Down shift, get it in the powerband and you will be surprised what it will do.
Willie
Willie
Stop driving so slow!!
13271
99
All I read in these threads are guys driving 50 mph with everyone and their grandmother passing them on the highway... my God people, MPG is not everything....
I love my insight but I get no respect in it cause of all the slow insight drivers out there.... that is until they see my 3cylinder engine fly past them @ 90 mph on the highway... even uphill!
What I'm trying to say is, don't let people think we're weak, then they cut us off, try to run us off the road with the big fat SUV's etc.. I Say don't let it happen!! Show them who's boss even if it means a 10-15MPG loss, you'll get to work faster and you'll smile more offten too
Sorry for the rant and thank you for your time
I love my insight but I get no respect in it cause of all the slow insight drivers out there.... that is until they see my 3cylinder engine fly past them @ 90 mph on the highway... even uphill!
What I'm trying to say is, don't let people think we're weak, then they cut us off, try to run us off the road with the big fat SUV's etc.. I Say don't let it happen!! Show them who's boss even if it means a 10-15MPG loss, you'll get to work faster and you'll smile more offten too
Sorry for the rant and thank you for your time
81 - 100 of 100 Posts
Joined
·
944 Posts
My car seems to run out of steam above 4000RPM. My powerband must be unusual - I suspect that my cats might actually be clogged!
It must be, that is when the G1 really starts to pull hard.
Remove the tailpipe from the second cat. It is easy to do. Look at the catalyst (honeycomb) inside. It should look a light gray color.
If it is black, that might be an indication of the cat starting to plug.
(You have a 2002, so you probably have three cats.)
HTH
Willie
Remove the tailpipe from the second cat. It is easy to do. Look at the catalyst (honeycomb) inside. It should look a light gray color.
If it is black, that might be an indication of the cat starting to plug.
(You have a 2002, so you probably have three cats.)
HTH
Willie
3 Cats ? I am pretty sure all insights had 2 cats. (Unless you count the 2nd one as two, because it is pretty long)
It was the O2 sensors that the older ones only had 2 of, while newer ones (2002 and up) had 3.
yeah, if your engine is not pulling hard at 4k rpm you have a problem.
exhaust back pressure from the Cats is likely the problem.
If you are able, replace the cats with straight (ish) pipe to test.
I have two engines. the wimp at 2k RPM and the power house at 3.5k RPM.
near as I can figure, third gear has the fastest top speed.
victor
exhaust back pressure from the Cats is likely the problem.
If you are able, replace the cats with straight (ish) pipe to test.
I have two engines. the wimp at 2k RPM and the power house at 3.5k RPM.
near as I can figure, third gear has the fastest top speed.
victor
Sorry about my error on the cats. I new about the 3 sensors. I haven't ever been under a 2001+ Insight.
You can go as fast in third gear....113? as you can in 5th due to the gear ratios and the HP of a stock Insight..........4th and 5th are overdrives.
3rd gear is my favorite gear.....30-100 MPH.
Willie
You can go as fast in third gear....113? as you can in 5th due to the gear ratios and the HP of a stock Insight..........4th and 5th are overdrives.
3rd gear is my favorite gear.....30-100 MPH.
Willie
Joined
·
33 Posts
Cats? /o o\ What's a cat in this context?
I seem to be able to do up to 70 on a slight tiny uphill grade, but my regular commute tackles the Caldecott grade. I watch my speed fail: 65, 64, 63, .... and I'm in the far right lane. Still getting blown away by just about everything. People behind me passing me. Hate that.
How do you get your 1st gen to drive like a regular car? I don't have the 'sound cues' to shift, but I'm getting the hang of it. Although, my car says to shift up to 5th when I'm going 40mph. Weird.
What do I ask for to have it checked out?
I seem to be able to do up to 70 on a slight tiny uphill grade, but my regular commute tackles the Caldecott grade. I watch my speed fail: 65, 64, 63, .... and I'm in the far right lane. Still getting blown away by just about everything. People behind me passing me. Hate that.
How do you get your 1st gen to drive like a regular car? I don't have the 'sound cues' to shift, but I'm getting the hang of it. Although, my car says to shift up to 5th when I'm going 40mph. Weird.
What do I ask for to have it checked out?
MPGs will drop with this advice.
use 5 for flat and downhill at 50 plus mph.
use 4 for most hills and want to accenerate a little over 60 mph
use 3 when you want to climb steeper hills at flyway speeds...
as Willie Williford says "4th and 5th are overdrives."
that means these gears are to try to closly match engine power output
to power needed.
think of third as 'ordinary car "
4th as good economy and 5th as great economy.
I have taken go doing my morning commute in 4th gear.
victor
Joined
·
33 Posts
Thx. I'm ok with losing mpg. I don't know what I'm doing and I'm still getting 47. THAT is great. I'm guessing I just need to get used to it. I tried looking up how steep the Caldecott grade is and skimming over google results just gives me confirmation that it is indeed steep.
If there is nobody behind me, it's 0-12 in 1st, 12-20 in 2nd, 20-25 in 3rd, 25-40 in 4th, 5th gear after that. No assist. Basically 1300-1900RPM or so.
If there are people behind me I'll drive between 2000-3000 RPM with assist and stretch out to 3500RPM to keep from bothering people if I feel its neccessary. If I'm merging onto a highway, I'll row to 6000RPM with full assist to fit into fast traffic without disrupting it if I need to.
Very different depending on the circumstances I'm driving in.
Driving cross country when I come up on big hills, I'll drop out of lean-burn and hold just enough acceleration to not be in assist or to where the IGN drops negative on my scan-gauge. Usually I hold 50MPG in 5th gear. If my speed drops too far, I go to 3rd gear and hold the throttle at the point where I'm at 90% engine load, which is usually where the IMA assist is at half to 3/4. This seems to be the best way to add more speed without dropping to 2nd gear or using too much battery or gas by going wide open throttle. Seems to be the best compromise and those tricks got me 1500 miles off of just under 20 gallons going to Detroit and back. What suck though is wind will kill that, got low 60's on a 1200 mile vacation recently with two people in the car because I was dealing with headwinds and crosswinds that both slowed me down and caused me to drop out of lean-burn to accelerate a bit and get back into lean-burn. Not to mention the nearly constant rolling hills driving south through eastern Missouri and Iowa. I strongly contemplated just dropping out of lean-burn and going to a DWL strategy but that may have pulled me down in gas mileage 5 MPG or less.
3rd gear would pull me to 112mph but 4th and 5th gear won't hold that speed without assist from the IMA. ...or Willie's turbo.
If there are people behind me I'll drive between 2000-3000 RPM with assist and stretch out to 3500RPM to keep from bothering people if I feel its neccessary. If I'm merging onto a highway, I'll row to 6000RPM with full assist to fit into fast traffic without disrupting it if I need to.
Very different depending on the circumstances I'm driving in.
Driving cross country when I come up on big hills, I'll drop out of lean-burn and hold just enough acceleration to not be in assist or to where the IGN drops negative on my scan-gauge. Usually I hold 50MPG in 5th gear. If my speed drops too far, I go to 3rd gear and hold the throttle at the point where I'm at 90% engine load, which is usually where the IMA assist is at half to 3/4. This seems to be the best way to add more speed without dropping to 2nd gear or using too much battery or gas by going wide open throttle. Seems to be the best compromise and those tricks got me 1500 miles off of just under 20 gallons going to Detroit and back. What suck though is wind will kill that, got low 60's on a 1200 mile vacation recently with two people in the car because I was dealing with headwinds and crosswinds that both slowed me down and caused me to drop out of lean-burn to accelerate a bit and get back into lean-burn. Not to mention the nearly constant rolling hills driving south through eastern Missouri and Iowa. I strongly contemplated just dropping out of lean-burn and going to a DWL strategy but that may have pulled me down in gas mileage 5 MPG or less.
3rd gear would pull me to 112mph but 4th and 5th gear won't hold that speed without assist from the IMA. ...or Willie's turbo.
Joined
·
33 Posts
89?!!
Hi everyone. It's been a few months now & I'm really LOVING my Insight. On the way to work one day this week, I was on a slight downhill grade & just driving driving in the fast lane...and I look at the speed & I'm going 89! Wow. That was a pleasant surprise.
Hi everyone. It's been a few months now & I'm really LOVING my Insight. On the way to work one day this week, I was on a slight downhill grade & just driving driving in the fast lane...and I look at the speed & I'm going 89! Wow. That was a pleasant surprise.
Joined
·
812 Posts
The other day I thought my odometer was broken, I merged onto a highway, and needed to get to speed fast, I was late with the up shift from second and then from 3rd, I was busy with the traffic around me and the lane changes, was very surprised to find out I had got to 100 mph in seconds....it was one of those days when a 100 mph feels like 65.... I thought that was a good moment to clean the engine from the sute and kept it at 90 for a couple of miles then went down to the speed limit.
I think my odometer may have had a glitch as it seemed the other cars were not too much slower . The regular traffic there is 70 mph , so either my odometer glitched or everybody was crazy that day.... I think I was in 4th gear with 4.5k- 5k RPM seems consistent with the 100mph speed reading...
I think my odometer may have had a glitch as it seemed the other cars were not too much slower . The regular traffic there is 70 mph , so either my odometer glitched or everybody was crazy that day.... I think I was in 4th gear with 4.5k- 5k RPM seems consistent with the 100mph speed reading...
I could care less what other people think. The limit's 60 and I'm not going over it.
I am with you on the "care less", I absolutely waste no thought about others. I do my thing, do it right, and am fine.
I do go faster than 60, but rather enjoy cruising behind you and ending up better in all aspects at the end of the race.
Joined
·
265 Posts
This thread made me LOL.
Performance has more than one metric.
I have a sport bike that will 0-60 so fast the challange is to keep it from flipping over backwards. It has a top speed well over double the highest posted speed limit in the USA. I get 33mpg.
I have a boat with a 8.1L v8 that makes the biggest wake for wakeboarding imaginable. It can burn up to 32 gallons per hour.
I have a truck that carries 6 people, tows the boat, takes us on ski trips to the mountain, camping, and is Mr. Reliable. It gets 18mpg on its own and 11mpg towing.
Then I have a honda insight with 210k miles, it gets 70mpg and takes me to work everyday or on 90% of my longer trips. It is dog **** slow, seats 2 people and a small dog, does not float or make any wake, and can hardly tow itself.
Its like a shoe for every occasion. Driving like a jackass at 90mph doesnt prove anything to orther drivers about your car other than your a jackass. Performance is what it was designed for.
Performance has more than one metric.
I have a sport bike that will 0-60 so fast the challange is to keep it from flipping over backwards. It has a top speed well over double the highest posted speed limit in the USA. I get 33mpg.
I have a boat with a 8.1L v8 that makes the biggest wake for wakeboarding imaginable. It can burn up to 32 gallons per hour.
I have a truck that carries 6 people, tows the boat, takes us on ski trips to the mountain, camping, and is Mr. Reliable. It gets 18mpg on its own and 11mpg towing.
Then I have a honda insight with 210k miles, it gets 70mpg and takes me to work everyday or on 90% of my longer trips. It is dog **** slow, seats 2 people and a small dog, does not float or make any wake, and can hardly tow itself.
Its like a shoe for every occasion. Driving like a jackass at 90mph doesnt prove anything to orther drivers about your car other than your a jackass. Performance is what it was designed for.
I've noticed that the 60-70 range seems to give better mpg for me as well, as least on the roads I drive. I think it may have something to do with being able to store more inertia while in lean burn mode for use on hills. I just got 77 mpg over 85 miles from Radford to Lynchburg, Va via on I81 and 460.
Joined
·
538 Posts
Reading the early post was funny. Talking about Prii, and the Accord Hybrid...
I drive normal speed, sometimes slow when I don't need to be somewhere, and sometimes like a jerk when I'm late.
Over all the Insight has made me a slower driver because of the Damn FCD!!!
I drive normal speed, sometimes slow when I don't need to be somewhere, and sometimes like a jerk when I'm late.
Over all the Insight has made me a slower driver because of the Damn FCD!!!
81 - 100 of 100 Posts
