[elbo]

The cold snap has now been here for a week. The temperatures in the morning reaching -40 C my insight has been regularly doing better than 4.8l per 100km (i usually average 3.7)...which is not bad considering that on my 60km drive to work i have no IMA support for the first 15min until the car has warmed up sufficiently.

One small rant before i go...i think the thing that is punishing the insight is the fact that it displays the fuel consumption. Although i personally find this info really cool i heard a reporter during the Montreal auto show mentioning that on his drive with the insight he got 5.1l per 100k and that the 3.6 listed was therefore not achieved by this car, all the while mentioning that the 3.6 number is put forward by honda and that it was unrealistically optimistic(funny i thought they were EPA numbers).

Everybody here knows that the fuel comsumption on a car varies depending on how it is driven and that other vechicles would also not perform as well as their EPA numbers if driven by the bonehead reporter in the story. I rarely see good reports on the insight...it seems to be a blacksheep that car reviewers always have to put down. I shouldn't let these things get to me but in the last week i have had 6 co workers come up the me to and mention the above report at which point i show them the lifetime comsumption of the my insight (4.1l...79 000km) while pointing the fuel read out with my middle finger.

:lol:

 

[Electric CO]

...

 

[Guest]

People seem to fear hybrid technology for some reason. Maybe they're afraid eco-friendlier vehicles will be forced upon them through legislation, and they'll be stuck with a small, underpowered car. Of course we know they're not underpowered, but when most people hear gas sipper, they think Geo Metro.

Hybrids are still pretty new, and not everyone has had the experience of being dusted by an Insight taking off from a stoplight. :shock:

 

[Tim Maddux]

not everyone has had the experience of being dusted by an Insight taking off from a stoplight.

That happened to me with the first one I ever saw, a citrus yellow one at that (I have seen fewer than 10 citrus Insights). It was another 6 months at least before we bought ours but the way that first one left me in the dust was in my mind when I went to test drive our car.

 

[Sparky5501]

Hybrids are still pretty new, and not everyone has had the experience of being dusted by an Insight taking off from a stoplight.

No. 1 reason for me to even go into the dealership to test drive an Insight was the fact a silver '00 blew my doors off at a stoplight while I was in my Porsche. Of course I caught up to it, looked it over and promply made it a speck in my rearview mirror, but man did that get my attention. The same day I test drove my insight I was driving home with it.

So who's this guy making fun of the Insight and the Prius...

As to the moron of a TV reporter, there seems to be a subset of automotive oldies out there who don't quite seem to get the idea that Hybrid technology is a force to be reckoned with. I remember seeing something on CNN about new autos and the news anchor said what's the point of Hybrids with gas prices being so low. "Umm hello! You're missing the point moron." I have a feeling it's more a matter of news bias than the actual auto industry not embracing hybrids. It's all to easy to push your POV in a 30 second sound bite.

i have no IMA support for the first 15min until the car has warmed up sufficiently.

Try blocking off the radiator as mentioned in http://www.insightcentral.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=933
This should get you to warmer engine temps quicker in the morning.
There's some more info on it here as well... http://www.insightcentral.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=929

 

[Luna]

How about hybrids' cleaner emissions? Yet another praise worthy attribute of the cars. I guess those hybrid bashing reporters don't care about the air, either.

Luna

 

[james]

"...not everyone has had the experience of being dusted by an Insight taking off from a stoplight."

But I'm doing my part to extend that experience to a wider audience

 

[The Citrus Smoothie]

I also feel obliged to do the same to help destroy the myth that Hybrid cars are slow. :wink:

 

[Sparky5501]

I also feel obliged to do the same to help destroy the myth that Hybrid cars are slow.

I get my greatest satisfaction driving my Insight whenever I overtake and pass a Toyota Prius. I think they are the ones responsible for the "Hybrids are slow" mantra floating around. I've lost count of all the Prius I've buzzed by. I don't know if they really are slow or if the people who buy them just drive insanely slow...

 

[Tim Maddux]

I don't know if they really are slow or if the people who buy them just drive insanely slow...

I've been noticing (and commenting) that a much higher %age of original Prius drivers seem to be old (70+) compared to the overall driving population. Haven't seen enough new Prius drivers yet to compare.

 

[Motty82]

Oops... I noticed the subject was sidetracked a bit...

 

[b1shmu63]

Elbo, that reporter must have felt right at home driving in the cold as he is living proof that Neanderthals did not die out in the last ice age. :lol:

Drivers are discovering ways to achieve better winter mileage with thier Insights. It will be interesting to see if any of these ideas are adopted in future hybrids. I see that the new Prius uses stored engine heat to quickly warm up the engine. I would like to add something like that to my own Insight.

 

[Guest]

Drivers are discovering ways to achieve better winter mileage with thier Insights. It will be interesting to see if any of these ideas are adopted in future hybrids. I see that the new Prius uses stored engine heat to quickly warm up the engine. I would like to add something like that to my own Insight.

I've been thinking about that as well. What a cool.. er, warm mod that would be! I'd also like to find a way to make a 12v engine block heater.

 

[elbo]

I have an engine block heater on mine. It was installed by the dealer. Its the same as the standard civic one.

 

[Guest]

Hi El_vacho:

___You do know Honda has an Engine Block (actually very small - coolant) heater available for the Insight as an accessory for < $45.00? I have seen the two pieces of HW listed for as little as $32.00 on the net. I read a post by a forum member from Boston who uses it and is pleased with the heat up result after a cold night in the open while his Insight is plugged in. I am going to order one myself along with a rear cargo mat sometime in the next month myself.

___I will have to find a way to see the coolant and oil temps in real time while traveling the hwy’s and byways. I suspect that the sometimes great, sometimes not so great lean burn window as well as mileage performance is affected by fluctuating temps and maybe an inverter attached to that small block coolant heater while traveling might just help stabilize the entire Insight’s block temperature over a given time frame a little?

___The Radiator block and Warm Air intake mod do in fact work so if you don’t have those installed; I would most certainly recommend them for colder (< 45 degree F) temperatures.

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___[email:3re2pkdh][email protected][/email:3re2pkdh]

 

[Electric CO]

...

 

[Guest]

Great! All that we need now is for the ignorant masses to see plugged-in Insights!!!

But they'd mysteriously only be plugged in when it's cold. :?

I do have a warm air intake mod installed, and my radiator mostly blocked (I will soon be blocking most of the front of the car) and it definitely helps. But my commute is only about 15 miles one way, so the biggest detriment to my MPG is the engine warm-up time.

Unfortunately I don't live where I'd be able to plug in an engine block heater. I actually hadn't thought of using an inverter, but I'm not too keen on them anyway. They're very inefficient, and if plugged into the accessory socket, the ignition would have to be on for it to work. If it was wired directly to the 12v battery, I would need some sort of 12v timer to turn it on and off (or do it manually, which isn't very convenient). Wouldn't want the inverter running all the time. I wonder how much current the block heater pulls...

 

[Guest]

Hi El_vacho:

___I tried to find the Insight Engine Block heater specs online but only ran into a few Honda parts sellers that offered it as well as the installation pdf. Nothing on the power uptake however. I was interested as you can tell but would run it off a switch under the hood to remove it from the circuit once the Insight was shutdown/stopped or so I could simply plug it into a regular outlet just to keep the block a little bit warmer while its awaiting the next commute.

___Electric CO, as for being plugged in, what’s a little confusion amongst friends … When and/or if gasoline hits $3.00 a gallon, who cares what someone thinks

___To clear up the above, I just heard the “$3.00/gallon for this summer as a possibility” from an oil industry expert on the Noon Business Hour on Chicago’s WBBM - AM 780. I really hope it doesn’t arrive as the US and the rest of the world will get screwed (huge recession) in the process but if it does, I hope the Insight runs like a top all summer …

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___[email:3fvpq2e0][email protected][/email:3fvpq2e0]

 

[b1shmu63]

Wayne, don't loose sleep over gas prices this summer. They hit about $2.60 US per US gallon in Ontario last summer for premium no lead. Big gass guzzling trucks were still blowing past me going 70 on country roads. :shock: Few seemed to notice!

Kip

 

[Guest]

Hi B1shmu63:

___Yes, you are probably correct … Us American’s will after all has been said, done, and paid for in blood, money, or other wise will be American’s … Even the long haul truckers are doing 65 – 70 on the 55 zoned Interstates in my locale lately and Diesel is more expensive then Regular Unleaded!

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___[email:15kj5l3n][email protected][/email:15kj5l3n]