2000 Honda Insight Pricing ($7k too much? New IMA battery)

[War_Wagon]

I know I am biased but even with no battery assist I still like these cars. The 1.0L in one of mine has 369k KMs (229k miles), and I am pretty sure it's never been apart. No smoke, no leaks, etc. I just refuse to drive mine in the winter around here, the local drivers are scary enough on dry pavement lol.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by War_Wagon

I know I am biased but even with no battery assist I still like these cars. The 1.0L in one of mine has 369k KMs (229k miles), and I am pretty sure it's never been apart. No smoke, no leaks, etc. I just refuse to drive mine in the winter around here, the local drivers are scary enough on dry pavement lol.

I think someone with even a slight bit of knowhow is best served by a beat up beauty Insight any day rather than one someone put a battery and a spit shine on, unless the price point is nice of coarse, but I guess this statement applies to everything from apples to geo metro's

[War_Wagon]

It's true. Though I did have a really nice example of a 2000 Firefly (Metro/Swift etc) with a 1.0L as well, and given the choice between a beater Insight with a dead pack and another nice, low mile Firefly I would go with the Insight. Honda was out to prove something with these cars, and it comes through in the design and quality. And luckily for the ecomodder crowd, most people are scared off by an old hybrid, especially one with a hurt battery pack, so there are some good deals to be had out there on them.

I will edit that by saying that up here in Canada we only had the 5 speed version. I have no input on a CVT model. There was a 2004 (I think) CVT for sale up here in the summer with with super low miles (trying to remember, I think it was 70k KMs so 43k miles) that had been imported from the USA. It was NICE. Like get in a time machine and go back to 2004 and it looked the same nice. They wanted $11000 for it. What is it worth? I have no idea. If it had been a 5 speed I would have drooled over it a lot more, but I still wouldn't have bought it. They are a neat car, and people will pay what they want to for one, but they are hard to put a value on.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by War_Wagon

Honda was out to prove something with these cars, and it comes through in the design and quality.

That's a good way to describe the car. It really is an engineer's car.

The fact it was designed to work (and still be incredibly efficient) even with hybrid assist/regen "offline" (ie. dead pack) is a big bonus.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

That's a good way to describe the car. It really is an engineer's car.

The fact it was designed to work (and still be incredibly efficient) even with hybrid assist/regen "offline" (ie. dead pack) is a big bonus.

Its really too bad the Insight 1 body style isn't available in some form anymore, much like the EV1 anything you would put into that body couldn't help but be efficient.

[payne171]

I think you made a good choice for you. Calling that price stupid is pretty flawed though. I just made a perfectly logical argument why it would make perfect sense to pay that price for that car. The fact that it doesn't make sense for you does not mean it does not make sense. In the interest of full disclosure, I bought a very similar car at the same price, albeit with 50k fewer miles on it.

[hawk2100n]

Wow it appears that I missed a bit of action in this thread. I found another one and the itch is still there. This time for a 2000 5speed, new battery, very very clean at 6800. The book private party value is 4300 + 2000 or so for a brand new honda battery with honda 36000 mile warranty. I did the math and over 100k miles I would save $4000 over my Civic I'm in now at current prices. That's pretty big and pays for the car basically. Plus it should be much quieter and a better drive than my Civic. Someone mentioned that it is an engineers car and that is my chosen profession so that must be why I want this.

[payne171]

Better drive? Depends. I really enjoy driving the Insight, but it is also a pain in the ass. It requires a lot of attention to maximize its capabilities. That appeals to me, and I imagine if you are on Ecomodder, it appeals to you too. I can't just let myself drive it though, and I wish I could. Those people you hear complaining about only getting ~50's mpg because they have to keep up with traffic in their area? 90% of them aren't Insight people. I consider it to be the Eco version of a Lotus; it is a ultra lightweight car designed specifically for extreme performance. Still, it is very enjoyable to develop the skill required to maximize its performance.