Toyota Yaris...... or a Honda Insight

[SAV912]

Originally Posted by cali yaris

I like how you basically call the OP a liar... then give him advice.

I didn't call him a liar. I just said it was highly unlikely. You're talking about the planets being nearly perfectly aligned to essentially DOUBLE the EPA ratings of 40/43 that the Insight earns. I'm sorry, but the fact of the matter is that it's just not likely to go from 40 MPG to 80 MPG just by holding a steady 55 MPH cruise. Hell, 55 MPH probably isn't even the most efficient speed for the Insight.

If it's possible to do 80 MPG on the Insight, fine. But I've got places to be and things to do, so driving patiently and particular enough to achieve 80 MPG is for someone else.

-SAV

[KrazyDawg]

Originally Posted by SAV912

I didn't call him a liar. I just said it was highly unlikely. You're talking about the planets being nearly perfectly aligned to essentially DOUBLE the EPA ratings of 40/43 that the Insight earns. I'm sorry, but the fact of the matter is that it's just not likely to go from 40 MPG to 80 MPG just by holding a steady 55 MPH cruise. Hell, 55 MPH probably isn't even the most efficient speed for the Insight.

If it's possible to do 80 MPG on the Insight, fine. But I've got places to be and things to do, so driving patiently and particular enough to achieve 80 MPG is for someone else.

-SAV

I know the first generation Insight can get high MPG. In fact, it's still higher than the third generation Prius. The second gen Prius has a super highway mode that allows it to get 70-80 MPG on the highway. I'm not sure if the second gen Insight has it but you'll probably see some high numbers and advice posted on CleanMPG.

Choosing to drive 55 or 70 is a choice but sometimes driving above the speed limit doesn't always save you time. When you take into account traffic, stop signs, and red lights, any time saved is lost. I haven't found a significant difference between doing 80 and 65-70 due to this.

[Thai_Dang]

I think SAV is right, if you look at the fuelly charts, the average peak lies at 46 mpg, with extremes of 36 and 60, respectively for a survey of 115 Honda Insights. From that large sample, 80 mpg falls too far beyond the standard deviation to be credible, possible, but not likely to be achieved by him. There are probably some hypermilers there, hence the 60 mpg person. But for the realistically driving (not 100% highway at 55 mph) he'll probably put it through, he would probably get 46 mpg, upwards to 60 (a good 30% increase).

As for which car he should choose, the Insight doesn't seem much more expensive than the Yaris according to new dealership msrp search using yahoo auto.

Insight vs. Yaris: $20,550 vs. $14,548, ~$6,000 difference

I'd say $6,000 gets you a better car, honestly I expected the price premium to be higher to jump from base model petrol to cool hybrid, but definitely he wouldn't recoupe the premium on gas savings,but he'll just get a better car. So my vote is for Insight!

Insight: 46 mpg, cost/mile= 7 cents, extremes 60 mpg, cost/mile= 5 cents
Yaris: 38 mpg, cost/mile= 8 cents, extremes 46 mpg, cost/mile= 7 cents
There's a 1 cent difference/gallon, which means he'd make up the $6,000 difference in price in 600,000 miles or 40 years, with the extreme cost difference would take him 300k, or 20 years.

Fuelly:
http://www.fuelly.com/car/honda/insight
http://www.fuelly.com/car/toyota/yaris

Originally Posted by SAV912

I didn't call him a liar. I just said it was highly unlikely. You're talking about the planets being nearly perfectly aligned to essentially DOUBLE the EPA ratings of 40/43 that the Insight earns. I'm sorry, but the fact of the matter is that it's just not likely to go from 40 MPG to 80 MPG just by holding a steady 55 MPH cruise. Hell, 55 MPH probably isn't even the most efficient speed for the Insight.

If it's possible to do 80 MPG on the Insight, fine. But I've got places to be and things to do, so driving patiently and particular enough to achieve 80 MPG is for someone else.

-SAV