There’s something about driving a hybrid that makes you want to start a composting heap in your backyard and bring cloth grocery bags along on your next excursion to the farmers market.

Perhaps it’s because hybrid-makers are selling more than just vehicles. They’re selling an image.
Some iconic marketing campaigns have already stood the test of time – such as the luxury brands’ play on surrounding oneself with the best money can buy, or Ford’s image of the classic American rebel. But the image that driving a hybrid conveys is new and powerful: those who drive hybrids are conscious of how they affect their surroundings. They are a smarter breed, devoid of material yearnings that plague the rest of the American public.
I expected all this as I lowered myself behind the wheel of the 2010 Honda Insight, a car perhaps best known for its catchy commercial featuring a row of candy-colored insights lined up at the beach. I expected to immediately feel more socially responsible – and I did. I also enjoyed the smug looks I was able to shoot other drivers who were plowing through the daily commute in SUVs, even though there’s a gas-guzzling 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee parked in my driveway at home. But I didn’t expect to enjoy driving the Insight as much as I did.
Image or no image, the Insight is well-put together vehicle with some very tangible benefits. The first, of course is gas mileage. The manufacturers estimate the Insight gets 40 miles per gallon in the city and 43 miles per gallon on the highway. Insight drivers can expect to spend roughly $1,500 per year on fuel.
I drove the car between Seattle and Tacoma for a week and only had to fill up once. The grand total at the pump? A whopping $21.52. This, in direct contrast to my SUV, which I must fill up every four days at a cost of more than $50 per tank.
For all the jokes out there about hybrids being about as powerful on a road as a windy whistle, the Insight’s 98 horsepower, 1.3 liter 8-valve engine had plenty of get-up-and-go. One of the car’s most recognizable features is the “idle stop.” When you pull up to a light in the Insight, the engine essentially powers off. Once you take your foot off the break, the car comes back to life.
It takes some getting used to, as it feels exactly the same as when you’re driving a manual transmission in first gear and you “kill” the engine. Once you do get used to it, it’s easy to imagine how much gas you’re saving while driving in the city and not having your engine idle at every stop.
Though the car itself is small, front and rear crumple zones add to its safety. The back seats fold down to allow for more trip space.
The car’s interior features are, for the most part, basic, with a Honda-backed navigation system and a 160 watt stereo. What stands out, however, is the Insight’s EcoAssist program.

The Ecological Drive Assist System, or EcoAssist, is interactive and allows the driver to both automatically boost the car’s fuel economy at the push of a button and use a sophisticated in-dash feedback system to modify their own habits.
The ECON Mode kicks in when you press a green button on the left side of the steering column. The button activates a system that is meant to utilize the continuously variable transmission and engine for the best fuel economy possible. However, as much of a car’s fuel economy rests on the shoulders of the lead-footed (or not) driver, a color speedometer – bisected between green and blue halves, and located on the far left side of the dash – tells you whether you are impeding the process. If you are driving efficiently, the eco-speedometer needle creeps into the green and the car’s actual speedometer, a digital number build into the center of the dash, takes on a green backlit glow. If you begin driving aggressively and wasting gas, the glow turns blue. over time, you can train yourself to drive more efficiently.

My only complaint about the Insight is the truck design. A hatchback, the elongated back truck makes it virtually impossible to clearly see out of the back of the car. But at a suggested retail price of $23,100, limited exterior visibility seems a small price to pay for the excess of exciting new features that the Insight provides.