Quote:
Originally posted by djmcmath
A g/f of mine bought a used Insight. I'm sure they get 66mpg new, but as the battery starts to wear, they get closer to 55, then 50, then 45. You'd really have to figure in that mileage decrease over time with the cost of the car.
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I had an Insight for about a year, and IIRC, the battery pack is warranted for something like 80k or 100k. Check on that.
Also, the type of driving must be taken into consideration. I found that the Insight was very sensitive to conditions. City driving would drop my average fuel economy to ~50. Highway driving would get great fuel economy, until I tried to drive faster than ~75MPH. It dropped again.
A few things you can have her check/do.
Make sure the fuel and air filters are clean
Use the correct oil and filters
Run the tires at about 50psi. (no shyt. 50psi. I ran mine at 50-52psi and they were fine. Might be a little noisier, but it cuts down on rolling resistance)
Use the highest gear possible to cruise in, and avoid changing speeds.
When braking, sometimes I'd like to downshift to run the engine/motor/generator at higher speeds to get a little more juice on the regen. Leave it in gear until about 1k rpm. Use a LONG stopping distance with light pressure on the brakes to maximize the regeneration. (some of this is tough to do if she got the CVT tranny...)
Tint the windows (helps with the A/C efficiency)