Available in the UK since 2000 until 2004 the Insight was more compromised than the Toyota Prius but was a statement of intent from Honda.
 
Being a two seater coupe and being quite expensive the Insight was never going to appear in the top 10 selling lists but as a technical showcase the Insight was a good start. The Insight is a serial hybird powered by one-litre, three-cylinder petrol/electric motor. The major difference between the Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight is the mechanical design. While the Prius has separate petrol and electric motors, the Insight combines the two into one unit that Honda calls an Integrated Motor Assist system. Apart from three large electric cables attached above the clutch, it looks much like any conventional petrol engine and gearbox combination.
The petrol engine has most of the technically advanced features you'd expect from a Honda - four valves per cylinder, variable valve timing and lean burn combustion. The Insight also features a highly efficient catalytic converter to aid emissions even more. The little electric motor doubles as the starter and is neatly sandwiched between the petrol engine and gearbox. Unlike the Prius, whose petrol engine stops when the car is able to run solely on the battery-powered electric motor, the Insight engine runs all the time.
The 44lb battery pack sits where the rear seats would normally be and these packs also take valuable luggage room. The dashboard is a conventional layout but with a few extra gauges for battery charge and fuel economy.
With an emissions rating of 80g of carbon dioxide per kilometre the Insight is certainly more efficient that than the Prius (108g kms) but obviously this is offset by the compromised practicality of the Insight.
Summary
The Insight splits opinion - there's no doubt that it's trendy but it's certainly not very practical and has probably been caught up in technology terms by more recent offerings such as the 2nd generation Toyota Prius.