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In this London Times review of the Honda Insight 1.3 IMA SE Hybrid, Jeremy Clarkson manages to be both scathing and hilarious.

...And the sound is worse. The Honda's petrol engine is a much-shaved, built-for-economy, low-friction 1.3 that, at full chat, makes a noise worse than someone else's crying baby on an airliner. It's worse than the sound of your parachute failing to open. Really, to get an idea of how awful it is, you'd have to sit a dog on a ham slicer.

So you're sitting there with the engine screaming its head off, and your ears bleeding, and you're doing only 23mph because that's about the top speed, and you're thinking things can't get any worse, and then they do because you run over a small piece of grit.

Because the Honda has two motors, one that runs on petrol and one that runs on batteries, it is more expensive to make than a car that has one. But since the whole point of this car is that it could be sold for less than Toyota's Smugmobile, the engineers have plainly peeled the suspension components to the bone. The result is a ride that beggars belief.

There's more. Normally, Hondas feel as though they have been screwed together by eye surgeons. This one, however, feels as if it's been made from steel so thin, you could read through it. And the seats, finished in pleblon, are designed specifically, it seems, to ruin your skeleton. This is hairy-shirted eco-ism at its very worst...

There's much, much more, including, "It's the first car I've ever considered crashing into a tree, on purpose, so I didn't have to drive it any more." Whew.

He's much more upbeat about the hydrogen-fuel-cell-fueled Honda FCX Clarity.

Steve Parker notes in Huffington Post that the administration "just gutted $100 million worth of federal research into hydrogen fuel cell EV technology for cars and trucks."

 Tags  alternative energy hybrid tech

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1 Comments

Watch TV said:

This is not something I would expect from a Honda. I love the new Accord, but this is one car I sure will not buy after reading the article above.

Link | May 21, 2009 9:04 AM
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