[vox] [OT] Alternate Vehicle Advice

[Michael Wenk]

On Saturday 12 March 2005 18:47, Ken Herron wrote:
> Richard Crawford wrote:
> > Last time I looked at the Honda Insight they were fairly inexpensive.
> >
> > 'Course, you have to be the size of your average anorexic midget to fit
> > into one of them.
>
> I used to drive a Honda Insight. If you'd asked sooner I would have been
> glad to show it to you, but the lease ended in February and I turned it
> back in to Mel Rapton Honda. If you were to call them, they might be
> able to tell you what happened to it.
>
> The Insight is a small car, but it's only a two-seater so none of the
> space is taken up by a rear seat. I always had enough room. I'm 5'8" and
> there was room to move the seat further back. The cargo area isn't huge
> but there was enough room for my needs.
>
> The car was a lot of fun to drive. The steering is very precise, the
> shift pattern (5-speed standard) is tight, and it accelerates well in
> the first three gears. 4th and 5th gear are more like overdrive gears.
> When you stop at a stoplight the engine shuts off. When you want to go
> again, shift into first and it instantly starts back up.
>
> The car was rated for 60/68 MPG, and I was able to get that at first. I
> saw a slight drop in mileage from the switch from MTBE to gasohol, and
> toward the end I was getting more like 55-60 MPG in my daily commute.
> The only problem I ever had with the car was one time the hybrid control
> computer overheat and shut off during a long drive; I had to take it to
> the dealer to have it reset.

Back east, my old Saturn SL1 routinely got 45 mpg(avg both highway/city), 
sometimes even 50 mpg if I happened to drive more on the highway.  When I 
moved to CA, It went to around 30-35 mpg.  The characteristic of my driving 
didn't change, nor did the area I drove in change very much(pretty flat here 
in sac, pretty flat in the midwest)  The only difference really was the gas 
itself.  Apparently it has less energy in it, or the stuff they throw in 
it(cleaners/MTBE/ethanol) reduces the efficiency.  Now one thing I used to 
wonder is that if reducing the pollution is the purpose of oxygenating the 
fuel, then wouldn't the side effect of reducing the efficiency cause the net 
pollution to be the same?  

One question would be how motivated in buying the car is Hans?  Ie, is the van 
workable?  Can it survive a a bit longer?  If it were me, I would try to hold 
out and save for the hybrid as it will offer a good bang for the buck.  

Then again after a van, any fuel efficient car is gonna seem like a clown car. 


-- 
wenk at praxis.homedns.org
Mike Wenk