[Serenity]

I'm a brand new 2005 silver Insight with a driver who is new to driving a manual transmission. She had a CRX with automatic transmission before she got me. Occasionally I have to give her a clue, but she discovered the joys of Auto Stop early on.

So far, we have achieved a lifetime MPG of 66.5 in the first week. Of course we were travelling through the area near the Wisconsin Dells with its winding roads and steep hills. I carried a passenger and we had some luggage. I believe I was carrying somewhere in the neighborhood of 300+ pounds.

So far the best mileage I was able to achieve with the help of my attentive driver was 75.3 on the morning commute after the vacation. (it would have been over 78 mpg except some fool slowed to a complete stop and we had to start over. My driver was practically shouting with glee)

My worst trip so far was 58.6, uphill almost all the way in Wisconsin. It got steep enough to push my speed down to 35mph, but with the assist, my mileage meter didn't go below 50 mpg. My driver was nervous, but it was steep and my driver took it in third gear. I refrained from showing her the downshift light, though.

If anyone has ideas on climbing long hills, my driver and I would like to know. We're probably going back to the Dells next year.

2005 Silver Insight 5 spd no AC "Serenity" #408
Lifetime mpg 66.9 (I'm only a week old though)

 

[Dougie]

Drive it gently for a while (1000 miles or so) and then use the lower gears. 4th and 5th are pretty extreme overdrives compared to most cars. Now when I drive a regular car I'm always searching for a higher gear than 5th!

 

[Serenity]

Thanks, I've heard that the break-in period is actually longer than the manufacturers suggest. I've also heard that once the car is broken in, the mileage improves.

I have absolutely nothing to complain about in the mileage department but I'm always interested in optimization. I had the joy of waiting at a stop light in Auto Stop mode while a Hummer idled waiting for a green arrow. I wondered how many miles I could go on the gas that Hummer was wasting.

 

[Resist]

It got steep enough to push my speed down to 35mph, but with the assist, my mileage meter didn't go below 50 mpg.

Not sure how you did this because everytime I have to use assist, my mileage drops much lower than 50.

 

[Foxpaw]

Not sure how you did this because everytime I have to use assist, my mileage drops much lower than 50.

Giving it a fair amount of gas in a high gear tends to elicit the behaviour described above for me. (Lots of assist without the mileage plummeting.)

 

[Resist]

I have no control over gearing in my CVT. Just another reason I should have bought the 5 speed. Doh! But now that my 2001 is paid for, I really would like to get a 5 speed but don't want car payments again.

 

[The Citrus Smoothie]

I like your writing style Serenity!

You have good MPG figures for a new Insight; with practice and break-in your figures can only get better.

 

[Serenity]

Thanks, Citrus Smoothie. My driver is new to manual transmission but she's trainable. She had a CRX before me and was a speed demon. It's only been a week and she's much better about that. I'd like to reward her with very high gas mileage, but she has to earn it first. This morning commute made me very unhappy. I didn't like the stop and go on the freeway at 6:20 AM thanks to an accident. To her credit, neither did she.