10Best Test Notes: 2010 Honda Insight vs. 2010 Toyota Prius, 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid

Don’t let my interest in the new hybrids lead you to believe that I haven’t been driving the other 10Best candidates. I have, and I’ll have some tough choices to pare my list down to 10, but it’s the hybrids that have been really testing my driving skills. Yesterday, the best I could do in a Ford Fusion Hybrid was 42.4 miles per gallon. Today, I took the Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius out on our 15-mile loop to see how far I could squeeze a gallon of gas. After warming up the Insight, and getting used to the awful seatback that feels like someone shoved a Duraflame log into the small of your back, I proceeded to gently accelerate, coast as much as possible, and in general drive like I had absolutely nowhere to be. Compared to the Fusion Hybrid, the Insight’s display is no where near as entertaining as the Fusion’s more informative multi-color display—it’s Atari versus Playstation3. Despite the boring display and the Honda’s inability to drive on solely electric power, I returned to our camp with a 54.2 mile-per-gallon average. For my next fuel-economy run, I grabbed the key to the new Prius. A curious K.C. Colwell jumped into the passenger seat; I thought about

kicking him out because passengers add fuel-robbing weight to the car, but I didn’t want to offend K.C. (he’s sensitive), so I let him come along. At first, K.C. was a bit annoyed with my tepid acceleration and newfound respect for the speed limit, but after we saw the fuel economy on the trip computer jump to over 60 miles per gallon, he started to enjoy the ride. Drive a Prius quickly and it annoys, but at lower speeds when you’re working to keep the gas engine from kicking on, the Prius is a delightful and entertaining car. After covering 15 miles and never holding up any traffic, the Prius returned to the camp with 67.8 miles per gallon displayed on the trip computer. Granted, it took nearly a half hour to complete the loop (our average speed was 33 miles per hour), but even K.C. had to admit that driving a hybrid to maximize fuel economy can be fun. Related posts: 10Best Test Notes: 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid 2010 Honda Insight vs. 2010 Toyota Prius, 1998 Chevy Metro – Comparison Test 10Best Test Notes: 2010 Ford Fusion SE

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10Best Test Notes: 2010 Honda Insight vs. 2010 Toyota Prius, 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid