Hi everyone,
Tl;dr - Honda UK have no documentation re: 2012-14 excessive oil consumption, something needs done
I'm from Glasgow, Scotland (part of the UK...for now). Quick geography, the UK is England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (many in NA think the UK/Britain and England are all one in the same thing).
Anyway, I've been in the Honda world for a decade now. My brother currently has a '14 CRZ in Energetic Yellow, 16k miles on the clock. I currently have an '08 Civic IMA and this is where our story begins.
I'm looking for something to replace my Civic IMA. Car is starting to look a bit dated, the rear wheel arches are rusting badly thanks to our crappy salt roads here in the UK. The Insight fits the bill with its more modern looks.
I really like the look of the facelift 2012 Insight with the front fascia that matches that of the ZF2 CRZ (like my brothers) around the foglight area. The rear bumper is also nicer with the crease they added behind the rear wheels.
However, one big problem, the dreaded 2012-14 oil consumption/piston ring issues. Now, from what I've gathered on the forum American Honda 'took care' of this issue. By take care, I mean some pretty poor to adequate dealership experiences and an extended warranty of 8 years from purchase date (pretty much useless now as these cars have passed this time - if it didn't get the issue sorted then I guess that's that). From what I can see, some Insights were repaired and seem to be fine. Some 12-14 Insights never really presented an issue in the first place.
I read one thread post where someone states the issue is specific to the US only cars and also was sorted for the 2014 cars.
Either way, the problem is really that Honda UK as far as the UK Insight owners are concerned have never admitted to any problem with the car. The Insight was a really poor seller in the UK - only 70 are for sale in the entire country right now and far less of them are the ZE2.5 facelift model.
There are though, apparent issues with the UK cars the same as those in North America.
For a start, one facelift car on AutoTrader (the main used car commerce website here) states in the listing 'engine rebuilt by Honda in 2019'. Honda don't rebuild engines for no reasons, and said car is only at 85,000 miles - what I consider breaking in mileage for other Hondas.
Similarly, on the Honda Insight Owners Club UK Facebook group, one member says his 2012 lasted until 90k miles before it went bang. He said that he had it for 18 months and it was the CVT that went (I know the CVT should really have its oil changed each engine oil change as they aren't known for being the most robust) so it doesn't give much evidence to excessive oil consumption.
Today though, I watched a YouTube video of an American discussing the excessive oil consumption issues and a couple of UK guys have commented that they have the same exact problem with their facelift Insight and Honda UK have nothing to say on the matter. No TSB. No warranty offer. Nothing.
This thread is to try and gather together information on UK cars that are apparently facing the same fault as those in other areas of the world.
I believe Honda UK are simply brushing the entire thing under the carpet owing to the fact it really only affects a few hundred people. This simple is unacceptable and they need to be held to account.
I will keep you all posted,
Ryan
