I learned about this today so now you all do too
The Honda Insight is a car all the way back as far as 1999. This crazy vehicle was able to achieve an EPA MPG (with modern tests) of 49 city and 61 highway. Original testing was actually 67 city and 71 highway, at that! This crazy little engine has a maximum of 78 horsepower, combined between the Inline 3 SOHC Honda engine and a 10KW (13HP) electric motor. This motor is used as the starter, the alternator, and a motor together, but it actually has a separate starter motor in case the hybrid motor dies, using a separate 12v starter battery as well.
While 78 horsepower doesn’t sound very great, keep in mind the following: the coefficient of drag is 0.25, and if weighs a maximum(!) of 1,964 lbs, or 891 kg. What does this mean? It can still reach a maximum speed of up to 112mph! Not to mention, modders that get ahold of these things can push it far beyond these limits, with someone putting in a Honda J32A2 engine and getting 295HP in this little thing! That would put it at approximately capable of a top speed of about 192mph!
Not to mention, not only is this thing super light and nimble, it still has respectable crash ratings, and while parts for it may be hard to find, this car is one of the coolest and most efficient one can buy, even today
Edit: Found a link I like even better for the main link, original link here
It was an awesome car. The CR-Z was a similar form factor, but didn’t get as good mileage. Would love to see an EV version with fast charging and a 250mi range. It would probably be doable now.
The CR-Z was a car I wanted so badly to be good. It just wasn’t though. There were sportier better options of you wanted that and if you wanted fuel efficiency it was a bit laughable. My 4 cylinder car was getting like 28mpg highway and it only got mid to low 30s.
I owned one, it was a blast in the corners and it was rad that you could get a two seater six speed hybrid. The biggest let down though was how slow it was in a straight line. It was almost dangerously slow. A CR-Z Si with a K20 or K24 would have been amazing. They offered a dealer installed supercharger later in its life that got it to 200ish HP but it was too little too late.