Honda Insight

Honda Insight questions and answers

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Q: Honda Civic NGV vs. Honda Insight Hybrid?
So which car is better for the environment? A Honda Civic NGV or a Honda Insight Hybrid? And which one costs less in terms of gas?

A: I am a salesman for Honda. Definitely the NGV is better for environment. Even though the Insight is really low in emissions, still uses some regular gas, where the NGV doesn't. It uses, as the name says, Natural Gas. In terms of gas the Insight is better. Why? Just think about how far YOU live from the nearest NG station. Now, is you are thinking about buying one, and if you have a NG station close by, and you don't plan to travel far, I recommend the NGV, because they don't even make the Insight anymore. However, honestly, if you are thinking about buying a car, your best option is a Civic Hybrid. Is, right now, the best option: clean, efficient, as normal to use as a regular car, and very stylish, besides, is only about $22,000, a lot better then the other two options. It gives you 49-51 mpg city-highway, and is ultra low in emissions, in 2006 the civics were the car of the year by Motor-Trend. At least take a look at it.

Q: What is the MPG of the Honda Insight?


A: supposedly it might be around 60 mpg. That's a little car, and well worth it. My dentist has one and absolutely loves it - plus you get a tax credit for buying one.

Q: New Honda Insight Hybrid Good or Bad?
New Honda insight Hybrid look great, only £15,000 to £17,000. but i see alot people say Hybrid is not good. Now i got Honda Jazz 1.4 03, i live near to my work place around 5 minute. New Honda insight Hybrid will launch next month, i looking to trade my jazz.is it Hybrid service is problem? always got problem? hybrid road tax only £15 now jazz need £120. Now i fill patrol every 4 week around £40, if change hybrid will save me how much? normaly i drive not more than 40 mpg. New Honda Insight Hybrid is only got 1.3, is very low power and if i go motorway will use more patrol than normal car?

A: I am assuming the hybrid power system will be similar to the current Civic system. Honda Hybrids are good cars, but you might be disappointed with the Insight mileage based on your driving pattern. Until the engine reaches normal operating temperature, the engine will keep burning petrol to bring up the engine temperature. With as lot of trips of five minutes of less you will not get the full benefit of a hybrid engine. Because you have two power sources there should be plenty of power for normal motorway driving, and it is not likely that it will use more petrol. How much less it uses will depend on your driving habits. If you drive at faster speeds, well over 60 MPH (100 KPH), you will not see as much improvement. Assuming the road tax you mentioned is an annual fee, you probably cannot justify buying the Insight Hybrid to save money. However, if you want to buy it because you like it I don't see any reason you should not get one.

Q: Is the Honda Insight worth it?
I am considering the purchase of a Honda Insight hybrid. This car gets over 60 mpg and is perfectly fit for my lifestyle b/c right now I need a very small car and fuel efficient car. My only dilemma is the fact that the Insight's battery pack will eventually go dead and it costs around 1500 dollars ( maybe more) to replace. I would hate to have that kind of bill smack me in the face all in foul swoop. So I want to know if this car is worth getting despite the possible cost of battery replacement. Also are their any ways to maybe get around the battery problem? Any info anyone can give me would be very appreciated.

A: No way to get around a battery pack issue in a hybrid unit. The (NIMIH) Nickel Metal Hydride Battery can last you the service life of the car. Ask a Honda dealer if they can put you in contact with someone who has purchased a Honda Insight Hybrid, so you can get some idea what their thinking is on the battery. I would say the Honda Insight is worth it. Whatever commentary around your concern about the batteries seems to be a moot point among owners. The 60 mpg makes it a very attractive car. Their are indications that we will be in a deep recession. If this is true and the Honda Insight performs as advertised, you need to give it a kiss, when gas is $4.25 a gallon and rising. The best deal is if you can get a used one that is Honda Certified. Cheers.

Q: Details on running constant IMA on a Honda Insight?
I found the following on Wikipedia talking about getting a bigger battery for a Honda Insight and then being able to run the electric motor constantly, giving you highway mileage over 100mpg. Honda hybrids like the Insight are Parallel Hybrids which at first glance would not seem to benefit much from a plug-in hybrid conversion as they do not have an EV-mode like the Toyota Prius. However by using a larger battery the 10 kW (13 hp) IMA could be run in a constant assist mode to displace gas consumption and push the mileage well into the one-hundreds on the freeway. The Insight is a very light and aerodynamic vehicle which makes it rather attractive for conversion. Does anyone know anything about this? How much would a conversion such as this cost?

A: my answer is try to check it out first on auto repair shop dude.

Q: Is anyone else totally bummed out by the New Honda Insight?
The original Insight was cutting edge, with no other mass marketed car getting near the fuel economy at 70 mpg. Honda did very little little to market the car, and they were never available in showrooms (at least here). I heard claims that they were losing money on the car, but not sure. Anyway the new, highly anticipated (at least by me) Insight will soon be for sale. Other than the name, the car is nothing but a Prius clone. At 2800 lbs. and only 40mpg it is a total bummer. In general Honda is going backwards at being green. A 2006 Accord came standard with 1.5L engine that got 34mpg hwy, and a new Accord comes with a 2.3L which gets 30mpg hwy. Even the Civic base engine is 1.8L. I used to be proud of Honda producing economical cars. 20-30 years ago their cars were getting 30-40+ mpg. So sad... Any comments?

A: When did the 06 Accord came with a 1.5L? I don't recall that.

Q: What is the cost to replace a battery pack on a Prius and Insight? Why did Honda stop making the Insight?


A: Just remember that the hybrid management systems are different in both the Honda Insight and the Toyota Prius. (For example, you can nearly completely drain the hybrid battery in the Insight, whereas the Prius won't drain below a certain threshold (deep discharges shorten battery life). The Insight has a conventional 12v starter if the hybrid battery cannot start the engine, but the Prius is entirely reliant on the hybrid battery to start the car.) They used different construction battery packs as well. (While both NiMH chemistry packs made by Panasonic EV Energy, the Insight used D-cell construction while the internationally-available versions of the Prius used the prismatic design.) The Insight's hybrid battery is covered under Honda's hybrid battery warranty for 8 years/80,000 miles. The Prius' hybrid battery is covered under Toyota's hybrid system warranty for 8 years/100,000 miles. AT-PZEV models of each, sold and operated in California-emissions states, have the hybrid battery further covered under the CA emissions warranty out to 10 years/150,000 miles. (That's a full warranty, NOT pro-rated.) Although you can replace just the bad cells in the hybrid battery, it is usually just easier time-wise to replace the whole pack. Obviously, it is more expensive when out of warranty to buy a whole new one from a dealer, than to buy a used/refurbished one yourself. Used packs from wrecked vehicles show up regularly on eBay for less than US$1000. The price for new Prius batteries has recently come down. They used to be priced in the US at $2985, but now for the NHW11 it is $2299 and the NHW20 is $2588. http://pressroom.toyota.com/Releases/View?id=TYT2008092372406 (Dealer labor charges (which price varies depending on where you live) for moving an approx. 100 lb. hybrid battery pack could easily add up to another US$1000...) (BTW: Toyota also has a $200 "bounty" on used hybrid batteries to ensure that they're returned to them for proper recycling...) I lost interest in counting the number of Honda Insight sales a few years ago (plus Honda's monthly public reporting started to not report them...) I believe that the best US sales year for the Honda Insight was 2001, when they sold 4726 of them in the US. The Honda Insight was first sold in the US in late 1999, and US sales through the end of 2003 was only 11,915. In comparison, the US sales of Toyota Prius, which began mid-2000, through the end of 2003 was 66,703. (Sales of the Prius really picked up in late 2003 with the introduction of the newly redesigned NHW20 model - now a midsize instead of a compact, now a hatchback instead of a sedan, so bigger, slightly more powerful, and better fuel economy and lower emissions... The Prius is now Toyota's 3rd best selling car.) (Taken from much searching through http://www.hondanews.com/categories/804 and http://pressroom.toyota.com/ ) The usual comment I've heard from Honda is that the Insight was discontinued due to low sales... I'll note that the Insight was a 2-seater, so coupled with its distinctive aerodynamic look, it didn't have a very large audience, even though it was the most fuel-efficient vehicle available to US consumers. The design of the current NHW20 model Toyota Prius, to me looks like the result of a NHW11 model Toyota Prius and a Honda Insight had a baby that grew up to be bigger than either of its parents... So, to me it is no surprise that the announced upcoming redesigned 2009 Honda Insight looks so much like a Prius (5 passenger, 5 door) that some observers have dubbed it the "Honda Prius." http://hondanews.com/categories/857/releases/4886

Q: Honda insight battery is going bad help!!!!?
My dad gets salvage title insights off ebay for $2000-$4000 and rebuilds them into pretty much new cars. Its great! He did ours for a total of $4500 and it has had no problems for 2 years. Today my husband called and said the IMA light is on. I called him about it and he said the main battery is going bad. His went bad last year and it cost him $3000 to replace it and he did the labor himself! Does anyone have any idea what it would cost at the dealership? We moved from Tennessee to San Diego so Dad can't help anymore. Im thinking about buying a new car. What do you guys think?

A: I would first take the car to a shop.The cost of finding out what is wrong and they should give you a quote of the repair cost. And then I would way the cost of buying a new car. The cost of finding out what is wrong should be about $80-$125.

Q: Can you tell me a little about a Honda Insight?
Are they expensive to repair? How reliable are they? What kind of mileage could i expect out of it? 40-50 mpg? or just any bits of information that might be helpful in purchasing one

A: They are slow, have no room, and ugly. If it needs repairs then its going to cost you a fortune. The mileage should be 50+ as long as you don't use the A/C or roll the windows down. Your best mileage will be in the city not the highway. sk - They don't reissue the car because nobody bought it the 1st time around. They sold 18k over 3 years which means they lost a ton of money on it. It wont pass any of the current crash or emissions standards. All of the current hybrids are safer, cleaner, have enough room for more than 2 people, and fast enough to keep up with highway traffic.

Q: which was first: toyota prius or honda insight?


A: In Japan it was Prius first (1997), then Insight (1999). But in the USA, we got Insight first because Toyota didn't export the Prius to the USA until year 2000.

Q: Which gets better gas mileage: 2009 Toyota Prius or 2010 Honda Insight?


A: I hope this is what your looking for. first is toyota then I will do honda. http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=109981 toyota http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4212545.html toyota http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f0bdd66 toyota http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/daily-news/080429-2009-Prius-May-Reach-94-MPG/ toyota http://www.scionlife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=143269 toyota Hey I hope these toyota links aer doing it. And I hope Honda does to. http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/09/new-hybrid-honda-insight-2010-18500-60.html honda http://www.topix.com/forum/autos/toyota/TQN6RMSISM1RTTR35 honda http://jalopnik.com/400052/honda-hybrid-to-purportedly-deliver-60-mpg-not-be-named-insight honda http://www.leftlanenews.com/honda-insight.html honda http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4281138.html Honda Well I hope you like this and answered you Q

Q: Should I get a Prius or wait for the new Honda Insight - and why?


A: The guy who thinks the Prius has "problems" knows NOTHING about the car. He knows nothing about the mechanicals, he knows nothing about its hybrid system. All he can point to is "Consumer Affairs", as if that is a definitive source (which it is not, by any stretch of the imagination). Included below are a lot more links about the Prius for your perusal: The Prius is VERY reliable, because its geared transmission has just 22 moving parts-- The Power Split Device transmission has just one single planetary gearset, no hot-running torque converter, no CVT belts, no clutch, no gear-shifting wear-and-tear. How the PSD transmission works: http://www.eahart.com/prius/psd And the Prius carries an 8-year / 100,000-mile warranty on its hybrid system, including the battery. The warranty is even longer in states with California-standard emissions laws-- 10 years / 150,000 miles. http://www.toyota.com/prius-hybrid/warranty.html The Prius has been around since 1997. It has been more than 10 years and the car has had no major problems, and has consistently been top-ranked for reliability by Consumer Reports, JD Power, etc. http://www.jdpower.com/autos/ratings/dependability-ratings-by-category/compact-car No surprise why Prius owners are the most loyal-- More Prius owners say they will buy another one than owners of any other car: http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/daily-news/080812-Survey-Hybrid-Owners-Most-Likely-to-Buy-the-Same-Car-Again/ And here are plenty of Prius owners who know their cars, have had experience with warranty-covered repairs: http://www.priuschat.com , and you can actually converse with them, rather than just some (unverified without followup) list at "Consumer Affairs." If price is important to you, you probably want to wait for the Honda Hindsight. (jokingly called because it so strongly resembles the Prius). Honda has said it will start at $18,000, which is $4000 less than the Prius. Though in my opinion, I think the Prius with its geared PSD transmission is worth the extra cost over the Honda Insight with its friction-belt-driven CVT transmission. My advice to the asker: If you have any friends who own a Prius, ask them to show you the car. It will be a lot more factual when you talk to an actual owner, rather than listening to some ignorant basher on Yahoo Answers who can only regurgitate "I heard it from somewhere" myths and misinformation.

Q: when does the new honda insight come out?


A: "The new Insight is expected to debut at the Paris Motor Show, but Honda could also wait until November’s Los Angeles Auto Show. Whatever the case, the new five-door hybrid will hit U.S. Honda dealers next April." http://www.leftlanenews.com/honda-insight.html Possibly 71 mpg and starting under $18,500? This car sounds great.

Q: Can anyone give me some insight on the best engine to swap into a 1997 honda civic LX?
And also what all obstacles will come along with this engine swap?

A: A engine from a 1997 Honda civic LX would be the best.

Q: It cost me almost $40 to fill up my Honda Insight that has a 10 gallon tank?
Doesn't it make you miss Clinton $0.80 gas? Gas was $0.80 or less in Columbus, Ohio during 1998. I bought it. Neocons always deny that it was that cheap but it was.

A: absolutely