Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Lee
As a flatland highway cruiser, hybrids don't benefit me.
The local auto junkyard had a damaged Insight but the #%^&& wouldn't sell it.  I would have gone gas-only with it if there'd been any damage to any part of the electric drive. |
One of my co-workers here in RI just bought a Gen-1 Insight for $2,700 ... a 2000 year with about 200,000 miles on it ... IMA battery code ... and didn't want to pay Honda what the dealer quoted to fix it ... so previous owner ran it as it was ( gas only ) with the error until the inspection lapsed ... not able to pass inspection as it was he sold it... luckily the error he got did not disable the DC-DC , just the IMA ( assist, Regen , Auto-Stop ).
So we reset / cleared the code ... and borrowed my grid charger ...IMA light hasn't come back in 2 weeks ... he passed his inspection ... so even if it does come back now ... he has the rest of the 2 year inspection to be able to run it as gas only.... it's a simple unplug two things and flip a switch.
Not a bad deal for $2,700 ... even if he only ends up running it as gas only... what other car could one buy for $2,700 that would do better? ... His personal MPG has almost tripled sense his old pickup he used to drive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroMPG
Agreed. And for most drivers, under most conditions, the hybrid bits are a net benefit.
Also, on the point of driving without the extra torque from electric assist, I think most of those same drivers would find the car both woefully underpowered and over-geared without assist.
It's worth reminding folks of where I'm coming from: even without assist, my Insight has more power/torque than my Firefly/Metro (which I even "de-tuned" from stock by installing an "economy" cam, and then a taller final drive). And they weigh about the same.
So it all feels perfectly acceptable to me!
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yup ... as I recall down in the low RPMs ... where ICEs loose their power , but electric motors ( not so much ) ... the IMA motor can add up to something like about ~75% more torque than the ICE would have by itself around 1,500 RPMs... that is a big chunk ... A lot of people wouldn't buy a car with that much less low end torque ... even if they only use it less than 1% of the time.