Honda Acty, The Best Truck Ever

The Honda Acty is the best truck ever built. Why? Because it's dangerous. And danger means excitement!

A friend of our family imported a fleet of Honda Actys for his business, which requires drivers to sit on the right-hand side of the vehicle. My dad brought the fleet back for him, this one with the cutest baby crane you ever saw! Unfortunately, none of the fleet were Acty Dumps (quite possibly the best name for a truck ever).

In North America the Acty is out of place. It's a Kei class truck, built to meet the requirements of the Japanese government as they combat their crowded roadways and polluted air. In Tokyo (and probably other cities) you must have a registered parking space before you're allowed to own a vehicle. However, the Kei class vehicles let you around that rule because of their tininess.

Kei class vehicles are built to specific, itsy-bitsy dimensions with a maximum engine size of 660 cc. This 3-cylinder engine has a top speed of 110 kph, which means it's legal on Ontario's 400 series highways. However, after bouncing around on city streets at breakneck speeds of 60 kph, that idea utterly frightens me.

With a mere 1 inch of metal separating me from the world, the Acty was like driving a skateboard. Manoeuvrability is astonishing, but concentration is important. Almost everything is reversed from what we are used to. At first I used the wipers to signal my turns and grabbed the door when I wanted to shift. Strange how the brain works.

If you want some excitement in your life but skydiving, blind dates and volunteering for medical experiments scare you a bit too much, find a Japanese micro truck and take it around the block. If you're not smiling as you fumble around with the shifter and signals, go back inside. You are destined for a boring life.

Insight Battery Cable Conundrum

I don't particularly like how Dealerships cater to our generation's NAME-BRAND ONLY attitude. Maybe we as customers have driven them to that. Maybe not. Regardless, it seems to me that Dealerships treat our cars as disposable sources of constant income via replacement - never worthy of being updated or modified. If it's 4 years old, it's outdated like a computer and time for a trade-in.

I've found my usual Honda Dealership to be very closed minded when it comes to car repairs. If it's not an official Honda part or something alters the original design specs, they will refuse to work on it - even if it's their own fault.

My Dealership could only get the 151R Honda FIT battery for my Insight instead of the normal 151. Because the terminals were reversed, the negative battery cable would not reach. But my Dealership refused to extend the cable the measly 3 inches to reach the battery. They said, "we will not modify the original design of the car." Two weeks later they sent me something in the mail asking me to trade in my Insight!

Since my family works at the dealership I was really surprised at this attitude. I did not want a new car. I just wanted the cable lengthened! But every single mechanic/tech refused to add a longer cable. When pressed, they said I might be able to get an independent garage to do the work, but I was looking at 3 hours of labour.

No. That's not a typo.

The Honda Dealership estimated THREE HOURS of labour to unbolt the 6 inch cable, then bolt a 9 inch cable in its place. Are you laughing? You should be. I can't make this stuff up.

Thankfully my regular mechanic is a tad more logical and intelligent. He's the kind of guy who can tell you the most boring story about some random bolt, and make it so exciting that you can't wait to rush home and tell all your friends about this boring random bolt. And it's nice he can take time away from 7 and 8 second drag cars to do an uninspired job like this. He had a new cable fitted and installed in 15 minutes... including driving the car into the bay.

So, I will let you all know if the car burns to the ground because of the extended ground cable. And if you take a shower one morning and find "the dealer was right!" scrawled across your foggy bathroom mirror, you'll know I was in the car when it happened.

Stupid Honda's Stupid 151R Battery

Although this blog is supposed to primarily focus on the DeLorean and I've gotten much better at that lately, I sometimes still write about my other cars. Or candy. Or Halloween. I hope you're not bored.

Our Insight is a 1st generation American model with the CVT transmission which we purchased new in Ohio. As far as I know we still have the only automatic Insight in Canada. Boo-urns? You'd think so but no, just plain Booooo!

After 5 years, the 12 volt lead-acid battery finally decided to call it quits. Despite the big ol' 144 volt pack in the back, the Insight cannot run without the 12v battery. Much like Renee Zellweger, it completes me... Err, the car. It completes a circuit. In the car. I am NOT Tom Cruise, do not send me fan mail.

The original and very sexy 12v battery was supplied by Furukawa Battery Co. While it still functions (holds a charge), it has begun leaking CRAZYSTYLE into the engine compartment. I removed a sticker across the top which read Maintenance Free. Beneath it were six plugs which I removed. I added distilled water and charged the battery but to no avail. Furukawa's "Hi Dash" continued to leak like a paper roof.

Thankfully I have family working at a Honda Dealership, and attempted to order a new battery. (I say attempted because Honda is stupid. Yeah, I've resorted to school-yard name-calling. Stupid Honda.)

Official Honda Dealer battery documents state the Canadian Insight and Civic share a battery. A full size battery. Unfortunately, our U.S. spec Insight has a tiny aluminum enclosure meant for a tiny battery. The dimensions are 7"L x 4-3/4"W x 8"H. This, according to Honda, is a 151 series battery. 151r means the positive and negative terminals are reversed from the normal position.

Honda sold me a Honda FIT battery, as it was the only battery that would fit (pun not intended) the Insight's tiny aluminum enclosure. Unfortunately, it was the 151R, not the 151. The positive terminal is in the opposite corner and the cables do not have enough reach, regardless of which way the battery is rotated.

As a last resort I've located a man who can, at $65/hr, rebuild my Furukawa. He is reluctant to do it, but if I can convince him, it sure beats driving across the border for something as simple as a battery!

It's Sublime Hypermiling Time

I yearn for this warm weather with the fervor of a teenaged dork longing for a Back To The Future Time Machine Lego kit. Not because it's warm, but because with it comes super sweet fuel economy. Hey, I'm not averse to burning up poisonous dinosaur juice, but I'd rather buy toys and candy than gasoline fuel.

The 1st generation Honda Insight is the most aerodynamic mass-produced vehicle to ever hit the streets. With a drag co-efficient of 0.25, it's very wind-resistant. And with a mere 1,800 lbs. to haul around, you can get better mileage than any motorcycle.

With warmer weather comes hypermiling possibilities, and it wasn't long before I was cranking out 99.1 U.S. mpg in the ol' Honda Insight. Convert that to the Imperial system, and it seems even more impressive at 119 mpg.

Hypermiling is the term given to drivers who squeeze out better mileage than the EPA standards suggest for a specific model of car. Typically, one can expect to achieve worse than the EPA numbers, as the cars are tested under the most ideal circumstances possible, and may or may not be covered in magical fairy dust. However, with an aluminum & magnesium car whose sole purpose is to get great mileage it is possible, with some hypermiling tricks, to achieve almost unbelievable mileage figures.

Hypermilers are stiff. I mean, we don't mind a bumpier ride. Filling the tires more than the car manufacturer suggests is the first easy step to saving money. We run 40 psi all around in our Insight. Others have gone as high as 50.

What's the rush? If you're tyring to hypermile, slow is the name of the game. I drive at the exact speed limit, carefully letting off the accelerator until I'm almost coasting. If there's no one behind me, I'll actually drive slower.

Hills help. Downhill sections of road are the easiest way to save fuel. Instead of keeping my foot on the gas and building up speed, I let off completely and let gravity take over. If there's an uphill section immediately following, I will build up speed on the downhill and use my momentum (Science!) to carry me up the next hill, accelerating only if necessary.

Over the past 3 years I've learned when the electric motor will offer its assistance. With a CVT automatic Insight, the electric motor rewards a quick pedal jab with hefty torque. Starting from a stoplight, a quick stomp of the pedal gets the electric motor spinning, and avoids using so much fuel. Slow starts use only the gas engine, so I do my best to slap the donkey's ass and initiate that electric motor.

Coast through life. Don't forget the virtues of coasting instead of braking. I watch traffic lights and plan ahead so I can coast as much as possible, which has two benefits. Brakes last longer and liquid pteradactyl consumption is much lower.

Finally, a controversial tip. Drafting. Get too close and the Police may view it as tailgating. But if done with extreme caution, you can carefully draft a transport trailer without getting too close, and increase your mileage considerably. I personally only follow when road conditions are excellent. I keep a safe and nag-free distance and ONLY follow trucks in the right-hand lane, giving me a shoulder to veer onto should sudden braking occur.

The results? Try it and see for yourself.

2010 Insight In Canada

After a 4-year hiatus, Honda has revived the famous Insight hybrid, the first hybrid ever available in North America. Although the car "officially" goes on sale April 22, Earth Day, our local dealership already has two, and Americans are already avoiding gas stations in theirs.

When in production, the 1st generation Insight was the most fuel-efficient, least polluting, and most radical car available. Rated at 86 mpg highway, it utterly destroyed Toyota's Prius in terms of mileage.

However, just like the resurrected pets in Stephen King's Pet Semetery, the reincarnated Insight is not the same; Yes, it's a little more evil.

The newly revived Zombie Insight is no longer a sporty 2-seater with limited luggage space. It no longer gets 86 miles per gallon, and it no longer employs a thrifty 1.0 litre, 3 cylinder engine.

The 2nd generation Insight, or I2, is now a 5 door hatch configuration, with a 4-cylinder engine. It will comfortably seat four. Or five if some of the back-seat zombies remove their rotting limbs.

Instead of the sweet combination of aluminum, plastic and ultra-light magnesium of our 2006 Insight, the 2nd generation Insight is constructed of good old fashioned zombie-proof steel, and plastic, which adds up to 2723 lbs, a hefty 900 lbs. over the 1st gen's anorexic 1850 lbs.

What everyone is looking forward to is the 2nd gen Insight's mileage. The 123 hp 4 cyl. achieves 61 mpg highway. A far cry from the 1st gen Insight's 86 mpg, but one must consider all the extra room available for groceries, luggage, and decomposing bodies.

Inside, the uphostery is quite nice. Nothing too flashy or impressive, but nice none-the-less. To save money, and make the 2010 Insight absolutely the least expensive hybrid on the market, the engineers walked over to the Civic assembly line and swiped piles of their steering wheels. In fact it was virtually identical to the wheel in the CSX we "tested" in Ottawa.

The gauges were quite handsome, and placed directly in front of the driver, as opposed to the goofy centre-setup in the Prius. But, along the same lines as the Prius, Honda has created a spiffy graphic display featuring leaves sprouting out of a plant, along with an ECON button. The more miserly you drive, the more leaves you get. Neat-o!

I got a bit of sneak-peek at the Insight, as my sis works at the Honda dealership. Unfortunately, no matter how hard she begged, the only response to our inquiries about test drives was, "we'd be breaking the law." I suspect that it's because the 2010 Insight isn't scheduled to go on sale for another 6 days.

However, it was still exciting to watch the hair impaired employees prepare these 2nd gen Insights for the official unveiling. Shipping stickers and a protective polymer painted onto the hood & roof were being removed in the service bay while I had free reign of the interior.

In order to keep costs low Honda used a smaller electric motor and smaller battery pack. The resulting mileage suffers compared to Toyota's Prius. However, with an estimated price of $23,000 for the base model, you'll be saving $5,000 over a Prius And many people will find that a big bonus.

This CVT Insight was rated at 5.0L per 100km city and 4.6L per 100km highway. The numbers may not be up to snuff for 1st gen Insight owners (3.3L Hwy & 3.9L city), but the payoff is the practical back seat and extra space the 2nd gen Insight offers. With these attributes, Honda is hoping to sell a little more than the 344 1st generation Insights Canadians bought the first time around. That's right. 344 total in Canada, over 6 years of production.

Hypermilers Use Cardboard

Cardboard is amazing. I particularly enjoy corrugated fiberboard. It protects goods during shipping, and can contain a cornucopia of surprises like pizza, TVs, or gold.

It can also save you money.

We drive a Honda Insight. Besides pure electrics or modified hybrids, it is the most environmentastically friendly car available, achieving 86 mpg (around 72 mpg U.S.) and emitting a mere 80 grams of CO2 per km, 10g less than the Smartcar, over 400g less than most Ferraris and a billion grams less than John Travolta's 707. In the summer, we can also achieve even higher results - around 100+ mpg when drafting big rigs or going downhill. This is called hypermiling (getting higher than the EPA mileage rating)

But there's a problem. The Insight is TOO efficient. In the bitter, cold Canadian winter the engine rarely reaches the temperature where the auto-stop feature kicks in. Meaning, the car won't shut off at red lights or stop signs because it's too busy shivering.

Some insightful hybrid owners, if you'll pardon the pun, came up with a fantabulous way to keep more heat in the engine, based on the old truck and van rad blocks. All it takes is a piece of that miraclulous cardboard.

With nowhere near laser precision, I cut the cardboard into the shape seen above, with instructions from the dudes on the Insight forum. By sliding the cardboard between the rad and the a/c rad, it blocks cold air and lets more heat build up in the cooling system.

In the summer, extra heat will cause the plastic car to melt into a bubbling sunlight-waterfountain-Gremlin-ooze puddle. Therefore, the rad-block, which is 25 cm high and 40 cm wide, also has a 3 cm wide tab for easily pulling it out in the springtime.

During my first test, I discovered a the cardboard rad-block actually did save me a bit of cash. A normal summertime drive up the escarpment, kind of a giant cliff of doom, to visit friends typically pegs us around 4.5L per 100 km (63 mpg). In freezing winter weather, with a full tank of fuel and both of us in the car we usually only get around 6.0L per 100 km (47 mpg). But with the new cardboard rectangle air deflection grid thingy, we made the same trip at 5.6L per 100 km (50 mpg).

If the trip were 100 kms, we would have saved half a litre of fuel. That's two mooses and a maple leaf! Do you know what I could do with FIFTY-ONE CENTS? Buy half a litre of gasoline! Wow! Three cheers for corrugated fiberboard!

Twinsights!

It's a small world. It's a small car. Seems to be a perfect combination.

Chances are slim that you would see an Insight at a gas station, what with its 1250 km range on a mere 10.6 U.S. gallon fuel tank. In fact, chances are slim you would even see an Insight at all, considering there are less than 400 in Canada. But can you imagine seeing two Insights? Side by side? And, at a gas station no less?

While filling up for the 2nd time in as many months, I was approached by a man who was being eerily silent. "Oh no!" I thought. "What does this guy want?"

The silent dude nodded his head in a westward direction. I couldn't dig what he was communicating. He nodded again, smiling. Now, my clueless brain was thinking, "what the heck is this guy doing? Distracting me while he robs me? Distracting me while he slips a wad of hundreds into my pocket? Distracting me while he sucks my soul out through my nostrils? WHAT?"

He realized I was not catching his drift, and he added a little thumby-thumby action to his nod. I finally looked over and saw his silverstone metallic Insight parked in front of our car. My jaw dropped.

This was our first face-to-face encounter with another Insight owner, and it was bizarre. He told us he was passing by when he saw us filling up. He too, was shocked, and said he just had to pull in and talk to us.

And that's exactly what we did. And, boy were we surprised. Turns out that this mysterious stranger, an environmentally friendly dude who thought it was so cool to see another Insight that he just had to stop, knows, and has jammed with, one of Suz's best friends: Dave Gould.

I hate clichés, but that's all I could of think of: What a small, small world. I wonder if they would play it for me.

Our Insight Passed Inspection

It's official! Our U.S.-spec Honda Insight has officially met Canadian safety standards according to Canadian officials, and our papers were stamped - officially! A round of Yays!

Saturday morning we brought our 2006 Insight avec CVT transmission to Canadian Tire for our Federal Inspection. We were very worried since some of the Canadian government's requirements were absolutely absurd, laughable, and contradictory to the Insight's entire design.

For example, the government required us to install a child seat safety-tether anchor. This requirement is ludicrous for exactly 2 reasons, the first of which is that the car already came from the manufacturer with one, and secondly, because it goes against all recommendations to put an infant in the front seat of a car with an airbag. Since the Insight is only a two-seater, common sense dictates that no child should ride in the Insight. Even the Honda manual states that no child under 12 should be riding in this car. Honda knows it's dangerous, yet the Canadian government, despite acknowledging the danger, still says it's okay, and even requires a tether anchor in place making it all the more easier, tempting even, for brainless mothers to strap in their unfortunate offspring.

What makes this tether anchor rule even more insane is that it only applies to non-convertible cars. Yes, that's right. We Canadians are allowed to endanger the life of our young 'uns in a convertible, but not in a roofed car. If this car were a convertible, it would not require the child seat safety-tether anchor. Babies everywhere are allowed to go flying out of crashing convertible Saab 9-3s, Mustangs and Sebrings, but must be strapped safely in place in all other cars.

But this is moot. The anchor was already in place. Which brings me to the second point of my worry: Quebec. Another requirement was to add or replace all Airbag stickers with French ones - but only if the airbags required periodic maintenance, by a French Airbag Technician. Thankfully our Insight did not need us to check the airbag lubrication or top up the pressurized inflation tanks every 6 months, and therefore did not require the sticker change. Whew.

Finally, we were worried about our headlights. After the lil' mini-fiasco we had last week with the Daytime Running Lights modification, we were not sure if we'd pass this portion of the test. However, we did, to our immense relief.

The Canadian Tire employees, like much of the world, were unfamiliar with hybrids and did not know that all hybrid cars are exempt from Emissions tests. After a short explanation of the car, they cancelled the E-test and knocked $35 off the price of the Federal Inspection.

Paperwork in order, Suz went to the Ministry of Transportation, happily forked over about $2,000 in PST, and slapped her new Ontario plates on the Insight. The forking over of the $2,000 would not seem like a happy moment to most people, but another unique Hybrid-rule comes into play which not many people know about. The Ontario goverment reimburses all PST paid on hybrid cars as an incentive to purchase them.

Amazing. After all the backwardsness and insanity that the goverment is famous for, it's encouraging to know they've done one thing that makes sense.

The Dark Side... Of Daytime Run Lights

Come on try a little, Nothing is forever. There's got to be something better than in the middle. But me and Cinderella, we put it all together. We can drive it home with one headlight.

- The Wallflowers

Our poor U.S. spec Honda Insight suffered at the hands of an automotive electrician yesterday. The electrician was attempting to install Daytime Running Lights, as required by our stodgy Canadian Government, which resulted, basically, in one working headlight.

The Daytime Run Light law is retarded at best. The Canadian goverment decided to make it law that every car manufactured after 1989 had to have Daytime Running Lights. This "law" is obviously quite flexible, since my 1991 Talon does not have daytime running lights, nor do any cars with pop-up headlights. Furthermore, people continue to drive 1980's cars every single day. None of these cars have D.R.L., and the government is not forcing them to add that particular feature. So I have to ask... Why me? Why only new cars? Why aren't pop-up headlights illegal?

I don't know the answer to that question, but I'm sure it's just as shite as the D.R.L. law. Regardless, we still had to have Daytime Running Lights installed on our 2006 Honda Insight. We purchased the only kit available, made in Canada by Hamsar. The installation was done by experienced professionals at "Auto Electrics" as Suz likes to call them.

When we picked up the car we noticed the lights were not working properly despite what the Auto Electrics guys told us. The driver's side D.R.L. was twice as bright as the passenger side, the lights on our gauges flickered on and off randomly, the tail lights did not function, and when we turned our headlights to the ON position, nothing changed. So, we left the car with the electrical gurus again.

When we picked up our car the second time, they assured us that everything was installed correctly, and that in its current state, the Insight would pass the Federal Inspection on Saturday. The tail lights were working and the dash lights stopped flickering, but the headlights remained compromised.

The Hamsar package states that the kit does not work with Geo, Mitsubishi or Subaru vehicles. It makes no mention of Honda. So, was Honda accidentally left off their list of incompatible cars? The electrical geniuses spent many extra hours double-checking their wiring, and they're brilliant, so it's doubtful that they've installed it incorrectly.

Once we pass the Federal Inspection for Imported Vehicles, I'm pulling the fuse on the Hamsar D.R.L. module. It just doesn't work properly and I don't want to risk an electrical short, fire or burned out headlights. If the government requires headlights on, I will bloody well turn on my headlights. It's not that complicated.

In the meantime, I've emailed Hamsar and asked them why this is happening. I await their reply.

And Insight Makes Four

The newest addition to our vehicular family came after Suz and I had nibbled on the idea for a couple of months. Finally, we had enough with the nibbling and bit the bullet. We bought a fourth car, a 2006 Honda Insight.

Oozing with oddness, you may be aware that we enjoy doing things the hard way. By hard way I mean importing an Insight from the U.S. instead of buying one in Canada. Don't worry, I'll tell you why

You might remember that Suz and I test-drove a Canadian spec Insight a little while ago. It was a five-speed Insight, as all Canadian models are. After some practicing, Suz realized she would not be able to drive standard, so we were faced with only one other choice: Order an automatic Honda Insight from the United States.

We spoke with Honda dealerships in New York and Michigan, but since they border Ontario they were not permitted to sell us a car. But Ohio's naughty hand doesn't touch us, so three cheers for the Buckeye State!

Returning from DeLorean Car Show 2006, Suz and I made a pit-stop in Sandusky Ohio. Instead of Cedar Point's amazing roller coasters, we found our thrills at Victory Honda, in the form of an aluminum and magnesium car known as the Honda Insight.

We bought the car, and faxed all the paperwork to U.S. Customs, giving them the appropriate 72 hours notice before we brought the car over the border. The following week we drove back to Victory Honda, ate free hot dogs, switched the digital display to Km/h, and took our car into Canada.

With a number of differences, our Insight is most likely a one-of-a-kind car in Canada. We quite possibly have the only CVT Insight in Canada. The dash displays the position of the shifter instead of "shift up" and "shift down" arrows. Digital gauges show various things, such as how much blendered, liquified dinosaurs remain in the fuel tank. The CVT Insight comes equipped with two paddles on the steering wheel for normal driving and sporty driving. Clicking the 'S' paddle locks the continuously variable transmission into a higher rpm range for quicker consumption of rotted, liquid Stegasaurus.

As well, we were rather chipper to discover our Insight has a totally U.S. spec tan interior to boot! No dull, depressing black & grey Canadian fabric for us.

On our trip home, travelling 125 kph for about 6 hours, the Insight averaged 61 mpg (we're talking Canadian Imperial gallons, folks) while my Talon averaged 33 mpg, about half the mileage of the Insight. (However, there are not many 400 hp all-wheel-drive cars that can claim that kind of mileage.)

After five and a half hours on the highway and 30 minutes of "oh-man-we're-totally-lost" action in Detroit, we arrived home. My Talon with 3 litres of fuel left in the tank, and the Insight with half a tank, 20 litres.

Death Of The Insight

Richard Colliver, vice-president of Honda USA has officially announced the end of the awesome Honda Insight hybrid due to its overwhelming awesomeness. Apparently nobody could handle the completely mind-blowing 2-seater because it was simply too awesome.

I know this news is coming a bit late, but I was sworn to secrecy when my friend, and ex-corporate Honda employee, Tonton told me about the demise of the Insight before Honda had officially announced it.

But last week Honda made the sad announcement which caused massive clinical depression among Insight-loving people in Canada, the United States and possibly Kazakhstan. Reports of Kazakhstanians jumping off bridges were falsely reported, but presumed to be true.

Right now, and for the rest of the summer, it will still be possible to order a sleek 2006 Honda Insight. But as of September the 2007 model year will commence - and, like a high school dance, the nerdy Insight will not be joining the party.

Hybrid fanatics are competing with one another in order to secure the last Insight ever produced. Like a game of chess, each potential buyer is carefully plotting their respective moves and waiting until the eleventh hour to place their order, hoping their Insight will have that final VIN number.

For the next 3 years Honda will only offer the Civic hybrid and Accord hybrid, with the possibility of converting the new and hideous Fit into a hybrid format, which is bound to cause mass vomiting in the streets.

In 2009 the replacement for the Insight should appear. But right now, spectators are gathering around the guillotine to watch Honda drop the blade on the Insight's neck.

If you'd like to read more about Honda's decision, check it out here.

The Honda Insight

The last time I drove a Honda Insight, I was laughing all the way. Not because the car is comical, but because it - in a word - rules.

So, on the weekend we decided to go into a local Honda dealership and order a new 2006 Insight. They list for $26,000, which, according to the sales guy, is a few thousand less than what it costs Honda to build one.

But that is what's so great about the Honda company. They want the title of the most fuel efficient car in the world, or at least North America. And they're so committed that they are willing to build the Insight at a loss.

How awesome is that?

During the buying process we learned one thing we were not expecting. The Insight, in Canada, is only available as a 5-speed. Had we gone through with it, our 2006 Insight would have been partially hand-built in Japan in the same plant that builds the NSX supercar. But Suz wasn't sure she could drive a standard, so we postponed the special order.

2 days later we found a used Insight at a distant Honda dealership. With only 58,000 kms, it was a steal at $12,950. We immediately took the 90-minute drive to the dealer to test the aluminum wonder.

We hopped into the immaculate silver hybrid and were impressed with it's cleanliness. It appeared as though it was pampered. However, a minute into the test drive we were overcome by an intense, grey, prickly cigarette smell.

I drove down the country road with the digital speedometer displaying 100 kph until I noticed I was still in 3rd gear. A quick jab into 5th shut off the "shift up" light.

Yes, the Insight tells you when you're being bad.

Suz and I took turns driving it around a tiny residential neighbourhood. I paid attention to our fuel consumption gauge the entire time, recognizing an average of 3.9 litres per 100 km. With a 40 litre tank, we could travel 1,025 kms (or 636 miles). Yet even with my right foot straight to the floor, and tires squealing, we never exceeded 5 and a half litres per 100 km.

In the end, Suz didn't feel comfortable driving standard so we decided not to buy one.

We drove 220 kms round trip, and burned about $25 worth of gas, to test-drive one of the rarest cars around (Only 344 in Canada). And it was worth it, even if we didn't buy it.