2001 Honda Insight Mk1 - The OG hybrid now joined by a CRZ

I like it and keep wanting a prius or something like the CRZ I don't know why I like them. God help me I will end up buying something like this soon.

I think im going to book a test drive in one to sway me back to my type r :D
 
so more important than all this eco waffle,

whats the tuning potential like?

slap a turbo on there along with some nitrous and make it a type R eating eco rocket
 
Jonny, where did you find yours for sale, out of interest? There's one near me with the CVT. I'd like to have a look at a couple but since there are only about 250 of them over here I'm wondering what the chances of that happening are :p
 
going against the grain here....personally love the insight, a proper engineers car, like a lot of hondas, and big fan of the quirky oddball styling.
 
Have you even graduated yet? :p

Proper engineers car as in the stylists and marketing didn't get in the way of the engineers designing it. Not that it's designed FOR engineers. Tweaks for aero are a bit easier to get through nowadays though as everyone is chasing CO2.
 
Jonny69 said:
Jonny, where did you find yours for sale, out of interest? There's one near me with the CVT. I'd like to have a look at a couple but since there are only about 250 of them over here I'm wondering what the chances of that happening are :p
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Mine came up whilst I was just about to get the Integra payout and scooting around in that helphire Mini Cooper S. Came up on Honda Revs (possibly had changed to Evolution then, regardless its a dead site now) then pistonheads and Ebay a week or so later but I knew of the guy as about 3 years either I bought a SPA oil gauge off him when his had a well setup CRX.

At the time there was a site called 'getaninsight' or something where some guy in Wales was getting them from all over the UK and selling them on. That seems to have gone now. They are predominatly private sales although some Honda dealer pop up with them and the one place that regularly has them is Goldseal garage. Most of these appear to be import so getting the free tax can be a pain and not driving them often (ie longer that 3 weeks) does the battery no favours as NiMH has a self discharge characteristic and it varies between cells so you end up with an out of balance pack. Exactly why I didnt mind the mileage on mine due to it meaning frequently use.

America CVT versus manual will come up a lot and how the CVT doesnt have lean burn. That was for the US emission ratings I guess and NOx output. The Import JDM CVT's still have the lean burn feature so you dont really take a hit on MPG compared to a manual. Not sure of the viablity of importing one to save some cash but I know Johnny at Tegiwa imports got one over from Japan about 12months ago for his own use.
 
Hmm, well the CVT one that's about for sale at the moment is a dealer car and an import by the look of it, because it's got an afterthought foglight on the back. I saw that on the Insight forum about the lean burn not being on the CVT. Is it something that can be programmed back in?

I think the longest it'll sit unused is about 3 weeks, but it'll definitely not get out more than about once a week. Journeys will be weekend shopping, maybe once a month London to Southampton (~100 miles) or similar. Interesting about the cells; discharge was something I'd wondered about. So basically when it goes out on the shorter journeys it'll spend a lot of that time charging the cells back up. Shame they can't be swapped for low discharge or a Li-Ion pack.

I might phone them up and go and have a look at it regardless. It seems to be up at market rate because I saw a manual pop up that was the same price.
 
Mainly US forum, hence CVT is no lean burn for SULEV NOx. The import JDM HAVE lean burn. Its been at Goldseal for months which is an issue and could do with an off the grid trickle charger to balance the pack I imagine.

Its just the culmulative effect of self discharge rather that overnight drop. Ie. Years buts thats where we are with cars now. Id like some new gen low discharge NiMh but no ie on current capacity and they need welding in series.

What you have to bear in mind is hybrids a have big batteries to deliver the desired motor output not for capacity.

Mine needs new tyres now and i have no idea what to get !?
 
Yes, I had noticed it had been there a while. Last time I looked for one was months ago and it's the same car same place. Any idea if that one is a JDM import then?
 
I think it is as its Goldseals forte, the rear fog light position is the first clue.


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Interesting link below how it started as the JV-X, which now seems to share some ideas with the CR-Z (production and the first concept with rounded rear lights)

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http://www.insightcentral.net/KB/development/index.html

The VV certainly has a much sharper rear end as I would expect with an aero car, ie Prius 3 and VW L1. Probably Federal bump ruled that out, could be a nice feature to add...
 
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LiamC said:
did you damage your brain or eyesight when you crashed the DC2?


Thats horrid IMO.
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Eyesight maybe?

Brain. Well I think this a car you buy with your brain and not heart, its ensured that I took a break from modding cars whilst I have two young sprogs which is good for cashflow and freetime, let alone the actual running cost reduction.

I get to play with cars at work anyway on a much better rate than paying for the privilege. :p
 
Firestar_3x said:
But with a fuel saving alone of £1500 a year its only going to take two years to get that money back, even less if you factor in the tax saving, plus this will hold its value better than a generic jap hatchback.
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I think were now in the free car running phase :) The additional purchase cost over a 51 1.4 Civic has now been cancelled out. In day to day as a benchmark its about as fast a 2.0 TDI Audi A3 (as tested last night) at legal speed, after that mine then has the legs.

Had a meet last year at a classic car show in Glossop

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Mine was getting a control system soldered in by Peter (Police sergeant by day, Electronics Whizz by night) on the Insight forum and hence under cover incase it rained. The car now has manual command & control of the IMA system and allows me to start and stop the engine whenever, also a developing OBD2 gauge to monitor the usual things like a scangauge but also HV battery Voltage, SoC and power output/regen aswell as controlling battery fans, it also has an LED to show when the car is in lean burn.

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Nothing has let me down other than the radio shorted and didnt turn off after key and killed the 12V battery when i got back to the car 10hr later so i needed a jump start.... well a simple 12v connection to close the HV relays. 177k miles now.
 
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