is a bit mundane, but maybe Honda didn’t want to come across as too zany. After all, the most well-known Insight colour is Citrus Yellow, which is in fact lime green.
Mint Insights will set you back around £6,000. Ropier ones are more like £2500-£5000. Not a huge price for such a rare and left-field car.
And here’s the kicker - the Insight is actually good to drive. Obviously, it’s not fast like a modern hatch, or communicative like a 1960s sports car with unassisted steering. But the Insight is a happy little thing to drive. It does have a manual gearbox after all, and the 1.0-litre three-cylinder VTEC engine does zing along nicely.
Switching to the prefrontal cortex (the rational side of your brain), thanks to a drag coefficient of 0.25 and pumped up tyres, the Honda will do around 70mpg at 70mph. Plus it’s £0 to tax it for the year if you plump for a car registered after 1 March 2001.
If it’s all getting too rational for you, and you love a classic with ‘character’, then the Insight has you covered too. Thanks to little engine noise and tall tyres, road noise is roaring, and its lack of weight also means it really thumps into bumps. Like many good classic cars, it’s also hugely impractical - there are only two seats in its aluminium body.
The CCfS Classic Car Prediction
As with many niche classic cars, the Insight has a loyal followership. Just look at www.insightcentral.net. Owners are modifying them in all sorts of interesting ways, including plumbing in new replacement battery packs with plug-in charging capabilities.
So for the right set of people, the Insight is already a classic car.
But how about the wider classic community? We reckon it will take them another five-years to truly appreciate the Insight for what it is. So don’t expect to turn up in your late model Mk1 and waltz straight into a classic car show just yet. Saying that, there are numerous owners’ clubs on Facebook. Most 1990s-themed events will just about let an Insight in. And Japanese-specific events, like Simply Japanese at Beaulieu, will also extend a warm welcome.
