Try this Link:

"Souping Up" The Current Insight

HTH;

Terry

 

Hi Zim, sounds like you may be veering away from the Insight. Perhaps the HCH II may be the car for you in the end or from the most economical standpoint - keep the HCH I and run it til the wheels fall off. I really hope someone can give you a ride in one so you can see if it may fit you bill.

The one thing that was never ever mentioned about the Insight is the ability to stand out in a crowd. That is another thing about the car I love. I get just as many positive comments/questions about the Insight as I do my Corvette. It's a great "conversation piece". I know that's not the only reason to buy a car but for me I feel it a positive aspect of the car that can be factored in (for me, not everyone).

Terry, I know you of ALL people in the GH can take a little jabbing so that's why I even made my rebuttal "defending" the Insight. Honest to goodness, if ANYONE else would of made that comment I would of bit my tongue and just held it all in and shut my trap and let only the negative points about the car be pointed out. Heck, if it wasn't for you I would never use colors or emoticons in any postings. I never meant for it to be taken in a negative way, you're still one of my favorite contributors to the GH community - HONEST!

 

Thank you, tigerhonaker.

zimbop, click that link and check our the member MD2000.

For a really spartan interior, check out the Honda IMAS concept car or "Insight II". Like a lot of concept cars, I doubt that a lot of things in it will see production, such as airplane steering and video mirrors....

 

Well I guess you may just have, well at least a "Couple-more-Comments/Opinions" if you need them or want to put them to good use.

Laughting

Terry

BTW; Don't you just Love this Greenhybrid forum ???

 

Actually I took that out ONE MINUTE before you posted. Thought it came across a little rude.

OK, back to the regularly scheduled program.

 

Thought I'd toss in my two cents in this late hour...
Zimbop, I rack alot of miles in a year (About 36K) but you do more.

May I ask a couple of questions?
How long do you plan to own your HCH?
What is your driving terrain?

Personally I plan to drive mine "Till the wheels fall off" and in a very hilly environment. I'm trying to think ahead and minimize battery use for my (hopeful) +350K mile journey.

I'm guessing here regarding hard figures but I can reduce my freeway battery useage by about 1/3 to 1/2 by keeping cruise control off and driving with load.
I think you mentioned not being interested in hypermiling, and that is not what I'm talking here.

From what I hear from the Insight drivers is the lack of CC isn't an issue...and may acutally be a long-term blessing for a hilly freeway driver.

Oh! How I'd LOVE to own a MT Insight! (Tripple underscore that one)
But my commuter car has to be a backup 5 passenger vehicle.

 

My drive is 80 miles across desert on a basically empty freeway. It's mostly flat or gentle grades, with about half a dozen hills that actually cycle the regen. I usually "coast & granny" the downs and ups of those hills, but mostly it's flat and I use cruise about half the time.

I will own the HCH until it dies or something really compelling comes out. And by really compelling I don't mean the HCHII. I mean somthing that's truly improved in more ways than that. Now if the HCHII let you lock the doors easily I could be tempted! :-) I would love a CRV hybrid, which they promised for 2006 but never mentioned again. But that would probably replace the Forester and we'd keep the HCH.

I never buy new cars and frankly this one was WAY too new to suit my style (14k mi) but I sprung for it anyway, so I am not the type to replace a nearly new car every few years. I also don't think I will be doing this commute more than a couple more years, but that wouldn't stop me from buying an insight if I had a good chance.

 

It sounds as though you are considering what I did, if you are considering an Insight that is a couple years old. You can easily find a VERY nice example (decent mileage) for under $11,000. I think it was worth the $10k I paid for mine several months ago with 52k miles. It's helping save the HCH too, last time I bought gas for it was November.

As far as not wanting to add personalization upgrades for added comfort due to $$$. As I mentioned before the Insight falls in the VW Bug, Mini, Scion, Element catagory. What I mean is it is the sort of auto some owners buy "presents" for. Me being a car guy, I don't see the problem getting the upgrades so it was like Christmas for my car.

 

I did forget to mention one NEGATIVE point about the Insight. When Terry mentioned it was gutless I disagreed, which I still do BUT with the A/C on it can be downright dangerous in the correct situation due to the power draw using the A/C does. I saw you did mention a desert enviroment so that may be a factor if you really love your A/C. During the summer I do drive my HCH more just because of the power loss. Of course I do have frequent recals when I use the A/C as well so that might have something to do with it.

It may just be me being picky (my opinion, others may very).

 

Al;

I should have been more exacting in the comment on little power for the Insight. When I did the week test drive on the 3-Insights that I tried out it was in the summer months here. Temp. was 95-98 Deg. and very high Humidity here. I had to rev the engine up and kinda ride the cluch to not kill the engine and to pull out in traffic. The a/c did work perfect but the power of the Insight was (IMO) not very good in heavy traffic areas/city driving. Also I truthfully cannot remember the exact FE now but it was not real good with having to run the a/c all the time. Yes before someone comes back and says, you could cut the a/c off and roll the window down. I know that, and once again using the a/c where the car was comfortable it did not get very high FE in the city and a/c running on Auto-Climate set at 74 deg. That means if you do-not own an Insight now that the engine does not (Auto-Stop) bacause the auto-climate keeps the engine running at stops and therefore it is using fuel. Add to that the a/c compressor is pulling the ICE down even more with the a/c running all the time. Thats why after doing 3 different Insights and different Yrs. of them that I came to the conclusion that the 06 HCH ll with auto-climate control and now the (Electric-A/C Compressor) was the right choice for me. It allows the ICE to auto-stop and you still have a/c running from the (Electric-Compressor).

It goes without saying that this is just my take on the reason why I chose the HCH ll and while the Insight is the FE Champion in my application it was not the right fit.

HTH

Terry