Bought a New Honda Insight

[RH77]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Congrats, Rick! Nice to see you managed to bag one.

(Special request: please don't call it a "HI-2". Some sites are maddening in their use of acronyms that make it hard for newbies coming fresh to the world of high effciency cars & mods to ease into new knowledge. Why add more TLA hurdles?)

Happy to see another hybrid join the fleet. Envious even! Looking forward to following your progress with it.

Thanks! (and request granted) It was a lazy shortcut on my part (and ends up making it harder to find in a search, as I've learned). I shall further call it "The Second Generation, Two-Thousand Ten, Honda Insight 5-Door" ...or next gen Insight.

...and not to worry, Teggy will continue with more aggressive modification and is planned for many of the 104-mile roundtrip airport runs (and long, dusty parking durations).

As far as mods for the Insight, once Winter goes away, the tires will be maxed on pressure -- otherwise, I need to monitor engine parameters for how it handles higher temps (read: grille block, warm air intake, etc.) Probably not a lot until the 3/36 is up on the warranty). The dual ignition may benefit from higher octane with higher temps, but it's only a theory. There is some "Atkinsonization " under certain loads, so I'm sure it has a host of sensors to prevent excessive knock or too-lean-burn. I may see what Prius owners have done and adapt...

-Rick

[user removed]

Check out the Honda I-DSI engine information sites to understand how the dual ignition works.

regards
Mech

[Chalupa102]

Congrats on the purchase. Whenever i'm in the market for a new car (hopefully won't be for a while) this is the car that i'm planning to get. If u haven't already, check out insightcentral.net. I've read a lot of good posts there and some guys on the site can pull mid to upper 50's if not 60mpg during the warmer weather. I look forward to seeing what ur plans are for the car.

[cfg83]

RH77 -

I am going to hurt your feelings. I can't tell you have an Insight II from your avatar. Can you change it to maybe a front view of the Insight, or maybe the instrument cluster in ALL GREEN LEAFY mode?



CarloSW2

[RobertSmalls]

Or the second-gen Insight in profile, or from behind? From that angle, it looks like it could be a Fit, and that's no fun.

[Lazarus]

Congrats! Enjoy the ride amigo.

[RH77]

Originally Posted by cfg83

RH77 -

I am going to hurt your feelings. I can't tell you have an Insight II from your avatar. Can you change it to maybe a front view of the Insight, or maybe the instrument cluster in ALL GREEN LEAFY mode?



CarloSW2

It was a quicky update, maybe the new avatar is better?

The instrument cluster is pretty neat, but only has one "green leaf", so to speak, when the "ECO-Assist" is on (the Ford Fusion takes the prize for green overgrowth)

It grows little gray leafs in one instrument view, as you continue to drive efficiently. There are little trophies for major milestones, etc.

One beef with the design -- you can't view 2 functions at once -- for example, the instant/average MPG and the IMA monitor (arrows indicating the engine's current function, battery charge / deplete, or "EV" mode) -- cannot be viewed at the same time. It's a minor fix that the SG can provide, once I find a good spot for it (also the port is currently occupied, while collecting OBD-II data).

Here's the factory view of the instrument cluster:



I really like the tach-centric design and separate speedo. No temp gauge though

I had a ~75 mile mixed run in rush hour yesterday and averaged 50 MPG for the trip. There is some definite potential to be tapped here. On the next tank, I plan to really milk the mileage (but still breaking it in on this tank)

Once the road spray goes away (and the sun returns), I can get a car wash and try for some decent photos.

RH77

[cfg83]

RH77 -

Mmmmmuch better! The grill is iconic of the new Insight, so my oh-so-quickly failing eyeballs are much happier with this image.

Thank You!

CarloSW2

[ericbecky]

RH77,
Is there a way to do a "warm air modification" to a 2010 Insight?
I own a 2002 providing the intake warm air from behind the catalytic converter, rather than cold air from the front of the car makes a big difference in gas mileage.

[MetroMPG]

I'm not sure the gain would be as big in the non-lean burn 2nd gen Insight. Isn't attaining earlier & holding lean burn one of the biggest advantages of thermal management in the 1st gen?