It took 8 years but I finally got an Insight.

[Drakon]

Hello, new insight owner, long time hybrid driver here. For a bit of background here’s how the last few years played out.

2003
I had been driving a car bought for me by my mom for a couple years that constantly had issues, one day on the way home from work I took east bound 465 instead of west bound and drove straight to "dealership road". The first thing that caught my eye was the Honda dealership. After walking around I seen it and instantly fell in love, a 2003 Honda Insight. I got with a sales guy and took it for a drive. It was perfect, and I was ready to buy it when at the last second something popped into the back of my head. "Chris you’re going to get married and a 2 seater isn’t going to work when those kids show up". So I compromised and that night I got a 2003 Civic hybrid.

2005
I had been getting great mpg and loved being a hybrid driver, but one fateful day on the way to work my wonderful car meet with an early demise. The poor girl was accordioned. Needless to say the insurance company totaled her, but due to 0% interest on the loan and always slightly overpaying the payments she was worth more than I owed and I got a check for almost 6k, credit cards quickly paid off. After only 2-3 days driving a rental I couldn’t stand it anymore and started looking for a new hybrid, but there was none. No one had a new one in stock, but finally I found a used 2003 Civic Hybrid, where else but the place I bought my first one. The price was high but they knew they had me over a barrel. I should have haggled more but I’ve never been good at that kind of thing.

2011
Issue after issue, I had to have the transmission burnished do to a juttering issue back in 05, It quickly came back and I was told there was nothing else left that could be done. I brought it in many times for an oil change and told them about it coming back to no avail. She drank oil and transmission fluid like it was going out of style, wouldn’t get over 40mpg, the battery had dead cells, and the dealership didn’t seem to care. And finally last week the transmission started its death rattle 165k miles. I knew there wasn’t much time left. I scoured the net for a dealership with a new car; I was tired of used out of warranty talk. No luck, no Civic hybrids, they seem too disappeared of the face of the earth when I need them. So began my search for something else and for the heck of it, remembering the Insight I fell in love with, I had to see how they looked now. 4 doors, I couldn’t believe it, it’s a 4 door now, and after a quick search, only 2 in the area a base and an Ex-nav. The base, same place I got my two other cars, a good price but no cruise control, are you kidding. So Friday I pulled into the other dealership, transmission screaming. We took the Insight for a test drive, it was like meeting an old love again, and I had to have her. The civic was only worth 500 to a guy that would part her out and I owed 6k on it, yay karma. I didn’t care, I wanted her gone. We signed her over and got a new family member. A 2011 Honda Insight w/Nav , Crystal Black Pearl. Oh boy she is a sexy car.

[Hybrid-Battery-Repair]

I would have bought the Civic from you for more...

Originally Posted by Drakon

The civic was only worth 500 to a guy that would part her out and I owed 6k on it, yay karma. I didn’t care, I wanted her gone.

[Moviemike]

Originally Posted by Drakon

Hello, new insight owner, long time hybrid driver here. ...........We signed her over and got a new family member. A 2011 Honda Insight w/Nav , Crystal Black Pearl. Oh boy she is a sexy car.

Put some extra air in the tires and have fun learning all the subtles of driving it for top mpg. I'm at 50.3 mpg for 25k, others have done better.

The Nav system is both fun and useful, worth studying and setting up to suit yur use of it. Hands free bluetooth phone works great if you got the right perrephiels. I turned off the voice activation and fine tuned the CD speakers for deceint sound. Best option was door visors ...they keep the rain out with the windows open a little, cut out the draftyness at 40 mph allowing a/c to be off and increaeing mpg. I got some top dollar Meguiars NXT Tech Wax 2.0. It really brings out the beautiful Clear Sky Blue color. Which continues to be a head turner (when the car is clean) even though the car is two years old now.

(One final tip ...pay your bills and never, never, NEVER build up credit card debt. Pay them off in full each month, or CUT THEM UP ...a voice of experinece.)

[Zwolfe]

Black I2's are beautiful.

Please, maintain the paint. I've seen some photo's of black I2's on here and it pains me seeing swirl marks, etc.

[Stone]

Zwolfe is right, I have a black 2010 I2, and it's paint really shows marks easily. Make sure you get it clear bra'd or waxed heavily or both as soon as you can. Enjoy your new Insight!

[Zwolfe]

There's many products out there to maintain your paint with.

I'm a Zaino fan-boy due to results + durability (crap seems to last forever).

I forget what layer of Z2 I am on for my I2 ... 7? I think?

My I2 has only seen a power washer once and that was to knock a bunch of big crap off it and I immediately took it home and washed it by hand using the 2-bucket method. I use my garden hose as a pre-wash to knock off a bit of grime and so on, but mostly to get it wet.

I just washed it this past weekend and did a Z6 wipe-down and stood back and told myself "this thing is so immaculate you could birth babies on it and nobody would get infected."

I live along a heavily traveled rural road so I just pull the I2 into the middle of my lawn. Usually every other time I wash and detail it I have at least one girl drive by yelling interesting things at me while others honk horns. It's beginning to be a neighborhood affair.

Can't throw any of your detailing towels on the hood either or they'll slide right off. Haha. Was picking grass out of my buffing towel a month ago or so.

Here's my old Zaino thread I keep failing to remember to update.

I believe it's Zaino Z5 which is supposed to be excellent for dark colored cars.

I would almost pay money to see a properly Zaino'd black I2 on here. My goodness, it would be sex.

It takes me about 4 hours these days just to get 1 layer of Z2 on (with the wash and dry and all of that prior + Z6 wipe down). About 3 hours just to wash, dry and get a Z6 wipe down in. I always find spots I have to go over again, sometimes multiple times. The front of the I2 is a damn bug magnet. Obviously I am slow as can be, but, whatever. I enjoy doing it, so. Even on hot days when I have a Gatorade in the freezer and have to come inside for a drink every 20 minutes.

[circa1986]

Too bad the average car owner has absolutely no idea what he/she is doing when it comes to washing/protecting a car finish. For that reason, I would make sure you do a lot of research on Autopia.org or other car detailing websites to make sure you're not doing more harm than good. Make sure you use the proper products, techniques, etc. If you don't know what you're doing, you're definitely doing much more harm than good.

ZWolfe, I thought you had a garage!

[Zwolfe]

yea, what circa said.

If you clay, which you should, keep the paint wet with your spray bottle the entire time. The paint has to be lubricated, mandatory.

At any rate, your choice if doing whatever.

circa, my folks down the road have a garage that I helped build. I "borrow" it every now and then.

[circa1986]

Haha, I wish I had a garage I could borrow! With electricity, too!