[ghillie]

This message will not be of interest to just about all of you happy Insighters, but spare a thought for this outpost of enlightenment.

I need to find a Honda dealer service department in Melbourne that has an interest and expertise with Insights. Is there anyone who visits this site who has experience with Insight ownership in Melbourne and the performance of any service department?

I would be grateful for any information or suggestions.

Ghillie

 

[No. 166]

Hmmm.
It may not be Melbourne but I'm on the Cape York peninsula around July.
I'll keep my eyes peeled up there for you.
Just kidding!

What about the main dealer in Melbourne ? Don't you trust him ?

 

[ghillie]

Dear No.166

Welcome to Australia! (though Cape York is a long way from Melbourne). As you no doubt know July is the right to time to go to the Australian far north - if you come during the wet season (summer) you are at risk of "going troppo" and nothing (no nothing) will stop you feeling thirsty except cold beer.

Thanks for your offer to keep a lookout - but I doubt that there are any Honda dealers on Cape York and almost certainly no Insights - you might just see a Prius or two.

My request for any information about experience with Insight service in Melbourne is a long shot - but not as silly as it may sound. This ain't no one horse town. There are 15 Honda dealers in metro Melbourne. If I don't get any helpful feedback (not saying you didn't try) I will just use my local Honda dealer (Courtney & Patterson in Heidelberg - that's Heidelberg in Melbourne not Heidelberg in Germany). I think that they service at least two other Insights - which given the tiny numbers sold here probably qualifies them as experts in this corner of the global village.

Hope you enjoy the holiday(?) in the far north.

Ghillie

 

[The Citrus Smoothie]

It's a good sign that they already service two Insights, at least it won't be an unknown to them (unlike the dealers near me). Make sure you get the 0W-20 oil, it does make a difference. Always a good idea to try and get tips from this Forum, it's just a shame there aren't more Australian members.

 

[No. 166]

Well, it was only a joke anyway. (The Insight on Cape York.)

The only States I haven't seen yet are Victoria and Tassie, btw. So I wouldn't know the dealers around Melbourne.

I've been to the enourmous Honda-dealer in Sydney in 2001. They had a red Insight there. In Canberra also.....but they were short of brochures.
In 2003 they had a green Insight up in Darwin where I got my aussie brochure finally.
"Desert City Motors" in Alice Springs has sadly closed down though. I took spy-pictures of the Holden/Vauxhall/Opel Zafira in 1997 there and sold them to a magazine, which payed my flights. No Hondas for the "red centre" anymore.

Maybe I'll catch something Honda Insight-ish in Cairns. As it is from there where we head up north. 8)

Fair dinkum !

 

[ghillie]

No.166

Thanks - it was taken in good humour as was intended.

I would be very interested if you did see an Insight anywhere on your travels - but given the very small numbers sold here it's unlikely. (See my post "buying an Insight from afar")

I'm not surprized that you saw an Insight at a Sydney Honda dealer in 2001, as that is when they were first brought into Australia. Because of lack of interest Honda stopped selling them new here in 2004. As far as I know all the "new" stock has been sold. There are currently no Insights advertised for sale in Australia (new or old).

I too have an Australian Insight brochure. Interestingly, it lists the available colours as red, silver and black. However, between the printing of the brochure and building the cars black was changed to citrus. No black cars were brought here. I don't know how many citrus ones there are. When I was looking to buy, I saw three red and three silver Insights. I saw (and almost bought) one citrus car. It had been owned by the Brisbane City Council. There was also another citrus car briefly for sale in Canberra. Another citrus car was used for a record FE run between Brisbane and Melbourne (average 2.2l/100km or 107mpg). I think it is unlikely that there are only three citrus cars in Australia - but I don't really know.

Only 5 speed manuals were sold new here. However, there is one CVT in Melbourne that was privately imported. It was for sale last year but I don't know what happened to it.

Let me know if you change your plans and are coming to Melbourne.

 

[No. 166]

As I mentioned before I have seen 3 Insights Down Under.
In 2001 a red one in Sydney and I could have sworn a BLACK one in Canberra during the same trip. It was then where I picked up a magazine in Parkes/NSW with an article about the Brisbane-Melbourne eco trip, and other magazines with road tests on the Insight.
In 2003 there was a citrus coloured one up in Darwin.

If there is any change of plan, I'll surely let you know.

But the reason for us going to Australia is simply to get away from it all. We rent out a 4wd and go beyond the black stump.....out the back o'Bourke (Birdsville, Tanami, Oodnadatta, Innamincka, Tibooburra, Gibb River........)
Nothing on this planet beats this feeling:
Driving all day with no oncoming traffic at all and sitting there with a can of nice cool VB in your hand admiring the southern cross in the vast, clear evening sky ....... and being woken up by Kookaburras in the morning.
There is no word to describe it.

Sorry for going OT.

 

[ghillie]

No. 166

Curses! Now you've done it - everyone will want to travel the Outback.

But the black Insight is interesting. I thought that the black option was substituted by citrus - but maybe I'm wrong. I'll see what I can find out from Honda Australia and let you know.

It would be an interesting project to try and create a register of all Insights in Australia - have to give that some thought.

 

[No. 166]

The Insight was in the Showroom of the Canberra dealer in Belconnen. Rolfe Honda was the dealer.
I may be wrong here, but I swear it was black.

Jepp, Oz rulez. And I also cannot wait for my barra n' chips at "Hoggs Breath Cafe".
mmmmh !
8)

 

[ghillie]

No 166!

I woz wrong and you wuz right! I got around to mailing Honda Australia and here is the Ausralia Insight sales figures broken down by colour

Berlina Black - 2
Citrus Yellow - 7
Silverstone - 20
Formula Red 16

That's it - 45 cars! Pathetic isn't it. When offered the opportunity to buy the world's most fuel efficient car at the same price as a Toyota MR2 and slightly more than a Miata (MX5 here) Australians have bought gas guzzling SUV's in record numbers - some used in the outback but mostly adopting the "up yours" approach to road safety.

Honda says yellow was available in the 2001 model and was replaced by black for 2002/2003. Which blows another theory of mine which is that the only Insights brought into Australia was the initial load in 2001.

So, two black cars - one of which you saw in Canberra. I wonder if its still there. And where is the other one? I have only seen red, silver and one yellow in Melbourne - and even then only very occasionally. I don't think there are any others that regularly travel in my end of town.

There is also one red private import CVT in Melbourne that I almost bought (I really wanted a manual).

There haven't been any Insights for sale in Australia for months. Petrol hovers around $1 per litre. Two cents less right now but up to $1.05 in a day or so I'm sure.

Cheers... and go the Roos

Ghillie

 

[No. 166]

Arrived back from Australia today.
Was a great time there. We travelled from Cairns up to Bamaga and Thursday Island. From there back down to Normanton further on to Birdsville and Haddon-Corner. Via Longreach then back to Cairns. All in all 6,102 kms travelled WITHIN Queensland in a High-Top LandCruiser. My best Australia-Holiday so far !! 8)

Oh yeah, and there was a Civic Hybrid and a PriusII driving about in Cairns ! :shock:
With the US Accord being sold in Australia now I guess the Hybrid Accord is awaiting export

 

[ghillie]

No 166.

Pleased you had a good time. We are off to Port Douglas in a couple of weeks - to get away from Melbourne's late winter greyness.

Interesting that you spotted a Civic hybrid. I don't think they are selling that many of them here. The Prius II has caught on much better but I have been told that sales have slipped a bit on those also.

No new Insights for sale here anymore of course. There are two used for sale on a "Carsguide" website. They've been there for some time (although one is at the ridiculous price of A$32,000). Fuel is now A$1.20 per litre for standard in Melbourne (although it was as high as A$1.25 a few days ago), but it doesn't seem to be making hybrids any more popular. Sales figures for new cars show large SUV's and sedans losing out to smaller cars - presumably at least partly on the basis of fuel prices. However, it seems that most buyers do the sums on the higher price of hybrids compared with the amount saved with lower running costs and still find insufficient savings to justify a hybrid purchase.

No hint from Honda that a hybrid Accord is on the way to Australia. I would not be at all surprised if Honda thinks that the expected volume of sales does not justify the cost of Australian compliance.

Cheers

Ghillie

 

[bernadetha]

Hi ghillie,
I finally found someone driving another insight in Melbourne in this forum
I have never seen red insight on the road, (only silver & yellow around my area - "south eastern") which route are you taking?
If you still wondering where to service the insight in melb, I may recommend Garry & Warren Honda in Oakley if you are concerning technical issues or service. I had my Insight IMA battery & controller replaced by them and it's been working fine since then. I am not surprise now if they said my car was the first one reported with IMA issue as there are only 45 cars sold as you stated . I believe they should familiar with Insight Techincal issues by now (not before mid this year) as I dropped my Insight there every week, 5 weeks in the row to get all my problems sorted.

Astoria Honda in East Bentleigh is specialised For Honda body/panel works if you need one. I heard your Courtney & Patterson service is one of the best in Melbourne, but too far for me.

Hope that helps.

I more thing, I may have the answer for another black Insight location, I saw her sitting in one of Honda Showroom in Perth early this year, I wish she is in my garage.

 

[bpapa9013]

Well that comfirms at least 4 black insights in existence. Although now that we know they were actually produced in black, there are probably loads more than we know of.

A poster in the US I believe had his custom painted, and someone else reported seeing one in the UK if I recall correctly!

Anyway, not to hijack you aussies chattin amongst yourselves. Just wanted to ask if anyone has any experience traveling in the kimberlies (sp?). It has been one of my longest standing dreams to just walk/drive away into the kimberlies for several weeks (months?). I have a fair bit of survival training and can hunt/kill/fish/trap/clean/butcher my own food. Just wondering about jumping off points, personal experiences, cultural anecdotes about the area, whatever you want to tell a silly yank about the place!

Thnx!

 

[ghillie]

Garbriella

How nice to hear from you - I didn't think that anyone else from Melbourne posted on this forum.

I have had a service done at Courtney & Patterson in Heidelberg. I was pleased with the service and the result so I will keep using them. I am in the north (Alphington - just across the river from Kew) so I will stick with C & P as they are convenient. But I will keep your recommentdations in mind - thank you.

I don't come any further south-east than Glen Waverley except rarely, so there is not much chance of you seeing my insight. I have seen 2 or 3 red insights and one silver in the past year or so - around Richmond and Hawthorn. I have never seen a green one except the one I tried to buy in South Road. Someone else got there first - maybe it's the one you have seen ? According to Honda only 7 citrus Insights were sold in Australia.

Interesting about the black Insight in Perth. No.166 is sure that he saw one in Canberra. Honda told me that only 2 blacks were delivered in Australia - so maybe the one you saw in Perth is the other one! I have not seen it advertised on the web. I would be interested to know if it has sold. Do you remember which dealer you saw it at?

Also interesting about your IMA replacement. How many Km's had your Insight done when the battery failed? Was it replaced under warranty? What were the symptoms? Did Honda give you any grief about replacing it under warranty?

Cheers and happy insighting

 

[ghillie]

bpapa9013

Mate! The area known as the Kimberley Ranges is in the far north-west of Australia. It's almost diagonally across the continent from where I live (sort of like from Florida to Oregon). Its a long way and I've never been - like most Australians. I would like to go but Australia is the land that not only time forgot (the rest of us did also ).

I can't tell you anything about organizing a trip there - probably five minutes on the net would make you more knowledgeable than me! But it's hot, I know that - and bloody wet during the monsoon. I would be very careful about going "bush" on a survival basis - did I mention that it gets hot? Also there is likely to be restrictive laws a bout what you can hunt, kill and eat.

Have no fear about hijacking an aussie conversation on this site. There's so few of us we're always pleased to have the company :wink:

Cheers cobber

 

[bernadetha]

Hi Ghillie,

Nice to hear back from you. Hawthorn and Richmond used to be my route until last week before I moved office to city on Monday. I used to drive my Insight to work from GlenHuntly to Richmond via East Malvern, Camberwell and Hawthorn, the silver one you spotted could me mine .
I saw the yellow/green many times around chadstone and marumbeena and it was the same car, I noticed the rego, SZM something...

You may check the black Insight with Prestige Motor/Honda in Melville - WA, if they still have the car if you are interested, I believe they would remember the black Insight if only 2 blacks in Australia.


It was almost 60000km when the IMA battery start recalibrating (term that been used in this forum). The Battery gauge dropped to 2 bars during auto-stop when it was around 70% full. There are many issue about this problem been posted in the forum. You may never had this issue (hopefully not) as you seem just driving your Insight around your garage (just 11000km ??)
Everything done under warranty. Honda Australia covered IMA battery warranty for 7 years unlimited and the other parts normal 3 years. It was quite some hassle as I had to leave the car overnight for 2 occassions to be analysed and tested before they decided to replace IMA packs.
I had it done 3 months ago, and since then I haven't experience any battery drop. So far so good, finger crossed!

Cheers

 

[ghillie]

Gabriella

The citrus Insight you have seen is the one that I tried to buy. Rego was SZM 369. It had been owned by Brisbane City Council and seemed in good condition (I think it was allocated to one person rather than being in a pool) and had only done about 28,000km. It had been serviced regularly even though the km milestones (or should that be kilometrestones?) had not been reached. The service book had all services up to the 40,000 km (or even 50,000km - I'm not sure now) done!

It was being sold by "Melbourne's Cheapest Cars". I had in fact bought it - but they did the dirty on me. Called me back 2 days later to say they had made a mistake and that when it was sold to me it had already been sold to someone else. I crunched them on price because it had been for sale for months and I believe that when I said I would buy it they called someone else who had expressed and interest and said it had been sold unless the offered $X (some amount more than they had agreed to sell it to me for). The other buyer said "yes" and I missed out. By the time they told me the car had already left the lot - so what could I do?

It turns out they did me a favour - a week later I saw Yarra Honda advertise the car I eventually bought. It had only done 6500km and was immaculate and not much more expensive. That was in February this year which partly explains why the Kms on my car are so low The other reason is that I have not had a commute until recently. I expect to be piling it on from now on.

I contacted Honda in Melville - the car sold some time ago and the person I spoke to didn't seem much interested.

Thank you for the information about your battery pack replacement. It is good news to hear that Honda in Australia has come good on the warranty - I hope that do the same for me if the worst happens.

Happy driving.

 

[bernadetha]

Ghillie, the citrus Insight you tried to buy, was it from somewhere in Moorabbin? I saw the citrus one on carsales dec last year and when I enquired for it , the seller told me that it had sold, so I did not have a chance to have a look.
I did see the one that Yarra Honda advertised as well early this year, they advertised the silver one (no pic) and it had only around 6700km. Did they have 2 Insights or they advertised with wrong colour? It's 01 model and I think the rego was RJX something (always remember the letter), I also enquired for the car and they said they just sold it. It was mid feb this year.
I finally put the insight into my favourite list on carsales and 2 months later I found my car from Dandenong car yard and I bought it straight away as I had missed 2 chances. But the car has much higher kms. Was around 55000km but serviced regularly.
I should have been more patience as 2 weeks after I drove the silver Insight, I saw Honda Tullamarine (I think it was) advertised the red one, which I preferred in the first place, and it has only 23000kms

When you get bored with your red one, let me know j/k

Cheers

 

[ghillie]

Gabriella - The citrus insight I tried to buy was in Moorabbin. I'm sure its the one you enquired about - there is not many of them in Australia. I did buy the low km car from Yarra Honda. It is red. I'm sure they only had one so the reference to a silver car in their advertising was a mistake.

The silver car you bought may be the same one that I looked at in Sandringham when it was a private sale. That car had 55,000km on it. I wonder if the owner ended up selling to a dealer? I think it was the only Insight I looked at for which an extended warranty had been taken out. It had been serviced by a Honda dealer somewhere south of Sandringham - Travis Honda in Frankston rings a bell - but that seems too far away from where the owner lived????

I don't remember seeing the red 23,000km car from a Honda dealer that you refer to. There was a car in Tasmania without about that distance on it that sold late last year I think (private sale).

The only Insight currently for sale is in Sydney advertised on Carsguide.com.au. It's red and seems not too far from a reasonable price. But its been for sale for months so I don't know what's wrong with it - I would have thought someone in Sydney would want a cute red Insight??? There was a very nice sounding Insight on the Sunshine Coast that sold within a week about a month ago - so what's wrong with the one in Sydney?

I really wanted a red Insight but would have been happy with a Silver or Citrus one if the right car had been available at the right price. In fact I would have ended up with the citrus car in Moorabbin if the dealer had been more honest.

Will I ever sell my Insight? Posters on this site from the US report Insight withdrawl upon selling their cars. And what would I replace it with? I think that in the next few years some very interesting fuel efficient cars will come onto the market - but will they ever make another Insight?

Happy Insighting