[born2drv]

Is this a good sign?? I didn't realize till after I bought it that the mileage the person before me had was pretty low compared to the 50-80s some of you guys get.

I read the techniques on this site you use to conserve momentum, maximize use of the electric motor during start ups, etc, however from driving it around last night for 30 miles, I only managed to get an average of 44MPG myself.

So what does this mean? Does the car need a tune up? I know it's somewhat old with 73,000 miles, I got it from a honda dealership but I don't know what the history of the car is other than the title is clean.

Should I consider getting new spark plugs, plug wires, and other things to get the MPG up?

Also do you guys hear a slight knocking of the motor? I don't think my engine is knocking, I'm assuming you can just hear it more since the car is lighter and less sound-proofed that just about any other car out there. But it does make me wonder.

Thanks.

 

[cakley]

Thats pretty low. I drive fast-- at least 80mph and average 85mph on my 60 mile commute to work. I still have a 53LMG.

Check the air pressure in the tires. If the previous owner followed the owners manual then he would have been fighting to get good MPG.
Are the tires stock size?

Check the oil and oil level. Its been shown that tech will use the wrong oil and wrong oil amounts.

Knocking... Need more info. If its a tapping sound then its the valves. Most insight owners say thay have noisy valves. Have the dealer check them.

Plugs are supposed to last 100k. Though I'd question that if the engine is in lean burn mode alot or the EGR is clogged. They cost about 20.00 a piece so go ahead and change them. The Insight doesn't have plug wires to change.

 

[Rick]

At 73,000 miles odds are the car no longer has the Potenza RE92 tires any more. Just about anything but the oem size tire (165/65/14) is going to cost you mileage. With whatever tire is on the car make sure it's inflated to at least factory spec if not higher. Watch the treads if you experiment.

If you decide to change the plugs make sure you get the proper Honda plugs, they are different plugs cylinder to cylinder.

My guess is tires though. BTW, you can reset the LMPG if you want to keep track of your lmpg.

 

[born2drv]

OK well I had a look, the tires are very new, but they're some no-name aftermarket thing. But would tires make they much of a difference???? We're talking about a deficit of around 10-20mpg, is that reasonable just from tires???

 

[cakley]

It will all add up

Wrong brand of tires

Wrong Tire size

No inflated to proper PSI

Possibly wrong oil and or oil level
:idea:

 

[Armin]

everything that cakely said, plus you never told us if you had a standard or CVT. 47 seems good for a CVT.

But don't forget the driver. You don't know who drove the car how and in what conditions. Anybody can get as low mileage as he wants, just try hard enough!

 

[james]

Also, you don't say where you live. If it's cold out, you will be seeing lower than normal mpg. There are a couple of really simple things you can do to help - one's to block part of the radiator with a piece of cardboard.

 

[redgiki]

Blocking radiator etc.

Yep, our temps here in Utah recently took a dive from 30-40 down to 5-20 Farenheit, and I immediately noticed it in my MPG's. It was pretty dramatic. With my driving patterns in the winter, I've been averaging almost exactly my lifetime MPG (never reset it after I bought it used) -- 54.9 MPG in my CVT. Over the last week, that's dropped to around 47-48 MPG. Time to block the radiator again and pump the tires back to 50, I had that warranty service done and now I can tune the car back to mid-fifties in MPG...

I keep being jealous of the manual transmission mileages, and then I have days like today... stuck in traffic for 12 miles stop-and-go, I found myself grateful for the lack of constant shifting. Maybe I'm not so jealous. My Insight's the right color, the right year, just the wrong transmission I may never reach sixty-five at sixty-five, but the least I can do is routinely Beat EPA!

 

[james]

Try doing the hot air bypass thing too. Don't know if it would help a CVT, but it made a noticable difference in mine. Almost back to summer mpg levels, maybe even better on the 10 miles or so of freeway I drive coming in to work.

 

[born2drv]

Thanks for your replies.

Well I've been driving it more now.... looking for excuses to drive it, I've put on 200 miles and I still get around the same 40-45mpg range. Mind you on the highway I drive between 65-80 mph. (say average of 70)... so maybe I just have a heavy foot. But I do convserve momentum, try to minimize my brake usage to get max. juice when slowing down, etc....

My car is a 5-spd, I live in Los Angeles, CA. The dealer has agreed to look at the car mechanically to see if there is anything they can do to give it a tune up or get better performance with the fuel milage. I guess when these tires get about 1/2 worn down, I'll replace them with the proper low rolling resistance ones as well.

As far as I know, the hot air intake might help get better mileage as many of you have tried, but won't this hamper performance/accelloration? I'm willing to adjust all my driving habits to get better mileage, but not my desire to drive fast I'm guessing cold-air intage = more performance, less mpg, and hot air intake = opposite.

 

[Rick]

Inflate the tires to max sidewall and slow down. Try holding the instant mileage gague somewhere between 75 and 100 while cruising at about 60. The tires on the car might be too much drag to keep it in lean burn. I'm thinking the problem here is half tires half driving habbits. I would think going back to the oem tires without changing driving style would at least get you up above 50mpg, maybe close to 60.

Yes, hot air would cause you to loose some power, it all depends on what you want.

 

[SeanW]

My CVT had a LMPG of 51.7 when I got it with 31,000 miles. I changed the oil to Mobil 1 0W-20, put 45psi in all the tires, and tried to drive like I had learned about here. Within two tanks my "personal LMPG" was up to 60mpg and has leveled off there.

Slow down if you really want to improve. I try to stay at or below 67mph and RARELY drive over 70. Good luck!

 

[Skypig]

Hi All. New to forum, but have had my CVT insight since August of 02. I bought it new and have driven the same route 4 times a week since then. I go from Bakersfield to LAX and back (thru Gorman). After 40K of going up and down the grapevine, my lifetime mileage is 55.4 and the battery cycles from full to mostly discharged, back to full at exactly the same points on every trip. I drive 65/70 mph, 40 psi on all 4 and keep the car clean and waxed. Highest mileage seen on a single leg was 61.8, but usually shows 56.5 to 59.5. So far, no big problems.

 

[james]

I tend to drive 65-75 on freeway & open road (but do a lot of mountain road driving too), and saw about 73 mpg average up to November. Since putting in the hot air bypass I'm getting 68-70 (if I exclude the couple of times I had to put on tire chains...). It doesn't seem to affect power noticably.

 

[redgiki]

Jealousy over manual? Nah.

You know, it's funny, I come here and I think "crap, my CVT is getting such stinky gas mileage at 57 MPG", and then one of my neighbors asks me about my car. I tell them my current gas mileage and show them it on the dash, and they say "Holy crap, that's so good! That's almost six times the mileage of my Jeep!"

Yep, life is good. The closest non-hybrid automatic transmission competition is sitting safely at least 15 MPG away...

At least, that's what I say to myself. I love my little car, I really, really do. I get manual transmission envy, but then my wife tells me how she loves my automatic, I get stuck in a traffic jam, or a neighbor asks about my transmission and goes "ooh, it's a CVT, that's so COOL and NEW", and all is well again

 

[Motty82]

Well high speed driving is certainly not going to help you get an excellent MPG average... How many miles were on the car when you bought it? If it has low miles, my guess is that it was mostly driven in city traffic. I don't know about you all, but I find it hard to get EPA estimate fuel economy in the city. An other thing could be that the car was used a lot in cold climates. Most winter days, it's difficult for me to get even 50/city 60/highway.

~Martin
Recycled
2000 5 spd

 

[William]

Martin:
You have been experiencing the same temps as I have. My mileage drop is about the same as yours.
______
Bill