It's interesting that partially electric cars (which are nearly "zero-emission" cars at the tailpipe) have fallen out of favor with government regulators because hybrids achieve nearly everything regulators insist is absolutely necessary — such as very high fuel efficiency and extremely low emissions — at a price point that makes it feasible for almost anyone to afford one.

Models like the Honda Insight.

What It Is

The Insight is Honda's less well-known alternative to the Toyota Prius and other compact-size hybrid cars. Like the Prius and other hybrid cars, it has an electric motor and a battery pack to power it — just like an electric-only car. But it also has a small, extremely efficient gas-burning engine that eliminates two of the big (and interrelated) problems with electric-only cars: running out of range and having to wait for a charge.

The Insight's range is close to 600 miles on the highway — and you'll never have to wait longer for a charge than it takes to gas up a nonhybrid car.

Prices start at $25,760 for the EX trim.

A top-of-the-line Touring trim with heated leather seats and a 10-speaker premium audio system, sunroof, LED lights and various other upgrades stickers for $29,790.

What's New

The previously available LX trim has been discontinued.

What's Good

Extremely high efficiency and very low emissions without the cost or functional limitations that beset electric-only cars.

More backseat room (and power/performance) than Prius offers.

Conventional small sedan layout doesn't call as much attention to itself as Prius' look-at-me-I'm-a-hybrid looks.

What's Not So Good

Big price bump for 2022 takes away one of the Insight's strongest selling points versus the Prius.

Small trunk, due to conventional small sedan layout.

AWD isn't available. (Prius offers it as an option.)

Under The Hood

All Insight trims are powered by the same 1.5-liter gas engine that keeps a lithium-ion battery topped off with electricity that powers an electric motor, which (in turn) provides supplementary/on-demand power for extra acceleration when needed and enables the gas engine to be powered off when it isn't needed — as when the vehicle is coasting, stationary or moving at low speeds.

The combo produces a total of 151 horsepower. The result is 55 mpg in city driving and 49 mpg on the highway, as well as the ability to travel more than 500 miles on 10.6 gallons of gas.

The Insight's main rival, the Prius, touts slightly higher mileage (58 city, 53 highway) as well as more than 600 miles of highway range. However, the Prius carries a bit more gas (11.3 gallons) than the Insight, so the range of the two cars is actually almost identical.

What the Prius does offer that the Insight doesn't is plug-in capability. Meaning, you can trickle (not "fast") charge the car at home, using an ordinary 120-volt household outlet without burning any gas to do it.

The Prius is also available with all-wheel drive, while the Insight is front-wheel drive only.

On The Road

It takes an Insight about 7.7 seconds to get to 60 mph, far from "ludicrous" speed. But the Insight keeps on going for much longer than a Tesla (or any other purely electric car).

The Honda is also much quicker (because it is stronger) than its main rival, the Prius, which needs more than 10 seconds to get to 60.

But what's most relevant regarding the Insight — and the Prius and other hybrids — is not being tethered to a cord. This is a car you just get in and drive like any other car — unlike an electric-only car.

At The Curb

The Insight is sleekly styled to look like a hatchback, but it has a small (15.1 cubic feet) trunk relative to the hatchback Prius' total of 50.7 cubic feet of cargo-carrying capacity.

But the Insight has more space for passengers in the backseat, where you'll find 37.4 inches of legroom, comparable to that of many midsize cars. The Tesla 3 has a compact car's rear seating area, with only 35.2 inches of legroom for the passengers. The Toyota Prius is even worse in this respect, with only 33.4 inches of legroom for the backseats.

That's four inches less legroom than the Insight offers.

The Prius — which is also a hatchback — fires back with 27.4 cubic feet of space behind its cramped second row. And if you fold those second-row seats flat, this expands to 50.7 cubic feet, comparable to many smaller crossover SUVs.

But the biggest difference between the Insight and the Prius is that it doesn't look like a hybrid.

The Prius — which was the first mass-produced hybrid — was made to call attention to itself because hybrids were new once, and when you're new you want people to notice. But not everyone wants to be noticed, including people who want to own a hybrid. The Insight is the hybrid for such people.

The Rest

It's odd that Honda discontinued the lowest-price LX trim, which gave the Insight big points versus the Prius on value. But it is still a deal relative to even the lowest cost electric-only cars, such as the $25,600-to-start Chevy Bolt, which only goes about half as far on a full charge and has to be plugged in to recharge.

The Bottom Line

Hybrids like the Insight are a great way to get most of the benefits of an electric-only car without any of the downsides of owning an electric-only car.

View the Honda Insight his week.

Eric's latest book, "Doomed: Good Cars Gone Wrong!" will be available soon. To find out more about Eric and read his past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.