Long-Term Arrivals

JULIA LAPALME 2010 Honda Insight EX

George Jetson’s car—with everything but Mabel the robot

AFTER WEEKS of rumors swirling around our Long Term-Vehicle Fleet Department, there it was. Parked, otherworldly among our rows of somber-colored, technologically conservative long-termers was a fi sh-shaped, electric-blue Honda Insight. At fi rst glance, I spontaneously blurted, “Ack! Ack!”—then looked around to see if anybody had heard that. It’s my understanding that Ack! Ack! is Martian-speak (per Tim Burton’s authoritative fi lm, “Mars Attacks!”) for, well, just about anything. It felt like the best language in which address this most foreign of visitors who will be staying with us for a year. The Insight didn’t respond, but seemed to be smiling.

And for good reason. If you were to plot ultra-gas-stinginess against low initial cost, way up in the corner of the graph sits the Insight. Of course, only Insighters (© Reynolds, ) would have any inclination to plot such things, but no matter, it’s still true. The Insight starts at $, (including its unavoidable $ destination charge) and delivers a combined  mpg. And in the spec box, note that . pound/mile of CO production. In fact, get out a pen and underline it: The low-CO car of  is here today, folks.

our vehicle

Base price $22,010 Price as tested $23,810 Vehicle layout Front engine, FWD, 5-pass, 4-door hatchback

Engine 1.3L/88-hp/88-lb-ft SOHC 8-valve I-4; 13-hp/58 lb-ft motor; 98 comb hp

Transmission Cont variable auto Curb weight (dist f/r) 2735 lb (58/42%) Wheelbase 100.4 in Length x width x height 172.3 x 66.7 x 56.2 in

0-60 mph 10.4 sec Quarter mile 17.8 sec @ 78.1 mph Braking, 60-0 mph 127 ft Lateral accel 0.79 g (avg) MT fi gure eight 29.2 sec @ 0.54 g (avg) EPA city/hwy econ 40/43 mpg CO2 emissions 0.47 lb/mile Total mileage 4695 miles Average fuel economy 38.2 mpg

The same allergy to hydrocarbons is expected of our $, EX Navi example, which diff ers most noticeably from the $, EX by a navigation system (utterly unavailable as an EX option). It’s also festooned with such goodies as automatic climate control, tilt/ telescoping steering wheel, steering wheel audio controls, USB and MP connectivity, and driver-seat height adjustment. Of note to harddrivin’ hybrid fans are our car’s paddle shifters that let you liberally bang up and down through the CVT’s seven, er, synthetic ratios.

The engine/electric motor combo moving it is an -horse, .-liter four pancaked against a -horse (but  pound-foot) motor that doubles as a starter (and triples as a fl ywheel). Elegant. And though this might sound like any of Honda’s previous Integrated Hybrid Assist system’s, they’ve hacked away about  percent of the Insight’s “hybrid premium” compared with the Civic’s version of IMA.

But even at that, will the Insight prove a practical, dependable (and fun) driving proposition in the long term? The wheels have already started turning and the fi ll-up tabulations have begun. Until our fi rst update—Ack! Ack! ■

WILLIAM WALKER

2009 Audi A4 Avant 2.0T quattro

Hip to be square?

YOU’VE GOT to give it up to the Germans. No matter how out of fashion the wagon has become in this crossover-crazy land of ours, they keep bringing them over. So we fi gured, what the heck, instead of testing out Audi’s new A in sedan form, we’d add the  Audi A Avant .T quattro Tiptronic (say that fi ve times fast) to our long-term fl eet. Is it hip to be square? We’re going to fi nd out.

Looking at the numbers, it’s a virtual dead heat at the dragstrip between the Avant and a similarly equipped  A sedan we tested last year. Audi’s -horse, .-liter turbo is as stout a four-banger as they come and boogies the Avant to  in . seconds and on to a .-second quarter mile at . mph (the sedan hit  in . seconds and the quarter in  fl at at  mph). Ah, but the wagon has way more cargo room, you say? Not exactly. The A sedan’s trunk holds . cubic feet, just . less than the Avant with the rear seats up. As you’d expect, the Avant wins hands down with the seats folded (. versus .), and of course, its hatch makes loading cargo easier.

You’ll pay more for the added room though, as the Avant’s base price is roughly four grand more than the sedan’s. Our tester, which started at $,, got the kitchen-sink treatment, with the $ Prestige package featuring an assortment of upscale touches including Bluetooth, a Bang & Olufsen sound system, power tailgate, and Xenon headlamps. For $ we also checked off the navigation option with backup camera that integrates with Audi’s slick Multi Media Interface system.

Bringing both bling and grip to the Avant is the S line package, which for $ adds a sport tuned suspension, -inch rims shod with high-performance summer rubber, steeringwheel-mounted shift paddles, and several interior and exterior trim bits–including some sweet, black Alcantara-leather-swathed buckets. We also opted for the Audi Drive Select feature ($), which allows the driver to choose several vehicle setups from comfort to sport. The upgrades helped the Avant pull a very respectable . g on the skidpad and buzz through our fi gure-eight course in . seconds at . g.

So the Avant can carry the mail and canyon carve all the way home–it’s a formula all those cool crossovers aspire to, but only unhip wagons can really pull off . Yep, we’re looking forward to our year of being square. ■

our vehicle

Base price $35,675 Price as tested $52,250 Vehicle layout Front engine, AWD, 5-pass, 4-door wagon

Engine 2.0L/211-hp/258-lb-ft turbo DOHC 16-valve I-4

Transmission 6-speed automatic Curb weight (dist f/r) 3932 lb (53/47%)

Wheelbase 110.6 in Length x width x height 185.2 x 71.9 x 56.5 in

0-60 mph 6.4 sec Quarter mile 14.9 sec @ 90.8 mph Braking, 60-0 mph 102 ft Lateral accel 0.93 g (avg) MT fi gure eight 26.3 sec @ 0.66 g (avg) EPA city/hwy econ 21/27 mpg CO2 emissions 0.92 lb/mile Total mileage 9642 miles Average fuel economy 21.1 mpg