[2hybrids]

I've been curious on how other owners were first introduced to the Insight and what were their reasons. Several ways would come to mind like:

I saw one drive by and had to have one because it looked too cool.
Read about it in a magazine and had to have one because the gas savings would be tremendous..

etc...

My first introduction came back in Woodbridge, VA in 2000 when my wife and I were looking at cars for fun at different dealerships. When we walked into the Honda Dearship, there were 3 Insights in the Showroom...1 red, 1 lime green, and 1 blue. I wanted the red one soooooo bad but it was not practical for us at the time. Finally, after 5 years of dreaming, I got one off of Ebay, called Astro, for $5,000 (before the gas price hike) and it's been a great ride!

come'on...give us your story!!!

 

[kapps]

We had heard of the Insight but were never really interested. One day back in '00, my dad and I were passing our Honda dealership and saw one. We decided to stop in and see what it was like. Me and my 6'4" self actually fit in it and a couple days later, my parents went back for a test drive. They liked it and the dealer had another in the back of the lot that had <5 miles on the odometer. We bought it and the rest is history. 64+mpg in Florida and the battery is getting replaced 5+ years later under warranty at 78k miles. It'll be good for another 6 years now.

 

[Big D Insightman]

I had bought a 88 CRX HF in 5/88 after being sick and tired of getting 17-20mpg with my S-10 truck. I shunned the normal way of shopping for a car by getting a copy of the EPA's gas mileage guide and studied it like a Bible and made a list of the highest MPG's of ANY car. The first one the list was the GEO Metro XFI. I believe the mileage on the window was 52city/58highway. I test drove one and it would only go 80-85 mph and the dealership said it couldn't be fitted with A/C. Also I didn't fit in it well since I am 6'5". So I went to the next one on the list a CRX HF(50city/56highway). I went to the dealership not expecting much and test drove one and really liked it. I fit in it great and it had more power than the Metro and could be fitted with A/C. I kept that car for over 320K until I moved from Tenn. to Dallas in 10/99. I had always said that if Honda ever made one that was rated higher I would buy the first one I could lay my hands on. I went to the car show in late Feb 00 after hearing that there was going be an Insight there. After it looked like I would fit in it ( it was on a stand and they wouldn't you get in it). I went around town and gave $500 checks to all the dealers to get the first shot at the first one in town. On April 15,2000 one of those dealers called me at work in the morning and said they had gotten ONE in. I went down there and looked at it on my lunch hour and sat in it. I told them that I would come back after work and to get it ready. I bought it that evening at sticker price. I have only 52K on it because I got married 3 years ago and we have 3 cars between us. And I live only 4 miles from my job.

 

[james]

Much the same here. I'd had a CRX for six or seven years, maybe more, and really liked it. However, it had gotten to the point where it wouldn't pass the smog test, and I didn't have the time or energy to rebuild it, so I looked around for something similar. The Insight was a possibility, so I asked some questions here and got mostly positive replies. Started looking around, found one on eBay at a good price, and bought it.

That was 2 1/2 years ago, and the only thing I regret about it is that I got a job that takes me to Europe 4-5 months per year, and I can't take the Insight as luggage

 

[HafNHaf]

a friend of mine bought one new in '00, and brought it over to show it off. 5 years later it was in a slight wreck. he bought another one and sold the '00 to me. batteries and controllers replaced at 65000 (paid for by honda). 60-65 in the winter, 70-75 in the summer. the jeep i now only use to pull the boat was getting 10-12 year 'round.

 

[Billy]

Same here.......I bought a brand new 1987 CRX HF in Seattle. I took exceptional care of the car, and drove it mainly on the highway. I put 503,000 miles on it, then sold it to a friend. My first set of brake pads lasted 322,000. Never had ANY problems with the car or engine.

Then the Insight came out, and I wanted one but initially they were going for $3000 over sticker. So I waited a 15 months, and finally got my first one. I am on my 3rd now...........Billy

 

[jack9994]

I had been looking to replace my 2litre Audi for a few months (dreaming of BMWs and Mercedes!). One day I looked on the government website for the car with best mpg (Insight), then looked on Autotrader and found one about an hour drive away and bought it (2001 model). The Audi got about 25 mpg - the record in the Insight is 104 mpg for my 90 mile commute - worst was last week about 59mpg driving at 80+ mph up some very long hills on a 120 mile journey.

Cheers

 

[Insightful Trekker]

As an old CRX HF'r I was aware of the Insight when it first debued in 99. About a year later I pulled out in front of a Ford Escort (crunch). But I wasn't ready to trust the NiMH battery pack and the dealer couldn't even quote me a price for its replacement. So I bought the next best thing, a 2000 Civic HX (still got it). The wife's car was rapidly reaching its retirement point (she likes to play bumper cars, small bumps only ) So we went shopping. We compaired the Civic Hybrid, Insight CVT and 5 spd. She too is the miserly sort and agreed on the Insight. As long as it would be hers.

I agreed with one qualification. That she merely meet the then aggregate membership average as posted here, 63 ish MPG. Well, after 2 weeks of driving she seepishly addmitted she's not geeky enough and hadn't even been able to "listen" to the radio for all the attention spent with the MPG gauge, but she had made the MPG goal. Now I know where her attention is with all of those little bump-up's :!: :x

But it got me MY :!: :!: :!: Insight

 

[apierpoint]

Hello! I saw the commercial for them when they first came out. You know, the one about people that say save the environment vs people that actually do something about it. I thought it was a cool idea, but *gasp* I thought it was an ugly car. Then the Prius came out. Test drove it and said it was too small for my 6'3" husband. I took a job working 60 miles from home, and thought, I've gotta do something! I started looking at Prius's and Insights, and even Corollas.... I found an Insight here in Nashville for sale, met the owner to test drive it, and it was love at first drive! I had to have it! Now I think it's the best looking, most fun car there is! I don't know what I'll do when this one wears out!

Enjoy!
Andrea

 

[Rick]

The Insight was my second car (ever). I had been started out driving a Red 95 Chevrolet Tahoe 2 Dr (rare). It was fun for a while, but my heart lied in other things. My high school had an electric vehicle racing team which made me realize there was something beyond the small block engine. The Tahoe was great until it hit 90K miles at which point I managed to blow the rear end out of it, something which astonished many people. I fixed that and the next day the transmission proceeded to fail. Got that rebuilt, 200 miles later the rebuilt one blew up, that was fixed under warranty but with some complications on getting a good un-cracked core to rebuild had it out of action for over a month.

I suppose I should also mention it was costing me in the upwards of $60 bucks to fill it's tank, and that was even before gas crossed the $2/gal mark, so I didn't really care for that. Also I was starting college which was a 50 mile a day commute so something had to change. I had known about the Insight since the VV concept vehicle. Actually I had a printed picture of the VV on the cork board in my room here since probably 99 as I was always in to those kinds of vehicles. I am guessing I probably heard about the car initially from EVWorld.com.

So when I got the ok to get a new car (parentally funded of course... poor college student) I looked and looked for an Insight. This was 2002. I was willing to take whatever I could get, but ideally I wanted a Red 5 speed without rear speakers. There were only two for sale in town and neither looked particularly appealing. My family runs a small used car dealership so I was also checking the dealer auction listings and just by fate a 2002 Red 5 speed showed up that week. I still have the page I printed out with the lane and run number for the auction. The car only had 2700 miles on it. We snuck out in the auction lot and found the car and drove it around the lot a little bit and decided to get it. From what I gathered it was a lease return from Yuma Arizona and went back and forth from Phoenix to Yuma a couple times and sat around a while so they sold it to the highest bidder, us.

I've had the car a bit over 3 years now, and I have had a couple little problems but it never left me stranded like the Chevy did.

 

[HappyCamper]

I was introduced to the insight by a friend of mine. My first car was a 1991 Mazda protege. I put 22K miles on that averaging 28MPG. After about a year of that, I decided it was time for something different.

I went on Autotrader and found a 96 Civic HX. I bought it, quickly racked up 10K miles on it. A friend of mine had been talking about the Insight, so I started watching the Autotrader for a good deal close by. I found nothing! A friend of mine at work also works at a Honda dealership here, and came in one day telling me that they had an Insight on the lot that was just traded in.

I test drove it, loved it, and bought it within a week.

 

[ghillie]

I was aware of the Insight from about the time it was introduced here in 2001. At the time I owned a Lexus LS400 and a Porsche 911. I thought the Insight was interesting but I never imagined I'd own one - I loved my Porsche. Then one day I didn't love my Porsche anymore and I sold it. For a while we had only the Lexus, then at the beginning of 2004 we realized we needed an extra car. I looked around at various hatchbacks and small vans - then I saw the Prius II. I liked it and bought it. Owning the Prius, I got turned onto to the idea of fuel economy for cost and environmental/resource reasons. I decided to sell the Lexus. I still had a desire for a little red sports car but now I wanted one with excellent fuel economy. I browsed, saw a review of the Insight, read some more (a lot more) and - bingo! - I knew that this was the car for me. It is unique and I love it.

 

[Jackmpg]

Insight?

Well, when they first came out I was really attracted to Insights. Couldn't really afford one at the time, was finishing college. College at 50 years old, yeah. Was working as an on sight tech in 2002, doing 60K+ miles per year and reimbursed at about 30 cents per mile. Did the math for mpg on different cars. Found a red '00 Insight, MT with AC, traded in with 5200 miles. Bought it for $11,900 with another $950 for the extended warranty. As I expected, I fell in love with it, what an experience!

60K miles per year @ 30 cents comes out to aprox $11.4K per year in expense checks. At 70+ mpg fuel cost about $1.3K. In two years of saving I made enough to buy a new one for cash, which I did. Released the old one to a nice lady needing a college car, sold for $10.5K. My new one was an '04 silver, MT with AC. Then got caught up in Willie's turbo experience, best thing I ever did. Followed his excellent advice to turbo an Insight. My investment business started to take off and semi-retirement came. Went for an '05 Insight as a retirement car so I could start with zero miles and turbo'd it too, this time a ball bearing water cooled garrett, but still a hybrid turbo like the last one.

The result, magic on wheels. The ride, exhilarating. Now, Mikes MIMA, compliments Willie's turbo completely, the perfect mix. I've had many cars, quite a few exotics. Nothing compares to this, nothing. A dream to drive, each and every time I get behind the wheel! Jack

 

[Dougie]

I bought a Subaru Impreza STi as a midlife crisis present, and then decided it was stupid to have a car that could go twice the speed limit. Looked around for other options for "interesting" cars and found the Insight...