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I just had a couple of quick questions:
1. Could someone point me to a buyers guide for an insight. I know general car buying information but need some help on what to look for when buying a used hybrid. (Also, where is the best place to look for them. Autotrader.com hasn't been much help.)
2. My wife and I are on a tight budget and I wondered if it was possible to buy an insight with dead batteries and simply drive it minus the extra 13hp the packs would provide. I mainly drive on the interstate and rarely need to punch the gas.)

Thanks in advance for helping the noob!

Hi,

This is an oversimplification, but without a functioning battery pack is like a conventional car without an alternator - you have to charge the 12volt battery nightly and avoid long trips.

This deal to look for is a 5-speed Insight after 2001 or a 2000/2001 with a new battery. I'd be suspicious if the lifetime mpg is under 50 (possible driving abuse)

HTH!

1) Vehix.com, cars.com, ebay (buyer beware), craigslist, newspapers, Honda or dealer websites. Edmunds has a decent guide. http://www.edmunds.com/hybrid/2008/buyingguide.html

2) If the pack's dead, its no longer a hybrid. While it is heavier and less streamlined, a used ICE-only car with good FE would be worth looking at. A Civic/Corolla/Yaris/Fit/Diesel is very easy on gas and has 4 seats while likely running a lot less especially considering the Insight only sold 14k units while the Prius and Civic Hybrids have sold a lot more and their ICE-only counterparts (Corolla and Civic) are some of the most popular vehicles in America.

Come on guys, let's not be spreading misinformation :D

An Insight can be driven *reasonably* well with a failed pack. You can disconnect a couple plugs around the battery and it will drive like a normal, gasoline car with a tiny 1.0L engine. You will still be able to easily hit the killer highway FE an Insight is capable of. What you will lose is electric assist, regenerative braking, and auto-stop.

If you have one with a failed pack, the 12v system can be properly charged by the IMA and the DC-DC. You can even pull the dead pack out to drop 60 lbs or so off the weight.

That all said, the Insight it pretty tragically slow without the electric assist.

Other things to look for...

Battery is warrantied until 150k mi in all 50 states
NO WARRANTY if the car has been issued a salvage title!
Check that the transmission shifts and engages smoothly

The 5-spd is preferred for highway FE with the lean-burn capabilities.

You may want to do a search for your information at InsightCentral.net as I believe this questions has been asked and answered in much detail.

Good luck.

Thanks for the quick responses!
Delta, would it be possible to turn off the power assist and run the charging lines to a conventional car battery (or one of the less expensive civic packs) to supply power to the accessories and starter? I am just assuming that if I was able to get an insight in my price range, it would have high miles and probably in need of new batteries soon.

Warthog, thanks for the reccomendations. I'm just kind of stuck on the insight. I've always really loved the styling specifically.
Thanks again!

Thanks a lot shifty! That really helps.
So presuming I bought an insight with failed packs, I could basically have a slow, but otherwise normally functioning highway machine after a couple of simple modifications?

It isn't that bad. I don't use the pack in mine -- though it does work. ;)

I know what you mean about being stuck on the Insight. I discovered it existed back in 2001 and immediately wanted one. I ended up getting another Elantra in 2002 but never forgot the little car that so intrigued me. I had the chance to drive one last Fall and it is still the only drive I've ever had in an Insight other than the one I bought in January.

Check http://www.cars.com and also be sure to avoid vehicles from the southern part of the US if possible. Those tend to have heat stressed packs that may go soon -- though it would likely be under warranty it is still a pain to be without your car.

Try these guys:
http://www.hybridcarstore.com/

You don't say where you are located but a trip there to get one from these guys might be well worth your while rather than buying an Insight with problems.

MikeD (Mike Dabrowski) can explain this much better than I.


An Insight with a weak battery will get around OK
An Insight with a failed IMA system, will result in a dead battery pack and 12volt battery...similar to a conventional car with a failed alternator (per Mike D)
Not using Assist on an Insight is one thing, but an Insight unable to Assist is a problem.

Delta, the 12v dying as a result of the failed HV pack is a problem that is easily circumvented, as I mentioned above.

It is not an issue.

And yes, an Insight that has no assist is terrifically slow, not much unlike ye olde 1.0L Metro. :D:D:D

Delta, the 12v dying as a result of the failed HV pack is a problem that is easily circumvented, as I mentioned above.

It is not an issue.

And yes, an Insight that has no assist is terrifically slow, not much unlike ye olde 1.0L Metro. :D:D:DMaybe you should read my previous post...a failed battery pack is one thing, but a failed IMA is another thing as it's the only thing that charges ANY of the Insight's batteries.

How tight is your budget? There was a decent (and fully functional) Insight for sale not too long ago at InsightCentral for about $6k. If you're thinking right from the beginning that you can only get one that's half working then I would suggest looking elsewhere. The Insight might run without assist, but hit a steep incline and the 1-2 shift will make you cry. :)

Maybe you should read my previous post...a failed battery pack is one thing, but a failed IMA is another thing as it's the only thing that charges ANY of the Insight's batteries.

I've never heard of any part of the IMA failing other than the battery? Granted, they typically replace MCM / BCM with the battery.

I'd say that IMA failures that are not battery related are *extremely* rare.

My budget is right around 6k and my area code is 40475 (Central Kentucky). So far, I'm not able to find insights anywhere near my price range or location. A fully functional one for 6,000 would be terrific. However, I can't find where insights for sale would be listed on insightcentral.net
Thanks again!

I've never heard of any part of the IMA failing other than the battery? Granted, they typically replace MCM / BCM with the battery.

I'd say that IMA failures that are not battery related are *extremely* rare.It happened to me a couple of years ago. :( Honda replaced the MCM, BCM and the battery pack - assumed the cost after I put down the first $450....$6,600 in all. Warranty at that time was 80,000miles but I was at 94,000.

The early Insights (2000/2001) had software problems that let the SoC get too low. If fact there was a recall to adjust for various states. The mimimum SoC is now 40% instead of 15%.

Delta:
I hope you got your $450 back after Honda extended the warranty??????

No, but I'm not complaining

A friend bought an 01 CVT a couple of months ago near Boston that had sat for about a year (lengthy divorce proceedings). He bought it through eBay with over 130,000 miles on it. The IMA assist quit when the IMA light came on. He averaged 45 mpg without assist. He reset the next day and the IMA came on again before he got home from work (240 miles rt). He reset it once again and it has been o.k. since then. He stopped by last night and I saw the car for the 1st time. LMPG of the car was at 45.6 with 147,000 miles. IMA indicator was at 1 bar from full and his mpg for the day was at 55.8 for 152 miles. His ground wires were corroded so I told him where to get them. It would take a component failure to totally stop charging. There is one owner that I know of from IC that has not had assist for over a year.

He should have driven it immediately to the dealer with the light on, may have gotten a full new electronics package and battery.

Now he risks the light not coming on in the next 3k mi and failing again out of warranty.

I agree! He lost out twice. I even called my local dealer and had it set up for him. I was going to let him take a spare car home and leave his at the dealer.

Try these guys:
http://www.hybridcarstore.com/

Interesting. When I looked at their site when you first posted, they had zero cars of any kind available. When I looked yesterday, they had quite a few. Now they have one GX, four Insights, one Accord, a ton of Civics, and no Prii. Interesting fluctuation.

-soD

One of the reason I purchased a 2005 HCH was because after weeks of looking for a decent deal on an Insight I gave up realizing that I had started looking just a few months too late. Now it seems that everyone I find in good shape is selling for collector type pricing. I recently saw a 2002 Insight with 70k sell on Ebay for 15.5K. This is $2000 more than I paid for my 2005 HCH MT with the same amount of miles. Saw a beautiful 2006 sell locally for almost 20k within 2 days of being on the dealer's lot. I had to consider how much I was willing to spend versus how much gas I could save in the long run and went with a Civic.

That Civic is an excellent choice and one I would have considered more strongly -- except I'm just a tad tall (6'5") for the driver's seat. :( For longer distances I am forced to remove my shoes to avoid painful contortions of both my knee and ankle (around the steering wheel). I'd need some sort of seat rail extenders...

The Insight actually has just about the most leg room I've ever experienced in a car -- far better than my Elantra in fact!

I agree about the pricing. They were really spiking when I found mine in January and with the price of fuel continuing to rise I don't see that trend stopping any time soon.

I am finding that I am in the same dilemma as HemiSync. After much searching, I'm finding the Insight to be too far outside of my price range and location. I am very appreciative of all the friendly help I got through this forum and if I may, I'd like to ask another question.

I currently own a 99 civic ex 5spd coupe that gets around 36 mpg. I drive around 20000 miles annually (85% interstate with a 70mph speed limit) and am considering selling my car for a similar civic hx. If they are rated for 44mpg highway I figure I'd be saving at least $30 dollars a month in gas with this mpg increase.

Just wanted to ask the community if you were in my shoes, do you think it would it be worthwhile to sell my ex for an hx to get the taller gears and better mileage (I'm also uncertain if 44mpg is what I can reasonably expect from the car or if it is likely that I could get a few miles over the EPA stated mpg as I do in my current civic just by common sense driving.)

Thanks again!

I don't know what the odds of getting a Civic VX or CRX is, but that might get you FE cheaper.

1. Remove EX tranmission
2. Install DX/HX transmission
3. Enjoy lower cruising RPMs








4. Ship old transmission to me :D:D:D

That Civic is an excellent choice and one I would have considered more strongly -- except I'm just a tad tall (6'5") for the driver's seat. :( For longer distances I am forced to remove my shoes to avoid painful contortions of both my knee and ankle (around the steering wheel). I'd need some sort of seat rail extenders...


I can believe that, I am 6'2" and would not want to be any taller in this HCH. Back when I use to drive Preludes and Accords I always had more than enough room for my long legs. Matter of fact back in 1981 I was trying like crazy to buy an american small car, yea right! Only thing I could find halfway decent was a Ford EXP and I could not turn the steering wheel because my legs were pushed up behind it. The whole time the sales person is trying to convince me to go for a test drive and I just looked at him like he was crazy. Then I found the Honda Prelude and fell in love. Of course back then you could buy one brand new for $7500. LOL

Anyone ever had Honda install a airbag cutoff for the passenger side? I've read that Honda can do it but noone has ever posted pics or proof.

bump my previous post. Anyone know?

Hi Aether Glider:

___I have not heard of that mod for an Insight before, sorry about that?

___Is it for a small child in a child seat possibly?

___Good Luck

___Wayne

The manual states that the dealer can do this, but I've never heard of it being done. Sorry.

Is it for a small child in a child seat possibly?


exactly, front facing carseat.

Guess i'll call Honda and see how confused that makes them.

Well i've discovered that this is a very rare mod (passenger airbag turnoff switch).

Some websites say it can be done others say no. Most websites argue that its actually worse to turn off the airbag than keep it on. Unless the car seat is rear facing which would be unsafe. I think in a vehicle as light as an Insight an airbag is worth the risk.

Kacey Green was nice enough to research this cutoff switch at his dealership and couldn't find one thats available.

I think the best solution if you have to carry a child in a rear facing seat would be to take out the fuse to the airbag system even though it would turn off the driver airbag as well.

If I can find a Insight in my price range I'll probably leave the airbag system alone and just push the seat back as far as possible when the carseat is attached. The main danger is from neck injuries caused my the airbag deploying near a child.