2006 NY Times article

[Geodesiq]

Honda Insight: The Once and Future Mileage King - New York Times

Just thought it would be interesting to resurrect this 06 NY Times article.

"When it was introduced in 1999 as the first gasoline-electric hybrid sold in America in modern times, it was also the most fuel-efficient mass-produced car. Although production ended this summer, it remains the nation’s mileage champ after seven years." That last sentence can how read: after 12 years.

[jeff652]

*Very Cool*

Never saw that before tonight. Thanks for sharing!!

[jime]

Thanks for sharing that. I had not seen the article.

Like the writer, I view the Gen1 Insight as a very special car that existed for a short space and time. It will not be repeated. Those of us who are lucky enough to own one should take good care of it and cherish it

I found a couple of problems with the article, but all-in-all I enjoyed the read.
First problem is he had to test with the CVT and that doesn't do as well as the manual for fuel economy. Second, he completely failed to mention lean burn operation. Perhaps he considered that too complicated for his audience, and it isn't on the CVT he drove but it is one of the keys to super mileage numbers.

The most serious problem was his claim, "In my best segment, running alone at about 55 m.p.h. into a strong headwind, I managed to achieve mileage of a little over 118 m.p.g. for 22 miles (according to the readout of its on-board computer, which seemed very accurate). But I had to abort my economy run when the traffic slowed." I don't think this is possible in a CVT, but perhaps someone will correct me.

Good article. I enjoyed it

[Eli]

It's entirely possible with a CVT, but it's even more dependent on environmental conditons than with a MT. He probably meant a strong tail wind, and it's likely those 22 miles were slightly downhill. He probably would have been close to 150MPG for that segment in a MT.

It's really unfortunate that he drove a CVT though, I agree.