[wackypaul]

Hello everyone! I live in Dayton, OH and just bought a 2000 Insight. The LMPG is 47.5 and on a recent higway trip of 310 miles I made 56.9 mpg. it's a 5 spd tranny, and I see these numbers are very low in comparison. I think the air filter and cabin filter need to be changed and I'm sure you all can give me some good tips. I am shocked at the knowledge that can be found on this website, but my wife and friends are sick of me talking about it all the time. Good thing I have you all for support! Thanks,
Paul

 

[Rick]

Hmm, are the tires the oem Bridgestone Potenza RE92's (165/65/14)? If you were just cruising at 75 80 ish with some slightly hilly terrain 56.9 sounds about right. Check the tire pressure and check the air filter. Those would certainly make a difference.

Ohh and welcome aboard.

 

[Sparky5501]

but my wife and friends are sick of me talking about it all the time. Good thing I have you all for support! Thanks,

OT but I couldn't resist...

My girlfriend has figured out that if she just starts a totally new conversation while I'm blabbing about the Insight I will shut up for a while. :lol:

 

[jtmco]

Do you know where/when the oil was last changed? I bought mine 6 weeks ago and the used car dealer had the car serviced at Firestone - I think they put 10W/30 in the car. I expect that had been hurting the mileage and I changed it as soon as possible.

Also, how cold was it during your trip? Cold weather and/or running the defrost/ac seem to drop my mileage noticeably.

Isn't this forum a goldmine?

Jim

 

[Tim Maddux]

I agree w/ Rick, check the tire pressure.

Also, drive it on the highway at a steady speed, see if you can train yourself using the instantaneous MPG display (bars along the bottom of the dash readout) to keep the MPG above 75 with the car in lean-burn mode. If instead it's down around 50 mpg all the time, your car is probably not engaging lean-burn and you need to take your foot off the gas a little bit. Watch for the big jump in mpg as lean burn kicks in.

Oh, and watch the road too, no sense wrecking your new car good luck

 

[windmill]

.....but my wife and friends are sick of me talking about it all the time.

You are not allone !!!! :wink:

 

[wackypaul]

The tires are brand new, Quatrac 165/65/14. It's 5000 mi since the last oil change and the stick says they used 0w20, but that would help to have it changed I'm sure. Any suggestions on air filters? Dealers tend to over charge for simple things like that. Hey thanks for responding! This is like a new community to be a part of and it's nice to feel so welcomed.
Take care all-

 

[dazey]

Your MPG will improve with time. It took my Insight a few months to train me how to drive it (going from under 60 to 65+MPG on a tank). I am still amazed at times like today where after spending 5.5 hours in traffic and only covering 90 miles (that's about 16.4 MPH, a lot of stop and go, a fair amount of freeway cruising, it also force charged the batteries about 3 times from all the stop and go) it still managed 59MPG.

Along with the air filter and oil change also check the tire pressure. Going from 35/38 to 45psi should get you anywhere from 5-10MPG.

http://www.hparts.com(under construction right now) has the engine and cab filters for a decent price.

And congrats on the new ride

 

[b1shmu63]

Hi! Welcome to the club.

The OEM tires are Potenzas. The Potenzas certainly help the mileage but some folks don't like the way they handle. There has been much discussion of this.

 

[Guest]

Hi Wackypaul:

___Welcome to the Honda Insight owners group

___Please just read, read, and read some more. I cannot think of much that hasn’t been discussed in this forum in regards to an Insight. A few tens of hours reading and picking up the tips and tricks, a few tens of hours perfecting your own techniques for your own conditions, and voila. 70 - 90 mpg consistently should be within your reach!

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes

 

[wackypaul]

Paul here again. Wanted to thank everyone for the responses again. I have spent many hours reading the forum and other parts of this website, so I just wanted to get my feet wet! Just to let you know I did have the oil and filters changed at a honda dealer... Someone I went to highschool worked there so he knocked $25.00 off!! Every little bit helps! I have a trip to Cincinniti on Saturday. I will be incorporating your tips... I hope everyone has a good weekend,
Paul

 

[ericbecky]

Paul,
$25. Heck that's well over a tank of gas in the Insight. So even if you stayed at 57mpg you'd make over 750miles on that $25.

 

[wackypaul]

Hey Eric, I was curous if you noticed using your cruise control hurts your mpg? I was thinking of having that installed on my 2000. Would you say it's worked well? Also on my trip to Cinci I got 56.8 mpg for a 200 mi... FYI,
Paul

 

[ericbecky]

I would definitely say cruise control hurts mpg. In facts it kills it.
As a living breathing person, I have better control anticipating what is coming up in the road than the cruise control does. I can see that slight rise up ahead. I notice the driver slowing down.
The cruise does not gently accelerate to maximize efficiency.
It's goal is to maintain speed at all costs, not maximize gas mileage.

When I went looking for an Insight, I was certain that I needed cruise control. And to the uninitated it seems like a great idea. But for me, now it's nothing more than a selling poiint to proclaim that the Insight has all the "normal" features of regular car. In reality, though, I never use it anymore.

Now if I could have a cruise control that I could set for mpg efficiency...that would be another story...