I have been looking for a frugal replacement for the gluttonous PT cruiser. I put a deposit on a 2010 Insight with 30K miles on it tonight. It is dark metallic red.

the Mrs. two priorities was red color and it had to be easy to get in and out of and be an automatic. the Insight has nearly as much room in it as the PT and drives much nicer. It corners flatly and rides as well or better than the PT.

It needs tires. I plan to put Michelins on it and some Mooneyes spun aluminum discs on the wheels.

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Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 82 240d, 83 300TD with five speed, 03 Dodge 3/4 ton with cummins six speed; I have had about 33 benzes. I am building a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup street rod at the moment in which I plan to install a 617 and a five speed manual.....or a 64 stude v8.

I was hoping it was one of the original insights. Kind of cool

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When do you plan to take it to Bonneville?

I love the original insights but two seats won't work when there are grandchildren around!

I drove a Prius and found it very sterile. The honda has more style and drives like a sporty car (not really fast but good steering and handling).

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Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 82 240d, 83 300TD with five speed, 03 Dodge 3/4 ton with cummins six speed; I have had about 33 benzes. I am building a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup street rod at the moment in which I plan to install a 617 and a five speed manual.....or a 64 stude v8.

Is this the first Japanese vehicle for you?

From my experiance, especially Honda, you will not be disapointed.

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CHILCUTT~
The secret to a long life. Is knowing when it is time to leave.

Bottom Line - New study shows just how 'green' electric cars are

Hybrids are the step in the 'right' direction for energy efficiency, but....

Until someone comes up with a quick-swap battery system, and infrastructure to support it, the battery cars just aren't going to be an option for the family with limited resources.

Oh and congratulations on the new-to-you ride.

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2013 Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid SEL Premium (Sparky)


It's a car not a science experiment! Open the throttle!

interesting article, however no one mentioned the initial cost of buying the "green" car. For example Chevy Volt cost $40 000 new and the saving on fuel is around $600 a year. Now if we look at Chevy Malibu (the same size car) the cost for fully loaded new one is under $30K, so I will need to drive almost 13 years to offset the cost difference alone..... I am all about the green revolution but till the time the cars are more competitively priced I will still roll in my 2 Merc and Golf TDI giving me 50MPG every day in and out

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"If women are so bloody perfect at multitasking how come they can't have a headache and sex at the same time?"
Billy Connolly

Check my avatar.

99 Miata

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Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 82 240d, 83 300TD with five speed, 03 Dodge 3/4 ton with cummins six speed; I have had about 33 benzes. I am building a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup street rod at the moment in which I plan to install a 617 and a five speed manual.....or a 64 stude v8.

This study- as nearly all studies of this kind- omit the total cost of designing, building, marketing, transporting, selling and recycling the car. With those costs included to be be green you would be served with driving a car until it can no longer be driven instead of buying a new car every few years, or even 10 years. Not surprised some scientists are biased towards "green" cars in the study- who is? By limiting the data which goes into the study of course the outcome is predetermined.

Exactly in line with my previous post.

Right after I drop a 392 Hemi into it!

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Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 82 240d, 83 300TD with five speed, 03 Dodge 3/4 ton with cummins six speed; I have had about 33 benzes. I am building a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup street rod at the moment in which I plan to install a 617 and a five speed manual.....or a 64 stude v8.

It has the variable ration transmission. It is a little strange but seems ok.

the Mrs was driving it and after a while said...."its not shifting"....(I am impressed that she noticed)....I said "It never shifts....the ultimate automatic transmission. It has variable ratio so it has an infinite number of gears". She said "OK".

It has a nice launch at full throttle off the line. After that it is not real peppy but will keep up with traffic. she ran it up to 83 mph on a two lane with complete feeling of security even though the road was a lumpy one. there was a bit of engine noise.

At idle it is so silent you tend to miss that it is running.

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Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 82 240d, 83 300TD with five speed, 03 Dodge 3/4 ton with cummins six speed; I have had about 33 benzes. I am building a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup street rod at the moment in which I plan to install a 617 and a five speed manual.....or a 64 stude v8.

I've often wondered why the Prius has completely overshadowed the Insight. The Insight feels more stable and solid. It's almost like Honda only makes it because they think they need to. I don't recall ever seeing an Insight commercial but Prius commercials are almost omnipresent.

I'm kind of intrigued by the new Prius v. While by no means attractive, the wagon design has quite a bit more hauling utility (volume-wise) than the original hatchback. While I would still prefer a clean diesel minivan for the Mrs., I would think a hybrid minivan would be a good platform for a lot of people. A lot of them spend most of their time running around town, under 40 mph with lots of stops and go's.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
2003 Honda Odyssey (for the wife & 4 kids) 1999 GMC Suburban 1500 SLT (245K+ miles) 21' SeaRay Seville Mid-cabin (summer escape pod)

Design and now reputation. Honda initially missed the boat with the original insight. Toyota used the same principle but actually made a normal looking, practical passenger car out of the prius rather than a 2 seater oddity. Honda was out of it for a couple years too when Toyota cashed in.

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TC