Opinions wanted/needed...

[DeanSweet]

Hey all!
1st post so please be gentle...
Currently looking for a replacement winter car for the daily commute.
Have my eye on 2 Insights taht are close to me.
Option 1: 2005 Silver Automatic, 116k miles, everything appears to be in order and in really good shape. $8500
Option 2: 2001 Silver Manual, 99k miles, again everythign appears to be in good order. $7000
Interior looks to be nicer on the 2005 but it being 4 years newer I could understand why.

My question is, assuming the batteries and cars have been maintained which would you pick?

I really like the idea of 70mpg with the stick and understand how a manual gearbox works I might be able to work on it but the automatic concerns me because I have very little knowledge on how to work on it and/or how the cvt gearbox works. How do you know if the batteries are in working order or have been replaced?

Once again, opinions welcome and appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Dean

[jkbrushaber]

Do you get much snow there? Why do you need a winter car. The I1 does best in warmer weather, not so great in snow and cold.

[DeanSweet]

we get a few months of 10-20 degree weather here.
6-8 occurances of snow 4-8"s deep.

is that enought to defer me from the Insight?
I see you are in Madison, Wisconsin? Your cold season is worse than mine, does that mean you drive a 4x4 during the cold season?

[jkbrushaber]

I drive the Insight all winter unless a storm just came thru or is on the way with more than a couple inches. Last winter was my first in the Insight, and my tires were pretty worn, but it is no snow machine. I'm putting new tires on this fall, so it should be a little more reasonable next winter. However, I probably wouldn't call it or use it as a "winter car".

[Hybrid-Battery-Repair]

Originally Posted by DeanSweet

Hey all!
1st post so please be gentle...
Currently looking for a replacement winter car for the daily commute.
Have my eye on 2 Insights taht are close to me.
Option 1: 2005 Silver Automatic, 116k miles, everything appears to be in order and in really good shape. $8500
Option 2: 2001 Silver Manual, 99k miles, again everythign appears to be in good order. $7000
Interior looks to be nicer on the 2005 but it being 4 years newer I could understand why.

My question is, assuming the batteries and cars have been maintained which would you pick?

I really like the idea of 70mpg with the stick and understand how a manual gearbox works I might be able to work on it but the automatic concerns me because I have very little knowledge on how to work on it and/or how the cvt gearbox works. How do you know if the batteries are in working order or have been replaced?

Once again, opinions welcome and appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Dean

Average battery life is seven years, so statistically you are about three years away from needing a rebuild. In that time, if you drive 12,000K miles per year, they will both be out of warranty (time on the 2001 and mileage on the 2005). So this means, forget about the battery. I charge $600-1000 to repair it and figure about $200 shipping.

Now, you will get 10-15 MPG more with a MT Insight than with a CVT. As far as repairing the transmission, it's probably cheaper to replace either one of them than to repair them.

Interior: seats are easy to get, so is the carpet and the door skins. There isn't much left if you want to spruce it up. The seats are washable, but you need to get a $20 tool to put the covers back on.

I'd get the MT one. It's less miles on the engine and much higher MPG.

[bluetwo]

I still recommend the manual despite it's age. If I could've afforded an Insight I would've been all over a first gen like that. I ended up with a Civic as my second car instead which I'm doing my best to get a good MPG with.

You can also look at the Civic HX which has the lean burn capability. People have been known to get over 50 MPG with HX's when seriously hypermiling. I wanted an HX really bad but there were none in my area with a good price at the time of my purchase. All the good ones were too far away so I ended up with an EX of all things which isn't the best in terms of fuel economy. ...still better than my truck though.