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2001 Honda Insight - Throwback

Discussion in 'Honda/Acura Hybrids and EVs' started by Tideland Prius, Feb 16, 2020.

  1. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Throwback to 2000 for the review of the original Honda Insight.

     
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  2. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    About 3 minutes in, he says the the car's conversion from liters per 100 km to miles per US gallon is off. I think he's missed the mark, suspect he's converting to Imperial gallons. FWIW, I've found dividing either liters/100 km or mpg US into 235.2, you convert from one to the other.
     
  3. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Yeah that was back in the day when we were still using imperial mpg. We've pretty much switched over the US mpg when talking about "mpg". If not, just stick with L/100km.
     
  4. ericbecky

    ericbecky Hybrid Battery Hero

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    Honda Insight is a great car.
    The stick shift version of these cars are good for 60-70 mpg, making for 600-700 miles on a single tank of gas.

    Right now you can still buy under 100,000 mile examples of these cars for $5,000 or less.

    In fact I have a couple for sale if you know anybody looking.
    One is Citrus colored. 98,000 miles
    One is Silver. 69,000 miles.
     
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  5. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    He does say "...that converts to miles per US gallon...". Still, he also pronounces Honda "Honder", habits are hard to shake.

    Was there both a manual and automatic version? I believe that was the case with first gen Civic Hybrid (we had 2nd gen, auto only).

    I notice in the review, with the stick shift version insight, he mentions auto-stop only happens if you shift to neutral. I wonder if that's right, just depressing clutch pedal wouldn't allow auto-stop?
     
  6. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    Unfortunately, the battery management system would allow drivers to overdraw from the pack.
     
  7. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Yes.
    The CR-Z was another that was available in both manual and automatic.
     
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  8. ericbecky

    ericbecky Hybrid Battery Hero

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    The 2000-2006 Insight is awesome with its 3cyl engine, and aluminum body/frame.
    Car weighs less than 2000 lbs.

    Fun little cars.
     
  9. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Now I'm thinking three wheels...
     
  10. ericbecky

    ericbecky Hybrid Battery Hero

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    3 wheels? Nope that would something like Zap Xebra. I owned one if those as well.
    Crazy. 4 passenger, enclosed, 3 wheeled electric vehicle.

    Technically a motorcycle.
     
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  11. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Or an Electra Mechanicca Solo.
     
  12. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    There is another that has an open air cockpit.
    Plus, the Aptera is trying to come back.
     
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  13. ericbecky

    ericbecky Hybrid Battery Hero

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    I was in an old Aptera back in the day. Cool car but kinda small cockpit.
     
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  14. nerfer

    nerfer A young senior member

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    I'm kind of toying with the idea of getting an original stick-shift Insight, but haven't done any research on them really. Any good resources as to the changes & recalls from 2000-2006?
     
  15. ericbecky

    ericbecky Hybrid Battery Hero

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    InsightCentral is the largest community.
    No real recalls that I can remember.

    I work on hybrids for a living so I have seen plenty of them over the 15+ years I have been working on them.
    Feel free to call and chat if you want to save some time digging on the internet for answers. 608-729-4082

    They were pretty much the same engine/transmission-wise the entire run. Some slight differences in interior the final few years.
    It's a very rare car, with less than 17,000 made for the US over 7 years.

    If you are ever in the Madison, WI area give me a shout. I may have one handy for you to give a test ride.
    They are spartan little cars, but, man, they kill it in mpg.
     
  16. Trollbait

    Trollbait It's a D&D thing

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    They did have the same battery management system that lead to the Civic hybrid issues.
    The later years might have been CVT only.
     
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  17. ericbecky

    ericbecky Hybrid Battery Hero

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    Insight were available as 5-speed all years.
     
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  18. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    I saw one "in the wild", out at Costco, about a year back. Westwood Honda had one parked out front, back in the day.
     
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  19. Raytheeagle

    Raytheeagle Senior Member

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    They're quite "common" still out here :).

    Always fun to see them still running well;).

    Much like the classic Prius that still roam freely(y).
     
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  20. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    I posted in the Gen 1 forum, a video where they took a first gen Insight and Classic Prius on a test drive 20 years later.
     
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