My "new" commuter, a Y2K Honda Insight. Honda Insights were the first mass marketed Hybrid vehicle, and this one was a first year production. It has some cool features: at only about 1900 pounds, its lightweight, and constructed mostly from alumunium. Unlight Toyota and most other hybrids, the insight runs primarily off of its 3 cylinder engine, which is supplimented by an electric motor that is sandwiched between the gas engine and the transmission. It uses regenerative braking to recharge the batteries, so when you down shift (engine brake) the electric batteries charge up.
It is also a TWO Seater hatchback, and has am all digital dash that reminds me of a video game. lots of flashy bar graphs to display speed, rev's, and mpg's. really neat stuff. Its rated for about 70 mpg, but i havent figured out how to get that out of it yet, and im averaging about 44 mpg with my "aggresive" driving style, but im learning. Its a fun little car to drive, albeit very different than a "normal" car.
a Picture of the original concept, which is very similar to the end result.
My car at the local dealer before I bought it, wearing its "New Formula Red" Paint job.. red is a pita to maintain, but its also supposed to be the more "desirable color of all that was offered. I dont know about all that, Im not a collector, I'm simply going to drive the doors off this thing.. :)
Pretty sporty interior! though the casette radio will go soon. Ive already tossed the paper cone speakers and upgraded them to Boston acoustic ns67's, much better tunes already!
I got tired of the factory cassette pretty quickly, so out with the old:
And in went an old school Clarion ProAudio arx6570z head unit (yep, still have a cassette deck, but now its got oomph!), with a CeNET 12 disc changer. this will integrate nicely with the carputer plans as Ive also got the aux in CeNET adaptor :)
This stereo may be a bit dated, but it still sounds amazing!
Since I can never leave well enough alone, some upgrades are instore. stay tuned for a fog light installation, A car PC install, and custom center console to start with. later maybe we'll add a turbo, who knows, but right now, I'm just going to learn how to drive it , and have some fun!
Latest upgrades: Carputer(ATOM based,riderunner front end, delorme' gps,CCTV DVR,etc.) , testing now on temporary mounts. pics soon! CeNEt aux input for Clarion ProAudio system to integrate carputer audio.
atom itx in minitx enclosure. Using Ride Runner front end over win xp, with Delorme nav embedded. also has pinnicle hdtv tuner, and quad camera dvr capability (not yet installed). I had to put the tv tuner and wifi tuner in a box to protect them from getting mushed... yes, its a travel soap box.. :)
antennas...
a short vid of temp set up..
