[retrick]

Hi,

I am pretty excited about tomorrow. I am flying up to northern CA to purchase a 2003 CVT. It is a certified pre-owned with around 9k on it.

I wanted to let everyone here know how much i appreciate this place as I learned enough here to convince me that an insight would be exactly what I was looking for. I have a 42 mile one way commute that I am making and a 12 gallon tank in my present vehicle. I fill up 2 sometimes three times a week depending on how hard I drive, and after work trips.

After test driving a 2004 at the local dealer I knew I had to own one of these, but not at new car prices. Thanks to all for the links to e-bay and other places to find a used insight. I look forward to becoming one of the may who smile as they pass the gas pumps.

Rick

 

[Willie Williford]

Congratulations,
If you had let me know sooner, I would have drove you up to get the car, (and you pay for gas.)

"Any reason to travel"

 

[retrick]

Trip report

I flew up to Monterey yesterday morning and was met at the airport by Ozzie from the dealer ship. I was kind of nervous about flying up there to buy a car sight unseen, but Ozzie assured me the care was in very good shape. When we got to the dealer ship, I was very impressed with the car. It only had a couple of very minor scratches. The interior was very clean and the car drove as good as my test drive of a 2004. I checked the spare, it was there with both bags. (Jack and tools). I checked the oil and tranny fluid, all was good there. The dealer tried to get me to buy a karrs security system they installed, but I told them I was not interested. They also wanted me to buy an extended warranty, but once again the answer was no. After they took the all the dealer signs off and detailed it for me, Ozzie took me over to a shell station accros the street and put 20.00 of gas in it for me. I was also able to take them into giving me a framed 2003 Honda Insight promo poster. I left the dealership between 1 & 1:30. It took me a little while to figure out how to get the best MPG out of this little car but eventually I was able to do pretty good. I was able to get 54.5 for the 455 miles I drove. When I finally stopped I had on bar showing on the gas gage and the low fuel light was on. I know if I would have bought the 5 speed my MPG probably would have been much higher, but my doctor told me that two things that aggrivate my back problems are a wallet in my back pocket and driving a stick shift. The new Insight has cured both problems!

Rick

 

[b1shmu63]

Congradulations on your new ride. As you can see 20 dollars now takes you a long way!

 

[robgobbler]

congrats! feels good, doesnt it?!?
I flew from wi to florida to buy my 03 insight and had a similarly nerve wracking flight spent worrying about all the unknown variables that i was about to come face to face with (how "like new" does it _really_ drive? scratches, dinks, etc etc). I did my research, and "window" shopped across the country for 4-5 months before pouncing on the bargain i got but i too was fairly relieved.

54.5 is not bad at all for a first time drive in a cvt! as you'll see from all the mpg tip research you'll be doing check the tire pressure often as it has a very dramatic impact on your fuel consumption!! Typically dealers sell insights w/ only 30-35 ppi, so unless you just drove _Really_ conservatively i'd have to imagine in order to get in the 50 range your ppi should be about right.

 

[james]

"...things that aggrivate my back problems are a wallet in my back pocket...

Hate to say this, but isn't the Insight going to make the wallet problem worse? Think of all that money that will stay in there and make it thicker

 

[retrick]

It was the initial outlay of money that lightened the wallet and take home pay. The last car I bought was a 4X4 in 1983. HMMMM, 1983, 2003. I wonder if my next new one will be in 2023?

Rick