2000 Honda Insight

With environmental alarm bells ringing, this wasn't the first time an automaker has unveiled its latest answer to global warming to skeptical media and lawmakers in Washington, D.C., a city largely responsible for spawning the push for promising-but usually disappointing-alternative-fuel vehicles. But this time was different. A 140-mile jaunt from downtown D.C. over choked suburban roads and into rural Maryland proved the 2000 Honda Insight-the first gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle on sale in America-is the real deal. This snappy front-drive two-seat coupe delivers 70 mpg and ultra-low emissions with easy driveability and desirable comfort-at a base price of $18,880. Indeed, the only option is an automatic climate-control system, bringing the typical as-purchased price to $20,080.

What makes the Insight a breakthrough? It starts with Honda's Integrated Motor Assist hybrid system. At its core is an ultralight 1.0-liter three-cylinder VTEC-E gasoline engine that uses lean-burn technology, low-friction design, and lots of lightweight aluminum, magnesium, and plastic. The 12-valve 67-horse engine gets up to an extra 13.4 horsepower-and 25 more pound-feet of torque-from a 144-volt nickel-metal hydride battery pack that drives an ultrathin (about 2.5 inches) DC-brushless motor. This unit acts as a generator during deceleration and braking to recharge the vehicle's batteries (eliminating the need for an outside charge), and as the Insight's starter motor. A Power Control Unit keeps it all in sync.

Think of it as a little electric turbocharger that kicks in on demand and, teamed with a five-speed manual transmission (the only one offered), helps hustle the Insight 0-60 mph in 10.5 seconds. In the real world, it proved quite sufficient to get us through traffic on all kinds of roads during a follow-up encounter back in our Los Angeles home base.