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New 2019 Touring owner!

5K views 19 replies 6 participants last post by  stevew 
#1 ·
Howdy from Oregon folks!

My wife and I finally replaced our 2006 VW Jetta TDI last week with a leftover 2019 Insight Touring. We wanted something that matched or exceeded the MPG on the old car (42-44 mpg highway), and kept going back and forth over an EV or a hybrid to replace it. We live in a semi-rural area, and both have 30 mile commutes (in opposite directions, unfortunately, our other car is a Subaru Outback).

The crappy position that Toyota (plus GM, Subaru, Hyundai, Nissan, etc...) took against higher fuel economy and clean air standards was a big deal for us, and eliminated the Prius and EV's from Hyundai and Nissan from our consideration. We decided to give our business to Honda instead (Tesla is out of our price range).

Loving the car so far. Platinum white color is gorgeous, and it has been averaging 46 mpg (only 300 miles on the clock!) Hoping to see that go up as it breaks in.

We had a minor snafu at the dealership (Swickard Honda in Gladstone, OR)... our vehicle was the showroom Insight, and had sat there for a while (had 6 miles on the odometer). The 12 volt battery was dead when asked to test drive it. It was jumped with a lithium battery pack, and everything performed great on the test drive but we wanted a new battery installed before we took delivery of it. We bought on Jan 1, and the service department was closed... dealership replaced it the following morning, and drove the car 1 hour north to my wife's office to deliver it.
 

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#2 ·
Hi @Threeweight ,
Welcome to the forum and congrats on your new Insight! If it's a 2019 then you got the White Orchid Pearl instead of Platinum White on the 2020. Honda swapped the white color for the 2020 Insight. You get more shiny pearls with the 2019. ;) Showroom Insight isn't bad because at least it's protected from the elements. Smart idea to ask them to give you a new AGM battery. Those things aren't cheap like the regular flooded batteries in other Honda models. I'm averaging 45-47mpg right now in an EX so that's not bad for a Touring trim. You will see improvements when temps are consistently warmer like when Spring rolls around. I got 55-59mpg per tank last Summer (EX).
 
#3 ·
Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your purchase. Glad you got the dealership to replace the 12v battery. There is lots of discussion on here from people having problems with the battery and electronics shortly after purchasing their car. What seemed to be the common thread was that the car had low "test drive" miles and had been sitting on the lots for an extended period of time. The manuals warns against letting the car sit too long without being started and run for a while in order to keep the battery from prematurely wearing out. Lots to learn about your Insight so stay tuned here, read lots of threads, and ask questions.
 
#5 ·
Holy cow! My label reads 11/18... When we took it for a test drive it had 6 miles on the odometer... must have spent a year sitting on the dealer floor!


Really strange, as Portland is one of the hotter markets in the country for hybrids/EVs. This dealer changed hands last year, and they are generally known as one of the more upscale Honda sellers in the area. Looking at their inventory last week, they had nearly 100 CRV's, and lots Pilots, Accords, and Oddessys, but only 6 Insights and only 1 Accord hybrid.
 
#6 · (Edited)
Your Insight is still newer than mine by 2 months. Mine was built 9/18. :p What's the oil life % left? Do you know if they kept the old factory oil or gave your Insight a new oil change?

I assume most Insight owners bought the EX trim.
 
#13 ·
Picked up the seat cover today, along w/ the paper on what services they performed on Jan 2nd. Battery replacement, a OBD II scan to check for any faults, cleared a leftover low voltage code from the initial dead battery on January 1, checked fluid levels, and reset service minders. The car had 11 miles on it.
 
#14 ·
So it sounds like they just reset the oil life indicator and didn't change the oil. I don't know whether this is a good or bad thing. Maximum recommended time between oil changes is 1 year due to oil degradation, even with low use/mileage. For higher mileage drivers, oil life has hit 15% at ~10k miles.

Given the circumstances, I'd suggest erring on the side of earlier oil change than indicated for this first one (6 mo / 5k miles?). Maybe you can see if the dealer will give you a free first oil change, given how long the car was on lot.
 
#15 ·
More positive than negative, I think.

Coming from a marine/power equipment background, the recommended oil service intervals there (1 year or 100 hours for Honda outboards) are less because the oil degrades just from sitting, more because engines that are used infrequently, or for short periods, tend to not get up to full operating temperature and end up with more contaminants in the oil (like unburnt fuel and water vapor/condensation). With cars this dynamic would probably be worse (like the problems w/ fuel contamination Honda had early on w/ the 1.5 turbo engines in CRV's.)

Probably some degradation of in this oil from oxidation, but the crank case is sealed so hopefully that is limited. Also good that the factory fill is a full synthetic, as they tend to be more stable. And this vehicle literally lived in the showroom it's entire life. Taking it out for a test drive involved re-arranging all their furniture and cubicles to get it out.

I rack up about 15k a year on my commuter vehicles... I may just let this initial oil go to 5k, then change it.
 
#16 ·
I rack up about 15k a year on my commuter vehicles... I may just let this initial oil go to 5k, then change it.
If I had a place to do my own oil change. I would just dump it(for peace of mind) and use the Idemitsu Zepro w/Moly as my break in oil instead of the old factory oil. After that switch back to whatever oil you prefer using.
 
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