TIL about the Honda Insight, a hybrid vehicle from 1999
TIL about the Honda Insight, a hybrid vehicle from 1999
Even now, there is something pretty fantastic about the Insight, and it still deserves a lot of attention in 2022.
I learned about this today so now you all do too
The Honda Insight is a car all the way back as far as 1999. This crazy vehicle was able to achieve an EPA MPG (with modern tests) of 49 city and 61 highway. Original testing was actually 67 city and 71 highway, at that! This crazy little engine has a maximum of 78 horsepower, combined between the Inline 3 SOHC Honda engine and a 10KW (13HP) electric motor. This motor is used as the starter, the alternator, and a motor together, but it actually has a separate starter motor in case the hybrid motor dies, using a separate 12v starter battery as well.
While 78 horsepower doesn’t sound very great, keep in mind the following: the coefficient of drag is 0.25, and if weighs a maximum(!) of 1,964 lbs, or 891 kg. What does this mean? It can still reach a maximum speed of up to 112mph! Not to mention, modders that get ahold of these things can push it far beyond these limits, with someone putting in a Honda J32A2 engine and getting 295HP in this little thing! That would put it at approximately capable of a top speed of about 192mph!
Not to mention, not only is this thing super light and nimble, it still has respectable crash ratings, and while parts for it may be hard to find, this car is one of the coolest and most efficient one can buy, even today
Edit: Found a link I like even better for the main link, original link here
Til something I remember clearly is something someone learned about today. Fuck me
we old, but it's ok
Especially when these were pretty popular because Bill Maher drove one. If I remember correctly, he was one of the first famous celebrities who put action into his words about global warming.
Wait until you learn about the GM EV1
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Killed_the_Electric_Car%3F
Can be found to stream free pretty easily.
Yeah it was ahead of it's time, I think it just needed better battery technology and software.
I am personally not a fan of EVs, as the lack of the sound, rumble, and smell of an engine is missing from the driving experience for me. But I think GM had some good ideas with the EV1.
While I think more advanced technology may have had some improvement on the EV1, I am more inclined to think it would have performed better as a hydrogen powered vehicle. Hydrogen power is cleaner than gasoline, but still has the refuelling speed benefit that gasoline has. Charging a car battery for any amount of time longer than 5 minutes is a major inconvenience.
I really think that ideas conceived by the Tucker motor company could still be utilized. Seat belts and disk brakes have already become standard, why not take this further? Designing a vehicle for the engine to be swapped out in ~30 minutes presents a design precedent that needs major consideration: ease and speed of maintenance. You want to do major repairs on your EV? Have fun getting tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of insulated safety equipment, insulated tools, and heavy lifting equipment. Designing vehicles to have fast, easy, and relatively safe maintenance for even major repairs would be well worth the tradeoff of making a vehicle bigger or less fuel efficient, in my opinion.
It gets better. Things like the geo metro were able to get rediculous mpg just by being light and simple. No electric motors necessary. Makes you wonder how far we've slid backwards now that we're accepting 30mpg as good.
Not that far as long as you are okay with a car as tiny as the Insight or the Geo Metro. Here's the two of em compared to a VW Up! for example.
My brother had a Plymouth Horizon that was similar. It took a while to get moving but it would scream down the highway getting in the 40+ miles per gallon.
However a minor parking lot bump we barely felt cracked the steel bumper and pulverized the styrofoam surrounding it. It was a thrilling ride, not least because there was nothing to save you.
Two decades later, My current Subaru can’t even get 30mpg. However it’s one of the safest cars on the road, much bigger, all wheel drive, crumple zones, airbags all around, collision avoidance, many more features, and triple the power. Safe and quiet at any legal speed, and them some.
I know which one I’d pick
It was an awesome car. The CR-Z was a similar form factor, but didn’t get as good mileage. Would love to see an EV version with fast charging and a 250mi range. It would probably be doable now.
The CR-Z was a car I wanted so badly to be good. It just wasn't though. There were sportier better options of you wanted that and if you wanted fuel efficiency it was a bit laughable. My 4 cylinder car was getting like 28mpg highway and it only got mid to low 30s.
I owned one, it was a blast in the corners and it was rad that you could get a two seater six speed hybrid. The biggest let down though was how slow it was in a straight line. It was almost dangerously slow. A CR-Z Si with a K20 or K24 would have been amazing. They offered a dealer installed supercharger later in its life that got it to 200ish HP but it was too little too late.
Heh, we had one of those at my previous job. It was one of the fleet vehicles anyone could reserve and use. It was always a game to see who could get the best fuel mileage driving it the ~30 miles between our offices. If I recall correctly the record was around 90MPG. It was also a standard shift that had the auto-off for the engine when you stopped which would make you think you stalled it. Good times...
I honestly think that if they left the back end the same as the other Civics it would have sold like hotcakes. That back end was total ass.
Yes, it was so noticable and weird. I've never wanted a "look at me" kind of car. I remember one of the teachers at my highschool drove one and people made fun of it regularly.
And that teacher laughed allllll the way to the gas station, like twice, per month
That’s a fair point. On the flip side, it reduced aerodynamic drag significantly compared to a civic, so I understand why they did it. Personally, the reason I even noticed it was because I am in love with the design, the rear especially catching my eye
This is the one car I've bought that I will never sell. Fantastic car, that drives like a gocart.
Check out my Skoda's MPG. This is a sedan, basically a VW Passat twin, slightly less appointed. 110hp, Ihave a 1999, needs no oil between changes, no coolant loss, drives great....
It was a favorite of European Taxi drivers, who called i the tank, for it's durability. I still see a lot on the road.https://www.auto-data.net/en/skoda-octavia-i-tour-1.9-tdi-110hp-14249
A while back this guy in the ecomodder forum made a cardboard boat tail for his Insight, twice
This is incredible! Best tail mod I’ve seen by far!
I loved my Honda Insight when I was driving it. Fun to min/max the mpg and the auto off was pretty nifty at the time. Less fun when the hybrid part of the engine died. If I remember correctly it was also the alternator so that was a 5k fix
I believe it came in stick shift too!
Actually, it was only stick shift, until they released a CVT option for it later. This meant it was incredibly efficient, minimizing drivetrain losses and improving emissions, and gave way to all sorts of awesome mods now, like a start/stop enabler any time you put into neutral so you can coast on the highway easier