9 months of I2 hindsight

[Zwolfe]

9 months of ownership and 25'ish thousand miles on the I2 and figured I'd look back to then to now.

The I2 does everything I wanted it to do. It sips fuel, hasn't given me any trouble in any regard. I average around 46 MPG, the wife gets around 43 MPG. Different drivers, different results. The MPG rests heavily on the driver.

While I do tend to stay the speed limit, since it's definitely not a car with brawn, it can and will get up and go with some planning in advance. The largest difference is turning ECON off, and then putting it in sport mode which clearly increases performance responsiveness. It's a night and day difference, the programming is very different.

With ECON enabled, I find the I2 sluggish - and that's fine, if I'm not trying to pass someone, or drive up mountains.

Regarding the sport mode, I only use it when I'm on two lane roads and I'm about to pass a car, or multiple cars in front of me. The I2 has no problem at all passing.

I don't much care for the CVT at 15 MPH and under. It's a bit jumpy. As a result, I always feather the gas pedal until I get above 15 MPH and then everything is smooth sailing. Considering my driving time at 15 MPH and under is substantially lower than otherwise, I guess I really don't care.

A lot of people I read about have issues with regen, particularly while going up hills. This has never been much of an issue for me. While it likely pisses off hypermilers, the more you press on the gas pedal the less the car wants to regen going up hills, and if you press far enough on the gas pedal the I2 won't even try to regen, at all. So if you're in a precarious situation, and regen could legitimately be a problem, bury the gas pedal and it's no longer an issue.

Another thing I like to do on long highway trips through hills and mountains is just to use cruise and chill. I turn econ off and the I2, while in cruise, will usually not regen going up hills unless you are to the crest. It's like the I2 can sense the road grade tapering off and considers then to regen, sometimes not.

Regarding the above paragraph, Honda in the 90's introduced Grade Logic in their automatic transmissions. It's a rather helpful feature to hold lower gears while descending down a hill, instead of shifting into a higher gear as speeds increase which puts an excessive toll on the rotors and brake pads from braking. So, basically, it's sort of a engine brake feature, and Honda calls it Grade Logic, which works in conjunction with the transmission holding lower gears as you descend.

It is my opinion that Honda has somewhat of a reverse-Grade Logic feature in the I2 that observes road grades, and adjusts regen accordingly. Somewhat like I said above, you can observe this by using cruise control, with ECON off, and look for the I2 to enter regen as you crest, but not before. With ECON enabled, it's a totally different monster in that it will regen whenever it damn well pleases (mostly).

Build quality of the I2 is astounding. Over 25 thousand miles later, there are no mystery-squeaks ... rattles ... odd things going on. The car is still as tight as the day we picked it up with 1 mile.

One thing I don't like are the side windows that rattle when they are down partially. Fully retracted, or fully up, no rattle. The rattles occur when you go over bumps.

Tires. Everybody hates the damn tires. The I2 would likely receive much more positive notes overall if they didn't get shipped with the craptacular Dunlop tires. According to people who get new tires slapped on, it's like a night and day difference. So, for people like me who are still using the Dunlop tires, it's nice to know the I2-experience will only get better.

I don't figure it's entirely common that people would go out and buy the same car again. I would buy the I2 again if I could time travel and go back and do it all over again.

[gilbertguy]

Thanks Zwolfe, I'm about a year out from getting a new car and I'm really starting to research what the issues are. The I2 is a contender but I'm still concerned about Honda battery life? Do you know if they did anything different on the I2 battery to improve it over the G1? I've been looking on the forum for any battery failures but I think the car is still to new.

[CraigCA]

I agree with everything you said Zwolfe. The window rattle is really bugging me. I don't remember it when I first got the car. I will mention it to the dealer when it goes in for the first B1 service next week.

[Zwolfe]

I don't know Gilbert. I hope by the time the battery does go belly up that I can get an aftermarket solution that is superior to the Honda battery ... so that I win in the end, despite having to spend some money.

Craig, I noticed the window rattle within the same week of getting the I2. Design flaw of some sort. Thankfully, the only one I know of.

[firsthonda]

Originally Posted by Zwolfe

Tires. Everybody hates the damn tires. The I2 would likely receive much more positive notes overall if they didn't get shipped with the craptacular Dunlop tires. According to people who get new tires slapped on, it's like a night and day difference. So, for people like me who are still using the Dunlop tires, it's nice to know the I2-experience will only get better.

+1. I changed mine recently at 15,000 miles. BTW, the 12 Insight comes with wider Bridgestone Tires and ride quality is reported to be much better than the 10-11 models.

[CraigCA]

I leased my I2. I knew I would never keep this car because I think hybrids and electric car technology will change rapidly in the next couple of years......just when my lease will end.

I2 issues:

Roof rail strips flying off
MID mileage is inaccurate
Gauge cluster plastic scratches easily
Windows rattle

None of these are that bad, just annoying. There are probably more.

I don't have a problem with the tires. On new pavement mine are silent. On old pavement they are loud. I can't do much about that.

[pjaymac]

Thanks for the informative post, zwolfe. Nice to know an owner's experience over 25,000 miles.

firsthonda, thanks for noting that the '12 Insight has different and apparently better tires. Very good to know for someone contemplating buying a '12.

[pjaymac]

Originally Posted by Zwolfe

With ECON enabled, I find the I2 sluggish - and that's fine, if I'm not trying to pass someone, or drive up mountains.

Regarding the sport mode, I only use it when I'm on two lane roads and I'm about to pass a car, or multiple cars in front of me. The I2 has no problem at all passing.

I wouldn't likely be driving an Insight up or down many mountains, but there is a steep hill on a highway I use regularly that, when I'm ascending it, the cruise control on my '06 CR-V (156 horsepower) downshifts to maintain speed. Does the Insight (98 horsepower) do the same? Does it maintain its speed well on grade ascents?

Also, there are a couple of short highway merges (meaning there is almost no merge lane from the on-ramp, so you have to get up to highway speed very quickly) near me that I would be using regularly. Do you know how the Insight does on those?

[firsthonda]

Originally Posted by CraigCA

I2 issues:

Roof rail strips flying off
MID mileage is inaccurate
.

A dab of silicone will take care of the roof strips and the MIDs are innaccurate in all cars i've seen and driven.

[Zwolfe]

Originally Posted by pjaymac

I wouldn't likely be driving an Insight up or down many mountains, but there is a steep hill on a highway I use regularly that, when I'm ascending it, the cruise control on my '06 CR-V (156 horsepower) downshifts to maintain speed. Does the Insight (98 horsepower) do the same? Does it maintain its speed well on grade ascents?

I believe the total HP rating is over the 98 figure when you figure in the electric motor. Nonetheless, the Insight cannot downshift even if it wanted. It uses a CVT transmission. What you would notice are RPM's rising.

As for maintaining speed on grades, I know you can have around 800 pounds of crap in the I2, drive up a 15/20 (I forget which) degree grade road, and maintain around 90 MPH. RPM's would be in the 5K+ range. I would also do this with cruise on and ECON off, MPH fluctuation would be no more than 2 or 3 MPH of difference, with the MPH figure regularly 1 MPH over the set, desired speed.

The trick is getting the I2 up to speed to where it will hold it. It can and will gradually climb up to the desired speed under those circumstances, just don't expect it to happen right that moment. It's more of a pain in the ass to do it manually, in this case, the I2 can command itself more competently, arguably, than the driver. The I2 has a pretty bad-ass cruise system w/ ECON off. I suspect the CR-Z has a pretty sweet cruise system, too.

Originally Posted by pjaymac

Also, there are a couple of short highway merges (meaning there is almost no merge lane from the on-ramp, so you have to get up to highway speed very quickly) near me that I would be using regularly. Do you know how the Insight does on those?

This is one of those things where expectation differs from one person to another. I don't know how fast you want it to go and in what amount of time ... even then, not sure what I would say.