Hi folks. I just drove home my 2000 Insight from Phoenix on tuesday. I LOVE it!
Seems to be in great shape, the previous owners most recent and best tank was 77.3mpg.
Now I know I'll need several tanks full to really learn how to drive efficiently but I am concerned about power and mileage figures. It has 113k and a lifetime average of 65mpg (sure beats the 9.8 figure I'm used to :shock: ) so it sounds healthy, right?
The tank it was on when I bought her was averaging 69.2 but my 370 mile drive home to San Diego in the desert heat at 70+mph with AC brought that figure down to about 60. This much I expected, I just wanted to get home fast and not drown my new baby's seats in sweat.
What concerns me is: how much power should Insights have on the highway? I have no problem accelerating to freeway speed but I seem to have to use too much gas/battery to keep the speed relatively constant in 5th gear, even w/o AC and at 65mph when going up even a mild incline. Is this normal?
Also, I see that the maintenence schedule recomends valve timing check at about this mileage and the car seems to have a mild knock while warming up. Could this be a serious problem?
Last Q (for now) I use a solar panel from a VW dealership that plugs into the cigarette lighter on my boat to keep the battery charged when not in use. Can this be used on the Insights system too? If it can it would be great for SoCal owners.
Seems to be in great shape, the previous owners most recent and best tank was 77.3mpg.
Now I know I'll need several tanks full to really learn how to drive efficiently but I am concerned about power and mileage figures. It has 113k and a lifetime average of 65mpg (sure beats the 9.8 figure I'm used to :shock: ) so it sounds healthy, right?
The tank it was on when I bought her was averaging 69.2 but my 370 mile drive home to San Diego in the desert heat at 70+mph with AC brought that figure down to about 60. This much I expected, I just wanted to get home fast and not drown my new baby's seats in sweat.
What concerns me is: how much power should Insights have on the highway? I have no problem accelerating to freeway speed but I seem to have to use too much gas/battery to keep the speed relatively constant in 5th gear, even w/o AC and at 65mph when going up even a mild incline. Is this normal?
Also, I see that the maintenence schedule recomends valve timing check at about this mileage and the car seems to have a mild knock while warming up. Could this be a serious problem?
Last Q (for now) I use a solar panel from a VW dealership that plugs into the cigarette lighter on my boat to keep the battery charged when not in use. Can this be used on the Insights system too? If it can it would be great for SoCal owners.