[BLeFevre]

First of all, hello everyone. I think this is a great site for drivers of an awesome car!

Not only is the Insight a gas sipper, it can easily drain away the road rage. I used to drive 5-10 mph faster than the speed limit on the highway (30 mile daily round trip commute). I was always fighting other drivers for position and I was good at it. I was also very worked up always trying to "get past" the next driver.

The Insight changed all that. Now I am always watching the computer and trying to get every bit of gas mileage out of my car. I watch all the other drivers zip past me (I normally do about 65 now) and laugh as I see tail lights when they catch up to the people in front of them.

For the first time in many years I'm enjoying driving again and getting incredible gas mileage along the way. It's nice to slow down a little on the highway and relax a bit. (Yes, sometimes I still go fast too.) Most of the time I even catch up to the fast drivers when I exit, at the first stop light

Three words: The Insight rocks!!

 

[Tim Maddux]

Ars Technica had some good quotes about that too: "Once you start checking the mpg you're getting, it's hard to stop. Keeping your mpg reading high becomes an addictive preoccupation."

"The game is on. You want to get the best mileage you can and now you have all the tools to help unlock the mystery. You just have to learn how to use them. Your driving style has been altered forever. "

 

[Guest]

relax driving

I agree, I am much more relaxed getting to work now that I drive an Insight and have slowed down 15-20mph. I cruise down the road in the "slow" lane trying for the best mpg, just amazed at all the big truck/suv drivers guzzeling along without me. I am no longer bent out of shape by drivers in front of me going "just" the speed limit.

rodney
'03 MT silver
barefoot

 

[ncnightowl]

I purposely look for someone doing at or below the speed limit, then follow at a safe distance. This keeps people from cutting in front of me and makes for a more relaxed trip while boosting mpg. Better yet, I draft a truck at a safe distance. I get road rage when someone blows past me going 80, sometimes I honk.

 

[The Citrus Smoothie]

Unfortunately, so far I cannot say my driving style has changed a great deal, I still tend to drive fast on the motorway and also feel obliged to race off the line at traffic lights just to prove the Insight is no slouch! :twisted:

However my car snobbery has seriously increased - my attitude to 4x4's has become negative and I now absolutely detest poorly maintained cars spilling exhaust smoke in all directions. :evil:

 

[opal]

Glad to know it's not just me!

For the first little while, I kept to my typical, 130kmph speed on the 401. Then I gave myself a virtual slap on the forehead and reminded myself that I bought the car because I'm smart and I care about my impact on the environment, not because I want to be a race car driver!

My blood pressure while doing highway driving has lowered significantly, and trying to get the best possible L/km is a never-ending challenge that's way better than getting caught doing 140 by the OPP!

 

[Insightful Trekker]

I too have found that I no longer wish to race with the rats. <g>

But I am still having problems with those who want to draft you at speeds of the limit or below.

The common cell phone chatter, and those that are road hypnotized at least have a poor excuse. The ones that really get under you skin are those who appear to be unhappy without someone to "race" with.

So in part my road rage level has decreased, but still creeps up behind me on an all to frequent basis (

John K. Bullock
Knoxville, TN

aka Insightful Trekker

 

[LabRat]

I too have found that I no longer wish to race with the rats. <g>

Ahem...
Similarly, I find I no longer wish to race with the monkeyboys. 8)

 

[Ann L]

I have to agree! This car has really reduced the stress of my daily commute, and I when I read your post, I felt like you had explained this mystery. I thought it was just the light clutch (which makes my older car's clutch feel like a resistance machine at the gym).

I wish I could cruise along at whatever speed for maximum mpg's like some of the posters here, but we have constant up and down grades and many loony SUV and large pickup truck drivers who bomb down the freeway like Mad Max, usually while yakking on a cell phone. You have to keep up with them to a reasonable extent, or get run over. :shock: I do get annoyed when I get stuck behind the oblivious drivers (who are usually staring slackjawed straight ahead while hunched over the steering wheel) who poke along at 48 mph in the middle lane with cars whipping around them at 75 or 80 mph like they are rocks in a fast moving stream.

We have the usual inconsiderate jerks who think nothing of whipping around from behind you and cutting you off when you are merging, or forcing their way in front of you from the left lane just when you get up to the front of the queue after waiting 15 minutes in a long line to get on the freeway at the metered ramp (way to go, Caltrans, really sped up the commute, eh?) They still get my blood pressure up. :evil:

With all the hassle, it is remarkable that this little car has such a soothing effect.

 

[Aaron Cake]

I can't say that the Insight has reduced my stress level, but it certainly has made me aware of how large an idiot I am. In the RX-7, I tend to cruise the 401 (100KM speed limit) between 170 and 200KM/H (no, I'm not joking). Now that I'm cruising along at 110KM/H in the Insight, I get to see how those driving at even 130-140KM/H are coming closer and closer to causing an accident. Next summer when I get in the RX-7 again, I'm sure I'll think twice about my old habits.

 

[Delta Flyer]

I've Cooled off Some

Since getting my Insight I have improved my driving habits. The dashboard readout really helps. Everybody should have a dashboard like the Insight.

I still let the road warriors get to me, and the Dallas area is one of the worst in the US. Under my breath, I say things in traffic said nowhere else about these Yahoos :evil: :evil: :evil: . Since so many state and local goverments are laying off people to balance their budgets, I have an idea: enforce the speed limit. In the Dallas area, no one is pulled over unless they are going at least 10 mph over the posted limit. On the tollway, going 80 in a 60 zone is pretty common. I'm convinced that at least every other afternoon accident is caused by someone that found out too late they could not fly at 85 mph.

In my dreams, I would be able to live in a smaller town.

 

[joe4ska]

Mileage up Rage down - who would have thought

I was thinking I was the only person relaxing while i drive. I've had my car for a year and a half and still get excited about my commute to work. Odd, I was never like this before. I used to drive a 95 Hyundai Accent which averaged around 25mpg. It was a rough ride and i always found myself in a rush.

That MPG display really gets a person thinking about the gas they consume. I didn't think it would make me a safer driver, as well. Makes me wonder if the roads would be a little safer if all cars had a MPG display. :lol:

 

[b1shmu63]

Any sailors out there? Is driving the Insight more like sailing?

I drove a friend to town, 100 miles round trip, and he comented on my driving style going there. Coming back he seemed to be more interested in how we were doing on the meter. A month later he called me and said that he had changed his driving style and was saving a significant amount of gas. He also felt that his engine, brakes, and clutch were going to last longer too. :roll:

 

[boogetyboogety]

Sailing? How weird is that...

That is the EXACT comment (about my Insight driving) a friend I had not seen in ten+ years made this past holiday weekend... we had spent many an hour at the whims of the Gulf breezes in another life... sadly for My Beloved and I, she moved away and we don't visit anywhere near as often as we should.

I had not made the connection, but since her comment, that's almost all I think about behind the wheel... you're so right. b1shmu63... :lol:

Amazingly, our other vehicles now also get better mileage, certainly a result of my re-education in efficiency, courtesy of the video-game display on the Insight... :wink:

 

[redgiki]

Other cars...

Heh, yeah, I was amazed to see my van getting 27 MPG (it has a built-in real-time MPG display too) on our way up to Idaho yesterday. Then we were delayed by the weather and had to turn around. On the trip back, that forty-to-sixty MPH wind that had been a tailwind turned into a headwind, and I had to draft a truck for a hundred miles in order to get more than 14 MPG

It definitely affects one's driving patterns all around. I don't mind being passed anymore, but now I really mind someone jumping off the line faster than me when I'm in front at the stoplight

 

[james]

"...but now I really mind someone jumping off the line faster than me when I'm in front at the stoplight."

I don't see too much of that, for some reason

Though there are some things that irritate me even more than they used to pre-Insight. For instance the ones that drive like mad up to a red light, then cut in front of me, slam on their brakes, and come to a dead stop just as the light changes - so that I have to sit and wait for them to get in gear again, where if they'd just stayed behind, we'd both have gotten to the light just as it turned, and rolled through at 10-15 mph or so...

 

[Tim Maddux]

Yes, those people without regen-braking burning their momentum away like mad drive me crazy as well especially when they force me to slow down when we wouldn't otherwise have to.

By the same token, once I'm in idle-stop I don't feel as much of a rush to get going again and am more willing to let people in front of me.

 

[redgiki]

An accident waiting to happen?

One unfortunate thing I've noted about my driving patterns, though, is that in preferring to maximize regenerative braking (which generally equals long braking distance) and coast-through on lights changing (which generally equals slowing down long before a red light), people do follow the pattern you mention: jerk in front of you and slam on the brakes at the light.

How obnoxious.

And yet, I noticed that people trying to conserve momentum and brake slowly seem to be far more the exception than the rule. I even feel a little uncomfortable with how long I take to brake when I'm trying to get regen. There are times that I just say "screw it, let's favor auto-stop", kill the heater, and slam on the brakes right at the light -- just like 99% of the other drivers on the road.

Sometimes, being a safe, energy-conscious driver seems more dangerous than just doing what everybody else is doing: speeding, slamming on brakes, etc. I live in constant fear of being rear-ended.

 

[ElectricTroy]

I was always fighting other drivers for position and I was good at it. I was also very worked up always trying to "get past" the next driver.

What about the danger? Zipping in and around other cars is a great way to make a mistake, and thereby cause an accident. Did you not care?

I too drive fast (~80 mph), but I always stay in the far-left lane with plenty of space in front of me. I see no advantage zig-zagging through traffic. Too risky.

I even feel a little uncomfortable with how long I take to brake when I'm trying to get regen. There are times that I just say "screw it, let's favor auto-stop", kill the heater, and slam on the brakes

I coast from 55 to 25... and then shift to neutral to engage autostop. BTW, that "coasting to light" behavior is something I've done for a long, long time... even before I got my hybrid. I don't see any reason to speed towards a stop sign. Only idiots do that.

 

[redgiki]

Autostop in neutral above 3-4 mph?

I'm confused... my Insight will auto-stop if put into Neutral when coasting to a light? How fast can you be going and have that happen?