You might have noticed the lack of an update for April, and the reason is simple: Both the Insight and I have been so darn busy, we hardly had time to catch up to one another.
My wife Robin and the Insight didn't do anything out of the ordinary in April, but they did an awful lot of it -- over 2,000 miles' worth, which is a lot, even by our standards. Mid-way through May, Robin, her friend Christy, and Christy's 1-year-old daughter Lily, packed into the Insight for a 3,000 mile road trip to Dallas, Texas and back. And if that wasn't enough, the same day Robin, Christy and Lily got home, Robin and I got right back into the Insight for a trip to San Francisco. All in all, we wound up putting over half a year's average mileage on the Insight in just two months.
Do small cars and long trips mix?
Long trips like these are supposed to be the Achilles' heel of small cars. I hear that over and over from my readers: "I'd buy a small car, but I do a lot traveling." But after two back-to-back road trips, I'm starting to wonder where this perception came from. After her Texas run, Robin had only one complaint about the Insight -- at least, one related to size -- and that was its susceptibility to crosswinds. "Normally, it's not bad," she said, "but we ran into some pretty severe winds and we were getting blown around a lot. When we got to the motel that night, my arms were aching from the effort."
What about packing for two adults and a baby? "No problem," Robin said. "We had to use all the space we had, and I don't think we could have fit another person. We did bring a lot of snacks. A lot of snacks. But we didn't feel cramped. It was fine."
Techno-woes
Robin did have other complaints not related to the Insight's size, and number one was the navigation system. "I've never been all that happy with her [Ed. Note: Due to the nav system's female voice, we refer to the system as "her"], but on this trip we needed to detour around a closed section of I-40, and she couldn't do it. She kept trying to put us back onto I-40. We finally gave up, found a gas station, and bought a paper map. I can't believe Honda charges $1,800 for this system. It's definitely not worth it." Robin also noted the noise: "I knew the Insight wasn't the quietest car, but I really noticed the road noise on this trip."
Robin's fuel economy for the trip was 42 MPG even; as with our Thanksgiving road trip, the extra weight took its toll on gas mileage. Even so, I'm happy with that number; by my calculations, the Insight consumed 35 gallons less than our Accord wagon would have done -- enough to pay for a couple of nights at roadside motels.
On the road again
Within hours of Robin's return home, we were back in the Insight for a trip to San Francisco with yours truly at the wheel. After getting a speeding ticket for doing 85 in a 65 -- yes, I will freely admit to being dumb enough to speed on Memorial Day, when every cop in the world was out on patrol -- I set the cruise at 2 MPH over the limit for the rest of the drive. (I wonder... since I've talked about my speeding ticket in this article, can I write off the fine on my taxes?)
I happen to like road tripping in the Insight, mostly because I'm a cheapskate and with the Insight's 10-gallon tank, the fill-ups are always inexpensive. Nothing pleases me more than to pull up behind an SUV that's already started to tank up, because I can pay for my gas, fill the tank, wash the windshield and be gone before the SUV's pump clicks off. There's a practical aspect, too; the cheap fill-ups ease some of the sting of those middle-of-nowhere gas stations that charge 50 cents per gallon more than places in town. But Robin disagrees: She wishes the car had more range, and complained that during the Texas trip she sometimes had to fill up twice a day. "What's the point of having a hybrid if you still have to stop and fill up as often as everyone else?"
Our fuel economy for the trip out to San Francisco was, once again, 42 MPG, but I'm going to blame that one on the hills, as we got significantly better fuel economy on the way home. (I reset the mileage count in San Fran, so the return trip doesn't count towards this month's average.) Despite all our road tripping, our year-to-date fuel economy is holding steady at 41.6 MPG.
Auto-stop revisited
In earlier reports, I talked about the auto-stop not keeping the engine shut down for very long, and Honda's explanation that this had to do with a humidity sensor that kicks on the engine-driven air conditioning compressor to keep the windows from fogging up. The weather is drying out, and we have noticed that the engine stays stopped for much longer -- long enough for the duration of most red lights, in fact. But it still won't stay shut down indefinitely, and at very long lights I often find myself in a wastefully idling Insight. Perhaps it's time for Honda to start fitting their hybrids with electrically-driven A/C compressors, the way Toyota and Ford do.
Mechanically we had yet another trouble-free month, although cosmetically the car is not faring as well -- the top of the back bumper is showing scuff marks from the constant loading and unloading of bulky cargo. All of our road tripping has magnified a couple of the Insight's issues, but no car is perfect, and overall we remain very pleased and very satisfied.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have about 6,000 miles' worth of dead bugs to clean off the front of the Insight. -- Aaron Gold
April 2010 summary:
Starting mileage: 11,486Ending mileage: 13,641
Mileage this month: 2154.9
Fuel economy this month: 41.2 MPG
Average fuel economy: 41.5 MPG
Repair/service costs this month: None
Total repair/service costs: $54.92
Problems observed this month: None
May 2010 summary:
Starting mileage: 13,641Ending mileage: 18,034
Mileage this month: 4393.0
Fuel economy this month: 42.0 MPG
Average fuel economy: 41.6 MPG
Repair/service costs this month: None
Total repair/service costs: $54.92
Problems observed this month: None
Next: June/July 2010
Previous: March 2010
