Calling Vx Owners! Would you trade for first gen Insight?

[live4soccer7]

There was no recalibration when driving. They stayed the exact same the whole time. 15 minutes driving with some decent acceleration periods to test the car.

What kind of performance on the freeway can I except or rough mileage with IMA disabled?

Will I still be able to cruise on the freeway at 70-75 and maintain approximately 50mpg (on the flats)?

I've been trying to look up cases on this and am getting things all over the board in regards to results. Again, just looking for a very rough ballpark on what to expect in that situation. I'm just wondering if I'd be happy with the car if I wanted to quit messing around with the batteries or not pay for new ones over and over.

Any issues with headlights/heater when the IMA disabled. I need something that would keep me warm in the winter and drive in the dark. haha

[Ecky]

No recals is a good sign.

Flat freeway driving will be almost entirely unaffected by losing the battery, at least in my experience. The places I've seen losses with mine removed are stop and go, driving in poor weather, and driving with lots of elevation change. Things that help are auto-stop, regenerative braking, and preventing the need of downshifting. Revving over ~3000 seems to tank economy and it's very easy to stay under 2000 with electric assist in just about any driving condition - low end torque is roughly doubled and it's virtually "free". Without it I often have to downshift sometimes 2 or even 3 gears when climbing any but shallow grades. But then, I live in a mountainous state.

In the flats you will have no trouble maitaining speed in 5th without assist. At 70mph you may see 60-70mpg with no mods or drafting, depending on the weather. 50mpg is more like 85-90mph economy.

No issues at all with normal operation without the IMA, other than that acceleration is much lower and you'll lose some economy in the above conditions. It's basically a gasoline car with an electrical assist added as an afterthought, the two systems are almost completely independent of each other.

You might be interested in some of the mods I've listed here since removing my battery:

https://www.insightcentral.net/forum...-k24-swap.html

Edit: Only major difference is the lack of an alternator - it uses a more efficient DC-DC conveter to step voltage down to 12v, generated by the IMA motor. When I took my battery out I replaced the 18 year old DC-DC with an even more efficient and much smaller unit.

[live4soccer7]

I'll definitely take a look at what you've done. I'm going to pick it up now. I got him down to 3k. I think I'm getting a very good deal on this car.

[live4soccer7]

Just got it home! I'm sure I'll be able to tell if I really like this thing within a couple weeks or so. I'm half tempted to disable the batteries for a week or two and see how I like it when that scenario arises. I absolutely hate to get rid of my VX if I'm going to want it back when the batteries die.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Welcome to the Insight club!

[live4soccer7]

Haha. Thanks. We will see if I like it enough to ditch the VX. If not, It'll be back up for sale in a couple months. I'm pretty impartial to my VX. It's never let me down, gets great mileage, has really cheap parts that are available everywhere, and pure gasoline (no weak batteries). I'm going to have to love the insight compared to the VX to keep it. After owning the VX for a few years, I always said that the only car I would POSSIBLY get to replace it was the insight. Now to put that to the test. This is aside from getting a replacement vehicle that serves a different purpose (truck, storage space, 4 door, all EV, etc..). Something fundamentally different.


Anyways, there is an insight at a junk yard near me. I was going to check it out, possibly today.

What do you guys recommend me grabbing off of that thing? Anything and everything. lol. But really, a list of parts that you would grab on the car. Engine wise, IMA, battery related, ecu type of stuff, dash, etc... anything. They don't show up in the yard, so if there's anything that I could use I'd like to get it. I have no idea what's on the vehicle. For all I know, it could be entirely stripped already.

My insight is screaming for needing anything. It is in phenomenal condition. Looking ahead. EGR stuff, vacuum switches, whatever...

[cowmeat]

I'm half tempted to disable the batteries for a week or two and see how I like it when that scenario arises.

I can tell you how it is driving one with the IMA disabled: It's dangeruosly slow and it takes the fun right out of owning an Insight. I killed the IMA in Ron Burgundy when I discharged it too low, and as cool as that car was it still wasn't cool enough to keep after that!

It's why I drive a Volt now

Welcome to the Insight club (be careful how you discharge!)

[live4soccer7]

Thanks for the input! I think that if I keep it then, when it dies, I will convert it to Lithium as a few have done. It looks like it would cost a couple thousand (close to new battery cost anyways) and result in a much better system.

I would like to disable IMA and drive it around as is to see what I will be dealing with. I'm use to slow with the VX, but paying attention to when IMA kicks in yesterday when driving I'm afraid it will put it in a new class of slow over the VX without IMA.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Originally Posted by cowmeat

I can tell you how it is driving one with the IMA disabled: It's dangeruosly slow and it takes the fun right out of owning an Insight.

Disagree, but your driving may differ from mine. I found little difference besides slightly worse acceleration.

Still worth testing. If you end up bypassing it when the battery dies, you will gain a large amount of cargo space and still have a very nice car. Fuel economy is pretty much the same w/o the battery.

[live4soccer7]

Thanks for the input and opinion. I'm use to slow, so I don't care. Who's the guy that turboed his insight? I'd actually be very interested in information on this.