I thought there had been improvements on later models
Any thoughts and warnings about getting a 2010 Insight LX?
According to Consumer Reports, even the “improved” 2012 Insight “scores too low to be recommended”. Their main quibbles were that it is less roomy than the Prius, with awkward rear access, a stiff, choppy ride, a lot of road noise, and handling that “lacks agility and is tricky at its limits”. If those were the qualities of the new & improved version…then I think that you should really do a lot of research regarding the older model. A good source of information on used cars is the Consumer Reports Used Car Buyer’s Guide, which is available in the magazine section of Barnes & Noble book stores.
Also–make sure that you take an extended test drive. More than one auto test magazine reported that the seats on the older model Insight were incredibly uncomfortable after sitting in them for just a short period of time. Jeremy Clarkson of The UK’s Top Gear TV program said that sitting in these seats was tantamount to torture for him. However, he is very tall, and if you are of average height, they may not be as uncomfortable for you as they were for him. Only a long test drive (at least an hour) is likely to let you evaluate the seat comfort properly.
Clarkson didn’t stop there - here are a few choice quotes:
“Biblically terrible” (overall)
To duplicate the noise of the engine, “you’d have to sit a dog on a ham slicer”
“It’s the first car I’ve ever considered crashing into a tree, on purpose, so I didn’t have to drive it any more.”
“Designed specifically, it seems, to ruin your skeleton.”
check the price of the 2010 model with it’s options against a brand new one. My guess is that they’d be so close that it’d make more sense to buy a new one than a 2 year old one.