Moving further from work and contemplating a more fuel efficient but inexpensive car.
Between these two options, which would you prefer and why? Both have manual trans.
The Insight seems cooler from a chassis perspective. The Civic seems cooler from a practical perspective since it is larger and parts are easily available.
What say you?
I have the insight and im curious to try the Civic. They have extremely similar powertrains other than the civic version being scaled up a little and with an extra cylinder.
From owning mine, i honestly wonder if the Civic wouldnt still be the better choice if you planned on doing handling upgrades. My insight wheelhops like crazy even on stock power during cornering and there arent any bolt in good dampers for it that im aware of. The civic should benefit from the 'regular' civic aftermarket which is relatively huge.
In a way the Insight is a lot less boring than the civic just because the whole car is 'different', whereas the civic is just a very normal car (and pretty boring as far as interior and exterior looks) with a more interesting powertrain. Not sure how big of a deal that is to you.
Which Insight? 1st gen?
I'm seriously considering to "upgrade" the 1st gen CRX to a 1st gen Insight sometime next year as I'm putting too many miles on a car with problematic parts availability. Plus AFAIK it's still the "mainstream" car with the best fuel economy you can get.
If you decide to get rid of said 1st gen crx, lmk 
Yeah, which Insight are we talkin about? Are the new ones available with three pedals?
Chevy Volt lease at a supposed $250/mo.(?)
Before you buy, go to www.fueleconomy.gov and compare the cars you are considering to the car youown already. You can even customize to reflect the type of driving you do and your theories of $4 & $5 gas.
Be cautious of spending $10k to buy more car that will only save you $1.5k per year. Great, if you are keeping the car for more than 7 years??
Simple answer:
Gen1 Honda Insight will get the best mpg
Saturn 1.9L engine will give the cheapest overall running cost.
Gen 1 of the Insight ~2000 and Gen 1 of the Civic Hybrid ~2001-2004ish?
Only contemplating these two cars for use out here in Cali.
Which Insight? 1st gen?
Yes. He said "both manual" and the 2g insight is not available with a manual. Not being E36 M3ty here, just fyi, that's the main context clue.
Before you buy, go to www.fueleconomy.gov and compare the cars you are considering to the car youown already. You can even customize to reflect the type of driving you do and your theories of $4 & $5 gas. Be cautious of spending $10k to buy more car that will only save you $1.5k per year. Great, if you are keeping the car for more than 7 years?? Simple answer: Gen1 Honda Insight will get the best mpg Saturn 1.9L engine will give the cheapest overall running cost
Who's talking about 10k here? Old Insights and Civic Hybrids are 3-6k. I bought mine for $3800 and even compared to the 30mpg avg car it replaced, it has almost entirely paid for itself JUST in gas savings over the course of only ~66k miles so far. That's comparing to a car that already got GOOD mpg! Combine that with the fact that i paid less for it than i sold the last car for, and that it's been easier on every other kind of consumable as well, and it's a win win. That also doesn't count the value of how much i love the friggin thing.
Also, the only repair part ive put on my 342k mile Honda over the last 66k miles has been one $50 idler pulley.
Insight. Less weight, better MPG, more funky, more fun!
Bryce
Vigo wrote:Which Insight? 1st gen?Yes. He said "both manual" and the 2g insight is not available with a manual. Not being E36 M3ty here, just fyi, that's the main context clue.
Fair enough, I didn't realise that only the 1st gen Insight had a manual option. I never had much interest in the 2nd gen anyway...
Yeah, it's a bit of a snoozer in comparison. It was a letdown at the time, but the CR-Z and (finally!!!) the upcoming Fit Hybrid have more than distracted me from the mediocrity of the 2g Insight by now. 
I'd get a Civic Hybrid just because you can get it with three pedals.
TLDR i guess?
Know a guy with an insight. Not a fun vehicle in mountainous areas. By a lot. Can't carry much either.
We've had the civics here at work . The very definition of appliance. Dead reliable, eminently practical, and so boring.
Of the two, I want to want the insight. But, the civic is so much better, and more useful.
Know a guy with an insight. Not a fun vehicle in mountainous areas. By a lot. Can't carry much either.
Ive found the cargo capacity of mine to be surprisingly good (unless you count riding the rear bumpstops everywhere...) but i've driven mine through some high elevations and it SUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.
So you're right about the mountain thing. I would consider it a 'sea-level-only' automobile. I wouldnt count on the civic being MUCH better at altitude, though.
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