downsides to owning a 1st gen insight?
 

Hello again, I was first thinking of making a crx hf to vx swap but the more I'm looking around I may just got with an insight. I'm currently a college student and will probably be in school 2-4 more years. I drive quite a bit and would like not only goodgs mileage but also lower cost on maintenance. My current mini cooper provides onlg good mpgs, that things expensive to get worked on :/ I'll be selling it or 10-12k soon and picking another car up.

Any downsides to the insight maintenance wise or in general?

On the upside, the Insight is the most fuel efficient car you can buy, it's a beautiful piece of engineering, and I'm sure you'd love it. They are very reliable, and maintainence costs are low. I highly recommend one.

On the downside, they're expensive to buy right now. Once people get accustomed to the current fuel prices, or if prices begin to fall, then Insights will come down in price as well.

Also, the Insight has as much cargo space as you'd expect from a two-seat sports car. You can't fit large things in the back, but you can unbolt the passenger seat and leave it at home on occasion. Owning an Insight will make you wonder if they make 6' kayaks for people with small cars. You'll also be on the bump stops with just 400lbs of batteries or landscaping materials. 400lbs of anything else just won't fit in the car.

Have you run an honest cost analysis of keeping vs replacing the Cooper? I love Insights, but it would take many years of driving for the fuel savings to add up to the purchase price difference vs, say, a 2000 Civic.

Thank you robert! Very informative

I drive a lot, so just based on the cost to buy (2000 civics go for about 3500 at there cheapest around here, saw a few insights with 140k miles go for around 6k) it would take 1.5-2 years in fuel costs to make up the purchase price difference.

Haven't run a full cost analysis vs keeping the cooper but from what I've had to spend on things . For example I have to change my radiator and fan due to a little incident, if I do all the work the cost is $500, looking at the insight it looks to be about $150-200. Tires cost over $100 each because only 2 tires exist that fit on my rim (thanks bmw lol). I've just been somewhat wowed that some of these parts are so expensive. Did I mention if you take it to mini to get a full oil change they charge $350-450? Great car bu expensive.

$1300-1500 in fuel savings a year if I drive an insight from the cooper also, I'm considering I, taking a test drive in one today

You might think about joining an Insight group, and seeing what kind of things are going wrong, and how much they cost to fix.

What in the world has to be done to earn a $350-$450 oil change?

They change the oil,oil filter, a/c filter, and do some 6-8 poin inspection (my guess is look at the car while it's jacke dup lol). I take it somewhere else and get it done for 60-80 for synthetic. Bmw service is just rediculously expensive

yea, screw bmw.

Just took a test drive in a 2000 insight.

the goods:
57 mpg in my city test drive
it's well documented because it was owned by the state
had A/C
body was in great condition as well as the interior
battery was good (tested by honda and stayed around 75% charge my entire ride

the bad:
it was owned by the state lol (life mpg was 54 so probably was a city driver)
it sat for 3 months before it went to auction
biggest complaint: 1st and reverse seemed pretty rough (any ideas? oil change from sittin for 3 months?)
maintenance light couldn't be reset, honda tried also but the owner said they couldn't? (that sounded suspicious....)

Still too much on an oil change. Take it to Jiffy Lube for $20 and forgo the synth. I run synth in my car, but I get the oil for $4/quart or less, and drive 1yr and 10k miles before changing it again. A Blackstone analysis confirms that I am not harming anything by running it that long.

Add a kill switch, learn the ins and outs of the car, and you'll have that at 70mpg without too much difficulty.

That's not good for the battery, but that comes with the territory - used Insights generally sit before you buy them. Perhaps you'd be comfortable installing a grid charger to prolong the life of your battery. That project is well within the reach of any type of engineering student.Is the "TRIP" button worn out? That happens sometimes. There's a fix documented somewhere at InsightCentral.net.

Fleet cars have hard lives, but they're priced accordingly.

Overall, I haven't heard anything here that would scare me off.