im seriously contemplating buying an insight primarily for its fuel eccomomy and the fact that i cant mod it . aparently it does "good" in crashes. 4 starts front and rear and good in side impact. saftey is a *BIG* importance for me. im glad to see all of you insight owners will be relitivily unharmed if you crash.

few questions that i have:
how do you insight owners like your cars? any problems with them?
enough cargo room to store a few pieces of luggage, golf clubs etc?
does the car feel slow? ie hard to keep up w/ traffic, merge onto freeway etc.
do you know the wheel weight of the oem wheels? (would rotas be lighter? i shan't mod)
how is handling/traction/steering
driven in snow? how does it preform?


thanks a ton. hatch will be retred to the track next year w/ a nice lil b20 turbo setup. i need a driver. id like to be new, safe realiable and cheap to maintain and run.

 

never thought id have to bump in the member forum

 

Not to many people own it. I wouldn't mind having one myself.

You forgot one really nice feature...It's super quiet.

But the MINI is just looking so dam hot that I have to get one.

 

Yo add a Spoon Battery and get 125 wattz boost.

 

good call!

 

Guy at work has one, and he's in love with it.
Aside from the obvious benefits, he said it's teaching him how to drive better. Keeping it at max efficiency, making sure he's perfect on the shift so he doesn't drop out of power. That kind of thing. It's really improved his technique, so he claims. He says it handles like his old CRX (dedicated Honda guy, BTW).
he also got the government subsidy or rebate or whatever, so it ended up costing him about the same as a loaded Civic DX, but he's spending less than $10 a week on gas.
Insurance is good, too.
I'd go fo it, as long as you don't want a fire-breathing monster, you know? At this point in my life, I'd take an Insight to go to work and the store in, nd build up a CRX or RX7 for weekend warrior duties.

 

exact same boat im in. 20.8mpg on a non vtec sohc 1.5L sucks. illogical for daily driving. insight median prices are around 14.5 used w/ 20-30K on them. id rather not have payments so id prolly buy used. im just wondering if there are any problems w/ em etc etc

/me heads over to epinions.com

 

yup. I'm only getting 23mpg in my Prelude that I don't even like!
Pisses me off... I used to routinely get 28-32 in my GSR, and that was even winding it up to redline a couple of times a day!

The Insight is kinda small, and I don't know exactly how much cargo capacity it has.
Maybe I'll look intot hat, too...

 

I have test driven one, and have considered one for my daily driver.

Seats were excellent to sit in.
Steering wheel rocks- i think it is the same as an s2000 wheel
digital dash looks cool
a bit noisy with the tires that are on there, but that is what you pay for for economy
Suspension was good, a little rough, but no worse than my civic
corners well, i believe it borrows some suspension stuff from the s2000 once again.

Overall a well put together vehicle, I want one

 

Actually...take a look here. haha

http://www.kingmotorsports.com/Default.aspx

 

I'd figure after about 7 years someone would have had come up with the idea of moding something.

Wow what a resurrection...

 

Holy Old Thread Batman.

I was 16 when this thread started, cruising around in an em2.

SOHC Non-VTEC ? Does that exist?

I imagine with a 1.3L engine, it must be pretty slow on the pickup. However, I drove a 1.2L Fiat Panda in Europe, and it wasn't too bad. However, I did feel like I was going to get run over whenever I merged onto the highway. (Took about 6-7 seconds to get from 30mph to 60mph)

That Fiat was 100hp, roughly 1900lbs.
The Insight is 98hp, roughly 2723lbs

Yikes. Don't know if I'd subject myself to that dangerous of a vehicle.

 

The rear seating space is too small for me to be an owner. Anyone over 5 feet tall will bump their head getting in a out of the car. The rear roof slope design made this car useless as a 4 door. Maybe 4 doors for easy storage.

I know hybrid guys want their own design. I see nothing wrong with the Civic Hybrid..

 

I just picked up a 2010 Insight EX.

I can merge onto the freeway with no issues, and that is saying a lot if anyone has seen the uber-short merge lanes here in Bellingham. They make good torque down low with the IMA assist, so your rate of acceleration is a bit different than a small displacement N/A motor.

I drove some coworkers to lunch yesterday and they were all comfortable. Average build dudes too. Leg room is a little cramped, but it is the same as the Fit. No worse than an Integra Sedan IMO.

It has more cargo room than the Civic sedan, mainly due to the hatchback and flat folding rear seats.

It is a great daily driver. I averaged ~47mpg on my way to work this morning. I am still adjusting my driving style to match the Hybrid IMA technology. It is comfortable, smooth, quiet (0.25 CD helps reduce road noise!) and it is a very safe vehicle, higher rating than the Civic Sedan.

It is not for everyone, but after test driving a Fit Sport, Civic Si Sedan, Civic Hybrid Sedan, Civic EX-L, Prius, and Mazda3 Wagon, I chose the Insight.

I hate to say it, but with the paddle shifter mode, it is actually fun to drive. Shifts are damn quick too since it is a CVT, no torque converter so it is not like a 'semi-manual' automatic.

The icing on the cake is the 105,000 mile service intervals (other than oil/tires/brakes). Talk about low cost of ownership.

 

Ok, I'm confused here.

It has a CVT, why is there a need to shift, at all? If you have the pedal to the floor, the car should simply hold RPM at peak torque and adjust the gearing to accelerate.

 

It is a CVT. In regular "D" mode, it operates in just the fashion you described. It does not "shift" at all, it simply adjusts the belt to the appropriate torque requirement.

But to make it more "sporty" Honda gave it seven preset ratios when in the "S" mode on the gear selector. Since it is not engaging gears like a conventional gearbox, only moving the belt to predetermined locations, the "shifts" are very quick. The CVT then holds the belt in the selected "gear" (ratio), and allows you to utilize the full revv range (and even hit the revv limiter).

 

So, "sporty" mode reduces acceleration by allowing the car outside of the optimal RPM for max acceleration.

Glad you enjoy it, and not trying to knock your purchase or experience or anything, but I'm still confused as to why Honda would do such a thing.

With the older Civic HX CVT automatics, S mode allowed the engine to hold peak power while accelerating and held RPMs higher up during deceleration. D mode kept the revs down, allowing better economy. It always remained functional as a CVT (nothing "continuously variable" about fixed ratios).

Locking down an "infinite" gearbox to only 7 preset ratios just sounds like a complete waste. Giving up acceleration and economy is the opposite of "sporty". Its "crippling".

I suppose its probably there for those people who complained about the HX "motorboating" up to speed...

Anyway, thanks for the answer. I'm just going to personally consider the feature as I do the shift +- buttons in my Audi automatic, only usefull for engine braking down an incline.

 

Insights are cool, they really grow you.
how do you insight owners like your cars? any problems with them?

Definatly would have got Nav system, The styling really grows on you, 10,000 miles no problems

enough cargo room to store a few pieces of luggage, golf clubs etc?
Yes but more would be a great improvement

does the car feel slow? ie hard to keep up w/ traffic, merge onto freeway etc.

It could have more power but not a crazy exprience merging on highway. It goes when you put the pedal down

do you know the wheel weight of the oem wheels? (would rotas be lighter? i shan't mod)
how is handling/traction/steering
I had flat tire today (nails sux) and used a gsr blade. Look a lot better if dropped

driven in snow? how does it preform?

Srry I live in tx I can say great AC that doesnt kill echo score in rushhour 635/75 daily commute

 

thanks for all the info on the insight, i was going to buy one too.

 

Just bought a 2010 Insight with Navigation and Love it....
Only put a little above 1,0000 on it but is a nice comfortable ride....
Only complaint I have is headrest a bit hard but may be ablde to soften that up.

On the 10 gal tank I have gotten about 500 miles....quite staisfying Mpg!

wes

 

mine is just about to hit the 8k mile mark, so far my fiancee and I love it. With a baby on the way we test fitted the strolled in the back compartment and it was a little snug, but we lowered one of the seats and left the other (where the baby seat is gonna go) up normal. it fits perfectly. The sound "system" is a little disappointing for my tastes but then again I'm use to my aftermarket stereo and speakers in my ej1.

passing people on the freeway or changing lanes is nice with 2 people in the car, keep in mind the car doesnt have much power so when we bring our 2 friends along performance suffers a bit.

Also, there isn't much mods for it but Kenstyle and Mugen and Zeus do make bodykits for it, each with grill and spoiler. I think Noblesse is making one also. I'm waiting for a Kenstyle replica from ViS. Wheels will most likely have to be something lightweight.

 

Here's the Zeus Kit


Here's the Kenstyle kit


Here's the Mugen kit

 

I drive a jap import into Ireland, 2010 insight, I find it plenty roomy,quirky,pleasant to drive,very eco,not as fast as most other cars I've owned, but what's the rush,I drive in rural ,hilly areas,and find it good,no problems whatsoever.

 

Ive been a Honda guy since dinosaurs and 5 years ago moved and incurred a 60 mile daily commute, sold my EP3 K24a2/6sp and picked up a 1gen Insight CVT and while a truly great car, I hated the CVT which felt like a constantly slipping clutch at 80........ and 80 took some serious work on my one big hill climb. I came across a 2008 Fit Sport auto and after measuring for a day bought the entire swap including steering column and shifter. Thats when my love affair with the car started. I started with stripping the car down and prepping the interior for sounds deadening (one complaint was the noise), When you get past the high tech of this car its greatness is in its very light, strong, and simple chassis. its like a mini truck frame, so much possible on the custom side of things makes my imagination run wild. My 2002 isn't even done yet and I bought #2 already (01' 5speed). #3 and beyond are in my head too. So to add to this OLD *** THREAD, These cars are still out there and cheap (paid $750 for a blown engine but great shape salvage title). If you are handy with aluminum the sky is the limit!!