There's another aspect of driving an Insight that others may not realize: They get excellent mileage in the city,
as long as you're moving. Stopping
kills mileage (auto stop helps, but you still have to get started again and get back up to speed). In town, on my CVT, it's not unusual for me to average 80+ MPG at steady 40-45mph speeds. But if I have to stop... oh, boy. My mielage can drop into the high 50s-low 60s.
So to keep moving, I avoid stops as much as possible, which leads me to notice red lights and make a mental note of their timing. I have an office away from my home that I visit
very early most mornings, when there's hardly any traffic, and after having lunch with nearby friends, I'll head back home. And being uncommonly cheap, instead of using the turnpike and needlessly paying a couple of bucks a day, I'll use the service road and avoid tolls... but then, I have to endure the traffic lights. Or, do I? Over many months, I figured out the patterns of the lights, and the optimal speed to hit them as they turn green (I can see the yellows changing on the signals as I approach, which helps, and I can see oncoming cross traffic, in case some hero tries to run a red at the last second). Sometimes, I get lucky and get all 13 green ones from my garage door to my parking lot. Those days, I reward myself with a lunchtime adult beverage.
However, the speed limit on the service road is posted at 50, and I've discovered that varying my speed and maintaining a steady rate (from 42 to 46 mph, depending on the segment) will result in the greatest success... which used to drive my fellow travelers crazy. They would pass me at or above the speed limit religiously, only to be stopped at the next red light, and observe me passing them on the empty lanes as soon as they turned green... at speed. One white truck in particular would angrily drive off, pass me again, and be stopped at the next light... only to have the humiliation repeated as I would pass him with no apparent deceleration.
It amuses My Beloved no end when I take her to the office with me now, and she observes the four or five fellow travelers who, having observed my tactics, no longer pass me, but trail me in order to hit the same green lights I do. Usually, the evil white truck is the one right behind me, and he even waved at me once as he passed me on my exit.
I know, I know, you're probably thinking someday some red-light runner is going to foul up my train and cause a huge rear-end wreck involving several cars as I drop anchor. So far, the traffic has been so sparse at my commute time, and my field of view so good in this stretch, that I haven't had to sweat it. I wouldn't do this in heavy traffic, but at 5:30am, it's such a hoot... and timing lights, or taking right turns whenever possible to keep moving, is a great strategy for maintaining high mileage... try it!
MPG. I need to do better! I need those dots!
Keep those dots coming!
