Toyota Yaris...... or a Honda Insight

[Yariswhite09]

Hi everyone

Its been almost a year since I have logged on to this site but mainly because our Yaris has been through hell

Funny, about 2 months after owning the car, I walk outside at 9:00 AM and....... no Yaris? WTF?

Turns out the thieves managed to get in the car because I left the driver side window down 50%..... and they still got in even though my Yaris has the panic feature......

So it was like candy from a baby to steal it......... and the police found the car in an alley with 14K miles 4 months later........ only 2K that I accounted for. Looked a bit beat but the theives seemed to use it as a taxi cab :barf:

My insurance covered the car and I decided to sell it and got 12K for it. Luckily the buyer wasn't smart enough to ask for a carfax... i still miss it

I got money to buy a new one........

My mom got a new 2010 Honda Insight... and I think its an amazing vehicle. shes gotten 80 MPG going 55 MPH on the freeway :biggrin:

If I do, I will buy the Insight EX w/navi. Should I get that or another Yaris?

[Astroman]

Yes, get another yaris! :biggrin: Only 1 battery to replace, less to go wrong, and it's a toyota. My gf's yaris is a manual and without even trying on the highway we can get 44 mpg out of it.

[SAV912]

80 MPG is less likely than the next coming of Christ offering me free range to have my way with Keira Knightley guilt-free.

I would side with the Yaris here. Half the price, similar fuel efficiency if you don't drive like a tool, and much less complexity. But then again, if you've already had a Yaris, maybe you can try something else.

-SAV :drinking:

[detroiter]

Buy a Hyundai Genisis Coupe 2.0 turbo

[Astroman]

Booo! That wasn't even a choice. In that case I'll take the batmobile :rolleyes:

[BailOut]

80 MPG is less likely than the next coming of Christ offering me free range to have my way with Keira Knightley guilt-free.
I can pull 55 MPG on the highway in my Yaris, and the Prius (which is much heavier than the Insight) can do 62 on 10 year old technology, so it's far from impossible for the Insight to get 80 in the right conditions.

[Stove]

You can't go wrong with either choice. If the cost difference isn't an issue, go with which ever fits you needs the best.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Insight is capable of some great gas mileage. I had an '87 CR-X HF that would get 50+ MPG on road trips if I drove it at 55MPH, and it was the old carbureted CVCC engine.

[cali yaris]

Insight, it's a better car. Unless you like to modify for performance, then the Yaris is the more flexible vehicle.

[cali yaris]

My mom got a new 2010 Honda Insight... and I think its an amazing vehicle. shes gotten 80 MPG going 55 MPH on the freeway

80 MPG is less likely than the next coming of Christ offering me free range to have my way with Keira Knightley guilt-free.

I like how you basically call the OP a liar... then give him advice. :laugh:

[ezhacker1]

Do remember that there is a diminishing rate of return, you dont necessarily save that much money getting 80mpg compared to 50mpg. When considering the car prices.

But my best friend has an the newest Insight, its not bad looking, i drove it once. Engine off at stops is cool feature. But then again i just dont like that window strip below the rear hatch window.

[MUSKOKA800]

Crunch the numbers first then decide if the initial outlay for the Insight is worthwhile.

My wife's buddy, a conservationist, bought an early Insight but then oggled my Yaris sedan when they were side by side at their cottage. She wished she'd have shopped the field first before jumping toward the hybrid.

I looked at Prius when shopping and even the Toyota salesman stated that I'd never recover the CA$10,000.00 sticker increase of the Prius. Yes, it's a bigger vehicle but purely from a dollar standpoint it's not economically advanageous over the Yaris' low sticker price and excellent fuel mileage.

Good Luck with whatever is your decision.

[SAV912]

I like how you basically call the OP a liar... then give him advice. :laugh:

I didn't call him a liar. I just said it was highly unlikely. You're talking about the planets being nearly perfectly aligned to essentially DOUBLE the EPA ratings of 40/43 that the Insight earns. I'm sorry, but the fact of the matter is that it's just not likely to go from 40 MPG to 80 MPG just by holding a steady 55 MPH cruise. Hell, 55 MPH probably isn't even the most efficient speed for the Insight.

If it's possible to do 80 MPG on the Insight, fine. But I've got places to be and things to do, so driving patiently and particular enough to achieve 80 MPG is for someone else.

-SAV :drinking:

[KrazyDawg]

I didn't call him a liar. I just said it was highly unlikely. You're talking about the planets being nearly perfectly aligned to essentially DOUBLE the EPA ratings of 40/43 that the Insight earns. I'm sorry, but the fact of the matter is that it's just not likely to go from 40 MPG to 80 MPG just by holding a steady 55 MPH cruise. Hell, 55 MPH probably isn't even the most efficient speed for the Insight.

If it's possible to do 80 MPG on the Insight, fine. But I've got places to be and things to do, so driving patiently and particular enough to achieve 80 MPG is for someone else.

-SAV :drinking:
I know the first generation Insight can get high MPG. In fact, it's still higher than the third generation Prius. The second gen Prius has a super highway mode that allows it to get 70-80 MPG on the highway. I'm not sure if the second gen Insight has it but you'll probably see some high numbers and advice posted on CleanMPG.

Choosing to drive 55 or 70 is a choice but sometimes driving above the speed limit doesn't always save you time. When you take into account traffic, stop signs, and red lights, any time saved is lost. I haven't found a significant difference between doing 80 and 65-70 due to this.

[Thai_Dang]

I think SAV is right, if you look at the fuelly charts, the average peak lies at 46 mpg, with extremes of 36 and 60, respectively for a survey of 115 Honda Insights. From that large sample, 80 mpg falls too far beyond the standard deviation to be credible, possible, but not likely to be achieved by him. There are probably some hypermilers there, hence the 60 mpg person. But for the realistically driving (not 100% highway at 55 mph) he'll probably put it through, he would probably get 46 mpg, upwards to 60 (a good 30% increase).

As for which car he should choose, the Insight doesn't seem much more expensive than the Yaris according to new dealership msrp search using yahoo auto.

Insight vs. Yaris: $20,550 vs. $14,548, ~$6,000 difference

I'd say $6,000 gets you a better car, honestly I expected the price premium to be higher to jump from base model petrol to cool hybrid, but definitely he wouldn't recoupe the premium on gas savings,but he'll just get a better car. So my vote is for Insight!

Insight: 46 mpg, cost/mile= 7 cents, extremes 60 mpg, cost/mile= 5 cents
Yaris: 38 mpg, cost/mile= 8 cents, extremes 46 mpg, cost/mile= 7 cents
There's a 1 cent difference/gallon, which means he'd make up the $6,000 difference in price in 600,000 miles or 40 years, with the extreme cost difference would take him 300k, or 20 years.

Fuelly:
http://www.fuelly.com/car/honda/insight
http://www.fuelly.com/car/toyota/yaris

I didn't call him a liar. I just said it was highly unlikely. You're talking about the planets being nearly perfectly aligned to essentially DOUBLE the EPA ratings of 40/43 that the Insight earns. I'm sorry, but the fact of the matter is that it's just not likely to go from 40 MPG to 80 MPG just by holding a steady 55 MPH cruise. Hell, 55 MPH probably isn't even the most efficient speed for the Insight.

If it's possible to do 80 MPG on the Insight, fine. But I've got places to be and things to do, so driving patiently and particular enough to achieve 80 MPG is for someone else.

-SAV :drinking:

[Stove]

Most car purchase decisions aren't made on how one model will pay off on MPG compared to another. If that was the case, the Yaris would be a top selling car and it isn't. People buy specific cars for a lot of different reasons.

Best selling vehicle for 2010 in the US to date:
Ford F150

The best selling vehicle costs between $22k and $40K and gets 14/19 MPG so the cost per mile doesn't appear to be relevent to the purchase of a new car to most people.

[Kal-El]

A lot of great comments so far.

I would have to advise against the Inside though. There's a reason the Prius sells almost 5 times as much. The Prius also outsells every other hybrid on the market combined.

I understand the OP is comparing the Yaris and Insight but those are two totally different markets. Between those two, Yaris FTW.

If the OP wants to go the hybrid route then seriously consider the Prius. The base model only costs $1K more and gets you a much better car. 10 more MPG on average, better looking, more luxurious interior, ect.

The Insight is already being considered a failure. Even the old 2nd gen Prius is better. And get this, even the more expensive Fusion hybrid is outselling the Insight and it's not even a dedicated hybrid model which costs far more to develop.

Just my opinion. :smile:

[sleey0]

The Insight's cabin clusters look like a dang Boeing 757.

Do they make you read an operation manual and then give a test at the dealer before buying the car?

[tomato]

You can't go wrong with either choice. If the cost difference isn't an issue, go with which ever fits you needs the best.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Insight is capable of some great gas mileage. I had an '87 CR-X HF that would get 50+ MPG on road trips if I drove it at 55MPH, and it was the old carbureted CVCC engine.

You had an '87 CRX HF?!!! In my arms!!! :headbang: So did I!!
that car was the :wub: of my life. don't ask me why. Nobody understands why I so loved the damn thing so much I refused to sell it year after year, a but I did love that car, may she rest in peace ****sigh ***

ahem.. back on topic ;) I don't think I ever got much more than 35 MPG on that thing.

[tomato]

and to the OP, 80 MPG seems a bit high :eyebulge: but congrats if she did manage to get close to that :iono:.

[Thai_Dang]

lol i would suggest a Prius too, but he seems to want to choose between a yaris or insight. To me, personally, I would not spend $6k more for a hybrid, but I'm just giving him a kick towards what he wants, an insight! A car purchase shouldn't be too much about logic, it should be about love, want and ultimately, satisfaction. I think a successful purchase has more to do with satisfaction, then if you did the right thing by somebody else's metric.

Its like if he's asking advice to upgrade his car for ricey looks and people start suggesting performance parts because that's what they like (sway bars, CAI, etc.), or if somebody wants advice on choosing a mac, and people suggest a dell, hp, etc. He probably would just go wtf at the suggestions, and go get a mac anyway.

Apparently, Honda has a comparison between the two vehicles: http://automobiles.honda.com/insight-hybrid/insight-comparison.aspx

I have a question though, why does Toyota's US website suck so badly versus almost all other car manufacturers'. Its seriously like traveling through time from 1990 to 2000 when I visit Honda or Ford's or Hyundai's website. I mean they have a **lot of money, it doesn't cost that much to hire a team who can make a much more informative website. It would help them sell more cars too if they gave more sexy photos and hyped up mundane features with marketing voodoo. The features expose for the yaris on toyota's website looks like an pre-flight checklist, while Honda lays out all of the nuances and really draws the reader in, with video demos too!