2000 Insight MPG and battery questions

[les]

I’m looking into purchasing a 2000 Insight. The car has 5.3Liters/100km lifetime fuel consumption. I’m not sure what it is in MPG. I find this lifetime fuel economy low am I correct? Car has had the battery changed in 2005. The owner says the battery is longer under warranty but if Honda changed the battery should it not have the 8 or 10 year factory warranty. If anyone who has changed their battery could chime in it would be greatly appreciated. If looking forward to joining the community.

Les

[budomove]

I just got a 2000 5spd and the lkpl consumption was about 4l/100k which was 58mpg, so yeah the consumption you mention is definitely subpar.
good luck finding a keeper!
frank

[IamIan]

1 Mile = 1.60934 Kilometers
1 Gallons (US) = 3.78541 Liters

(5.3Liters/100km) * (1 Gallon / 3.78541 Liters ) = 1.4 Gallons / 100 km

(1.4 Gallons / 100 km) * (1.60934 km / 1 Mile ) = 2.253 Gallons / 100 Mile

2.253 Gallons / 100 Mile = 0.02253076 Gallons / Mile

0.02253076 Gallons / Mile = 44.38 Miles / Gallon

So yes it is unusually low.

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Brake lightly to make the most of regen not hard mechanical brakes waste energy.

Look ahead of you and learn to anticipate traffic flow... The better you get at properly anticipating traffic flow the better your MPG and the less worry you have about not braking in time to avoid the car in front of you.

Look around the forum at old posts and such... there is plenty of information here to get your FE / MPG ... way up....

If any of the hypermilers live near you, ask very nicely for a lesson on some of their techniques so you can see it first hand.

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All of that being said....

The previous owner who got under 45MPG... will never see MPG that high again from any other car short of a PHEV.

Driving location and skill make a big difference in MPG....

The Insight might not always get 70+ MPG... but short of a PHEV... you will get better MPG in an insight than any other vehicle available today. Given the same driving location and skill level of the driver.

There are people who have gotten crazy MPG #'s in other small cars .... I Would bet heavily that if you had the same conditions with an Insight you would always get better MPG than any other car ... except for PHEVs.... unless the insight is also equally equipped as a PHEV... Then I give the edge back to the insight.

[les]

I spoke to the owner and they say they do approx 80% city 20% highway. With these additional details is the number still small?

I'm just worried that I won't be able to beat that number. Is achieving high MPG mostly determined by the state of the battery assuming the engine is in good working order???

Thanks to those who responded above

Les

[budomove]

That isnt bad for city, I live in the city, and work in the suburbs, and the beginning of my commute involves about 20 traffic lights, and I think I average mid 40s befor getting on the highway, so that seems alright. I am getting a 69mpg average on my 35 mile hilly highway commute, starting out with 20 minutes/5 miles of downtown city driving.
frank

[IMAhybrid]

Originally Posted by les

I’m looking into purchasing a 2000 Insight. The car has 5.3Liters/100km lifetime fuel consumption. I’m not sure what it is in MPG. I find this lifetime fuel economy low am I correct? Car has had the battery changed in 2005. The owner says the battery is longer under warranty but if Honda changed the battery should it not have the 8 or 10 year factory warranty. If anyone who has changed their battery could chime in it would be greatly appreciated. If looking forward to joining the community.

Les

When I bought my 2000 Insight last year it had a lifetime mpg of only 47.9 (not as low as the one you're looking at but still very low), it was a state owned vehicle so no one who drove it really cared about mileage/knew how to drive it for mileage. The type of driving (city/highway) you do can make it more difficult to get good mileage, but it's the driving style that is most important. I'm not sure where my car was driven most of the time, I know it was used for trips to meetings (highway) but I don't know if it was used for a lot of short trips or in stop and go often. I drive a lot of highway, I get my lowest numbers on the highway (still nowhere near as low as the previous owners [63.4 is my personal low], I honestly don't know how they got numbers so bad), the faster I go. The highest numbers I've gotten (86.6 & 84.1) were achieved by trying not to use the battery.

My battery was replaced before I bought my car. If you are in the States I would think we are both still covered for 10 years, unless you are over 100k miles. I'm not sure what other counties warranties are.

BTW there is a button of the dash to switch the display fro l/km to mpg.


Good luck.

[james]

Mine was also in the high 40s when I bought it, with about 50K miles on it. I reset the LMPG soon after I bought it, and after 4 1/2 years and about 65K of mostly mountain driving, it's at 70.2.

The most likely cause of low mpg is incorrect adjustment of the nut holding the steering wheel

[HornHonker]

Originally Posted by les

I’m looking into purchasing a 2000 Insight. The car has 5.3Liters/100km lifetime fuel consumption. I’m not sure what it is in MPG. I find this lifetime fuel economy low am I correct? Car has had the battery changed in 2005. The owner says the battery is longer under warranty but if Honda changed the battery should it not have the 8 or 10 year factory warranty. If anyone who has changed their battery could chime in it would be greatly appreciated. If looking forward to joining the community.

Les

May I ask, how much are they wanting for it ?

[IamIan]

Originally Posted by les

I spoke to the owner and they say they do approx 80% city 20% highway. With these additional details is the number still small?

It is the kind of MPG I would expect from a 80%+ city driver, who makes almost no consistent driver effort to improve their driving habits...

The car can only do so much for you...

With a minimal but consistent driver effort I would expect above 50MPG even in 90% City.

With about average driver effort I would expect around 58 to 60MPG even in 90% City.

With crazy obsessed fanatic hyper-miler driver effort I would be surprised with anything bellow 70MPG even with 100% City.

Originally Posted by les

I'm just worried that I won't be able to beat that number.

You will get better MPG out of an Insight than you will with any other car or truck on the road that is not a PHEV.... You may not get 80+MPG... but driven for an extended period of time and averaged out... the Insight with lower rolling resistance... lighter weight... better aerodynamics... will beat any other car when driven the same way under the same conditions.... If you want to beat the MPG you'll get from a Insight get a PHEV or give up on cars and ride a bicycle or take a bus.

Originally Posted by les

Is achieving high MPG mostly determined by the state of the battery assuming the engine is in good working order???

100% NO ... not at all.... several people with LMPG over 90MPG hardly use the battery at all and some have considered the MPG pros and cons for removing the batteries weight.

High MPG ( 90% of it ) is a function of 2 things. In this order.

#1> The Driver ( how the car is driven )

A distant Second

#2> The Drive Route ( Lower States have warmer winters, flatter land is easier than hills, Fewer Red lights and traffic are easier. )

[les]

thanks guys!