My new Insight (the car, that is)
It seems like we have a lot of cars around here.
But the camper van is really just for camping duties and for hauling things that don’t fit in the other cars (so it at least helps by just being there–it allows us to buy smaller cars for everyday usage). It gets really bad mpg and is very hard to park, so we don’t like to drive it regularly.
Carrie of course takes her Prius daily as she volunteers, shops, picks up kids, visits friends, etc.
Drew has taken over my biodiesel Golf. I still love that car, but it works well for Drew too. It’s safe, not too fast, small and easy to park–and it doesn’t use any petroleum. Drew uses it a lot: he’s got a job; there’s no bus to his school; he does search-and-rescue missions at unpredictable times; he has cross country, track and races; and of course he has social events that his parents are very happy to not have to drive him to anymore.
I looked into several options (don’t EVEN get Carrie started on that subject) for a low-petroleum vehicle–electric, biodiesel, a scooter, another Prius–and while the Honda Insight isn’t the absolute best at petroleum reduction, it ended up being the best practical choice for reasons I may go into elsewhere if you’re really unlucky.
The Honda Insight hybrid is 1800 pounds, with aluminum body, 3-cylinder 1-litre engine with Integrated Motor Assist (a weak hybrid–the engine always runs when the car is moving, but the battery can help push), brake regen (to charge the batteries), auto-stop (engine turns off at stoplights), and lean burn (reduced fuel usage under very light load). The manual transmission version is rated at 60/66mpg.
There’s also an automatic (CVT) version that would have been nice. It’s 57/56, which sounds much lower but I’m going to be mostly city driving, so the big highway difference may not matter that much. The CVT is obviously easier to drive in traffic, and the car does a better job of automatically managing the batteries. Plus emissions are cleaner (the CVT doesn’t have lean-burn mode, which explains both the emissions and the mpg difference at highway speeds), the price is actually LESS for a new one because of a tax credit, and CVTs were all that dealers around here had for sale. Not that there were many to choose from–in June, the WA/OR area got a grand total of 3 Insights to sell. All CVTs. And Honda will stop making them altogether after August.
I was tempted by the CVTs, but decided the whole reason I was looking for another vehicle was to use as little petroleum as possible, so I held out for a manual. Most that I found for sale had a lot of miles–and with Honda’s announcement that production was ending, they were pricey. I didn’t need a new one, but I do prefer late-model, low-miles cars when they don’t depreciate much. Finally I found exactly what I wanted at a Hertz dealership in Layton, Utah: a one-year-old car with 7,500 miles, red, 5-speed, with air conditioning (I try not to use it much, but I wanted it to make sure I don’t ever take a car that gets worse mpg for comfort reasons).
Buying a car long-distance is never fun. But I called Hertz, and they said the car was never a rental (it was a trade-in) and it was pretty much indistinguishable from new. CarFAX said it had always been a Utah car. I negotiated a price, bought a ticket, and flew to Salt Lake City. The dealer picked me up, I inspected the car, test drove it, handed them a check, signed a few papers, and drove off. Fast and easy, if you don’t count the plane time or the ride home.
The car had averaged 58.2mpg before I bought it. My first day driving from Salt Lake to Pendleton, OR I averaged about 65mph, the tires were underinflated, and I had the A/C blasting all day (it was REALLY hot!). I got 67mpg. The second day, with less A/C, 60mph, and more air in the tires, I got 77mpg despite the mountain passes. Pretty cool.
Since I’ve been home, in mixed driving, I’ve been getting about 62mpg. Some folks in flat areas do considerably better, but the hills in this area really take a toll. (On a good trip, like to my Dad’s and back yesterday, I got 82mpg. Of course I can do way better than that on a one-way downhill, but they don’t count!)
I like a lot of things about the Insight. I think it’s cute, it has nice steering, it’s easy to park, it has plenty of room as long as 2 seats are enough, and of course I love the mpg and 700-mile range. There have been a few battery issues reported, but there’s a nice long warranty on that, and otherwise the car seems extremely reliable. I’m glad I bought it; it definitely suits my needs.
But I will note that it’s not for everybody. It costs about the same as a Prius (at least with the current tax credits favoring the Prius, although that’s changing), which has a nice big back seat. It’s not the world’s safest car, although for it’s size I suspect it’s not bad. The low-rolling-resistance tires don’t give a great ride, especially in freeway ruts where the car hops back and forth a bit (people with aftermarket tires report that this goes away). There’s no cruise control, and it’s light enough that it gets tossed around a bit by winds on the freeway. And while the Prius makes funny noises as it switches between various gas/electric modes, the Insight goes further and sometimes jerks and pulses. The manual requires some attention while driving (much of this is handled more automatically in the CVT version): you have to know things like you have to hit the throttle after an upshift, otherwise braking won’t do a regen. Or that to enable auto-stop, you have to put the car in neutral below 19mph and be braking (and have the A/C in econ mode, and have the engine up to temperature, and have enough brake vacuum, etc). In short, you have to work with it. The Prius is easier to just drive. But then–it only gets 48mpg!