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836 Posts
Dear Honda,
Three things to make the insight perfect for me (and probably many more)
1) A reserve button. This would disable the electric motor (from battery power) for the purpose of storing energy towards the end of a drive.. I'd love to be able to store more energy, for my next drive. Or in the case of those of us in terrain, it'd help in the event of knowing a climb is coming, instead of using the battery while on flat terrain before a hill.
2) Could a capacitor, or similar device be added to allow the short term storage of excess energy once the battery is full.
3) *I know this is asking a lot, and probably not practical*. Turbocharge the 1.5l. Controlled with electronic waste gate, the turbo would only be used in situations where the car is under heavy load and the battery isn't charged enough for electric assist. I can honestly say that I've driven less powerful 4-cylinder cars through the same mountain passes that I drove with the insight a couple of days ago. And what was once a blast to drive, rowing through the gears with a 110 hp dodge neon, felt like a chore in our 21 year newer Insight with almost double the horsepower. And the kicker, the Neon got better gas mileage (on this particular mountain drive, the climb portion). The Insight did manage to do slightly better round trip, including the decent portion, and could have done much better if it could have stored additional power short term, or been able to reserve the battery for the steeper portions of the climb.,
3a) If turbocharging isn't practical, how about a second gear for highway use. Something that would improve 55+mph usage of the 2-motor system.
We absolutely love the car, just some thoughts on some minor improvements to really push this car to the next level.
-MJ
Three things to make the insight perfect for me (and probably many more)
1) A reserve button. This would disable the electric motor (from battery power) for the purpose of storing energy towards the end of a drive.. I'd love to be able to store more energy, for my next drive. Or in the case of those of us in terrain, it'd help in the event of knowing a climb is coming, instead of using the battery while on flat terrain before a hill.
2) Could a capacitor, or similar device be added to allow the short term storage of excess energy once the battery is full.
3) *I know this is asking a lot, and probably not practical*. Turbocharge the 1.5l. Controlled with electronic waste gate, the turbo would only be used in situations where the car is under heavy load and the battery isn't charged enough for electric assist. I can honestly say that I've driven less powerful 4-cylinder cars through the same mountain passes that I drove with the insight a couple of days ago. And what was once a blast to drive, rowing through the gears with a 110 hp dodge neon, felt like a chore in our 21 year newer Insight with almost double the horsepower. And the kicker, the Neon got better gas mileage (on this particular mountain drive, the climb portion). The Insight did manage to do slightly better round trip, including the decent portion, and could have done much better if it could have stored additional power short term, or been able to reserve the battery for the steeper portions of the climb.,
3a) If turbocharging isn't practical, how about a second gear for highway use. Something that would improve 55+mph usage of the 2-motor system.
We absolutely love the car, just some thoughts on some minor improvements to really push this car to the next level.
-MJ