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Are my driving habits compatible with an Insight?

1982 Views 13 Replies 11 Participants Last post by  b1shmu63
After spending hours poring over the topics in this forum, I'm beginning to wonder if I really should be considering an Insight.

I average about 7,000 miles of driving per year. My commute is currently a mere 14.5 miles round trip and I often bicycle to work.

Many of you have looong commutes and Insights with six-digit mileage on their odometers. Would it be harder on the battery packs and electric motor if an Insight had lower mileage, and perhaps frequently spent five days in a row sitting idle in a garage?

The other concern I have after all this reading is that there seems to be wide variations in prices paid (although maybe this is normal--never studied vehicle prices outside beyond a local market) and availability. There are a few new and used Insights in my area, all CVTs. I credit this to the fact that the people knock each other over to get Priuses.

My primary motivation was that I promised myself I'd get a hybrid next car when Insights weren't available yet in '99 and I don't need to seat four with four doors--rather have a hatchback, even a smaller one.

Thanks for all the great advice offered so far!
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Short commutes don't show off what Insight can do...

The Insight may be the perfect car for you, but don't expect to see the same kind of mpg figures as many of the others here. I drive mine 25 miles each way on my commute, usually averaging 60-65 mpg on summer days. Today I'm closer to 70mpg; in the winter I'm below 60.

I reset one of the trip odometer/mpg meters every morning, and find that it doesn't show above 60mpg until I've driven six to eight miles -- a cold engine just isn't efficient, obviously. If I were to stop my drive at 7 miles and let the engine get cold, I suspect I'd have a hard time getting any segments above 60mpg, even on a perfect day.

To be fair, any vehicle takes time to warm up. If you drive a Hummer, I'd guess you would see 9-10 mpg until it warms up and starts delivering that solid 17mpg on the highway. The Insight would still be doing better than any other vehicle on a short commute.

So even if you don't see spectacular mpg figures, you may still be happy with a tight-handling little car that gets you into the mid-50mpg range.

Yours,

MF
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