Do others experience poor performance in extreme heat?

[jrlnc]

Overall, I like the Insight 2 and my mileage has been way above the EPA ratings.

However, I have noticed that the IMA assist is pretty sensitive to extreme heat.
This summer has been brutal. I can count on 1 hand the number of days it has cooled off to the 80's in July. It has been 90 to over 100F every single day almost. I've had to use the a/c constantly and my mpg has suffered. It has only been 48 - 49 for the last 7 weeks. That includes highway driving which brings it up quite a bit.

On weekends I drive mostly around town with the a/c on high. I frequently notice that when pulling away from an intersection, the car has no power. I switch to the battery & energy flow screen and see that the battery is low and the charge is sucking the life out of the car. It is almost undriveable (and dangerous) because of the lack of power. We have a hilly terrain here and the worst situation is after stopping at an intersection:

• Starting from a dead stop
• A/c on
• An uphill grade
• Battery low and IMA system doing a recharge

It happens so frequently with in-town driving in this heat that I've decided to turn the ECON Assist button OFF.

Well, let me tell you it does make a big improvement in driveability. The car seems to drive like it normally should. Yeah, the gas mileage sucks then, but I refuse to go without a/c when the heat index outside is 110 degrees!

Are others experiencing this with the Insight this summer?

[mikept03]

I've definitely noticed that running the A/C makes the car noticeably slower and noticeably jerkier too, both starting and stopping. All cars will have somewhat reduced performance in the heat due to the lower density air, but it is much more noticeable on this car.

Last year I took it to Vegas through the desert when the heat was reading 115 outside, with the A/C blasting. Climbing a very gradual but long slope, I couldn't go much faster than 65, even while flooring it. I felt bad pretty much redlining it for 10-15 minutes in that heat, but didn't really have any other options.

Unless you are very patient or traffic is very light, I too find the car borderline undriveable with both A/C and econ on.

[ac7ss]

I have a 1g insight, and this is how I use my AC to maintain comfort and economy. (62mpg on the way to work today, 60miles, 83F stop and go traffic.)

When slowing down, I turn on my Econ AC before braking (when safe.) particularly on downhills.

Any other time, I leave in on Econ no-AC.

If it gets too hot, I will turn on the Econ AC for a few seconds (to get the air cold) and flip it back to No-AC.

If you time the AC with times that you are slowing down, you can really boost your mileage.

[Cobb]

Same here, over 100 degrees on the mid, I cant count on the ima to be there for me. I just as well turn econ off and push the go petal to the floor as if I am driving a diesel .

[Jivko57]

Hi I have a gen 1 with battery half dead , in normal weather it is fine and I get ~ 75-85 mpg with no ac and speed ~ 53 mph

However once the hot days came I noticed the IMA starts acting up once the battery heats up. (no recharge /no assist, if the situation is very bad it will not even start the car, and even will not let the 12v battery start the car.)



once it cools down it is ok again and drives fine. the only solution is a/c on econ off.

the cool air from a/c goes directly into the batery air intake vent and cools it down.

performance is a little hindered as the engine of insight 1 is rated at only 74 hp
and at 2500 rpm probably only 50 hp and at least 15-20 of them are busy with the a/c

but overall it is driveable , it has some lag when starting from an intersection for for 2-3 seconds untill the engine gets to some workable rpms in first. then I gues i just shift up a little later than usual, sometimes i realise i am driving still in third gear and i am already on the highway doing 55 mph.

then i shift to 5th gear , which now I am thinking is a mistake as the engine busy with a/c does not have enough power to keep 55mph in 5th..

The mileage with a/c sucks, it is down to 50 mpg in the best cases , (down from 75-80 mpg without the a/c), but bit is a much better alternative than not been able to restart the car after an autostop at a busy intersection with 20 cars stuck behind me an honking like crazy.

if econ is on even with a/c the car will autostop and just use the battery to blow air in the cabin, the new air is cold at first, but since the a/c is not working at that time it worms up quickly. So it drains the battery even more when econ is on.

And any battery activity probably increases the battery pack temperature.

It would be great if the a/c had a mode to only work for cooling the battery. as seems for me even the hottest day, to drive with the windows down is fine enough, unfor tunately the battery does not cope well with temperatures above 90....

[Cobb]

The i2 does wonders at covering up the drag of the ac. My geo metro feels like I opened a giant drag parachut behind me when the ac clicks on. Its a noticable load on the car.

[insightinsa]

This is the same exact problem I am having with my i2. Its been well over 90 for a while down here in Texas, and as everyone knows its not done heating up down here. The assist almost becomes none exhistant when the econ mode is on, and the ac is running for long periods when stopped. I also notice that once the battery drains, it takes a long time to recharge back to the point where the car will assist you again. I had the service manager at my local dealership take a ride with me, and he was able to get the car to do the same thing. So we called up Honda's tech line, and wallah, know issue. Honda is working on a "solution", more than likely a software flash. But I doubt its going to make a difference, or any for that fact.

[Cobb]

I would not expect much. The lack of performance is for your own good as the batteries are too warm to function the way they do when cooler. I tries using the ac on outside air thinking it would force cool air throughout the car, vs recycle air. After reading a post from the hybrid battery repaid guy who said it wouldnt make much difference, he is right. I now run the ac on recycle and man, it gets cooler at lower setting and Ive gotton some of my fuel economy back in this warmer weather.

FYI, I asked the same member about improvements to cooling, he said there wouldnt be any.

[Victor]

Originally Posted by jrlnc

Are others experiencing this with the Insight this summer?

Well, here in Germany, it worked well in the rain we had all summer

I drove 6500Km from Munich over Serbia to Crete, back over Albania and Montenegro. No problems at all. The temp got upto high 30's C, the inside of the car got so hot it caused my iPhone to power down due to over heat, so was over 50C in the car.

[unclehooi]

It's around 34oC all year round where I come from. My air cond will be blasting the minute I get into the car, until the time I off the engine. Mileage is not what I expected, only around 18.2km/l. Performance wise is still acceptable. Although I do notice that sometimes when I step on the pedal, it uses the engine power to charge the battery when the battery is only half empty. That causes the car to be sluggish. No power when I needed that boost. Power only comes back when I floor it.