Hello, all,

I've now owned my Insight for almost 2 months, and I thought I'd share my experiences with everyone here. So, in no particular order, there are some bullet points and discussions below.

Mileage.

I am EXTREMELY impressed with the gas mileage I am getting...Even the first 600 miles when you're supposed to get crappy mileage, I was still getting 63 MPG. Since then, and due to experimentation with driving techniques, I'm up somewhere around 67, but I seem to have plateued. I will have to look for the next hypermiler technique to give me another boost. I'm looking forward to the day when I can get 75 for the whole tank.

Times when I get low mileage (and when I say low, I only mean 60 so I'm not really complaining here).

Hills...Hills are a killer. Even when I rely heavily on the battery, I still get pretty poor mileage on hills. (well, duh.). Do people her generally find that you get better mileage when using the battery assist for hills or trying to conquer the hill using very little battery assist? What are people's strategies here?

Headwinds - I think aside from hills, the most dramatic influence on my gas mileage is the presence or absence of wind. I'm not a physics nerd, but I wonder if the car is soooo small and light that it has to work extra hard to battle a headwind, whereas a Hummer simply shrugs its shoulders in the face of high winds.

My commute to and from work is a good example. I have a 10 mile stretch on a completely flat (I mean completely flat. It is sea level and stays next to the bay) stretch of highway. Going to work, I get a nice tailwind. Coming home, I get a grumpy headwind. My mileage going to work is sometimes almost 90. (I think I managed 89 or so). Coming home, I get in the low 60's. Has anyone else noticed such a dramatic decrease in mileage due to wind?

The affect of speed on mileage.
I thought speed would be the biggest factor in mileage. In my non-hybrid (Subaru Outback), If i drive 75, i get fully 10 MPG less than if I drive under 65. Not so in the Insight. The difference between 55 and 65 is imperceptable to me.


Driving techniques.

A neighbor pointed me to insightcentral.net, where I read about Full Throttle Acceleration.
Take a look here
http://www.insightcentral.net/KB/faq...l#acceleration
but basically, this is when you floor it coming out of a full stop to use the battery instead of the gas engine to quickly get yourself up to cruising speed. I gave this a shot, and it seemed to get me a couple extra MPG in city driving...It just *seems* so weird.

Does anyone here use this technique? Have comments about it? Discussions are welcome.


Regenerative Braking and Downshifting.
I am least impressed with the amount of battery recharge I get with braking. The regeneration shuts off if i hit the brakes with even medium force. I understand that if you slam on the brakes, you probably *really* need the brakes, and recharging the battery is not a priority. But in my case, even slight pressing on the brakes starts the recharge, but then quickly shuts it off, and then all I get is brakes. In order to get any decent regeneration from braking, I have to continue to downshift until it's basically the engine coasting and deceleration that is causing the regeneration. Even when I do that, the regeneration shuts off at like 25 MPH anyway, and then my car goes into autostop mode at around 19 MPH where it's supposed to. I would say that *most* of my braking is in a place where the car decides it can't/won't do regenerative braking. I'm usually driving between 25 and 30 MPH, so when I brake, it's to reduce the speed from 30 to 0. The brake regeneration shuts off after just a few MPH deceleration.

Anyone else see this? Have any suggestions? It would be nice if I could get better regeneration out of braking.

Regeneration from deceleration (without braking)
I get very nice regeneration from downshifting and allowing the engine's deceleration to charge the battery. Way better than using the brakes. How are other people's experiences with this?

Climate Control and Dash Controls.
I really wish I could have gotten a model without A/C. You just don't need it where I live (right next to the Pacific Ocean where it's always about 75. 85 is a hot day for us). However, the car that the dealer could get had AC. So, I need to find ways to live with it. I do need the defroster, and unfortunately, the defroster and the AC are coupled. Feh. I really wish auto makers would not create defrosters that use the AC. The heat only defroster in my all gas car works just fine, and I can leave it on all the time. With my Insight, I find myself taping the defroster to clear the windshield, then turning it off a few seconds later. I do this on/off/on/off/on/off way too often when driving in the rain. poopers.

The control panel is frustrating. I want the equivalent of the vent open with no climate control. Basically, all I need to keep cool is to have outside air flowing into the cabin. I *think* the only way to do this is to turn the fan on and hit the button until the display says "Econ A/C Off". I'm not convinced that this is just giving me the vent. The manual I have doesn't match what I see in the controls, so reading the manual doesn't do much good. I don't want to lose gas mileage just to put outside air into the car. The control panels were designed by a moron with no UI experience. You have to hit about 6 buttons to do anything. Since one button just cycles through all the options, and the option I want is about 5th on the list, I get to build callouses on my index finger.


(Minor nit) Speaking of controls, the stereo controls and display are pretty barfmaking as well. When you have a CD in, it doesn't tell you anything useful about the CD, oh...like...what track you're listening to. Instead, it just says "CD" (gee. that's illuminating). I have to hit the random button (and hit it twice to toggle it on and then off) in order to change the display so I can see what track I'm listening to...more callouses. The stereo will be the first thing I have replaced in this car. Thankfully, it's a standard size stereo and is easy to replace.

Worries for the future.
Ironically, as I was sitting in the dealership awaiting my new car, I picked up the paper and read that Honda is discontinuing the Insight this year. I hope it won't become impossible to get parts for Insights in the coming years for repairs.

Humor.
I have started to wonder how frequently Insight owners get into rear-enders. The displays make for very interesting puzzle solving while you're driving. The display is truly for the mileage nerd/engineer. I wonder how many Insight drivers hit cars in front of them because we're fixated on our control panel instead of paying attention to the road. :-)

In general, I wish *all* cars had MPG indicators like the Insight does. If they did, I think people would start paying attention to how they drive, and how they can save gas. My friend bought a Mini last year, and the mini has an MPG gague on it. She loves it. She says it reminds her not to drive 75.

In general, I am extremely pleased with my Insight. I am VERY enthusiastic about this car. The expression on my face as I drive resembles Delta Flyer's picture. My husband thinks I've cracked. :-)

Tracey

 

Great review.

As far as rear ending anyone, that's a hybrid thing in general and you'll eventually get used to it and be able to naturally choose the safest time to look at the FCD without even knowing you're doing it.

The radio is garbage. There are soooo many nice choices out there for decent radios. I got one with Serius since I spend a lot of time in the car.

As far as all cars having an FCD, try the SCANGAUGE II. I got one for the wife's car and showed to some people and how my mileage has gone UP UP UP since I got it. They're buying one too.

You'll enjoy it for years to come and I wouldn't worry about parts.

 

I think both my BF and I have the same expression, too. His side of the family thinks we're nuts.

 

Trace

Congratulations on your purchace of one of the last new Insights. I have one of the first ones. Good job with your early MPGs. At this rate another 1300 miles and you will be a HYPERMILER. Goals are good. My last car was a Chevy Sprint and the best I got with it was 58 MPG. My goal was to have a car that got 60 or better. On my last tank in the Insight I averaged 102 for 1280 miles. I think with a little practice you will go way beyond your goal of 75. If you study the mileage data base you will see that several people have tanks over 100 MPG.
There are several sights that deal with Insights, Hybrids, and gas mileage in general. I and most people here belong to many groups. Each sight is a little different and you will find good information on all of them. This sight has a great mileage data base. I see that you entered your information into it on a tank by tank basis. That gives the data base and your average a solid foundation of creditability. Another sight you should look into is CLEAN MPG. It is for any kind of car looking for more mileage. It has a great glossary of terms that will answer most of your questions about mileage.
I agree with you about the vent system. I know most women don't like there hair blowing around in the wind, but I just open the windows. Below 50 I open the drivers side all the way and above 50, I open the drivers side 1/3 and the other side about 1 to 2 inches. Ofcourse this doesn't work in the rain cuz the water off the wiper blades comes right into the car.
I don't worry too much about parts and support for the Insight as Honda just extended the warranty for the IMA about the same time it announced the end of production. I have about 90000 miles on my car with no problems that honda hasn't fixed under warranty. I'm a collector of Mini and Micro cars and consider the Insight to be a rare and very historically significant car. Even though it wasn't the first Hybrid , it was the first in the USA and even if it is now out of production , it is still the best as far as MPG is conserned. I think I'll run it until something better comes along, then put it in the garage and drive it on weekends. I might be tempted to buy a new 06 mt if there are any left. Good luck with your new car, you are off to a great start....Louis sno779 silver slipper

 

By any chance are you related to a cousin named Austin?

The choice of Smiling Bob as my avitar is part a play on the herbal male enhancement product - Enzyte, and part spoof of the "real men drive Hummers" mentality. A couple of years ago, someone that works to the Enzyte company in Ohio actually PMed me.

I remember the hills from a 1996 visit, so your fuel economy is quite impressive! Lately, I've been getting 75mpg, so maybe that gives you an idea what the hills are doing.

I've been rear-ended twice, but not sure it had that much to do with it being an Insight. One of them was at an intersection notorious for collisions. The other was a 65-something guy colliding at dawn, but my stop in freeway traffic was on the abrupt side (i.e. not at fault, but could have driven better).

 

Glad to hear you are enjoying your new Insight. That mileage sounds fantastic for a new Insight owner, especially with trips in the high 80's, even if they are only one-way. It sounds like you have experienced most of the big MPG killers, winds, rain, and hills. The biggest obstacle to high MPG here in Wisconsin is the COLD. No matter how you drive, the cold temperatures take a huge bite out of your mileage, hopefully your conditions aren't as extreme, allowing you better MPG as well as better battery performance (some days the car won't even allow significant regen or assist because of temperature).

I usually try to minimize use of the battery in all circumstances, but I have an older pack which is more likely to recal when used heavily. Even if I could, I think I would still use it sparingly, definitely not using the full-throttle acceleration, your battery will thank you in 50,000 miles. The previous owner of my car drove it hard, and it shows both in mileage and wear on the car.

As for regen, what you are experiencing seems like what I have to put up with. When I am driving at low speeds, there is little chance to recharge the battery below 30 mph. Maximizing your coasting in Auto-Stop will help you in city driving as well if you do not use a Forced Auto Stop at low speeds.

 

Hey Tracey,

To get fresh air only put the air controls in "Econ AC Off" mode, and make sure that you don't have the Recirculate button pressed. In this mode you will get heat if you turn up the temp. The AC will never turn on, and you'll be getting the best mileage.
James

 

Oh...I forgot my biggest WTF observation.

WTF is up with the lever for tilting the seats forward so you can reach into the hatchback...

They are on the INSIDE of the seats near the shifter, and not on the outside of the seats near the door.

I don't get it. Why would they be on the inside where you can't get to them when you're standing next to you car trying to get something into the hatch?

It makes no sense.

 

Tracy,

My rap list on the Insight is short, but the inside seat levers is one of them. You could argue that my 1988 CRX HF was basically a non-hybrid Insight in many ways. It had the seat levers on the outside - excellent. Even though I'm left-handed and it should not bother me as much, inside seat levers are just more awkardward since the right hand is the shifting hand too. Also, some thing about the plastic construction makes adjusting the seat harder, and worse make a big person (i.e. 250-pound person) worry if they might bust it.

To make the Insight as light as possible, they skimped on the padding. If I were to go wild on customizing my Insight, a more comfortable seat would be near the top of the list. To keep it light, it would basically be a lawn chair and breathe so cooling would be at a minimum. It does not follow my back that well. After an hour or so, sitting becomes less comfortable....

________________________________________________

Other little gripes

• Allow the seat to go back a little more so you could sleep (I'm 5'9" and a fetal position is the only way I can do it)
• No hatchback release - must cut engine off and open it with remote entry or keys
• OEM stereo, but was upgraded after the first few years. Can you believe the 2000 Insight stereo has a cassette player? The amps is low and I kind of understand as fuel-efficiency defines the car.

 

Chuck:
Ah...I've always wondered that.
Honestly, when I first saw your avitar it seemed vaguely familiar- at the time didn't have cable or satellite so didn't see the commercials.
For a while thought that was an acutal photo
Since then we've had DirectTV and everytime they play that one, reminds me of that mixup.

LOL