[C. Alan]

I took the plung yesterday. I picked up my silver 2000 insight. It is a 5 speed, with 65,000 miles on it. I drove it home from Sacramento to Tehachapi California, and averaged 62 mpg all the way. This included a 4000 foot climb up the Tehachapi grade. The battery does not handle the grade as well as I had hoped. It only made it about a 1/3 of the way up when the battery gave out, and I dropped it into 3rd to make it the rest of the way up.

Other than that, the car drives great, and I love the honda air conditioning. I have never had a car with full auto AC before, nice... Very nice.

I just hope that if the 100+ degree heat around here kills the battery pack, it does it in the next 15k miles.
--C. Alan

 

[Willie Williford]

Congratulations, welcome to the INSIGHTERS.

I've been across the Tehachapi grade and the Grapevine numerous times.

When I cross over them, just after I start to climb the grades, I downshift to 3rd, and keep the rpm above 3200.

Sacrifice a little mileage; and the IMA battery will actuallly charge up if it is down.

 

[C. Alan]

I ran the battery for all it was worth on that first try. Since my commute takes me over the grade on a daily basis, I am going to have to do a little experimenting to find out how to best approach the grade.

After reading some of the battery related post, I think my IMA recalibrated on that first climb. My battery went from half charged to two bars very quickly.
--C. Alan

 

[The Citrus Smoothie]

Congratulations on your purchase. A great choice.

I would have a look at your 12V battery - if it is still the OEM (Fukurawa?) battery (made in Japan), then it is likely to need replacing after 4 years and 65,000 miles. A new 12V will help prevent recalibrations of the main IMA pack.

Don't forget to put your A/C on 'Econ' to help your MPG or even cycle it on and off if possible.

 

[james]

If I remember that grade right, you will probably want to be climbing it in 3rd or 4th from the very start. Remember that 5th is quite a bit of overdrive - the Insight will quite happily do 65-70 in 3rd. MPG will probably be down around 40 for the climb, but since it should be at 150 on the downhill, things average out

 

[C. Alan]

I will try it in 4th tomorrow. I get to do this grade 5 days a week. My first trip down the grade on friday I only managed to average 95 mpg. I think It will take some practice to get it up over 100 for the downhill trip. It is not a straight grade down hill, there are three major sections, with minor climbs in between.
--C. Alan

 

[kapps]

At the end of the decent and right before the climb, try to get the speed up so you have some more momentum. Also, if there isn't anybody behind you, you can allow your Insight to slow down some during the minor uphill climbs and then easily get back up (and over) the speed limit on the way down.

 

[C. Alan]

Highway 58 is pretty heavly traveled by trucks, so finding some one going slow to get in behind is not a problem. So I may do a bit more drafting on my next up hill attempt.
--C. Alan

 

[ericbecky]

C. Alan
congratulations on "taking the plunge". 62 mpg on your fist trip is excellent!
It will be interesting to hear your feedback about how you end up tackling that daily grade.