[Insighter]

I've just purchased a new '03 CVT Insight (it is already in the body shop thanks to a charming woman who didn't seem to understand American traffic laws). I've looked at the Yahoo groups, but found them hard to search and navigate.

1) Are most of you using the 0w-20 oil from Honda?

2) Anyone using synthetics? If so, what brand and weight?

3) Is it pretty well agreed that 87 octane gas is best money-wise?

 

[grebe]

With Mobil1 0w-20 now available, that's what I just switched to. I have no idea what affect (if any) it will have on fuel mileage. I use it because I believe synthetic oil is better.

As soon as the weather warms up, I'm going to try different octane levels.

Gary

 

[Insighter]

Mobil 1 Synthetic...

Gary--Does Mobil 1 make an oil filter for the Insight, also?

Got of my rear and answered my own question:

According to Mobil 1 tech support:

• There is a Mobil1 filter for the Insight*: # M1-108

• Mobil1's synthetic will be out in the middle of March.

According to AMSOIL** tech support:

• AMSOIL's oil filter for the Insight*: # SDF13

• AMSOIL already has a 5w-20 out in their XL7500 line (6 month, 7,500 mile interval) (I had originally been told this was a 0w-20, but that tech was mistaken.)

*This information is for the '03, but I presume all Insights use the same oil filter.

**If you want to purchase AMSOIL products, call them directly and become a "dealer." You pay about $20 and you can buy from them directly at the discount price. This is how most people buy from them. AMSOIL is supposed to be a great product. I've never heard any detractors, except for the usual "Synthetics cost too much."

 

[Allnighte]

what's the difference between synthetic and the stuff that came with the car?

i voted 89 simply because i use anything between 87 to 91. it's really just random, though i tend to kinda stay away from 87 because it FEELS like >87 is faster/better :lol:

 

[grebe]

I don't know if Mobil makes oil filters for the Honda because I usually buy the Honda filters.

Gary

 

[Braxus]

1. Using the 0W-20 oil from Honda. Cost was 45 bucks a case for 12 quarts (3.75ea). The oil filter was about 6.25. Gasket was 60 cents.

Found the oil filter a pain to change. Unlike my old car, the Insight oil filter is mounted horizontally which makes it a pain to reach and unscrew. Furthermore, when you remove the filter, oil from the filter area tends drip on the aluminum shielding under it forming a puddle of oil.

2. Not using any synthetics here, but I've been hearing conflicting reports that the Honda 0W-20 oil is sythetic while others say it's not.

3. IIRC, the manual says you should fill up with at least 87 and from what I've read, putting in higher octane gas doesn't really help too much for milage. On one of the Yahoo hybrid groups/forums, I believe someone did a test with 93 octane w/octane booster to get the octane level to "around 100" and they didn't find it to do much in terms for overall milage. As for quality of gas, the Insight supposedly has a knock sensor so using 87 gas shouldn't have a negative impact (correct me if I'm wrong).

Insighter: Also, just wondering... How exactly did your Insight end up in the body shop. Details please.

 

[Insighter]

In the body shop...

Braxus: The second day I had it a woman made a U-Turn and hit me. As far as wrecks go, it was nothing. It just took out my bumper, driver headlight and a support for the bumper reinforcement (though not the reinforcement itself). She hit me on that small section of the bumper that wraps around the driver side. Total of $951 damage.

Several moments before she hit me I had made a right turn on red, after coming to a complete, engine-shut-off stop (with my right turn signal on). When she hit me I was clear of the intersection and fully in the lane of the road I had turned onto. She just wasn't paying attention. I imagine she was going a little fast and didn't bother to look to see if anyone was in the lane. I was only going about 3-5 mph.

She is trying to claim it is my fault, and, to top it off, she is trying to claim injuries. She said she wasn't injured the night it happened, and there were just some light scratches on the front right corner of her bumper ('90 Ford Probe). It must have had all the impact of hitting a Rubbermaid trash can. Given the weight of her car as compared to the Insight, she couldn't have felt much.

I'm hoping the fact that she hit me and the position of the cars will make it clear she was at fault.

 

[sajego]

Was it an illegal U-Turn?

 

[Insighter]

U-Turn

Only in the sense that you can't make one when the lanes aren't clear; U-turns are permitted at that intersection, but it will probably end up a split according to my claims adjuster.

 

[Resist]

I tried using premium gas in my Insight once, just to see if my mileage improved. I didn't notice a difference, so I went back to regular. Now that regular is $1.89 a gallon, good thing I only have to fill up once every 2 months!

 

[Resist]

Oops, gas is $1.95 for Regular as of today!

 

[fizzixrat]

I use whatever oil the dealership is putting in there for me. I suppose I should ask next time, hmm?

I've tended to go for the 89 octane, figuring that with the fuel savings I'm getting, I can spring for the extra cost. (Once in a while, I'll put in the premium, but not that often.) I haven't noticed a huge benefit of premium or even 89 or 87, although as others have said, the 89 just "feels" better somehow. I have to say though, tire pressure seems to have a much greater effect on my MPG than the octane rating of my gas.

 

[Braxus]

Oops, gas is $1.95 for Regular as of today!

Gee, and we're only paying $2.30 for regular here!

 

[Resist]

I use whatever oil the dealership is putting in there for me. I suppose I should ask next time, hmm?

You better ask! The wrong weight oil can lower your gas mileage. If the dealership is using one of those big drums full of oil, then they probably are not using 0w-20 oil. I think they can only get the correct weight in quart containers. If that is true you should get part of a quart back. Check your bill and see how much they put in, it should only be 2.5 quarts.

 

[Aaron Cake]

Using higher octane fuel in an engine designed for lower octane fuel is generally a bad thing. There is only a performance increase if something is already wrong with the engine, and the higher octane will not burn properly leading to deposits and lower mileage. I always use what the manufacturer specifies.

The exception would of course be if you have modified your car with high compression, turbos, highly advanced timing, etc. But why would one do these things to an Insight?

 

[Insighter]

Yes, but...

I have read that on the Chevron website (boy do you have to dig to find that information), but I still wonder about the Insight because I've seen it said that the compression on the Insight is high enough that it should use/could take advantage of high octane.

I've also read that the only reason it can "get by" with 87 is the anti-knock sensor that is used to adjust the timing to the octane level used.

I don't know how true any of this is as I don't know enough about engines, but I'd like to know what those who do think.

Thanks!

 

[Thorian]

Using higher octane fuel in an engine designed for lower octane fuel is generally a bad thing. There is only a performance increase if something is already wrong with the engine, and the higher octane will not burn properly leading to deposits and lower mileage. I always use what the manufacturer specifies.

The exception would of course be if you have modified your car with high compression, turbos, highly advanced timing, etc. But why would one do these things to an Insight?

But the insight already has High Compression 10.3:1

The owners manual says 87 octane the shop manual says 93

 

[Aaron Cake]

10:1 is not very high in my book, especially on an engine with a modern anti-knock system.

 

[Armin]

The owners manual says 87 octane the shop manual says 93

The owners manual is written for the US market and uses the US "pump" octane rating, which is calculated as an average of research octane and motor octane. The Service Manual is written for international markets and uses Research octane. For most brands, the numbers turn out to be the same.

 

[Tim Maddux]

ExxonMobil announced the 0W-20 synthetic back in November of 2002 and it still hasn't turned up anywhere. I wonder what the delay is?

I'll probably switch to that synthetic when it turns up; for now I'm using Honda 0W-20 (which I am certain is NOT synthetic oil).

The octane issue got beat to death, hard, over on the Yahoo forums. I gave up on higher octane fuel after I did 5 tanks of low-octane and 5 tanks of high octane and couldn't detect a difference in either the average mileage per tank or in performance (for the mpg to even be cost-effective it'd have to be a 10% increase and I saw <1% difference). Much bigger differences in mpg from things like "did I get cut off an extra time on the freeway or not."

The last theory I heard was that higher octane might allow the Insight to use its variable valve timing to get more torque without misfiring, but someone did dyno measurements of that with an OBD-II setup and found no change, as I recall.