How many of you want me to buy this dubious 2000 Honda Insight from Tucson?

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Did a quick search for HXes and Insights on the FB marketplace within a "reasonable" distance from Phoenix:

2005 Honda Civic HX Coupe 2D (189k miles, manual, $2500)

D16Y5 Vtec-E lean-burn full swap (All the fixings to swap in a lean burn engine into your car lol!)

Honda Insight IMA Battery (Is this Gen 1? Not sure. Wonder it's condition for $260...)

2001 Honda Insight ($2000, white, crack in the same place as the other one, 305K miles, Tuscon....is this the same Insight???? but wait, that one is a 2001 when the Craigslist is a 2000....are there really two white Insights for sale in Tuscon? You could see both if you went!!)

[Xist]

Facebook is kind enough to say they are asking too much for the black HX, although it does not seem to know what an HX is. Thirty-four MPG highway?! Please! It has Honda wheels, but not HX ones!

Since Insights did not come in white, I wonder if there are even two white Insights in Tucson! What differences are there between the 2000 and 2001 models?

I cannot imagine two fenders having that same damage, but it looks much better in the pictures that I received. I just saw that the corner was damaged, not that there was a huge crack!

2001 Honda Insight this has been a fantastic vehicle extremely reliable
2door hybrid
Cold ac

Minor crack in the passenger side bumper (that darn mailbox jumped out in front of me) as shown in the pics attached

Tinted windows
Engine replaced 80k miles ago

Additional Warranty covers the battery and tire replaced prior to a month ago

Very clean
Maintained every single month
Oil changed prior to reaching the required mileage always used synthetic oil

Standard five speed
Clean title
Ready to go on it’s way to it’s new owner

2,000 or OBO Less

Minor crack?!


What about the missing piece?



2000 Insight that had 224,000 miles on 10/19. How could there be a younger sibling the same Maaco color and fender damage with an additional 75,000 miles?!

Which battery was replaced a month ago and is the warranty transferable? Only one tire was replaced? Was that why they only sent me one picture?

Maybe this guy had his wife or girlfriend post on Facebook and she took far more pictures (and gave many more details). Remembering the year wrong by a year seems understandable, but the mileage and engine replacement is not something they should confuse, unless they are selling too many vehicles to keep track.

However...

It was registered on 10/19 with 224,000 miles. That was about eighty thousand miles ago, but only seventy days. Facebook says that was posted over a week ago, but when I click on it, it reloads the page, so I do not know whether it was eight or thirteen days.

It is almost completely impossible to drive 80,000 miles in seventy days. He actually said that he was driving to Mexico and Phoenix.

What was he driving from Mexico to Phoenix?

Unless he drove it eight hours a day and so did someone else, two of the only details we should be able to believe are mutually exclusive.

It had 224,000 miles on 10/19.
It had 305,724 miles over a week ago.



It seems the more that we find out about this car the more evidence we have that something is wrong.

I am going to ask if they have receipts for everything, especially those synthetic fuel changes, and the engine replacement.

Mods, would it be worthwhile to create a new thread? I already have many posts in this thread, but this is thirty-three in a row about this very same car, and I do not have any idea when this will be concluded!

Also, this is my 7,000th post! I'm sorry!

[MetroMPG]

Congratulations on 7000 off-topic posts!!


KIDDING.



Will move to a new thread.

[MetroMPG]

Related reading:


Buying a used 2000-2006 Honda Insight: What problems to watch for

[Xist]

Hey Metro, thanks for sharing your checklist, and thanks to Robert Smalls, and Silver Insight for their feedback. Have you seen the checklist on Insight Central? G1 Buyers Tips

As far as I can tell, Mountain Driver copied your entire post, word for word, and added links and notes. Ecky said that I would know more about the Insight than a dealer would. I definitely would now! However, I would hate to drive four hours just to find a dealbreaker that someone else could have found for me.

[MetroMPG]

Yup - he asked permission (rare!) to copy that post, and I said "OK".

[Xist]

Yes, the odometer reads 1/3 higher than we were led to believe, but if I may direct you to the light on the left that says "Check" and is shaped like an engine and the one on the right that spells "IMA." Perhaps the one in the top left that spells "SRS" is of import, too.

Rainsux on InsightCentral says all that matters is the traction battery, second-gear syncros, and the RE92s, but since they are only asking $1,500, he does not care. Willie Williford suggested that I contacted Rush who lives in Tucson. Rush is unfamiliar with a white Insight with fender damage, pointed out the lights that seemingly everyone else missed, but wrote "For 1500 or less it is probably worth it."

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Originally Posted by Xist

Facebook is kind enough to say they are asking too much for the black HX, although it does not seem to know what an HX is. Thirty-four MPG highway?! Please! It has Honda wheels, but not HX ones!

Those are actually the OEM wheels for the 2001-2005 Civic HX. Around 14 lbs I think, same as the HCH1 wheels?

Originally Posted by Xist

I cannot imagine two fenders having that same damage, but it looks much better in the pictures that I received. I just saw that the corner was damaged, not that there was a huge crack!

...

Minor crack?!

...

What about the missing piece?

Nothing a little bondo and paint can't fix.

Originally Posted by Xist

Which battery was replaced a month ago and is the warranty transferable? Only one tire was replaced? Was that why they only sent me one picture?

...



It seems the more that we find out about this car the more evidence we have that something is wrong.

Look at the picture. The IMA and CEL lights are on. The hybrid battery is disabled and dead. Must be a new 12V battery. Also I would imagine that "tire" is a misspelling and that all 4 tires were replaced, since 175/65R14 is a different tire size altogether, unless they were already running that size, which would explain the 44.8 LMPG! The low LMPG also seems to indicate a beat up car - it's almost impossible to get a sub-50 LMPG on a 5spd Gen 1 Insight unless you've driven it without the battery on short trips for most of its life. Lean burn could not be working due to a mistake when installing the newer engine.

Idle is 200-300 RPMs high for being warmed up. You can tell it is warmed up since there are 6 lit bars on the temperature gauge. This could be due to the engine map the car is running due to the IMA issue. SRS light is also on. With all this misinformation, high miles, dead hybrid battery, and front damage I wouldn't pay more than $1000 for it, and be prepared to put that much more into it. An IMA battery will run you $1000-$2500, or doing the permanent bypass that Ecky did is about $150 in parts. Plus, you have to address the SRS issue, any other CEL codes that may be there, and the repair to the fender and bumper cover. Not to mention if there is frame damage and/or oil leakage -- if either are present then run! I'd definitely get some definite answers on several questions before driving that far, especially with all this misinformation posted on the listings, assuming they're the same car.

EDIT: Just saw your last post after posting this..

Originally Posted by Xist

Rush is unfamiliar with a white Insight with fender damage, pointed out the lights that seemingly everyone else missed, but wrote "For 1500 or less it is probably worth it."

I disagree. While further away, there are several Insights for under $1500 with fewer miles and fewer issues other than a dead or dying IMA. There is/was a silver Insight in southeastern California with a dead IMA but "everything works" for $800. I purchased mine for $1500 and it has no issues. Then again, there aren't many Insights in Arizona at all. Up to you but I wouldn't go over $1000, if everything were to check out perfectly, which I doubt would happen. Obviously get answers first and inspect it first before making any kind of an offer.

[Xist]

Here is a salvage Silver one in Roswell New Mexico (the perfect place for a UFO?) with a bad battery for $1,500: https://roswell.craigslist.org/cto/d...780412851.html
Here is a beautiful silver one with a "clean" title and unspecified miles for $2,350 in San Diego--more than I have: https://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/...781097813.html

Yeah, I would vastly prefer to drive to San Diego than New Mexico!

CarGurus found four between $3,000 and $6,000, plus a 2003 on Facebook Marketplace for $5,200.

I do not see any other Insights on AutoTempest or anywhere that it searches. Where did you find more?

[mpg_numbers_guy]

That one in San Diego looks good if you can get him to go down on the price. Only $50 more than my Insight was listed for. Made me laugh to see him describe his Insight as a "cool a** ride". It is, but for different reasons than he seems to be trying to portray.

I only look at Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist. Sites like Autotrader and Car Gurus don't list as many cars and the ones listed are typically more expensive. I got lucky when I found my Civic on CarsForSale.com

Here's a beat up red one in Colton, Ca listed for $1000: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...41784546760255
Paint is fading pretty bad and there's a decent amount of damage in the rear, but if all checks out you could probably get a few hundred off and fix it yourself. Smog passed so I'm guessing IMA works or was already well bypassed?

Another red one, literally a project car since the engine is currently out; but has a MIMA system that comes with it, for $1000 in Las Vegas: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...38553456784342
Again, a few hundred off, and depending on your mechanical know-how might be a good deal, who knows.

Neither seem worth the long drive though. That was Facebook Marketplace. Only one within 200 miles of Phoenix with a manual on Craigslist is that white one.

Sometimes I open the results for Insights nationwide on Craigslist using this site, but beware of about 20 or more tabs opening when you open all the results at once.

EDIT: Insight Central has some good deals if you want to fly out to pick one up:

Red 111K miles for $1500 in NC: https://www.insightcentral.net/forum...durham-nc.html

285K miles for $1000 in Northern CA: https://www.insightcentral.net/forum...alifornia.html