Just joined the cool kids club. The NSX of Economy.
 

I made the leap.

Last night, I bought a 2000 Honda Insight, 5 speed. 163k.

It needs a lot of work. The IMA is great, there is no grind, and lean burn works awesome.

The bad: The seats are stained, bad. The carpet is worn on many places. The hood looks like 160k miles behind a dump truck on a gravel road. The underbody panels have damage, not that they are not there or not functioning, but hanging down and causing drag. There are a few panels that are not color matched. A light is out, the rear hatch motor doesn't unlock, one needs the key, there is only one key, and there is more. When I drive, I remember more.

The tank is at 4 bars, the whole tank for him was at mid 40 mpg. I drove 84.x miles, and the tank is JUST below 70, last I remember was 68.x (towards the end of the trip, I was working on bringing the battery back to full charge and not paying attention to mpg). Again, the underbody panels are almost dragging, and the tires have such little air in, at first glance I thought they were flat (not really FLAT, but I run 54-56 PSI in my Pirrelli's, the RE92s should 55-60psi).

Researching the Insight before hand showed how awesome the design is. Being built in the NSX factory, the aluminum frame, bacisally the whole wikipedia thread on it has me drooling.

More work has to be done, and I have yet to even check out the computer. If Flickr wasn't down, I would have the images to show everyone. I am excited for this adventure!

Edit 1:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ead-26975.html

Nice find!!!

I so want one of these. Someday someday...

I have a parts car.2001 silverstone 5 speed. Let me know if you are interested in anything. The front end was wrecked.

Congrats! You're going to have so much fun.

The pinnacle of fuel economy nerd-dom you have found.

well done, Luke. The force is strong with you.

Hate to make a short post, but stopped by while on hold with insurance company-

(39 dollars for 6 months, 100k/300k!!!!)

But was wondering why the fuel economy was so bad- only the spare tire is a RE92, the rest are some goodyears, and THEY WERE ONLY AT 25/29 FRONT REAR!!!!!!!

So far I am averaging about 70 where ever I go. Just filled the tank, 11 miles so far at 71.x mpg. Loving lean burn, but still loving it. Off hold!

My baby, 81 miles and zero mods after purchase.

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Nice! Did it come with the hat? :D

Congratulations! :)

Not going to lie, just a little bit jealous! :D

Congrats!

Welcome to the club! What a beatiful beast you got there. You will have a lot of fun with this car, I can assure you!

Nice find. Pity it hasn't been imported to Europe :(

The seat covers: unzip them and then remove a couple hogrings and you can slip them right off. Throw them in the washing machine and they'll come out looking brand new like you won't believe.

Just use small zip ties where the hogrings were before when you reinstall.

Nope, that and the off brand energy drink are the bits I brought!

Thank you. The only issue will be going long enough without driving it to do that.

I just got back home, above mid fives so far for tank. Tank is around 3/8ths, 560-590 uncorrected miles, estimated MPG is 65 by computer. Now checking/ finding the manual for it [online (no manual with it)]to learn (as I am clueless on a few things) and then getting to work on it. So far the only equipment was a duct tape upper grille block. Put on at approximately 81 miles into the tank.

I am also making a mental list of things I need (and taking specific photos, as I often forget if I don't make a list).

I am happy with my deal, as I have everything I want for it, but how is 3 grand for the price? Was 4, and got to 3. I think I could have gone lower, but that seemed like a fair price for it. Obviously not a mint, but with good IMA, no grind, and decent miles, it is a good bargain for me and the Mustang. Also, I appreciate everyones comments and info, but I tend to "Thank" instead of quoting, or saying something valueless like "I agree," so I am going to try hard not to Thank every comment I get :)

"The NSX of Economy"

I like that! It's really interesting how many components on the Insight were inspired by the Honda S2000. If you notice the gauge cluster display and steering wheel are of the same concept, not shared by any other Honda model.

$3k is quite a decent price for one with a functioning battery and good synchros. Nicely done!

I've heard that the engine of the insight also fits in the Honda Fit, but the suspension is mostly Honda Civic design only made out of Aluminum.

Looks better than my car and the insight gets 10 times what the truck I used to drive got.

So I did my inaugural run of the Insight. I ended up going 11 miles (my round trip commute, made twice per day, five days per week (110 miles/week)). I only got 65.3 mpg :(

In the Mustang, I get ~40 (42 on a great day, usually I can't calculate it because my in car readout doesn't do justice to my EOC, and the SCii is set to not read it). One thing that will help is when I get the killswitch set, as this time I just neutral coasted instead of EOC. Also, it is a lot more difficult to keep moving. I am used to a lot more momentum, while the Insight takes work to keep moving and keep cruising. Of course I will keep working at it, this is just the beginning. This will be my last post on the thread (unless others respond or what not) as I am going to make an actual build log for her.

Link will go here.

Jealous. I can't wait until I can own a first gen insight!

for an 11 mile commute, you are spending a good % of that just warming the silly thing up. 65mpg isnt horrible; tho i'm sure with practice and some EOC you will be into the 70's


lookin' forward to the build thread!
I still need to do one for my Insight

nice! you plan on keeping the Mustang?

Hell yea! The Mustang has an extended warranty with Ford, 100k miles, or 6 years. Since I got her in May/June of last year, she has just short of 26k. The Insight is here because I need to preserve the Mustang's miles. Although it will be paid off early, it needs to be under warranty the whole time.

The nice thing, is that I was blessed enough to find a good deal on what I, as one can tell from the thread title, believe is an extreme example of aerodynamics and fuel efficiency performance. The plan is to do about 100 miles or less per month in the Mustang until I get the miles in check, then bounce between the two. I would like to stick to about 500 miles/month, 10 tanks over the year. Commute in the Insight, take the Mustang on trips, either way, I will have something else to spread the miles out with.

If I am going to get an affordable commuter, I'm going to do it right! :) And now, the Mustang can be a garage baby and just come out once in awhile to be shiny in public :)

Is that $39 a month or $39 for six months?

Either way, I made a notification for Insights on Craigslist. If I saved $39 a month in gas, in theory, I could park Bacon and break even.

I pay $39 for 6 months of coverage on the Insight. Deductibles are $500.

Bodily Injury Limits $100,000/$300,000
--
Property Damage Limit $50,000
--
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Bodily Injury Limits $100,000/$300,000

I have paid more than that for one lunch!

Yay Disneyland... :D

Is the motor for the rear hatch release still available? The whole cd changer? Net that goes over the rear, or the net for maps behind the seats?

Also looking for driver carpeting, push pins, a cover for the rear hatch light (with on/off switch). I hope you've got some stuff left!

Also, to everyone, is there a Taurus like grille on 2000-2002 Insights in Japan?

From: Insight - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"In Japan, 2000-2002 models carried a front white Taurus-shaped grille."

There is no citation, and with the help of translate.google, I searched used 2000-2002 Insights in Japan and found nothing new (except some sweet colors).

If the hatch release motor whirs and the hatch doesn't open, you can buy just the little plastic piece that broke from prototypist on etsy or shapeways (I think it's about $4 plus shipping):
littleblueplasticpart1 by prototypist on Shapeways
littleblueplasticpart1 by prototypist on Etsy

(contact him and he'll make you one, I don't think he keeps them in stock since it's 3d printed)

If the hatch motor makes no noise at all, there's a plug that sometimes gets corroded that runs around the outside of the hatch glass back to the main body shell.

More info on the connector and the little plastic part:
TRUNK NOT OPENING !!!!!!!!!!! - Page 3 - Insight Central: Honda Insight Forum

Wicked. Does IC have a forum of common problems/issues and responses? I should probably search their first, most of my issues are missing or damaged pieces. I should check their about the 6 cd changer, too, as mine won't pop out.

Also, no one knows who put that on the wikipedia page about the Taurus grille, and no one has ever found a picture of an Insight with one, even the Japanese members. It may not really exist or maybe someone had a modded car in Japan at one point? The carpet is available new from Majestic but it'll cost you ($384 new for the whole assembly):
Honda Automotive Parts

Used... they'll all be in worn shape, don't know how bad yours is, but even a used one from a better condition wreck could be an improvement, but definitely put down a good floor mat or you'll just wear out whatever you put down there.

Sam

You want this page:
Common Topics/FAQ/DIYs/Info Can be found here- ***PLEASE READ THIS FIRST*** - Insight Central: Honda Insight Forum

You got the CD changer! Do you have rear speakers too? Wow, you did get a fantastic deal on that car. :D

Yepp. I think I could have gotten it for less...but 3k seemed fair, I felt plenty comfortable paying that for it. Keep in mind the cd changer gives me an error (that it is empty) and when I try to load it, it won't pop. I have yet to search it out, I just got online to check my e-mail (eBay and Craigslist), and got distracted here lol

Goodnight guys!
 

Nothing like a bath before bed :)

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UGH. 12.405 gallons for 678.9 (weird) miles.

54.72 MPG, an estimated 65.8

I did my usual, pull up, start the pump at it's lowest possible setting, and wait for it to click. It did, at 1.7 gallons. "Awesome!" Alright, lets do it right...next click occurred at 12.405.

Seriously? I did some Google & IC searching, but it seems like an over fill. Just wasted fuel.

The worst part, was as I was cruising with zero bars, and my check engine light came on (<1 mile from the station). I am hoping it goes away. About 20 miles on her since, and it is still there...no info from IC on that. I look forward to any feedback! Will most likely start filling around 1-2 bars, I like taking the Mustang to low (to take advantage of that low fuel (lower weight) mileage.

My mom always tells me that you should never go below a quarter tank or something, because you get bad stuff deposited there. I figure that it will never build up if burn it!

Usually fuel pumps pump from the bottom, and fuel filters are pretty common now. Both kind of take away from that.

A serious point for the Mustang is that the fuel pump is cooled by the fuel in the tank, allegedly sometimes causing fuel pumps burning out.

Feah, the tank capacity is 10.6 gallons, so that's definitely an overfill.

As for your CEL... take it to Advance/Autozone and use the code reader and post back here (the OBDII port is in a nonstandard position, the left side of the passenger footwell).

Sam