Quote:
Originally Posted by JacobLeSann
A steal indeed. He rebuilt the engine and replaced the 12 volt battery as well.
I’m quite the tinkerer, so shop time isn’t a huge deal. Expensive replacement parts are. I wonder how long the battery would last me, as I should only be using it for the short run through town on my commute. I mostly drive highway.
Ditching the electric motor would work but it strikes me as sort of devolving the car? A 230 HP swap would still be hilarious, though lol.
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I'd inquire about the rebuilt engine. The bottom ends of these engines basically never break. There are some rare cases of snapped camshafts, but that's often upwards of 400k miles (some Insights have over 600k on fully original parts) and caused by infrequent oil changes, or the wrong oil being used.
I would say that, even compared with German "economy" car parts, all of the Insight's parts are cheap. Some of them are just expensive compared with what a Civic owner might be accustomed to.
Take the engine mount - RockAuto has mounts for a 2000 Civic starting at
literally $3.64 USD. An Insight rear mount will set you back $100 from Honda, but it's also a piece of billet aluminum. A Jetta of the same vintage (just checked) will run you $200+ for an OEM stamped steel mount, and starts around $30 on RockAuto for generic.
I agree about disabling the hybrid system, it's a much more interesting and fun car with everything working, but a point I'd like to make is that, if the battery fails, it won't leave you stranded or without a car (as it would in a Prius). If you get the Insight, I would be prepared to buy a new battery. I can recommend Bumblebee's as some of the better aftermarket, and the owner has great communication:
https://bumblebeebatteries.com/produ...rid-batteries/
There is also a grid charger (cell balancer) you can build which will help extend the life of the battery that's in it, or can even limp along a failing one for many years. Most Insight owners now have one of these. Yet another quirk to these cars. I'd ask the owner about grid chargers.