I am considering one for my mostly 2 lane commute back and forth to work. The early 2000s insight can be had for next to nothing, and as I think I have had more than 1 other person in the car with me once.. seems the perfect get it to work and back vehicle.. what says the hive mind?
Yes.
They run for eternity, they're made of aluminum, and they come in a 5 speed. Even with dead batteries they'll destroy most any car in the em-pee-gee's department. My long drive through major hills in it was done in 4th gear and I still pulled 45ish mpg, record of 80mpg with a good tail wind. If mine hadn't been smashed into, I would still rock it.
so it survived that accident well enough to keep you from getting hurt?
There are at least two other great threads about them (search sucks so I can't link them) wherein they are credited as THE great mpg machine. Bulletproof and strong battery or no it kills everything else's economy.
I keep coming back to them but haven't pulled the trigger.
I've looked at them so many times too, and still do. I test drove one, but it was for a short distance. What's the driving experience like day to day? My 2010 Prius gets 44-45mpg, with a commute that is mostly highway...about 1/3 of which is stop and go rush hour traffic. Fuel mileage is great, and they're rock solid, but they are probably the biggest "appliance" I've ever had...bar none. Even less involving to drive than my '99 Taurus was.
So I rocked one for a little over a year. Great commuter car. It was made when Honda actually gave 2 E36 M3s about their quality. 2nd gear synchro cones like to fail, causing a downshift grind above 20mph. Seat fabric wears on the drivers bolster. I had to replace the battery when I got mine, so unless you know the condition of the battery pack, factor in about $1800 for that. The OEM tire really is THAT good that it's good for 3-5mpg over other brands.
I just sold mine for $4500 with a new battery. Edit: I averaged about 55mpg and drove it like I stole it. I saw 60mpg average one tank when I tried to be nice.
Was it completely boring to drive? What mileage did you get, even when the battery went dead?
Yep it was completely boring in a straight line. Was kinda fun to just floor it from every stop light and still get over 50mpg's. But being that I live in the most boring driving state in the US (Florida) the only time I had fun with it was on-ramps for the interstate, where it's 1800lbs made it so I could annoy M3 drivers by sticking right to their tail till the road got straight again, even with the skinny tires.
I have been DDing mine for close to a year and frankly, it sucks. However, I am still averaging 48-49 mpgs driving 75 on hilly 4 lane divided. I am remedying that though with the worlds smallest turbo. I have NEVER paid more than $30 to fill it up and it regularly goes 450+ miles between fill ups. The stock stereo sucks ass. The stock tires probably would improve my MPGs but I went cheap and 20mm wider. It should be MUCH better with the boost.
I wouldn't call them boring, just wring them out and they'll still love you. Long, long, long FD. There's a member on the forum who has 2 I believe? I harassed many a car on on/off ramps and twisties (so long as we're not going uphill :) )
Some more random thoughts, clutches seem to also last eternity on the little guys. Mine was over 100k (I think it was at 120k when we were done with it) on original brakes because if you're clever with the regen braking (I mean, you should, you don't want to have to start the poor thing off again) you'll rarely need to really lean on them. I'm not sure what parts of this apply to Autos.
The big downer is they 2nd gear syncro ALWAYS seems to go, but if you can double clutch your downshifts you won't really notice.
As for the crash, you'll have to search far back into my history but I have pictures and descriptions. The long and short was, my wife was driving home from school, had an issue with the rear driver tire, had to pull of the interstate. She was pulled over 15ft off the interstate. An idiot in a 20xx Impala hit her (this fine lady was texting, witness in the Semi truck she almost hit coming across from the far left lane testified to this) while she wasn't belted in because she had just gotten back into the car. The car held up AMAZINGLY well for being hit by what it did (at ~75mph said the report). I would call it a glancing blow really, it was mainly on the driver rear tire. If she had been belted in already I doubt she would have had more than whiplash, but since she wasn't she received a shattered pelvis and a medley of bumps and bruises. There was no intrusion into the cabin, the right rear of the car was a mess.
Hmm, that wasn't short at all.
Anyway, if you get hit from behind by an impala going somewhere in the ballpark of 0-70mph you'll probably be fine if you're belted in.
There is a 2006 Insight for sale nearby for $3500. It has 210k and a small cosmetic defect on the fender. The ad mentions nothing abbout the battery pack. But it's an auto 
Based on the general consensus here, is the auto something to avoid completely?
accordionfolder wrote: The big downer is they 2nd gear syncro ALWAYS seems to go, but if you can double clutch your downshifts you won't really notice.
Double clutching worked maybe 30% of the time for me. I would downshift to first with the clutch in, then upshift to second, then release the clutch, this would work 100% of the time. One of those things you train into muscle memory and just forget your doing.
Oh and yes no lean burn in the autotragics means no chance of getting 60+mpg.
In reply to stanger_missle:
I've always heard they're fine also, it's a CVT box if I'm remembering correctly? They don't get as good milage, but I've seen as many high-milage autos anecdotally. The manual is just a lot more enjoyable is the consensus. I'll let someone who knows the facts chime in. The best place for all this information is:
http://www.insightcentral.net/forums/
They also know a bunch about these cars over here, just lest focused on the little Honda:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/
If you want reasonable milage and good aftermarket I would look at the 91-95 civic D15 (1.5 liter) cars. Our coupe that had no powersteering ALWAYS returned 45mpg as long as you don't put heavy rims and wide tires on it. Less safe, but also good little cars.
The Auto doesn't have lean burn mode like the stick. IE it won't drop to 22+-1 air/fuel ratio at high speed/light load. That is how some of these people are getting 70+ mpgs out of them is they have learned to drive in that all the time. There are also a few hacks to make it easier to get into and harder to get out of that mode.
Overall, the car is fine for a commuter. Other than a lack of torque, it is VERY similar to DDing my old MR2 Spider. The Insight is actually better in many ways (interior space and visibility off the top of my head)
In reply to accordionfolder:
I bet it would be easier to find a well take care of Insight. The Insight also probably won't be any more buy in unless you find one with 85K miles like mine.
In reply to singleslammer:
Truth, especially depending on your area and the popularity of the tuner crowd. But if you think you're worried about being bored it in the insight, civics are a bit spicier with good returns still. Very basic though, more so than the insight even (and there's not much to those....).
If you are in the Midwest (like me) an Insight is likely still a solid car whereas an Honda older than 96 is starting to get cancer or has been given only 6 weeks to live.
singleslammer wrote: If you are in the Midwest (like me) an Insight is likely still a solid car whereas an Honda older than 96 is starting to get cancer or has been given only 6 weeks to live.
That's the beauty of the Insight, being all aluminum and plastic, it doesn't matter where it's at, it'll never get the cancer.
Yes, there is a member with 2 Insights. It's me. 
The reason all the 1st and 2nd gear synchros go bad is because people drive them like normal cars. In my opinion, the only people who should own a 5spd insight are people who know how to execute a double clutch rev matched downshift. The gear spacing is too wide and gearing too tall overall to be able to drive this car in any kind of non-frustrating way without being able to get into 2nd and 1st from a fast roll.
My opinion on batteries is buy one with a broken battery and put a new one in it. You will have much more of a known quantity (and good foundation for electric modifications) that way then to buy one at full price with a currently working pack that may or may not take a E36 M3 in two months.
Honestly, at this point i would value synchros that havent been ruined over a working battery pack because at least with the synchros there is almost no chance they will turn to E36 M3 in 2 months (unless you drive it like i just told you not to).
I have parts to turbo one of mine and plan on getting rid of the other one. I like the cars very much but without a functional battery pack i dont recommend them to basically anyone. If you can't swing $1800+Insight, dont buy one expecting a totally positive experience.
well.. I am looking at somewhere around 4 grand for one.. so I want one of the nicer ones that I can just get in, do basic maintenance to, and drive the E36 M3 out of it and still get really good empeegees.
The last question.. (as I am mostly sold) how are these cars for thefts. Obviously they do not have one of the more valuable engines for people wanting to hop up their old civic, but are they a thief magnet or do they pass under the radar?
There only something like 19K units in total so I think that they are too small of a group to really know. I haven't seen anything on them being stolen.
good to know.. now I just need to reassemble the saab so I can sell it and buy one
All i can do is reiterate my earlier statement. It's safer to buy one with a broken battery and put a battery in it, than it is to buy one that is currently working at full price and risk it going to E36 M3 in short order.
I dont think they are theft magnets at all. They have basically no valuable parts for any other cars. About the only thing people want Insights for is as the basis of a K-series Honda build.
They built less than 7000 of them.
I like the looks of them. My stepfather is looking for a second vehicle that gets great MPG. He is a very good mechanic. I just cruised craigslist in the PNW and saw this http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/cto/4808102753.html
What's up with the CVT trans? Why would it be jerky when warm?
You'll need to log in to post.
