greenliving
CLEAN
COOL
CARS
Four-Door Family Cars: Honda Insight
and Toyota Prius
Today’s Buyers’ Market Guide
New on dealer lots, Honda’s Insight is giving Toyota and
its all-new Prius a run for the money. The $19,800 Insight
by Jim motavalli
(not to be confused with an earlier, tiny, two-door model
of the same name) is the most affordable hybrid on the
market. It sports a four-cylinder engine and nickel-metal-
hydride hybrid battery system, generating 98 horsepower.
W
hile 2009 is shaping up as the most challenging
It shares a roofline with the Prius, and is clearly aimed
year in the history of the auto industry, the new
at Toyota’s runaway success (600,000 sold in the U.S.
car shopper can take advantage of the opportunity
since 2000). The Insight is smaller than the Prius, without
to step into a wealth of intriguing models, sweetened by a
as many features, but it delivers 40 miles per gallon city
buyer’s market. Even long sought-after hybrids are crowding
and 43 mpg highway. The kicker is that the LX Insight
dealers’ lots. If you can’t get highly advantageous financing
is priced below the least expensive 2010 Prius. Most
and steep discounts in this climate, you’re not trying.
customers will probably order the EX, which for $21,300,
The environmentally conscious showroom shopper
adds an upgraded audio system, cruise control and
can revel in the widest selection of hybrids ever available,
heated door mirrors ($23,100 with navigation).
from both domestic and foreign carmakers. Plug-in hybrids,
The all-new 2010 Toyota Prius is slightly bigger and
with 30 to 40 miles of electric cruising range, and totally
more powerful than the 2004-2009 second-generation mod-
battery-powered electric vehicles are on the way. This year’s
el, and offers better gas mileage than its predecessor—50
Detroit auto show demonstrated that the industry is finally
mpg combined. Prices for five levels of standard equipment
evolving to become both leaner and greener. That’s some-
options start at $21,000-$22,000 (level five is $27,270).
thing to celebrate.
Available whiz-bang extras include a solar roof, sensors
that keep it in its own lane and park-itself technology.
Sports Car: Tesla Roadster
Everything about the Tesla Roadster is outsized—from
price to performance—except the car itself, which is tiny.
Based on a British Lotus, with a smaller footwell than that
typically found in American cars, the two-seat Roadster is
a rip-roaring performance car, delivering 0-to-60 mph in
four seconds. The 248 horsepower comes not from a V-8
engine of yore, but from an electric motor and a micro-
processor-controlled lithium-ion battery pack, with 6,000
individual cells.
The Roadster has the best cruising range of any battery
car, at 244 miles. A brief, but vivid, test drive proves that
the hype is true—the car pins your back to the seat and
raises the hair on your arms. The price is eye-opening, too,
at $109,000, but a more affordable Model S sedan is on
the way.

June 2009
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