Honda Insight cruises 1700km on less than a tank.

[No. 166]

Found following article in a magazine I bought while on holiday in Australia (Car News, Issue 14, 2001):

""Adventurer Hans Tholstrup has set a new Australian fuel consumption record of 43,5km per litre after driving a Honda Insight more than 1700kms from Brisbane(Qld) to Melbourne(Vic) on just 37,75 litres of fuel.
That is equivalent to acheiving 128,4 miles per gallon in the old currency.
The Insight is said to be the world's most fuel efficient petrol-powered production car averaged 46kms per litre during the trip.
Tholstrup drove with the windows up and no air-conditioning, with cabin temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius, in two shifts of five hours per day- the maximum allowed under regulations for the challenge.
"(At one stage) I figured I had enough fuel to do a little playing so I tried switching the air-conditioning on, but it dropped the fuel reading from 50km/litre to 45km/litre. I'd rather travel five kilometres further per litre than having air-conditioning." Mr Tholstrup said.
On one leg of the journey the car averaged 66 km/h with a top speed of 110 km/h.""

Quite interesting. Will take this magazine with everything else (Australian brochure, further Australian articles, press releases, workshop handbook on CD-Rom ....) I have about the Insight with me to the European Insight meeting for everyone to enjoy.

[windmill]

Good artikel no:166, can't wait to see it
cheers....

Hi No. 166:

___Our own Rick Reese has traveled over 1,100 miles on a single tank of fuel in his Insight while driving back and forth to work. Chisight hit 1,098 miles doing the same and this is in my own infamous Chicago commuting traffic over a week of commuting. Both were in the 105 + mpg area over their respective entire tanks. If there were a way to add a gallon or two to the Insight’s vapor emissions tubing, 1,284 would be doable in our locale without too much trouble … I think?

___A crew from Ward’s Auto World received 105 mpg while averaging ~ 32 mph on a closed race course when they were testing/competing against other automobile magazine crews in brand new Insight’s back in January of 2000. Car and Driver even had a stretch of 121.7 mpg over a 195 mile segment while following (cheating ) a specially rigged Ford Excursion with an ingeniously designed wind block dragging out the back of it! If they could have stayed in the draft of the device the whole way, they would have surpassed 150 mpg but the Law would have probably frowned upon such things so a lead car would radio back to the Excursion when to tell the Insight to back off … You can read more about the setup and records in the article entitled ROAD TEST: HOW WE WON THE INSIGHT FUEL-ECONOMY CHALLENGE. WITHOUT CHEATING. MUCH. Imagine if they had the Insight’s and Bridgestone’s broken in and the tire pressures up at 50 PSI or so

___If I were attempting to set a world record, I don’t think 75 #’s in a slightly worn (5,000 miles or so) set of Bridgestone’s would be out of the question … Removing a few niceties like the passenger side seat, both mirrors, rear wiper, antennae, carpet, glove box, and whatever else couldn’t hurt either … I would have to lose a few #’s myself as 202 #’s is a bit much. When you are setting records in an Insight that is

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___[email:3gmpex93]Waynegerdes@earthlink.net[/email:3gmpex93]

[dan]

Hi xcel,
[quote="xcel"] "Removing a few niceties like..."

When is an Insight no longer an Insight?

Hi Dan:

Originally Posted by dan

When is an Insight no longer an Insight?

___When you put up the sail

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___[email:36e5c094]Waynegerdes@earthlink.net[/email:36e5c094]

[dan]

I think in the "supermodified" class, even sails are allowed.

[AZCivic]

Among the bizzare things Car and Driver has done, they also completed a coast-to-coast trip without ever refueling in a Jetta TDI about 6 or 7 years ago. They had a custom auxiliary tank added that held something like 60 gallons of diesel and was rigged to be able to refuel the main tank when needed.

In fact, this particular test was beyond just not refueling, they actually taped up the car so that the driver and co-driver could not exit the vehicle at all. They did the whole 3000 miles or whatever doing in-car driver changes and using a rigged up porta-potty. If I recall correctly they still had something like 10 gallons of diesel left when they got there too and averaged 44mpg doing 60-65mph the whole way. They do some cool stuff sometimes.

I think the Insight's limiting factor in such a test would be the fact that the most effective way to go cross-country is the highways, and it's generally frowned upon to do anything less than 60mph on open road. Still, if you could get 70mpg or so, that would mean you'd need about 32 gallons or so above what the stock tank holds. You could probably rig something up that would add no more than 350 pounds to the vehicle and do your own coast to coast drive.