78mpg commute to work this morning (Honda Insight)

[ankit]

Originally Posted by AndrewJ

Here's what lean burn is.

You'll want to scroll down to "Honda lean burn systems"

Cars with lean burn are the VX, HX, Civic hybrid and Insight (5-speed)

Thanks. Sounds like I missed out.

[MetroMPG]

Congrats, budomove! Can't wait for the 80 mpg report.

[budomove]

Metro,

I cleared trip B, just after leaving Connecticut tonight, and the 20 mile average before getting off the hwy was 91.1mpg, so I got it!

[donoman]

Hey man, awesome! Over the past 2 days of commuting to work I was only able to get 62MPG, probably because of all the traffic and city driving. I say "Only" because other Insight pilots appear to be able to easily do 80mpg's on a regular basis during warm weather...

Anyway congrats!

[MetroMPG]

What kind of techniques are you using? And by "other Insight pilots" do you mean people who hypermile them?

If you use "forced auto stop" (shutting the engine off with the key) plus engine off coasting / pulse and glide, the Insight can pull crazy numbers in city driving.

And... welcome to the site.

[budomove]

Yeah, welcome donoman, I wish Insightcentral didn't suck, I mean theyre a great search library, but there are too few members, and noone ever responds to posts like here. they don't allow linking to cleanmpg or ecomodder when there are related links to post.

Anyway, when I got the insight, I got 61mpg averages for about the first month. I have had the insight for almost two months, and if you go to insightcentral, and type "lean burn" in the search window, and read everything there is to know about how to engage and sustain it, then you can easily get much better mileage. last night between greenwich, ct and queens, ny I did my 35 mile commute home, and it is about 80% hwy. The total trip from engine start to stop was 86.9mpg, and I averaged 50mph on the hwy, and accelerate very slowly in town/city. I also put my hazards on in the slow lane the whole way home, so I didnt get any tractor trailers trying to shove me off the road, or flashing me the high beams while I am going well over the posted minimum. Go to insightcentral and learn about lean burn, it took me about a month of practice to do this well. And bleed off in speed as you go up hills, also coast in gear to a stop whenever momentum allows. Try to rarely use IMA assist, and that will also give you higher mpg.

Frank

[MetroMPG]

I'm sorry I'm going to have to ban you for mentioning other sites in this thread, Frank

I got the impression that donoman's commute was urban - thus the FAS/EOC/P&G advice. Of course if it's highway/freeway, lean burn is the way.

EDIT: PS - 86.9 mpg - nice!

[budomove]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

I'm sorry I'm going to have to ban you for mentioning other sites in this thread, Frank

yeah, I still cant believe it. The site creator needs to loosen up and realize this is a growing community, and it is in everyones best interest to network, and pool our knowledge.

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

I got the impression that donoman's commute was urban - thus the FAS/EOC/P&G advice. Of course if it's highway/freeway, lean burn is the way.

agreed, It is tough to get more than 55mpg in stop and go.

what is the commute like donoman?

frank

[donoman]

Yeah, I'm sick of Insight Central. It's so restrictive and they don't even allow open discussion of modifications to the car. What kind of enthusiast site does that? There is a great guy, Mike D. on there, who has developed a Manual IMA kit, and they force him to post all his discussion in one little thread marked "MIMA". Pretty lame... Maybe we should start an "Open" Insight forum. <twiddles fingers>

Anyway, my commute goes like this... first 1/2 mile is up a hill at about 30% grade, then I go towards downtown SF, which is still quite hilly on the freeway. Then we've got the Bay Bridge where I have to deal with crosswinds which often require me to be in 4th gear to hit lean burn. Then I get into Berkeley and it's another 2-3 miles all uphill to campus, at which point I start circling and looking for parking.

Last week my commute from home to Berkeley was 82mpg but after searching for parking I was down to 70mpg and after moving my car 3 times during the day (2 hr parking limit) I was down to 60MPG!!!!!! I only was able to recover to 65MPG on the drive home. I have noticed that the Insight can do some awesome mileage during the daytime but the electrical load and perhaps cooler temperatures at night hit the MPG's like it's nobody's business.

I'm going to pump my tires up to 50psi today, and see what's up.

[donoman]

By the way, my car has the following "mods":

-Disable IMA switch
-Full regen braking button
-Power steering disable
-RE92 Tires
-Faux leather steering wheel wrap
-2 cargo covers (I should remove one!)

I was thinking about going crazy and doing her up with HID's (I have a spare set of H7's from my previous car, a '96 M3) and LED corners... warm air intake and radiator block. I had some previous experience trying to hypermile my '89 CRX Si... But the Insight is a joy to drive, much more comfortable (quieter, climate control) and much safer with dual airbags and all the new safety regulations.