A 2000 model just rolled into my buddy's garage, been sitting for five years. It's red and has ~30,000 miles on it.
My concern in the batteries. If they live say 14 years, this thing is now 12 years old.
How many horses do you really need to haul a 190 lb. lump back and forth to work?
Dan
You can buy another used battery pack for $400. Really not a big deal.
Clearly, an LS-X swap is mandatory.
B-series engine swap...
I just happened to see one of these the same color in one of my local, free, autotrader-type mags. It was for sale at a Honda dealer about an hour from me...no idea at the moment of the miles, but the "asking price" was $6K.
I imagine there might be some battery deterioration due to age, but I wouldn't let the "sat for 5 years" thing put me off. Remember, the "warranty" of XX years takes into account that the vehicle is driven every now and then...it changes when a car sits.
Which transmission does this have? They were available with CVT or a manual transmission.
out of a choice between the prius and the insight.. I would take the honda any day of the week
It's got a stick.
I don't think those batteries like sitting.
Cheap one in Columbus with a bad battery:
http://columbus.craigslist.org/cto/2797255269.html
Still high compared to, say, a rough Civic, but it's a lot lighter and more advanced than a Civic. Neat cars, lots of aluminum. Very light and very aerodynamic.
"....failure of electronics or sensors INSIDE the batteries..." (I added the emphasis.)
Well, learn something new everyday...
Also makes it sound (correctly or incorrectly?) as though it's pretty expensive to rebuild these battery packs, and it will get harder and more expensive as the years pass. Or is that just for these 1st gen. Insights?
Lemme know if it's cheap, not a total rust pile, and you don't want it. Need anything delivered from North GA?
A friend of mine with an '01 had the batteries replaced under warranty a year or so ago @ ~150k miles , but he didn't feel it was necessary. He said they weren't holding quite as much charge, but otherwise it was fine. I believe there was a minor issue with the controller, and they ended up being extremely generous and replacing everything. According to Wikipedia: As of 1 June 2008, the replacement battery costs US$1,968 and installation is around US$900. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Insight
No one has made a car that can touch the first generation Insight on fuel economy. The car is was loaded with technology. It has a carbon fiber dip stick to save weight. :) 1800lbs.
LOL!!! I will HAPPILY r&r anyone's insight battery pack for $900.. They're banking on that E36 M3..
I own one. I would be pretty concerned about those batteries. The guy should probably put a 144-170v trickle charge to it until the current drops to nearly zero before he tries to actually use those batteries. This will require getting to the pack to make the hookups so you might as well take it out. It's not a $900 task..
The car itself wont be able to properly re-charge that pack from what is likely a very low and uneven state of charge on those cells.
And after all that im guessing he will still find bad cells (if he knows how and has the equipment).
Oh yeah and if he got it cheap and decides to sell it cheap, pm me!
I talked to him yesterday, the guyis definately selling.
The car has no alternator and the problem is the batteries aren't getting charged. I believe the charger is part of the transmission, more homework this morning.
It's no big deal to pull the engine and resolve whatever the problem is, but you're right Vigo, batteries are $2,000.
Dan
Edit: If the price is right could the batteries be removed and this made into a normal Honda?
A friend of mine buys and sells these cars. He sells whole cars and parts them out so if you end up with one I can put you in touch with him.
He is a cool guy with money and the kinds of toys that only a Class 3 License can provide.
93EXCivic wrote: B-series engine swap...
This.
You'll get almost as much MPG, you'll have a much lighter car, and it will handle better.
you'll have a much lighter car, and it will handle better.
Doubtful.. The gas engine, the motor/generator, the battery pack, the dc/dc, bcm, and all associated wiring are only like 300 lbs total.
And how exactly does making a FWD more front-heavy help its handling? 
Removing the electric stuff to save weight makes sense to a point.. but you'd be hard pressed to save even 150 lbs, and the 3cyl gas motor is ridiculously light.
You can run the insight without using the batteries. Im doing it right now. I lost about 2 mpg, because i have to floor it almost constantly. Still getting about 48. Cant wait to fix my batteries, though!
Before i disabled the battery pack, it was getting 43 and was DANGEROUSLY slow because it was taking half my engine power and throwing it into a bottomless pit (inoperable battery pack).
The 'procedure' for disabling the battery is on InsightCentral. Cliffnotes: Unplug everything from the battery control module.
Hayubusa, but you wouldn't have a reverse.
I'm bumping this because I went and looked at one his morning. 70k miles, manual $6500. Has a fresh battery pack and a full service book. My mazda5 is paid off so I was thinking about a mileage car besides a rabbit.
Im still driving mine with broken batteries and still love it. 339000mi and counting.
So i guess my own example forces me to conclude that im more interested in working on my other cars than making my insight faster. I still 'want' to fix the batteries and have a pretty good idea of how to do it (ive had the high voltage pack out and apart twice already), but on a day to day basis it just never gets close to my to-do list. The car is extremely slow, but it's actually still faster than normal traffic once you get rolling. Ive commented to some of my friends that the fact that my Insight can still keep up with traffic really points out how retardedly slow normal traffic is! When it was fully functional it was actually not really that slow. Certainly faster than a stock 80s VW diesel. It felt like a 1.5L car most of the time, and actually felt WAY better than that from 70-110 because of the powerband and the crazy aero. If you do a lot of highway driving you'll find it's really not slow at all in that setting.
The Insight, regardless of its hybridness, is twice the car of any other <2000lb car you can get your hands on, imo. It's built extremely well, out of light materials, is comfortable, has ABS, airbags, etc. If they had put a bigger gas-only motor in these things, people would be crazy about them (they say the same about the CRZ and i agree there too) because the rest of the car is great regardless of the hybrid stuff (which i also think is great).
Now, i'll be the first to say the Insight is not the most reliable hybrid, which isnt saying much since hybrids are ludicrously reliable. But it does have the oldest and most primitive batteries and battery management. The upside of this is if you want to get into the whole electric side of it, the car is dumb enough that you can trick it into accepting larger/more batteries, take complete separate control of the electric functions, etc. I consider the battery pack itself to be DIYable if you do a lot of reading and are willing to buy some stuff. Dont kill yourself, naturally.
They respond well to light turbocharging and that's been a plan of mine for a while. I have a VNT25 from an old k-car to put on mine, along with all the necessary flanges and a small intercooler. I just have never put it together.
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