2012 Honda Insight gets nicer

Honda has finally seen to its lackluster hybrid by tweaking nearly everything about it. Its face has been given blue eyes courtesy of tinted headlight covers, and the grille and front spoiler benefit from a welcome sharpening. In back, a revised profile for the spoiler means improved visibility.

The Insight's sparse plastic interior is where TLC was most needed, and the loving comes via nicer seat fabric, "wood look paneling," and stitching that breaks up the synthetic expanses. There is also more room inside, and less noise.

Under the hood is the familiar 1.3-liter i-VTEC mated to an electric motor, but tweaks mean that it gets better gas mileage and now puts out just 96 grams of CO2 per kilometer when fitted with 15-inch wheels.