Wife wrecked my Insight - help me find a beater

[Fat Charlie]

Oooh, no, I wasn't advocating locking the rear brakes, or even hitting them very hard, and none of it while turning- that's only for playtime at low speeds in safe areas.

But I've had times where even gentle engine braking made me feel like I wanted some braking in the rear without adding force to the front, much less moving my right foot away from its pedal even for a moment.

I've never experienced ESC, I hate TC with a passion and I consider ABS kicking in to be a personal defeat as a driver. Also, seeing how the VP is such a VIP, shouldn't we keep the PC on the QT?

[Ecky]

Believe me, I've talked to her about testing limits in a safe environment. Maybe she'll give it some serious consideration now.

[RedDevil]

My car has Vehicle Stability Control (I don't know the precise acronym, but let's call it VSC) which uses the brakes to aim it in the direction you are steering toward.
VSC and non-VSC cars behave differently when they lose grip, you must learn which way your car behaves.

If you lose the rear on a FWD (non VSC) car, apply some light throttle and point the front wheels in the direction you are sliding towards (countersteer). That should straighten the car.
Be sure to steer back straight as soon as it grips or you will swing the other way.

On a VSC car, don't countersteer just point it where you want to go to.
I lost the rear on my Insight in a double lane corner when I had a flat rear, I felt the slide and instinctively did the maneuver like I described above, and VSC made sure I skipped to the lane I was pointing at with the wheels!

More common on FWD cars is understeer, as the added drag on the wheels when you release the gas pedal makes them lose grip before the rears do.
A gentle amount of throttle would help too, combined with straightening the steering wheel back until it regains traction.
In extreme cases a short pull and release on the handbrake can bring the back round for faster cornering, rallye style.
That would be illegal on public roads over here - deliberately causing a slide is. For experts only, anyway.

While braking and steering at the same time is generally not a good idea, ABS can make it work as long as you don't overdo the steering.
VSC can take it beyond the limit and still let you control your car; even if it would not follow its intended trajectory you'd get back if you keep pointing the wheels where you want them to go.

I never had an official training but I did practise on the top tier of our elevated parking garage, which was mostly empty and tended to ice over nicely.
My old Civic had no luxury beyond a steering wheel and vented heating so no ABS or nothing, and all season tires that weren't the grippiest during winter.
As I learned to drift (and then not to do that) in a kart I tried it out with my Civic, which was hard as a FWD car.
Anyway, using throttle, brakes, clever steering and occasionally the parking brake I got to a level where I could make it dance any way I liked it.
Saved me a couple of times on the road.

[Ecky]

Looked at a car today. Buyer agreed to hold it for me until tomorrow, so I can give it a more thorough inspection and bring my checkbook. He's a medschool student, graduating this semester, and looking to get something newer than a 2004. Didn't seem to know much about cars but had meticulous records from the dealer going back to day 1.












Hybrid battery seems strong, mechanically nothing caught my eye. Runs great, 124k miles. There's a lot of surface rust on bits in the engine bay, but I didn't see anything overly concerning. Asking $3k, which was more than I was hoping to spend, but I think it's worth it.

[Beau]

Good luck with the new (replacement) car.

I wish you even better luck (because I believe you are very likely to need it) if you are hoping that you will, in any way, be able to influence the way your wife drives.

Unless a wife has specifically asked for her spouse's input or opinion, IMO the wife rarely wants her husband's input, on anything.

The exception to the above, may be a very difficult question you may be asked regarding how a certain pair of pants might influence the appearance of your wife's posterior.

[Ecky]

It doesn't look like the damage is as bad in some places as I had feared. In fact, I'd say it's quite fixable.

It looks like most of the damage to the front bumper cover was actually from the tow truck pulling it out.




The radiator is not, in fact, bent, but the A/C evap is very slightly.




Here's the worst of it:








I couldn't get the wheel off of the hub at first. The tire is in unknown condition, but I'm not going to trust it. I think I'll need to take the CV axle off to get the control arm off, which seems to have bent and absorbed most of the impact. It bent, and the steering arm snapped, leaving the mounting points on the frame apparently undamaged.

I can't tell if the shock will need replacement or not.

The strange bit is that when I tried to start it, it didn't do anything when I turned the key. It was still running after the accident, and my wife shut it off before getting in the ambulance. I hear the fuel pump prime but the starter isn't starting it.

The 12v seemed a little low so I put it on to charge, and the temperature might be cold enough that it's trying to use the backup 12v starter - but we shall see. I can't see any obvious reason it won't start.

[redpoint5]

Is that an Accord hybrid with a manual transmission? I didn't know such a thing existed.

[Ecky]

Nope, 2004 Civic hybrid. The damn thing is as big (or bigger) than a 90's Accord.