Battery life

[Doug Lynn]

I am on the fence about ordering a 2006 Insight (manual tranny, a/c, and I hope cruise control) and have read enough of the postings on different topics to know that this is a pretty good forum. The most frequent hit I have encountered in my Internet browsing is the cost of battery replacement. What experience do you veteran's have on this cost factor of operating the Insight over what I hope to be a very long time?

[Insightful Trekker]

Hi Doug and welcome to the forum

Did you see this thread

http://www.insightcentral.net/forum/vie ... php?t=3814

The one most specific to your concerns is listed as "Rationalizations for Hybrids"( in the link above).

Battery cost is also potentially highly variable since each dealer _can_ adjust the selling price. In my situation the IMA battery cost has come down $800 from 9/02 - 9/04 to around $2100 + installation $200-300.

Overall no real problems except the "new" aspect of being a hybrid and difficulties finding knowledgable service tech's for the rare odd problems. IMO pretty much mainstream in this regard.

Battery service life Highly variable. Warrantied 8 years / 80K miles. And you _will_ see performance degradation as they age which is _NOT_ warrantable. Cost per mile up to the 8/80k IMA battery warranty limit Low, very low. But as some point you'll have to pay back _some_ of the hyper MPG savings for a new IMA pack.

HTH!

[Doug Lynn]

For John and everyone else who have already examined the issue of battery life and cost

Thanks for the guidance and info.

My order for a silver, manual, a/c will be placed next week and the dealer indicates delivery next Jan/Feb. The 2006 tax credit will be satisfying as well. Although I have not yet nailed down an IRS source, the dealeship swears the credit is near the max of $3500.

[Insightful Trekker]

Email the IRS for an answer I did way back when. You'll get one but its probably going to be a bit "technical" and very legally defensable. Read; you may still not know the precise "how-to".

But with the 06 filing date so far in the future I'd expect the wrinkles to be ironed out by then. There were a few in regard to the older credit and the Insight when I filed. It was nowhere near $3500 though

HTH!