Revised 2012 Honda Insight Gets Better Fuel Efficiency

There are the first inklings of a fuel economy race beginning among the Japanese automakers. Toyota and Honda have been progressively updating their respective Prius and Insight models to make them more drivable and give better fuel economy. 

The revised 2012 Honda Insight gets an extra mile per gallon and now uses 41 city/44 highway/42 combined. To get the improvement, Honda redesigned the front end to make it more aerodynamic and changed the headlights and tail lights to make the car more stylish. The rear spoiler has also been changed to give a better view out of the rear. 

The interior of the Insight is getting quite a few changes as well. The rear seat has been changed to give occupants more leg room. The seating surfaces have also been improved.

Honda has split the Insight into three trim levels: Base, LX and EX. The LX model gets more premium upholstery according to Honda and steering wheel-mounted audio controls. The EX model gets leather, Bluetooth and automatic headlights. The navigation system on the EX model has also been improved for 2012. It comes with a back-up camera, and the storage has increased to 16GB, up from 4.7GB.  Honda has also added more sound deadening to both models to make them quieter. 

Honda is still playing catch-up to the Prius. The current base Prius gets 51 city/48 highway/50 combined and the plug-in version that is coming later in the year improves these numbers a little more Toyota says, but it has not released specific numbers yet. The Prius starts at $23,520 and the plug-in will be $32,000 compared to $18,350 for the Insight.