I just bought an Insight

Ecoman · Oct 20, 2007

Hi everyone,
I thought I was bored with cars after 30 years fixing them for a living. But when I asked a friend about eco-friendly cars he suggested the Honda Insight . Of course, I'd never seen one and I looked to the internet. When I saw one I thought WOW! That shape is fantastic. It's made from light alloy (rot resistant) a drag figure of 0.25, can return 80mpg (imperial) and has an advanced lean burn engine.
The technology that's built into this car and the sheer quality of it's build is amazing, something very rare these days.
Since I bought my blue manual 2000 model, the previous boredom has turned into a keen interest and a thirst for more knowledge about this car.
Are there any other UK owners out there? I haven't seen another Insight since I got mine a month ago!

atlaw4u · Oct 21, 2007

Welcome to the club.

retepsnikrep · Oct 21, 2007

Welcome

Yes there a few UK owners on here.

Welcome to a very select group, remember there are only about 260 Insight's in UK according to DVLA, of those we understand about 70 or so are genuine UK cars, the others are imports.

Is yours a UK car? How many Miles? lmpg?

Any problems please ask. Pop in if you are ever up in North Yorks.

Please add some info to your profile, it helps on here when we respond to members.

Thanks

Peter

jack9994 · Oct 21, 2007

Welcome

I would guess there are about 15 UK members on here - have you bought the blue 2000 Insight that was on autotrader recently?

Cheers
John

blbike · Oct 21, 2007

Welcome to the forum.

I hope you have a great time with your insight.

I've had mine for a few years now and its still a joy to have.

Fred · Oct 21, 2007

Ecoman said:
... WOW! That shape is fantastic. It's made from light alloy (rot resistant) a drag figure of 0.25, can return 80mpg (imperial) and has an advanced lean burn engine.The technology that's built into this car and the sheer quality of it's build is amazing, something very rare these days.
/quote]

Welcome to "the club"!

And now that you're an Insight owner you'll have to practice not smiling so much as you go down the road - otherwise people might think there's something wrong you - not them!

Fred / Proud Owner of "The Silver Bullet"

Ecoman · Oct 22, 2007

Thanks for your replies and questions which I mistakenly answered by PM

(sorry, I'm new to forums)
Anyway, my car is the one advertised on autotrader a while back and I drove the 90 miles to Lincoln from my home in Staffordshire to take a look. If the price had been double I'm sure I would have got the money from somewhere!
It's a UK car with 78000 miles on the clock, lmpg 71.6 but might reduce as I live in a fairly hilly area and recent trip figures average 64mpg - but I'm improving my driving style and setting the climate control to econ. On the 10 mile drive to work today I got a very satisfying 70mpg.
I was worried about engine noise but apparently all Insights sound "like a bag of spanners" from cold, when warm it just purrs nicely!
I'm considering the MIMA modification (if still available) as it would be great to have more control over the motor assist and can improve mpg!
I will add more info to my profile when I'm allowed to :roll:
Cheers, Colin

retepsnikrep · Oct 23, 2007

Mods

Colin

There are lot's of simple Mods you can do to improve the mpg of the car. 8)

However IMHO the most important thing at your early stage of ownership is to fully familiarise yourself with the normal functioning, the way the battery charge goes up and down, learn about 'Recals', 'Forced charge' and master driving in lean burn mode as much as possible.

Read as much on this site as you can as well

You can also consider

1) Radiator block, an instant 5-10mpg increase and really helps in winter.
http://www.insightcentral.net/forum/vie ... ator+block

2) Tyres pumped up to at least 45psi. +5mpg I run mine at 50psi! (Must be the Oem UK Bridgestone B391 ones thought, using any others mean a 2-5mpg loss in mpg!)

3) Use the brake light max regen trick as well to improve battery charge. +1-2mpg. Especially descending hills!

4) Maximise lean burn +5-10mpg especially on a decent journey.

5) Hot air intake +2mpg.

6) The brake and clutch switch mod +1-2mpg.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Peter UK

Dougie · Oct 23, 2007

At some point you might want to try driving for a week or so with the odometer set to the metric option. (Or, if you're using the metric option, try the Imperial option.) There are pros and cons to both, and you'll learn more about how the car works.

This car requires active driver participation, and the need for mods is much less than on other cars. It's pretty challenging to make good use of what is already there. I've got 20k miles on mine and after a couple of years I'm still learning new tricks almost every day.

Ecoman · Oct 28, 2007

Peter,
Some good suggestions there. I'm already thinking of a simple radiator blind and researching the clutch/brake switch mod (no results yet)
Having serviced a few cars from Sweden - not Insights - I noted the block heaters fitted to help with cold starts and I thought this would a good mod for an insight during winter as engine wear and fuel consumption are greatest with a cold engine.
How this would affect my electricity bill I'm not sure

But the thought of removing a corroded steel plug from an alloy block is a bit daunting :?
Colin.

retepsnikrep · Oct 29, 2007

I think they are about 500W and most people use them for 1-2 hours to preheat block, so call it 5-15p to get instant heat on very cold days!

Peter

I just bought an Insight

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