Just Purchased my first Insight!!! And Proud of It!!!

[Kenpo]

Hi guys, I just picked up my first 01 Insight in color red, CVT on saturday! I named her Sonya and I love her, lol. The cluster showed 56 mpg driving 65-80mph, which I think is awesome!

I'm new to the whole insight and just had a few questions on what you guys would recommend for upgrades (as in better gass mileage). I was reading couple threads but kinda still confused. What do you guys recommend for getting as in electonics. I was looking at the grid charger and seen one on the forsale thread going for 80 shipped and one that looks pimped out for 550? How do you even install one of these things? The one for 550 looks complicated as hell and the one for 80 looks alot simpler.

I also so the TPS ungrade I believe its for lean burn if I remember correctly. Can my CVT accept the same upgrades like the manual? I see all these upgrades in MT but now so much in CVT.
Let me know what you guys would recommend. I will post pics of her as soon as I'm done detailing her. Thanks Guys.

[Eli]

Congratulations!! Welcome to the club

The grid charger is for the continued health of your battery. It could improve MPG if your battery is very weak/dead, but that's not really its intended purpose.

Most of the mods out there focus on the MT because they're the MPG kings. Unfortunately, CVT Insights don't possess lean burn capability, which is the main reason for their lower overall numbers. Though of course they can still turn in some very respectable numbers of their own.

The best things you can do for MPG in the mean time is a general tuneup, and make sure the car has the correct Bridgestone RE92 tires inflated to 45PSI, or more if you feel comfortable.

[timny1984]

"Mods" in order of importance:

1. Bridgestone RE92 to 45psi+ (i run around 55-60 but my commute is 90% highway)
2. Make sure fluids are changed out with correct ones (you never know what the previous owner had in there)
3. Slow down as much as you feel comfortable (if you can get down to 60mph that's a great start)
4. Leave earlier and take your time, I'm much less stressed when driving the insight. I don't really care if someone flies by me. i usually catch them at the next light or two. you'll come to realize speeding really doesn't get you places much faster, maybe a few minutes at most.
5. learn your drive. Light sequences and timing really helps to get your numbers up.
6. Ok i stopped listing mods and just started talking.... back to mods. MIMA and LSAS are about the only good electronic mods for the CVT i believe. Grid charger as Eli stated isn't really made to improve mileage as much as it is to keep the battery going stronger longer. But still worth looking into.

The great things about the CVT's is if you drive them often, the battery seems to last much much much longer than the MT. I'm currently driving my MT with my CVT battery (192k miles on the battery). I can't compare it to a new battery, but i rarely use more than 3 bars, and it seems to be very strong.

What type of terrain do you have? I now call indistinguishable things to other people "hills" and hills to them are mountains to me . If you're looking for the best numbers you can get, learn to change your driving style a ton. Don't use assist after 30mph, try to accelerate at 50mpg on the FCD. If you're looking for number in the low 60's you won't have to change to radically at all.

Well congrats on your purchase and welcome to the community!


Tim

PS sorry for the long reply not really related directly to mods, i'm avoiding my work i should be doing. hah

[Kenpo]

Originally Posted by timny1984

"Mods" in order of importance:

1. Bridgestone RE92 to 45psi+ (i run around 55-60 but my commute is 90% highway)
2. Make sure fluids are changed out with correct ones (you never know what the previous owner had in there)
3. Slow down as much as you feel comfortable (if you can get down to 60mph that's a great start)
4. Leave earlier and take your time, I'm much less stressed when driving the insight. I don't really care if someone flies by me. i usually catch them at the next light or two. you'll come to realize speeding really doesn't get you places much faster, maybe a few minutes at most.
5. learn your drive. Light sequences and timing really helps to get your numbers up.
6. Ok i stopped listing mods and just started talking.... back to mods. MIMA and LSAS are about the only good electronic mods for the CVT i believe. Grid charger as Eli stated isn't really made to improve mileage as much as it is to keep the battery going stronger longer. But still worth looking into.

The great things about the CVT's is if you drive them often, the battery seems to last much much much longer than the MT. I'm currently driving my MT with my CVT battery (192k miles on the battery). I can't compare it to a new battery, but i rarely use more than 3 bars, and it seems to be very strong.

What type of terrain do you have? I now call indistinguishable things to other people "hills" and hills to them are mountains to me . If you're looking for the best numbers you can get, learn to change your driving style a ton. Don't use assist after 30mph, try to accelerate at 50mpg on the FCD. If you're looking for number in the low 60's you won't have to change to radically at all.

Well congrats on your purchase and welcome to the community!


Tim

PS sorry for the long reply not really related directly to mods, i'm avoiding my work i should be doing. hah

I just checked my tires today and they have bridgestone RE 92. I haven't check the tire pressure yet though. Are these OEM tires BTW just curious. By the looks of it, it has camber wear on the outside of the tires, are these normal wear and tear? The previous owner told me he changed the oil with synthetic 5-20 cause he said 0-20 was too expensive??? He also told me he changed the spark plugs and purchased OEM, haven't verified that either, the spark plug should match the head as well correct, I read it somewhere on here. I also still need to change the tranny fluid, what do you guys recommend OEM, or is there anything better?

I live in san diego and the roads are mostly flat, some hills (not mountain). And I drive mostly freeway. How do I not use assist? It just kicks in by itselft? My goal is to get 55-60 mpg. How do you guys drive your cars, I drive my insight live a regular car, kinda hard to go 65 mph all the time, lol.

How much is MIMA and is it a PITA to install? The instructions looks very complicated. And I never heard of LSAS.

[Kenpo]

Originally Posted by Eli

Congratulations!! Welcome to the club

The grid charger is for the continued health of your battery. It could improve MPG if your battery is very weak/dead, but that's not really its intended purpose.

Most of the mods out there focus on the MT because they're the MPG kings. Unfortunately, CVT Insights don't possess lean burn capability, which is the main reason for their lower overall numbers. Though of course they can still turn in some very respectable numbers of their own.

The best things you can do for MPG in the mean time is a general tuneup, and make sure the car has the correct Bridgestone RE92 tires inflated to 45PSI, or more if you feel comfortable.

Thansk alot guys...DO you know what the difference btw the $550 grid charger and the $80 grid charger on the FS section? Is it just the amp? My front tires maybe has about 45-50% thread left and need to rotate the tires, do you think it is still safe to run 45 psi on it?

[russellc]

LSAS stands for Low Speed Auto Stop. I just had it installed in my CVT Insight a week and a half ago by someone who is a regular in this forum (JoeCVT). Do a search for LSAS on this web site and you'll find more information about it. It just tricks the car into doing an idle stop even when you stop, go very slow (under 8mph) and then stop again. Great for traffic jams, drive-thrus, waiting in a toll booth line, etc...

Originally Posted by Kenpo

I just checked my tires today and they have bridgestone RE 92. I haven't check the tire pressure yet though. Are these OEM tires BTW just curious. By the looks of it, it has camber wear on the outside of the tires, are these normal wear and tear? The previous owner told me he changed the oil with synthetic 5-20 cause he said 0-20 was too expensive??? He also told me he changed the spark plugs and purchased OEM, haven't verified that either, the spark plug should match the head as well correct, I read it somewhere on here. I also still need to change the tranny fluid, what do you guys recommend OEM, or is there anything better?

I live in san diego and the roads are mostly flat, some hills (not mountain). And I drive mostly freeway. How do I not use assist? It just kicks in by itselft? My goal is to get 55-60 mpg. How do you guys drive your cars, I drive my insight live a regular car, kinda hard to go 65 mph all the time, lol.

How much is MIMA and is it a PITA to install? The instructions looks very complicated. And I never heard of LSAS.

Sent from my Autoguide iPad app

[Eli]

Mike has two grid chargers; A Maintenance charger that charges at 350mA, and a Overnight charger that charges at both 350mA and 1.4A.

The $80 charger also charges at 350mA. The difference between Mike's maintenance charger and the $80 charger is features. The $80 charger is a "dumb" charger. It has no safety features and no monitoring. It is up to you to monitor your pack and turn the charger off when necessary.

Mike's charger is microprocessor controlled and monitors several pack parameters. You can set the charger when to turn on, when to turn off based on input, based on voltage, etc. It's a "Set it and forget it" charger.

[racer26]

I don't know about the highways in San Diego, but the highways here have a 100km/h (60mph) speed limit. Most drivers drive 110-130km/h (68-80mph) on these highways.

I have no trouble at all driving mine at 55-65 mph (90-110km/h) on that highway, as long as I stick to the right lane, and don't be a dick.

I would say that most of us here drive our cars (comparatively) slow and steady. I used to drive an Acura 1.6EL (same as Civic Sedan, only with nicer interior, Canadian market only car). I'm an assertive driver, always have been, I'm confident in knowing exactly how big my car is, and exactly where it is in relation to everything around me.

I used to drive my route to work at an average speed of 95-105km/h. Since I got my insight, my average speed range has dropped to 75-90km/h. My total trip time? Hasn't changed. My route to work is 68km long each way.

Unless you can drive at a consistently higher speed, over a very long distance, higher speed means little more than more fuel used.

How do you not use assist? Drive slower, and exercise more pedal control. Since you have a CVT you don't have to also pay attention to maintaining lean burn, but through driving your insight, you'll learn there's a point on the pedal where assist kicks in. Ride just under that point for maximum power-to-efficiency ratio. Ride lower than that point when simply cruising at speed, since you don't need the extra power. Top gear speed at that power/efficiency point just below where assist kicks in is roughly 60-65mph, depending on terrain.

MIMA is $700 for the plug-n-play system. Installing it requires accessing the battery compartment in the back, running some wires under the carpet to the passenger footwell where the ECM is, and placing a display and joysticks somewhere where they're accessible to the driver. Its not overly complicated, but it is somewhat of a PITA.

Wear on the outside edges of the tires is normal, especially on the front, and even if the tires are overfilled. We don't know exactly why, beyond that it seems to have something to do with the suspension geometry.

RE92 are OEM tires for this car in North America. Recommended pressure for best fuel economy is 45-55 PSI. Ignore the door jamb rating of 38 front 35 rear.

Synthetic 5w20 is fine. Its just a bit thicker in very cold temperatures than 0w20. In San Diego, this wont matter. For me in Ontario, Canada, its a bigger deal, but probably still wouldn't matter.

55-60 mpg is possible in a CVT, but its going to take alot more work than it would in an MT (I can drive the everloving piss out of my MT insight and still do better than 50). Getting good mileage from the CVT's requires a lot more discipline WRT slow acceleration, since they can't make up for it at cruising speed with lean-burn.

[Willie Williford]

Pedal control is the secret! I hear so many Insighters talk about WOT...Even with the LRR and my sporting driving, I NEVER go WOT.

Willie

WOT is the same as Pedal to the metal.

[Eli]

Originally Posted by Willie Williford

Pedal control is the secret! I hear so many Insighters talk about WOT...Even with the LRR and my sporting driving, I NEVER go WOT.

Willie

WOT is the same as Pedal to the metal.

Never, Willie? Ever, ever?

That's unfortunate. I'm pretty sure I would thrash my car even more with a turbo! WOT is my middle name!

Of course, this behavior doesn't help fuel economy, but I digress.