Preferences aside looking strictly at the esthetics the groundbreaker was definitely the insight. Though there was a Prius in Japan in 97 it was not noted pretty much anywhere .. lol .The Insight on the other hand while coming out two years later beat the Prius to our shores.
Now whatever any of you want to wax nostalgic about on the Fiero they were piles of junk. Brilliant concept really badly executed on GM’s part. Reason being it was a parts bin car except for its exterior panels. That was the only groundbreaking part of it.. Design wise it was nothing new to the market. We had already had Porsche 914’s Fiat X19’s .
Had it been reliable and not a such a parts bin pile it would have been ground breaking as a good affordable mid engine car. Except GM messed it up in true Detriot we can’t make anything but big fashion. lol It was almost the comic follow up to the Chevy Vega. Another one of those could have been brilliant cars that GM managed to screw up with the all aluminum engine that they forget to steel sleeve the cylinders on, and the rest was history i.e. blown head gasket city.
My Dad gave my brother money to buy car in College and my brother came back with a Vega. lol a couple of years later the car died on the Grapevine and my brother not being really into cars like me walked alway. lol
Anecdotes aside Honda actually had decent tech in the Insight and it was a few years ahead of its time. It did not help that it looked kinda fish tank worthy.
Still all in all the Insight wins in this battle of groundbreaking ...Except EV1!! Yup GM really pulled off the groundbreaking in modern Electric cars with the EV1 ya it was not a hybrid but it did predate both the Prius and the Insight.
Now whatever any of you want to wax nostalgic about on the Fiero they were piles of junk. Brilliant concept really badly executed on GM’s part. Reason being it was a parts bin car except for its exterior panels. That was the only groundbreaking part of it.. Design wise it was nothing new to the market. We had already had Porsche 914’s Fiat X19’s .
Had it been reliable and not a such a parts bin pile it would have been ground breaking as a good affordable mid engine car. Except GM messed it up in true Detriot we can’t make anything but big fashion. lol It was almost the comic follow up to the Chevy Vega. Another one of those could have been brilliant cars that GM managed to screw up with the all aluminum engine that they forget to steel sleeve the cylinders on, and the rest was history i.e. blown head gasket city.
My Dad gave my brother money to buy car in College and my brother came back with a Vega. lol a couple of years later the car died on the Grapevine and my brother not being really into cars like me walked alway. lol
Anecdotes aside Honda actually had decent tech in the Insight and it was a few years ahead of its time. It did not help that it looked kinda fish tank worthy.
Still all in all the Insight wins in this battle of groundbreaking ...Except EV1!! Yup GM really pulled off the groundbreaking in modern Electric cars with the EV1 ya it was not a hybrid but it did predate both the Prius and the Insight.
