[Rebane]

Hello! I recently purchased an 05 Insight and I can't believe how fun this thing is! By comparison, my other car is a WRX with several performance modifications, and let me tell you that the Insight is actually more fun to drive. I'm astouned by the mileage, and with some research here on these boards I was recently able to pull off 82.7 mpg on a 30 mile commute from work the other day! Amazing! I thought cars like this were the stuff of legend. Anyway, I only get to drive it about once a week because it is actually her car do to a longer commute. Oh well, you can't argue the logic of the situation. But I can't wait for her to take up a new job closer to the house :twisted: !!!


Anyhoo - Thank you guys for this site and all the info on it! I'm sure I'll be around quite a bit.

BTW, I was able to walk in and buy my insight. No wait at all. In fact, I thought the sailsman was lying to me when he told me that these were really hard to come by. At any rate, It was a local dealership called Honda of Lisle, and they said they get them in sooner than most dealerships due to their high turnaround.

 

[ericbecky]

Welcome,
It's hard to believe you could just walk right in and get one. Some people on the board have been trying to find a new one and having difficulty.
82.7 mpg! It sounds like your 30 mile commute is a good one for mpg's.

It's great to hear of people who are buying the new '05s. I hope I get to see one and compare it to my '02.

And in case you haven't seen it, be sure to check out our WI/IL hybrid car meet up event in Milwaukee July 17. It's only $10 to attend, plus $6 for parking. I wrote about it in another thread here on Insightcentral
http://www.insightcentral.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2817
You don't have to be a baseball fan to enjoy the fun.

 

[Rick Reece]

So how much did they charge you for a new one. Most of us who purchasedthe 2000's were able to get good deals well below MSRP. Just wondering if gas prices are running up the sales price on the new ones (That and lower numbers being made). Have fun, Rick

 

[Berk]

new insight - walked in & bought it?

Ho! You lucky folks, to just walk in & buy your Insight.
With gas prices in my area of N. California reaching within a dime's distance of $3.00 a gallon, I bet I could sell a thousand of these fun little cars. Why oh why are they generally soooo hard to obtain???
Enjoy it, and if your sweetie won't find employment closer to home, maybe you could transfer farther away? :wink:
Berk, with a 2000, bought used - getting about 58 mpg in mtns terrain.

 

[b1shmu63]

The Insight is legendary! Guiness record for 103 MPG (Imperial)circumnavigation of Britain and best production car mileage 5 years in a row.

 

[Big D Insightman]

Rebane you need to get your wife on this forum so we can "train" her with all the tricks of the trade.

Rick I may have been a sucker, but when I bought mine over 5 years ago now, it was the first one to be delivered to Dallas and the dealership was going to charge me more than sticker price for it. I had to dicker with them to get them down to the sticker and that's what I wound up doing to get it the day they got it.

 

[james]

"Why oh why are they generally soooo hard to obtain???"

Because with the aluminum body and everything, each one costs Honda more to build than the MSRP. It was sort of a loss-leader for them: for the experience & publicity value, rather than to make a profit.

 

[Rick Reece]

Big D,

Don't feel bad I ended up paying MSRP on my wife's Prius even though I had a sales contract for 500 less. I'll never use that dealership again as they did not honor the contract. The car began getting more attention with fuel costs and the Car of the year stuff. That same dealer now tries to sell them at MSRP + 3K. (I don't mind markups if the public is willing to pay the price but believe the dealer should honor any agreement they made). In the case of the Insight their was a huge demand initially and Honda increased the deliveries to the US by 50% to around 6K insights. They soon met the demand and began having a glut. I ended up paying 16800 for my 5sp with A/C and dealer installed cruise control. If I saw a deal like that again for a 05 5sp I would have to get another one. I don't think I would go for A/C this time either. Have fun, RIck

 

[james]

Still got all the paperwork? Think about taking them to small claims court. Not just for the money, but to teach them a lesson - assuming of course that they're teachable

 

[Rebane]

82.7 mpg! It sounds like your 30 mile commute is a good one for mpg's.

Truth be told I was headed south on 355 with a slight tailwind. I don't mind though. I typically range in the high 70's.

It's great to hear of people who are buying the new '05s. I hope I get to see one and compare it to my '02.

Maybe we can compare them. I'd have to convince the wife, but she is a pushover and we both like sports so it should be easy!

So how much did they charge you for a new one. Most of us who purchasedthe 2000's were able to get good deals well below MSRP. Just wondering if gas prices are running up the sales price on the new ones (That and lower numbers being made). Have fun, Rick

I paid sticker. I had no idea thety were so rare and I thought it was crazy that they would'nt budge on the price, but in thinking about the savings in feul I came to the conclusion that the car really kind of pays for itself given how many miles a day (90+) we'd be putting on it.

The Insight is legendary! Guiness record for 103 MPG (Imperial)circumnavigation of Britain and best production car mileage 5 years in a row.

Amazing! I love this car. I really can't believe I didn't even know about them until about a month ago. It really makes me wonder if Honda intended them to be cult classics rather than mainstream. Otherwise one would expect a ton of advertising.

Rebane you need to get your wife on this forum so we can "train" her with all the tricks of the trade.

She is already really good. I made her read alot of posts here about FE, lean burn, temperature, tire psi, etc. She thinks I'm crazy but it seems to have sunk in because she's averaging only slightly below me. However, her best trip is actually higher than mine at 84 mpg. Of course it helps to weigh about 100 lbs.!



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[fklentz]

When I decided I was going to buy a Insight I did a search of the local Honda dealers and found they had none in stock. I was intending on buying a low mile used one as it's going to be a commuter and I'm looking at 3K miles each month. My first concern was to actually drive one being I'm 6'4" and wanted to see if it would be comfortable enough. Well I found a used 2000 with 118K miles to test drive, I found it would be very comfortable but that car was running very poorly IMO, felt like it had a valve problem, but anyway I decided to check the new car dealers anyway. The only one I went to tried to steer me to a Civic hybrid but said they could order me one (Insight) easily as they according to him "are not selling well so production was limited". I finally bought a 2000 on ebay motors and should have it here next month.