I bought the Honda insight

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asmallsol

Super Moderator
update, see post 34

Long time no see. For the few old guys who remember me, I've completely fallen out of the whole modding scene in favor of bike racing (as in pedal bikes). I've graduated from Michigan Tech, and have now joined the working class.

Now for the question. I am looking to buy a 1st Gen Honda Insight. I hate paying for gas, and have always liked the look of them. I found one that has extremely low miles (~60k for a 2000) for a good price. The odd thing about it is, the thing has heated leather seats, which were not an option. Through a car fax report, for the first 2 years of the car's life it was registered as a Manufactors car, and only had 1,200 miles put on it during that time. It's Vin Number denotes it was the 64th insight in the US. Since it is such an early one, I figure Honda had it here for testing, and hints why it has options never offered (at least in the US)

So the question is, would you buy it?
 
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Have you done research on battery life and replacement costs?
As well as how old the batteries are?

I wouldn't necessarily let the manufacturers car deter you. Might have been for display or perhaps test drives? I'd be more worried that it was the first production year, and what changes they made following that first batch.
 
i would also consider the cost of that one vs. other cars of the same year/options/mileage.

if i could find another car in that range, i would consider. also, if the owner has amazing maintenence records, i would go that route also.
 
welcome back man! long time no see in deed bro. as far as buying a Honda Insight, i jsut dont really like the looks of them. why not get a Hybrid Civic instead?
 
you mean like a new insight? :puke:

You mean the honda prius? :puke:

But no, he means a civic hybrid, they have those too.

As far as the car, make sure its all in good working order and buy it. Those are rare finds these days. Will be a collector car some day, there were only like 10,000 produced.
 
um, no he said 1st gen insight.

I'd look into TCO more than anything.

The new ones are 20k.
if this one is under 10k it might be worth it.

batteries are supposed to last 100k, so you're about half way to a HUGE overhaul, which will put you right at about the cost of getting a brand new one right now with a warranty and no issues to worry about.
 
Have you done research on battery life and replacement costs?
As well as how old the batteries are?

WRONG. Stop that line of thought. You too B.

Honda is replacing (albet quietly) all of the batteries that fail. For free.


I would jump on it.
 
with debated reports on battery life, i would find out who/where/when you can get them replaced. hell, i would even call a dealership and tell them that you own it already and the battery is dying.
 
inisghts have an 8yr 80k mile warranty on batteries. anything beyond that getting fixed for free is pure luck.
 
according to insightcentral.net, the going rate for a IMA system is around 3,000 installed, (2000 for parts ~ a grand for labor).

In addition, honda has extended the warranty to 10yrs/150,000 miles on the IMA system for all states (before it was just some hot mountainous states) Since the car is a 2000, this means there is six months until its no longer covered.

This one is a fair bit under 10k, and under 70,000 miles. Kinda of a big find.

As for the 1st gen vs 2nd gen vs prius debate. From reviews, the old insight is almost like a modern day CRX hf. Underpowered, but still fun to drive. The new insight handles like a couch, not to mention, many reviews put it as just overall cheap in every regard. I really do like the look of the new prius, however, like the 2nd gen Insight, only an automatic transmission is offered.
 
Ah a manufacturer's car. Basically what happens is that car had one of 3 purposes in it's young life. Most likely it was a training car given its low mileage. American Honda uses the cars to train service technicians how to work on the vehicle. It was most likely taken apart and put back together many times. A second thing was that it was a department car for some office. My department has like 6 or 7 "department cars" you can use to do an evaluation or drive to the factory or a supplier. They all are extremely low mileage because they never get driven. Finially, it could have been a display car, aka an autoshow car.

After a couple years of ownership Honda sells the cars to employees at a discount. The fact that it has non-factory standard items makes me think the car came from an engineering office, most likely the one I work at. People do all sorts of strange things to cars like install acura parts in honda's.
 
Buy it. Then make sure the batteries fail immediately ;)
 
Well the vin number is 00062. In the first 2 years, it only had 1400 miles on it, however, the first carfax entry says "Tire repair at service facility" at 900 miles
 
As others have commented....the biggest issue is that Battery

And if you drive on the highway...your on gas and there's lots of Gas Only Hondas that will give you good mileage on the highways
 
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