what happens to an Insight after 50,000 miles?

[buttrfly]

Hi Everyone,

I'm a new member and happy to find this forum.

I looked at a 2000 Insight with 50,000k and need to decide if I want to buy it asap. It's in pretty good shape, a few little scrapes on the body, but that's all. Needs new tires, and a tune up.

What really concerns me is the 50,000 mile mark, as I've always heard that is when things start to go wrong and need to be replaced on a car. It's had the brakes done, but that's it so far... regular servicing though, they took care of it. They said the battery has a 100,000 warranty on it, so that's covered.

Anyone that's been thru the 50K to 80k miles with an insight that can give me some "insights" about what to expect, I'd really appreciate it!! Also, how many miles can these cars take on the long run?

It's between this and a honda civic hybrid which is more money and no stick- I really like manual transmissions...

Thanks! . ....... Buttrfly

p.s. it only has a cassette player, is it easy to put in a cd player or better yet an mp3?

[sc2000nst]

My 2000, 5 spd insight just turned 89,000 miles. I have owned it just over a year. It is time for its 90,000 check up/service at the dealer ($400). Still running original battery, and they are warranted to 150,000 miles now.

The only problem I have is . . . I have trouble getting out of parking lots. It takes too long to show it off to people who have no idea what it is.

I am not a hypermiler, but even normal and careful driving gets me about 60mpg in town.

Pay a few bucks to have the Honda dealership give it the onceover and check its history on their computers.

Mine has a cassette also, but I added an XM radio and have not listened to commercial radio since. I have seen in other posts where aftermarket radios have been added.

[red1dr]

Based on the following discussion, I got an Alpine CDA-9857 that supports an iPod:
http://www.insightcentral.net/forum/vie ... ht=speaker

Dead easy to mount. Mounting instructions:

http://www.qagh.com/insight/howto/show. ... howall=yes

You'll also want to replace the stock squeakers, at least for the front. I got Infinity 6012si thin-mounts, also a drop-in.

These model numbers may have been superceded by now. I like mailorder so I got them from Crutchfield.

[IamIan]

My 2000 Standard Insight is at about 120,000 miles...

still original batteries...

The passenger side door seals need fixed as it leaks into the seatbelt...

The passenger side bottom door plastic cover has broken clips...

I have been in 2 accidents.... The second one was not repaired properly.... And the car needed to be re-repaired to fix some of the first mechanics mistakes.... one of which the AC I have not yet gotten around to fixing .. It's winter anyway.

My FCD button for the driver has never worked since I bought it several years ago... never bothered to get it fixed... just use the instant and the trip.

some of the under covers were torn off in one of the accidents ....

that is about it... but for 120,000 miles and 7 years and 2 accidents the car is in great shape....

[Guillermo]

My 2000 Insight is just about to reach 120,000 miles.
I've replaced both Oxygen sensors, the thermostate, the gas springs that hold up the rear hatch. And replaced the front brakes and tires several times (that's because I raced the car at auto-x events and race track time trials for over 2000 miles over a span of 3 years )
Nothing else has required repair and I drive it everyday.

*****
Added this:

I forgot to mention the A/C failed but that was repaired by replacing one of the A/C lines and recharging the system.

[buttrfly]

Thanks for all the info everyone. I'm going to make my offer and will let you know if I get it.... I'm excited! Will definitely put the mp3 player and good speakers in, thanks for the links on that!

Aloha from Hawaii....

[flymuck]

Hi buttrfly,

Hope you get the car!

Just wanted to say a couple of things... I have two Insights ("his" and "hers"). I've owned the 2001 CVT since 2003, bought with about 25K miles on it, and it now has 65K. The only major work we've done to it has been done under warranty (e.g. front lower control arms). The battery has not been replaced and is still in great shape.

The second Insight is a 2000 manual, which I bought about 2 months ago with 75K miles. Right away I noticed it was having a lot of problems with the battery, and within about 6 weeks of ownership, I got the IMA light and the battery pack was replaced under warranty. From the service records given to me by the prior owner, most, if not all, of the major work done to the car was under warranty.

As for cars having problems after 50K miles, from my experience and knowledge about cars, this is not typical for Hondas and Toyotas. 80-100K is their mile-marker for bigger repairs, and those are usually due to wear & tear, not problems per se.

Hope this helps!
-fly

[buttrfly]

Thanks for the info flymuck (interesting name)

what's a good price for this car?

[flymuck]

Price depends on a lot of factors; with the year of the car and list of modifications, you can do a basic kbb.com price check, but other factors will affect the price. There are some places where they are not considered very desirable, so they'll go for cheap. Other places they get snapped up in a jiffy, so they may end up selling for above market value.

To give you an idea, I got my 2000 Insight with 75K miles about 2 months ago for $7900 -- what I consider to be a very good price for this car in California, with a clean title (not salvage -- that's important because a salvage title voids the warranty, including the battery warranty!). This car also had an upgraded sound system, XM, 4 good speakers, and is in excellent physical condition.

What are they asking for the car you're looking at? And generally, where are you located?

Good luck!
-fly

[buttrfly]

with 50,000 mi and needing new tires its 9,000,(KBB is 9,500) and I'll need to put in a sound system. how much is a tune up for one of these? as it needs that too...

how many suitcases can one get in an insight?