[learjet]

im in the market for a used insight. theres several in my local area, w various years / mileage. the warranty extension doesnt apply to my area. id like an older cheaper one, but lookin down the barrel at a $6k bill for a battery and associated parts is a dealbreaker atm. i guess im curious, how many folks have had real battery issues, and on the average at what milage? many owners out there w over 100k mi w no battery problems?

i tend to buy older /cheaper models and run them till they drop. got a 94 civic w 180k mi goin strong, and a 94 del sol w 200k, no problems w either one. im a honda fan, because of how these 2 vehicles have treated me.

my big fear is to pick up- a $8-10k 2000 insight, and have to buy a battery for it within a couple years. seems like it might make more sense to buy a newer one for a few grand more w plenty of warranty left.


i dunno...

but i commute 100mi a day 3 times a week on the average, and i WANT the fuel economy. i drive the del sol now, so the size doesnt bother me. ive searched and read this bbs, lotsa good info, just mainly curious if those of u who have insights now consider the battery issue a big risk

thx!

lear

 

[nomanic]

Im with the same problem.Im considering buying a 2002 honda insight with over 100k miles on it,according to the owner gets around 50mpg to it also for about 9k. Would it be wise to buy this car with over 100k miles on it?

 

[Insightful Trekker]

Hi learjet & nomanic and welcome to the forum :!:

AFAIK there's no way to "know" the remaining service life of the IMA batteries without extensive disassembly and high tech (read, expensive) testing.

And there's been no clear pattern from my read that has emerged as to one _single_ significant factor. The "knowns" are extremes of hot and cold and hard driving. Nothing surprising there, but you'll rarely get an owner to fess-up to hard driving :roll: .

Most message boards such as this will naturally attract more negative comments than positive ones. So as far as what the mean average of IMA battery life is any data collected from these sources is suspect. My "guesstimate" from the reports in here is in the low 100K's on average. With a couple of credible reports in excess of 200K.

It has not been absolutely confirmed but the MCM & BCM controllers while highly desirable are probably optional. Although it appears from reading between the lines of several replacement posts that Honda will _NOT_ honor the limited replacement warranty of 12 months / 12k miles without replacement controllers too <shrug>. The IMA battery replacement cost by itself is closer to $2,500 (installed prices vary by location).

HTH!

 

[Fred]

Still thinking about buying one?

With the ever escalating gas prices in mind ... and yet to come ...

Get one while you can, before the prices on these little cars (new or used) start to go up - and keep in mind - this is the last year they'll be making them.

... Old Irish saying - "He who hesitates is lost."

Fred

 

[learjet]

thx guys...

ive test driven 2 so far, both 2000s, 1 w 65k mi, other about 85k. amazing cars. one of the ones i drove actually is owned by someone who drives nearly the same commute i do, and his trip avg mpg was over 78, w 400 mi on that tank of fuel. pretty impressive. lifetime mpg was 62ish for both. everything posted here to check for, vin #s, etc, looked good. no apparent issues w the ima battery system. both cars were appx 3/4 when we started driving, and charged and assisted as described here. im leerey a bit still over the 85k mi one, w the warranty being expired, but its by far the better condion car of the two. ive got 1 more to look at before i decide. both of these r appx $11k. last ones listed a bit cheaper.

lear