[War_Wagon]

Well I cheated a bit, I had promised my bank account I wouldn't put an Insight on the road until I sold my Civic, but hey, why have an overdraft on your account if you never use it? And it turns out that you don't have to emssions test a hybrid here, I didn't know that. So I insured it, drove it to our parking lot at work, and washed the 3 months worth of dust off it. I have to say, they are kind of neat to drive. Figuring out how to adjust the rear view mirror was more of a challenge than one would expect - do you try and see out the small window out the bottom or the main rear window?? That bar in the middle doesn't help anything. When I bought it, the big battery was fully charged, but driving it around the auction yard and sitting for 3 months has reduced it down to the last line on the battery gauge.

I drove for about 50 kms round trip, with a good bit of that on the highway. I noticed 3 things: the charge light never came on, the auto stop never kicked in, and the idle never went below 1200 rpm. Actually the charge light did come on briefly after a restart (it showed 4 bars of charge for a second or two.) All this would lead me to believe that there is a coolant temperature issue. Correct me if I am wrong but it would seem that if the computer didn't think the car was at full operating temp, the high idle would stay on, and the regen and auto stop functions wouldn't kick in? The temp gauge showed 6 lines whatever that translates into. Tomorrow I will check to make sure the thermostat isn't stuck open, and maybe block off the rad to see if I can get some more heat into the engine.

I reset the fuel economy average display, and switched the readings into MPGs (I can't think in L/100 KMS) At the end of my shakedown run, I showed 70.7 MPG average! That was with just normal driving at the speed limit, and no electric assist from the flat battery. I filled it up with 94 Octane Chevron to get some Techron goodness, and to avoid any ethanol. Plus I figured it would help with the old gas that was left in the tank. I can't wait to see the final numbers on the first full tank through it!