It was a cloudy day in Japan. The previous two days had brought rain, and I was apprehensive that this day too, like the others, would result in rainfall. The venue was Honda's proving grounds at Tochigi, and spread before me and a group of other motoring journos from India and Poland, was an automotive spread of Honda's best.
So which would it be first? The NSX or that inviting S2000 roadster...or would it be the very exciting Integra Type-R? The four km high-speed, banked test track was an open invitation to some very spirited driving and with rain-clouds looming threateningly over us, a quick decision was needed. My roving eyes settled on the Insight. The Insight? And why on earth did I want to drive this two-seater coupe when the other journos were scrambling for hotter wheels? For a long time it had been my dream to get behind the wheel of an S2000, and as the trip to Japan was planned, I was adrenalised by the thought of piloting Honda's pride and joy, the NSX.
May be it was a need to take a peek into the future, to familiarise myself with the way many people now are, and a majority of them a decade later, would be driving. I just had to pay my respects to a production car that has taken a bold step away from the conventional internal combustion powerplant, and has turned to greener technology.
The Insight waited for me, painted a fresh, lime-green colour that seemed to echo Honda's commitment to ensure a cleaner world. This car is what is called a `hybrid' vehicle, using an ultra-thin electric motor, fed by nickel metal hydride (Ni-MH) batteries , coupled by Honda's Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) system to an aluminium-alloy, in-line 12 valve SOHC 3 cylinder 995 CC ULEV (Ultra Low Emission Vehicle), lean-burn petrol mill to go about its daily run. The hybrid mill produces an output of 73 bhp at 5700 rpm. This is the second automobile of its kind in the world today, after Toyota's Prius, though it adopts a slightly different approach to the same technology concept (see Pitstop).
In the Insight, the primary motive power comes from its VTEC gasoline engine, while no external power supply is needed for recharging. Batteries are recharged by regenerative braking. Specifically, energy from forward momentum is captured during braking. This energy is then used to recharge the batteries.
Looking at the Insight, I wasn't quite sure whether its styling was an attempt at the radical. Somewhere down the line, the car had the character of a Honda automobile, especially around the nose. And then there were these crazy flanks, made to appear prominent and large by the inclusion of covered rear-wheel arches. Was that inspired by the Citroen DS of yore, or General Motors' short-lived electric vehicle, the EV1? And then that curiously stubby, upended boot that tried all it could to grow taller than the roof...the Fiat Siena palls in contrast! This was not a very photogenic car, but curiously likeable.
As I sank into the driver's seat, a smiling and bowing Honda boffin got in beside me. Perhaps he was going to instruct me on the special features of the car, or probably on some new controls that needed familiarisation with. Nothing, just more smiling and waist-upwards bowing every time I looked at him questioningly. This was getting to be embarrassing, so I scanned the controls for telltale clues. But there were very conventional, car-like things - an ignition key, an automatic cogshift, a steering wheel with a sport-mode push-button, a sat nav system. Okay, there was a difference...a button that said `FCD', which looked forbidding, but which I later found out was `Fuel Consumption Display,' a fuel gauge along with a battery meter...nothing too alien here.
So I turned the ignition key, started up a very quiet engine, planted my foot on the large brake pedal, and slipped the gearlever into `D.' What I was surprised by was the fluidity of the car as it eagerly sped off.
Yes, it was too good to be true, but the car demonstrated a similar initial acceleration as our very own City automatic, and felt actually a lot more refined and smooth through the shifts. Encouraged, it was time to hit the sport button, and the car cheered me with a kilometre-gulping gallop. Attaboy!
Now, if you are the kind of person who is used to the screaming energy of a Honda mill hard at work, prepare to find a great difference in the Insight. This is a car that just about emits a whisper, even when it is extremely busy - some may like it, while others may not. As for me, it was simply fascinating - here's an efficient technology alternative that can replicate performance parameters benchmarked by conventional cars like the Accord or the Civic. One does miss the high-revving song of a Honda mill though. So does that make me a petrolhead or an ecologically concerned citizen? I'm confused.
And talking of performance, the Insight was really showing me what it was capable of. After getting off the blocks like a harried hare, it proceeded to cheetah-mode, accelerating until I was sure I'd blow it up. And then, with a flattened accelerator pedal, the speedo swung the arc to rest at its limit; 180 kph. And we were told that in Japan, a speed-limiter came into action at this speed. Fine.
The Insight clung to the curve of the banked track quite reasonably, and but we didn't get enough of left and right-handers to actually get a feel of its handling capabilities. Drawing an imaginary slalom line and throwing the car through it at varying speeds had two results - the car responded very positively to all my inputs, while the Honda technician beside me lost an opportunity to smile and bow at me as I took time to nod a smile across at him.
The car was sprung rather softly though. The ride characteristics were very good, as the Insight went through a patchy stretch of tarmac, though the car demonstrated a tad more roll than what can be expected from a Honda offering. And the Honda engineer was looking rather green around the gills...so I decided to go easy on the gas and think about the car's very futuristic structural engineering over the next four kilometre lap. No doubt he would spend that time thinking about crazy Indian motoring journos.
The Insight is produced at Honda's Takanezawa plant, alongside the NSX and the S2000. This plant works on a comparatively low volume basis, and uses highly-skilled manual labour to a great extent. The body is built of lightweight aluminium on a reinforced frame, and is claimed by the manufacturer to be 47 per cent lighter than a comparable steel body, with superior bending and torsional rigidity. And its highly aerodynamic body has one of the lowest coefficients of drag (0.25) of any mass-produced automobile. So that explains the bizarre rear-end styling.
Despite all the weight-saving engineering that has gone into the Insight, Honda is positive about the safety characteristics of their car. According to Honda, "Safety features engineered into the Insight include dual airbags, front and rear 3-point seat belts, front and rear crush zones that help absorb full-frontal and offset-frontal impacts and a passenger compartment that is reinforced against side impacts...By developing quicker, more responsive and easier-to-drive automobiles, Honda engineers have designed cars that are safer and more fun to drive."
When I finally got off the track and into the parking lot with the Insight, my thoughts were fixed on taking out that delicious-looking S2000. My companion however was quite sure that he wasn't accompanying me on yet another whirling trip...and that too in a car that was open-topped and unrestrained by a speed limiter. Sure, he had no doubts about the superior safety of a car he had built, but with me driving, he was unsure about the kind of fun it offered him. Oh, and in case you dare to join me in some very, very exotic Hondas, there's a vacant seat in the July issue of The Business Standard Motoring Monthly.
