New owner of a old Insight

[jagman]

About 8 months ago, I retired and became the proud owner of a low mileage 2005 Insight.
Even though I own (2) V12 Jaguars, XJS and XKE, I LOVE driving my Insight more. The only problem I have is my wife complains the low seats hurts her back as she is 6' but I am 6'5" and mine only hurts a little if we sit too long.
Thinking about putting spacers to raise the seats.
If it gets any better, then I await the experience.

I do ask for some comments from the more experienced.

1. My Mechanic is a really good one and works on all my cars so the other day he tackled replacing the cabinet filter. He finally gave up so I "yahoo' the issue and came up with several solutions, one was Figgy's Insight, where you had to do lots of modification to the vehicle, others talked about "just slipping it in". Mine is the Figgy model. Can anyone explain why Honda would build the Insight where body parts had to be cut out just to replace a filter they recommend changing quite often?

2. Mileage, since this is a used car, it shows the mileage since new is about 53 mpg but the owner drove it mostly on the highway to Sedona Az.
I on the other hand, get about 35-40 in summer with air and about 47-48 in winter with no air. Is this acceptable?

3. To improve mileage, I had installed a "Cruise Control" and I love it. Hopefully it will keep the speed more consistence than I do.

4. Headlights, does anyone know if it is worthwhile to upgrade the factory bulbs with the Silvana"

Thanks,

[Eli]

1) Replacing the cabin filter is easy. You basically just have to remove the glove box. If the filter has never been replaced, you have to cut a piece of plastic that goes across a support bar. No big deal, and hardly an extensive modification.

DIY Cabin Air filter replacement.

2) If your car is a manual transmission, those numbers are quite low even with the use of A/C. They're probably about right for a CVT.

3) Cruise Control won't give you optimal mileage. It moves the pedal too much. It definitely makes those long trips nicer, though.

4) Will let someone else chime in on this one. I know a few people have done HID upgrades and such.

[Lafter]

Originally Posted by jagman

About 8 months ago, I retired and became the proud owner of a low mileage 2005 Insight.

Congrats

Originally Posted by jagman

4. Headlights, does anyone know if it is worthwhile to upgrade the factory bulbs with the Silvana"

Yes .. I drive a lot at night and do this to all of my cars.

[Dakine]

Welcome Jagman:

I would echo Eli's link suggestion regarding the cabin filter replacement. The Figgy website also is helpful. You can find most of the answers to your questions by searching the website using the Google custom search in the upper left of the website. You will need to spend quite a bit of time but I find most answers are already documented on this website. Honda does do some things that folks may question but they also did some great things with this vehicle and many on this forum work hard a making improvements to the vehicle.

Many Insight owners are similar to you coming from a history of different vehicles and for some reason this car really makes you a proud owner. Playing the mileage game, getting stopped by strangers with questions and the fact you don't see many make it worthwhile. The support found here provides a little insurance.

Your mileage is low. I live in Prescott, AZ and have a 2003 CVT that is getting 56-59 mpg. You do have to work at it by using a light throttle, anticipating red lights inflating the tires more than you probably like. Many tips available on this website.

[Balboa]

Driving style really does factor in a lot. You start eventually realizing that you can shift a little bit sooner because of the low end torque. Use the assist a little bit to get up to that target speed and then let the lean burn kick in by laying off the throttle to the point where you don't use assist.

I've used techron fuel injector cleaner and some lucas oil injector cleaner and it seems to of helped a little bit with my mileage and minimized jerkiness in lean burn mode, getting about 10 more mpg now. I wasn't quite getting as low mpg as you but I was getting in the low 50s in stop and go city driving for quite some time.

I can seem to maintain about 58mpg in stop and go traffic now.

My best was around 70mpg mostly highway miles going 60-70mph on a 70 mile trip so.

Thinking about throwing in another bottle of techron fuel injector cleaner again.

Can't hurt.