Hi everyone;

From what I have read here and on the InsightCentral Forum the Honda Insight has a terrible factory sound system even after Honda up-graded it to a C/D indash unit and added the two rear spkrs. to the car. Correct???

So, that being the case have any of you installed a AM/FM/XM Satellite head unit and much up-graded speakers to your Insights?

It seems to me from what I have read that the interior is, (Shall-We-Say) somewhat noisy and if one put in a new modern sound system you could simply turn up the volume a little and all of a sudden outside tire and road noisy would just seem to disappear.

So, what do you all think?

Comments/Thoughts/Questions/Concerns

Terry

Hi TigerHonikar:

___Yes, the factory sound system is pretty plain.

___Insightcentral and or the Yahoo Honda-Hybrid group should have much of what you are looking for.

___No, it won’t really hide the road noise but the Insight wasn’t designed to be as quiet as a Lexus LS 430 either. What the Insight was designed for was to achieve the highest FE of any mass-produced automobile on the planet. The diesel guys will debate this but I do not see any VW Lupo owners with > 90 lmpg’s after a few tens of thousands of miles in my reads yet? Because of its excellent real world FE capability, you have to live with the design sacrifices and trade-off’s.

___Before you get your heart set on an Insight, go drive one first. They are relatively quick, handle ok over most roadways, and are truly a blast to drive. They are not however a luxury automobile. Some of the questions you have asked can only be answered by you after you have had 15 minutes behind the wheel of one. How about contacting JeffKinTN and driving out his way for a behind the wheel - hands on experience if he is willing to let you mess up his current segment FE for a 15 minute test ride/drive

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

Wayne,
Not necessary to drive the fellows Insight that you mention in your thread because my Honda dealer is going to have a new one hear by the end of (Fingers-Crossed) June. I can wait until then and I think I have spent enough money with dealer that they will let me drive it for awhile if I choose. I'm talking about days for a real world try out since the dealer I work for is next door to my Honda dealer and I live say (Never-Measured) 8 miles from either dealer. So I would not be putting alot of miles on their new Insight. I'm hoping if the around town try out goes well I'm going to see if they will let me put some real miles on it on a road trip to Ky. where I am from and see what the Hwy. miles will be on the FE read out.

BTW, I was not really saying that one could change the Insight into a luxury vehicle like my wifes Mercedes but just up dating the factory sound system to something that was alot more modern and a side benefit of over riding some of the outside noise, like you said the design of the Insight is built for maximum (MILEAGE) and therefore Honda was not going to add additional weight to the vehicle to make it quite like their Honda Accord.

However, I have owned many-many-many vehicles over the yrs. and have found that you can make a manufactures vehicle more to your personal likes than the way it was designed from them if you find a certain characteristic that you don't like and can find a solution to make it fit your desires better. They may have designed it for a specific task but to me that doesn't stop the owner from making it a more personal vehicle that fits that owners likes better.

Well, anyway I guess thats why there are Black/White/Red/Blue Colored vehicles and Auto trans. and Manual Trans. Etc. Etc.

Terry