Yes I do try to get as good as I can with the civic. I am getting as close as possible to 60 as I can with the amount of hypermiling I can tolerate, and that's 44 mpg - if I could get closer to 60 in an insight on autopilot then by all means I would. The reason why? I'm telling you, when you drive that much it's nice to not have to put so much effort into it all the time. I didn't buy a hybrid so that i could work harder at driving, I bought it to get better mpg for my commute. It works both ways, of course I do better when I'm paying attention to FE, but with that much driving it's just not fun to do the FE challenge all the time. My drive is mostly empty freeway without much terrain, some small humps and hills but that's it, mostly flat. So cruise costs me a couple mpg but if it makes an awful commute more tolerable then so be it. I want to use my car as a tool, I don't want it to rule my life.

In order for these cars to feel accessible to the general public, you have to realize that they are going to want regular cars and to drive them like regular cars. If you go tell people they can't drive it like a regular car then they won't want it. I am for everyone driving more fuel efficient vehicles, if they want to hypermile great, if they dont then still great - everyone get better mpg. If you start designing hybrids around the hypermile freaks and leave off all the features that make a car comfortable to drive, then the cars will remain what they are - freaks - and nobody will want them. If you put reasonable features in them so that people will want the cars then we can all benefit from the increased FE no matter what our driving style.

I am quite impressed by the HCH that way - they put a nice feature set in it, so it's not a stripped-down economy car. It's a nice car to drive and has all the essential features IMO, so I think they did a good job there. The Insight is a bit more hard core for economy, the looks have less universal appeal, and the size also restricts its applications. So perhaps it's more designed for the hardcore FE buff, but items like cruise should still be available if you ask me. It's as bitg as car as I need, but if the essential comfort features aren't there, then I'm not going to want to be in it for three hours a day.

 

I'll conceed that the general public is not going to hypermile. Sadly, much of the general public drives agressively and distracted. This might be a tangent, but if the general public cut down on the aggressive/distracted driving, a considerable amount of fuel would be saved.

For every hypermiler that acts as if he is on the last tank of gas he will ever get, is at least ten drivers that pays ZERO attention to their driving habits.

For what my opinion is worth, a long commute with light traffic probably would make some hypermiling an activity to avoid boredom. Even if you need to cruise at 70mph, a little listening to your hybrid can save some gas.

I definitely did not hypermile as much five years ago as I do now - some situations I go faster if it's needed.

 

Well nobody is answering yes to this yet, but there are installations for the Insight out there and you can find some guys who have put them in over on http://www.insightcentral.net/

Not having Cruise Control is a rather glaring omission from the vehicle for alot of people, but it seems like Honda has really treated the Insight more like a development vehicle that they just produce some, than anything else.

Maybe when Honda brings back the CRX in 07, they'll fix some of these shortcomings in their 2 passenger hybrid (assuming they do a Hybrid CRX to replace the Insight).

Scott

 

The "Next Generation" CRX looks like the CRX Si on steriods (double the horsepower). I hope they also have a CRX HF hybrid version...

 

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I see where you're coming from here, but really after a day of work I just want to get home. I can tolerate some wise driving up hills and coasting downhill and such, but if I drive to maximize FE, which means going 60, then it takes me an extra 20 minutes to get home - that's an extra 40 minutes in the car each day. I'm not into that.

I can get 50-60 mpg in my HCH for long stretches if I go 60 mph or so, but I'm not willing to do that on an 80 mile commute, plus I would be rear-ended every other day. If I drive 70-75 I can get about 42 with cruise and 45 without. The difference here is often not worth the extra effort - it saves me less than a gallon of gas per tank, which adds up to maybe $4 a week, which I'm happy to pay for the extra comfort. I still drive without the cruise maybe half time but the other times I just want to veg out and get home so I use the cruise. Trust me, when you drive that far every day, every little comfort adds up.

So, if 50-60 mpg is possible with the insight on autopilot then that might save enough to get excited about.

 

Well that's one of the reasons I started this thread. I was wondering how much comfort is sacrificed for that added FE. I am starting to get the idea. Back spasm therapy is WAY more expensive than gas. :-)

Thanks to all for the responses.

 

The MT version of the Insight gets much better mileage than the CVT. Zim-dude your HCH CVT mileage is very close to the average of our database so it is reasonable to assume that you would get around 54 mpg in a CVT Insight and around 63 with a manual tranny Insight. It is totally up to you if the mileage is worth being cramed into a much small car that lacks factory cruise. If you never need to transport more one extra person and some golf clubs the Insight should be fine.

 

Well mileage wise this is true, the proportion of my miles driven with more than two people and clubs is extremely small. The manual would be great. 63 sounds swell, but then again, so does 54. I am short so perhaps the size won't be an issue? I will keep trying to find one to drive but no luck so far.

 

depends on how much you are willing to pay, there are many on autotrader.com, carmax.com had one. I was considering one before I bought my HCH. I am still going to look for one once I get this payed down a bit. I am very picky though. I want gray interior so I need a 00-03, but then I also want the citrus yellow ... so I guess that was only in 00? Good luck on your search and hope you love it!!!