[Ecoupé]

I want to introduce my self today with saying hello!

Yesterday I joined the small German diaspora of
Honda Insight possessors by buying a used 2000
model with 110.000kms on the counter. My first
400kms incl 50 kms of city traffic it had an average
consumption of 4,2 L/100km (how many mpg?) and
I'm very glad about this and the condition of the car.
I keep contact to the previous owner who made about
90.000kms in the last 3 years. Great car, new feeling
of being mobile at last! Hope to get interesting
information and supply here.

Till soon and greetings from Munich, Germany

Yours, Michael

 

[Insightful Trekker]

Hi Michael and welcome to the forum :!:

And I look forward to reading about your future Insight experiences.

 

[No. 166]

Welcome Michael .

Finally! I'm not alone anymore. A fellow German !
What colour is your car and how come, after over 5 years of availability, your late decision to buy an Insight ? I mean they aren't available everywhere....
Have fun on the board.

Gordon from Paderborn. Driving his Insight since 07/2000 and thinking of getting the 2006 HCH !
8)

 

[Ecoupé]

Thanks for your answers,

I was looking after an ability to get one
of these cars since their appearance on
the market. But I'm also a very economic
person who first can wait if something new
shows up. So then I could watch how other
possessors got along with their Insights and
see the prices fall on the market. In Germany
usually 1 - 5 different cars were offered online.

The first Insight I saw in reality was about two
years ago in my neighbourhood. I was quite
shocked. The second one I catched up in Munich
traffic last year, and - ! - it was for sale by one
of our big Honda-dealers. But it had a bad weather
damage on the roof so it didn't please me for the
(low) price. But the test-drive was marvellous.
I also own a Panhard CD from 1963, one of the
lowest drag-coefficients ever constructed and winner
in LeMans 1962 (not my car...). But it's the same
philosophy behind this pearl of French engineering.
2cyl. aircooled boxer 850cc and a topspeed of about
180km/h. With about the same power as the Honda.
A historic parallelism that I want to documentate in
the nearest future.

My car was a quite strange offer from a Honda dealer
here in Bavaria. He wanted to get rid of the car very
quickly so I got it for a relatively fair price. I hope it
doesn't have a hidden defect. It's silver as my CD and
my Audi A2 "3L" I bought two weeks ago because I
didn't know if the Insight-deal would end luckily...
In Germany these splendid Eco-A2 were stopped in pro-
duction in july this year. So I wanted to have one before
prices (of petrol) rise again. I think these three are great
collectors' and drivers' cars. But I have to give away a
small Citroen-car-collection now. Times are changing
and I think it's never too late to start a better future...

OK, enough philosophy for today, till soon, hope to hear
from you!

Yours, Michael

 

[Dgate]

Ecoupe,What is in your Citroen collection? I too am into Citroens and once hankered after a Panhard CT24 coupe but never bought one.
Oh yes welcome aboard the forum.
DGate

 

[Ecoupé]

Marvellous, unbelieveable...

My cars I offer for sale are an ID19 berline and an ID19 break,
both in very good condition, both in beige and from 1962. The
first car that has to go is a (sic!) Panhard 24ct from 1965.
The car is now dominated by the CD and I only can hold one
Panhard.
The cars I'll hold are a 89 CX TRD and a 64 ami6. My girlfriend
has a 67 R4 now, they all are in very nice condition.
For everyday use the A2 3L has to do.

My new issue is "ultra lightweight (alloy/glassfibre), ultra low drag,
ultra rare". Perhaps the A2 never will be rare, but it's also a great
engineer's construction. Economy is the aim!

Till soon, yours, Michael

 

[Ecoupé]

Second trial:

My mind has changed a bit concerning
the Cit-collection. So I have to correct
my sales-progress: the IDs will stay
as the Break is capable to tract the CD
on a tailer. Perhaps I'll take part on the
Nurburgring-Classic-event end of Sept.
The ami6 and the 24ct are already sold
now, the CX still waits for an enthusiast.

Yes, the 3L-cars are everyday fun! The
Honda is a real day-by-day pleasure,
the Audi A2 runs for long distance, so
at my holiday-trip to Corsica (62 mpg
over 2k miles, topspeed 120mph shortly).

You see, I'm not on the 'eco-trip', but I
enjoy these works-of-art. My Panhard
CD is doing well after a gearbox-overhaul.
I still plan a feature about a Insight / CD
comparison. To see a 40 years progress...

Bye, and till soon!

Yours, Michael

 

[Dougie]

It is very interesting to compare the Insight to 1960-era sports cars.

Another one similar to the Citroen is the Lotus Elite, which is about the same size and weight and power as an Insight, and was considered a super-car at the time. All the big name British racing car drivers had them and drove them FAST around Europe. I guess times have changed a bit in regards to car performance...

 

[gomarlins3]

Welcome to the site.

 

[jonnoshore]

3L audi...

Welcome Michael,

I heard of the 3L lipo, VW rushed it out when they heard Renault werew working on a 3L Clio... but that was mid-engined and V6 3.0L.

The A2 is alloy too... Did not sell them here in UK I think(3L version). How much are the 3L Audi's? I've imported 3 cars from Germany and have 3 LHD cars currently so am curious...

Mine is a Red 2000 MY Insight named 'Oracle'...

P.S. to work out MPG easily press mph / km button on dash. km mode is a good way to see when vehicle is in fuel cut off (i.e. less fuel used than idle as no fuel is injected. I prefer mpg as 150+mpg makes me smile.

 

[Ecoupé]

Yeah! It's a historic parrallelism that René Bonnet
and Charles Deutsch (Deutsch-Bonnet / D.B: HBR
coach) were on silimar paths with Colin Chapman
(Lotus: Elite) in the mid 50s.
With glassfibre body and ultralight (Lotus) or rigid
(D.B) frame-concepts they had the same aim.
Better perfomance and roadholding through
("just add") lightness.
Ultra-small motors nevertheless in this case were
enough for astonishing performances.
Both had the same problems on the racetrack
because of their fragility...

The 3-litre-joke is new for me. I read the biography
of senior VW-leader Ferdinand Piech who was chief-
race-engineer at Porsche at the end of the 60s. He's
one of the most important protagonists concerning
lightweight and proposed the former leader of Austria,
Franz Vranitzky (who wanted a 5 -litre-car) "why not
a 3-litre-car"? That was in the early 90s. 1999 VW came
out with the Lupo 3L. The revolution in body-structure
of small cars was the A2 in 2000, the same year, the
Honda Insight appeared. BOTH cars have a full alloy
structure with "Space-Frame" (Audi-patented) structure.
I don't know where Honda took their knowlegde to
invent their structure. Did they take a licence of Audi?

In any case these two vehicles wrote history, not many
of the journalists took real notice, but the ones who drove
these cars were fascinated. I'm curious about the com-
ments one will read in 10 or 15 years when other cars
MAYBE reach similar refinement. I hope to be able to
hold mine till then, because I love historic AND rare cars.

Why not drive a future historic car, with having lots of
fun and profit in everyday use? A 40 years old car never
can be a concurrent to it, at least because of corrosion!

Till soon, yours, Michael

P.S.: John, do you mean how many cars or how much
money for them? I can answer both. Audi built about
8.000 3L-A2s. About 4.500 were sold in Germany.
I observe the offers on the virtual market since more
than two years now. There never were offered more
than perhaps 40 at a time. At the moment there are
about 15, most of them over 60k miles. The cheapest
is about 8.500 EUR. With accident or damages lower,
but under 40k miles (as mine from 2001) you pay at
least 12.500 EUR. Very sought after are "full option"
models which are relatively rare (esp. 34 litres tank).

 

[Fred]

Till soon and greetings from Munich, Germany

Best of luck with the car!

As for Munich, on this end I have many pleasent memories of my visit there; the hotel Koenigshoff, the beautiful city park and the wonderful cold beers and those delicious hot sausages at the outdoor cafes. What a wonderful city, Munich.

Fred

 

[b1shmu63]

Welcome Michael. Honda has many years of experience building the aluminum bodied Accura NSX sports car. The Insight uses many Honda patented techniques. One is Thixotropic casting which is done with semi solid aluminum. Five different alloys of aluminum were used in the body.

Kip.

 

[Ecoupé]

Thanks, that was new for me. Concerning the
Audi Space Frame - which also consists out of
different light metals - I heard of separating
coatings that have to prevent close contact
between certain surfaces. These coatings have
to prevent corrosion and when they become of
age and deteriorate contact-corrosion between
light-metal surfaces can start. At least 10 years
this should not happen, says the guarantee...

Yours, Michael

 

[Sherrisue]

Welcome

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your purchase! I've had my Insight for 2 months and am extremely pleased. Isn't it fun to look at the display and see those awesome MPGs?!!