A vehicle I hadn't much considered...

"BaconSandwich is tasty." (baconsandwich)
02/20/2015 at 21:07 • Filed to: None

I think the price seems reasonable. What say ye, Opponauts?

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DISCUSSION (12)

dogisbadob > BaconSandwich is tasty.
02/20/2015 at 21:10

Sounds like a good deal. Not sure how Canadian prices are but it doesn't sound too bad. Hondas do hold their value very well, especially 4-cylinders with good gas mileage.

Nibby > BaconSandwich is tasty.
02/20/2015 at 21:27

Not a fan of these things, so I can't really provide any valuable insight.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > dogisbadob
02/20/2015 at 21:43

Honestly, I haven't really been able to find any other Insights for sale in Alberta. I don't think they sold particularly well, so there's not many of them around. Any other ones in British Columbia are a few thousand more. I did find one in Saskatchewan for less, but it was really far away.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Nibby
02/20/2015 at 21:43

Any valuable... insight. Ha ha! Well played.

JGrabowMSt > BaconSandwich is tasty.
02/20/2015 at 21:59

Ive put many many miles on a Honda Insight and can really say that they are wonderful and comfortable daily driver cars. They are certainly not perfect, but they easily return close to 40MPG on even a bad day. The one and possibly most important thing I would consider a dealbreaker on the insight is the transmission. Theres a 7 speed triptonic that is wonderful. Flappy paddle shifters, better gearing, better gas mileage. Its an option, so most Insights might not even be equipped, but the quality overall is top notch for a commuter car. They're very quiet and still comfortable with 5 people in the car.

The rear hatch is very wide and allows for near truck-like utility as well. I could go on for days about the Insight because I think theyre incredibly well done. I have driven the standard 5 speed auto, and its just not the same. I had somewhat unlimited access to both for about a year and a half, so if you have any questions, Ill do my best to answer them. I dont know everything there is to know, but I did DD each one for brief periods of time.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > BaconSandwich is tasty.
02/20/2015 at 22:22

Interesting. A little digging shows that it was in an accident at one point: http://reports.carproof.net/view_report.as…

BaconSandwich is tasty. > JGrabowMSt
02/20/2015 at 22:32

That's certainly good news. It's an option I hadn't considered much, as I've been looking more at the Volt or the Leaf, but prices are still a bit higher than what I'd want to pay. I've been looking for something to replace my wife's Cavalier, as we've now got a baby and her car only has two doors, making it difficult to get the car seat in/out. One of the requirements we have is whatever we get has to get at least as good fuel economy as her existing car, and it needs to be able to fit a large jogging stroller.

I had no idea that they could come with anything other than the regular automatic. Now I'm wanting to take one for a spin!

BaconSandwich is tasty. > BaconSandwich is tasty.
02/20/2015 at 22:37

I also came across this one, but it's a 6+ hour drive away: http://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/…

BaconSandwich is tasty. > JGrabowMSt
02/23/2015 at 13:01

I'll be honest - one major concern I do have about the Insight is the battery life. From the reading I was doing, it seems like it is only a 38 lb NiMH battery. I know the whole thing is warrantied for something like 5 years/100,000 km, but I do worry about how it will hold up over a longer period of time - like 200,000+ km. Because it is a smaller battery than the Prius, I suspect each cell receives a lot more charge/discharge cycles. From whta I read, it would seem that almost every first-gen Insight has already had its battery replaced at least once. I worry about something similar with the second-gen Insight. Is there any way of testing the battery capacity without just looking at the dashboard gauge when driving around?

JGrabowMSt > BaconSandwich is tasty.
02/23/2015 at 13:33

The Insight does not use a dedicated electric drive, so the battery cycling is not nearly as much as the Prius. The Insight is purely an electric assist, so when you're going up a hill and the pint sized 4 banger is running out of steam, that's when the electric assist kicks in to help you up the hill, or passing power on the highway, but otherwise, I never tried to dig through the car in order to find the battery to check it for any reason. I just know that the Insights that I drove were both right around 2008 or so, and neither has had a battery replacement yet. The blue one has close to 80k miles on it now, maybe even more. I started driving it occasionally around 20k miles, and it has not really lost any pep. The car certainly needs basic maintenance like anything else (filters, fluids and tires), but it does not feel any different from a regular car when you drive it.

As far as the true lifespan of the battery, that I wouldn't be able to tell you, but I'm sure there's an Insight forum where people could give you much more info about it.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > JGrabowMSt
02/23/2015 at 14:37

The reply is much appreciated.

Ideally I'd like to get a plug-in hybrid like a Volt. I told the sales guy that if the Insight were still on the lot in a month that I'd take another look at it then. Given that it was first inspected back in November, and it hasn't moved since then, I think there's a reasonable chance it'll still be there in a month. At least by then I'll have done a bit more research/forum reading to know what I'm potentially getting into.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > JGrabowMSt
02/23/2015 at 14:46

I just came across this - http://avt.inel.gov/pdf/hev/batter… Looks like the batteries fared very well, as near as I can figure.