[rwh63]

i'm trying to figure out what some of the major maintenance costs would be on an insight. this would include: rechargeable battery, clutch, major brakes, suspension, a/c, etc. anyone have real experience with this subject?

 

[Guillermo]

Most of the wear parts like tires, brakes, and shocks cost about the same as most small cars. All the regular maintenance costs the same as any other honda. Replacing the clutch or transmission costs about the same as other honda's as well.

The battery pack costs $3,600 Canadian at my Canadian Honda dealer (I just asked last week out of curiosity). But the battery pack should last the life of the car under normal use or at least 10 or 15 years. The Insight battery pack has a 8 year warranty. Most cars have a 4 year 60,000 mile warranty on their gasoline engines and we know most cars don't have engine problems for 3X longer then that.
Considering that i'm saving $1,500/year on fuel costs i'm not worried about the battery pack.

 

[Yves M.]

Guillermo, was the cost including the install or was it just for the pack.

As a note, my pack is still OK (meaning my approximation of about 75% capacity out of 5 year usage)

 

[Resist]

Most cars have a 4 year 60,000 mile warranty on their gasoline engines

I believe the Insight only has a 36 month/36,000 mile warranty on the powertrain. Unlike Toyota's 60 month/60,000 mile.

 

[Guillermo]

The following are the cost of the parts only in Canadian Dollars (installation costs extra).
$3600 new battery pack
$2200 new manual transmission
$5000 new bottom end of the engine
$2400 new top end of the engine

 

[Yves M.]

Thanks a lot for the info. I hope the engine will last a long time. Transmisison seams bareable and the pack is borderline for a doit yourselfer