2006 Honda Insight MT Build Thread

[Gasoline Fumes]

Originally Posted by Ecky

I actually have a spare Insight transmission and a Fit, I'm just waiting for it to need a clutch or something.

Good luck! I know a family with a 2007 Fit with over 300k miles. As far as I know, it still has the original clutch!

[mpg_numbers_guy]

The Insight has it's first potentially major issue: lost half my oil at work tonight and apparently my hood won't open. So time to try diagnosing it tomorrow and see if it's something I can fix for a reasonable cost. Suspecting valve cover gasket or oil pan? Car basically leaked no oil before this that I was aware of. Was about do do an oil change this weekend.

Otherwise, it's to the Prius C life I go, but I really want to keep the Insight. I wonder if a Prius C could get well above 70 mpg no matter how inefficient the driving conditions like the Insight?

If I had enough light I would take a look at it now but as is I'll have to wait until morning. So all I can do now is stress search for used Prius Cs in the area....something I always do when I can't fix what's wrong with the car immediately....maybe I just need to be patient and go to sleep so sunlight will come sooner.

[Ecky]

Sorry to hear! I'm thinking you may have cracked your oil pan somehow.

I've always liked the look of the C, but its really world economy is disappointing. Fuelly shows most drivers averaging 49mpg - which I guess isn't THAT bad. You'd get backseats at least, right?

Anyway if you need parts I'm happy to keep my eyes open for anything.

[California98Civic]

How is the investigation of the oil problem going?

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Ayooo, sorry for the long absence, work, school, and married life keep a guy busy!

Was able to source a pan from an Insight contact for $150 + $30 shipping - huge savings over new. Turns out one of the transmission bolts was seized, and I didn't want to risk breaking it and complicating the matter further. So with the help of a local mechanic friend we got the pan cleaned out and used a special epoxy to seal it up. It's been holding fine since with no issues. Later on when I need to drop the transmission to replace the clutch I'll probably swap out the oil pan fully.

Virginia MPG is abysmal compared to Michigan. Michigan summers netted me 80-100 mpg, while VA is giving me 65-85 mpg.

Had a flat tire a couple weeks ago that couldn't be repaired, and the tires were starting to get low enough on tread (due to the weight distribution from the IMA delete and me being lazy on rotating tires....) so I ended up getting new RE92s.

A week later my wife had a similar thing happen with the Volvo, so we got new Hankook Kinergies to replace the crap tires she had before. She's been doing decent with eco driving and has been getting 30-38 mpg despite how thirsty the car is. So far I'm the only one who's broken the 40 mpg barrier in it...barely.

Originally Posted by Ecky

I've always liked the look of the C, but its really world economy is disappointing. Fuelly shows most drivers averaging 49mpg - which I guess isn't THAT bad. You'd get backseats at least, right?

Fuelly says barely over 50 mpg for the Insight, but we all know better.
Borrowed a friend's 2014 Prius for a few days to help us move into our new place, and I was able to average well over 60 MPG in it over a combination of highway and short city drives - best was 67.5 mpg over a highway trip, and 74.2 mpg over a town drive. Significantly better than the 2nd gen Prius, my best there was 68 or 69 or something like that doing 45 in a 55. I'm fairly confident I'd be able to get 70-80 city and 60-70 highway in a C consistently, but used car prices are ridiculous nowadays. My Insight has around 291k miles and I could probably sell it for more now than what I bought it for 40k miles ago.

A Fit or Mirage could perform similar with a taller gearing upgrade without the risk of a hybrid failure....except that I would hate to drive either without a taller gearing upgrade. Plus the Prius' AC system is more efficient, and the wife likes max AC all the time, of course. Plus she somehow gets 15-20 mpg less than me in the Insight lol.