Error parsing XSLT file: \xslt\FacebookOpenGraph.xslt Our Fleet Test Drive: Honda Insight - 3rd Report
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Our Fleet Test Drive: Honda Insight - 3rd Report

Date: 16 April 2010   |   Author: Tony Rock Paul Barker

Insight on kerb
Category: Lower medium
P11D price: £19,233
Key rival: Toyota Prius

We're really not impressed. And it's not Honda's fault.

My partner took the long-term Insight to work a few weeks back, only to call me at 7.30pm later that day to say she'd got a flat tyre, and that it had gone with a bang at a roundabout. Not the world's biggest problem you'd think, but the Insight doesn't have a spare. Instead it has one of those cans of foam that seal the tyre. However, the punctured tyre had a hole in the sidewall from bouncing through a pothole, so we weren't confident that it would hold for an hour's drive back round the motorway. That meant a call to Honda's breakdown service, provided by The AA - and that's when the problems started.

The original promise was that they'd be there within an hour and a quarter, which isn't great for a woman stranded on her own at night, but acceptable. A bit after 9pm my partner called again and was told that they were struggling to find a replacement tyre, and was encouraged to wander off into the night in an area she didn't know, to try and find somewhere to wait rather than sitting in the car, which was abandoned on a double yellow line.

It was 11.30pm, a wait of four hours before The AA supplied a recovery vehicle to tow the car home. Considering that The AA is supposed to prioritise lone women, it's a good job it wasn't me stuck there, or I'd probably still be there now. The car was then delivered back to our flat, where it sat for a couple of days until a replacement tyre could be sourced by our local mobile fitting service. However, The AA has left an indelible mark against its name. Inexcusably poor service from a company that should be better.

Honda Insight 1.3 IMA ES-T Hybrid CVT
Mileage3003
Claimed combined
consumption
61.4mpg
Our average consumption42.4mpg
P11D price£19,233
Model price range£16,225-£19,290
CO2 (tax) 105g/km (10%)
BIK 20/40% per month£32/£64
Service interval1yr/12,500mls
Insurancegroup 6e
Warranty3yrs/90,000mls
Boot space (min/max)408/584 litres
Engine size/power1339cc/102hp
Top speed/0-62mph113mph/12.5secs
Why we’re running itCan Insight can match
Honda’s high
expectations?
PositiveCongestion charge
exemption
NegativeView through rear
windscreen

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