A FEELING of Big Brother is difficult to shift with the new Honda Insight – and women might not initially welcome the sense of being watched by car and not being totally in control.

Features such as cruise control, automatic transmission and even radios which retune themselves for the clearest sound are nothing new in cars and do mean drivers relinquish some control behind the wheel.

But it seems that Honda has created something it believes is more intelligent than the average driver with its new hybrid model and, even though it sounds unlikely for anything to be more intelligent than us women, it seems that perhaps we will have to bow to the new Insight.

So many cars these days are full of gadgets, gizmos and technology it is difficult to know what is going on. But the Insight boasts huge amounts of technology – it has dashboard displays to tell you exactly what is going on under the bonnet and how it is improving your driving.

In the past hybrids have been confined to a rather small market with only the keenest of environmentally friendly drivers opting to pay a premium for them.

Honda says that for the first time hybrid technology is within the grasp of more motorists than ever before – and with a practical five-door car. At the heart of the new Insight is a 1.3 litre engine which runs on petrol and electric with fuel economy of up to 64mpg and prices starting at around £15,500.

Already more than 400 motorists have placed orders for the Insight which is officially launched in the UK tomorrow (April 4).

Honda’s presence in the hybrid market for more than 20 years means that it is well versed with this technology – and mass production, even in these difficult times, is key to making this car a viable alternative for anyone seeking a practical hatchback. Tremendous amounts of work have created smaller batteries than ever before leaving a practical boot space and the design looks – well mainstream.

But when it comes to control something called the Econ switch certainly has the Big Brother feel – thankfully there is no celebrity though.

This was developed to help reduce the effect of the different driving patterns of different drivers. People driving the same cars record huge variations in fuel economy, some almost negating any effect of manufacturers in creating ever more frugal engines.

So the Econ switch works with the engine management system to minimise the varying driving styles on fuel economy. Once the system is active the car effectively goes into a super economy mode limiting power output and torque (unless you have the throttle pedal right down).

It also smooths the shift pattern on the already silky CVT transmission, modifies throttle control to combat those who are a little on/off on the accelerator and switches the aircon to recirculation mode to aid fuel economy still further.

This is added to the idle stop mode which cuts the engine when you are stationary and the great display which is green behind the speedo when you are driving most efficiently but switches to blue when you could do better.

Rather than Big Brother it’s a bit like your conscience reminding that you could do better – and I tried, honest I did.