With everybody from the mysteriously affluent punk rocker down the block to the president of these United States driving a hybrid vehicle, it may be important to remember that not all hybrids are created equally. London Times auto writer Jeremy Clarkson, for example, recently reviewed the new Honda Insight 1.3 IMA SE Hybrid. And for some strange reason, I don't think I want to buy one:
And the sound is worse. The Honda’s petrol engine is a much-shaved, built-for-economy, low-friction 1.3 that, at full chat, makes a noise worse than someone else’s crying baby on an airliner. It’s worse than the sound of your parachute failing to open. Really, to get an idea of how awful it is, you’d have to sit a dog on a ham slicer.
So you’re sitting there with the engine screaming its head off, and your ears bleeding, and you’re doing only 23mph because that’s about the top speed, and you’re thinking things can’t get any worse, and then they do because you run over a small piece of grit.
And it only gets worse from there.