On 2/5/2014 7:47 PM, Tim Crone wrote:
On Feb 5, 2014 7:06 PM, "arche...@embarqmail.com" <arche...@embarqmail.com>
wrote:
The early 3 cylinder Honda Insights (2000 and later) were interesting in
that they got up to 70 mpg. Has anyone ever owned or driven one? If I
could find one that needed a lot of work; new big battery etc., I'd buy it
just to play with.
A good friend had one for a few years, up to last summer. I rode in it a
number of times. It was a tolerable driver, but the battery pack was
replaced under warranty just before he got it (30kish) and died again at
60k. The car does not start when the battery is perceived as dead. It was
going to cost him $6k (2k battery, mandatory 2k controller, 2k labor) to
replace so, after a protracted process with Honda, he sold the car for
scrap. His final comment to the Honda corporate office was, "it doesn't
make sense that the car, when used as it is supposed to be used, is totaled
by normal wear and tear after 60k miles." I gather they replied,
essentially, "makes sense to us, nothing we care to do."
He asked me if I wanted to do anything with it, but even for friend scrap
price it didn't seem like a good investment. (The controller in particular
is mandatory to replace at the same time as the battery, so there is no
cheap fix for battery death.) He had done all the recommended maintenance
through the dealer, didn't abuse the car in any way, drove it 20+ miles per
day, etc.
He bought a Leaf a few days later.
Best,
Tim
I would bet that there are Indies or DIY's out there who have developed
work-arounds to bypass the dealers. Heard about a place in Pa that
specializes in rebuilding the big batteries and gauranteeing them.
Couldn't find any reference on the mpg if the battery / electric motor
is not working.
Gerry
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