Honda Insight Mk1

[jjmartin349571]

It would be funny to drop a H22 into it.

It would probably do an endo every time it came to a stop The whole car only weighs about 850kg including the engine apparently, from what I understand the engine is made of magnesium to keep the weight down

It reminds me of a Horseshoe Crab

Crazy looking cars them,but if it's practicality your after

Steering wheel steals the show for me!

Cheers guys, I know the looks are off the wall but I kind of like that. It's beautiful in its own weird looking way

The interior does like like a fairly nice place to be mind

[wurlycorner]

from what I understand the engine is made of magnesium to keep the weight down

That would be a pretty 'interesting'* combo..?

*read DANGEROUS

[jjmartin349571]

from what I understand the engine is made of magnesium to keep the weight down

That would be a pretty 'interesting'* combo..?

*read DANGEROUS

I have memories of being at school and having to hold a piece of blue film over my eyes whilst watching the teacher burning magnesium strips. I'm guessing the engine is made out of some kind of more stable alloy

[mercutio]

from what I understand the engine is made of magnesium to keep the weight down

That would be a pretty 'interesting'* combo..?

*read DANGEROUS

I have memories of being at school and having to hold a piece of blue film over my eyes whilst watching the teacher burning magnesium strips. I'm guessing the engine is made out of some kind of more stable alloy

yes i think so

[jjmartin349571]

Well doesn't time fly when you're having fun! Feels like only yesterday I was feeling incredibly impatient about how long I'd have to wait for this car... I had my customs bill turn up yesterday, and confirmation that the Insight is due to land in the UK next week. Once I've been and picked it up I will get an update posted on here - I'm just hoping that the HV battery has survived 2 months at sea I guess I'll find out on the drive back from Southampton!

[Merlin]

Be careful as you may not be allowed to leave the docks with the car if you do not have either trade plates or a trailer to transport it. I would check what you need to have in place before you expect to drive it away. I have heard stories of people picking up Elgrand's at the docks and then having their car confiscated by the cops as it is not UK registered or valid for the road.

[jjmartin349571]

Don't fear, I have my own set of trade plates for this very purpose

*edit:

RE leaving the docks, at the exit gates at Southampton they just want to see the release slip that you're given by the storage yard when you hand over your documents. I've driven out without handing it over before though, don't think the bloke fancied wandering out of his hut The people who hand over the car at the yard don't ask for anything other than the bill of lading 2nd copy and proof of ID. I can't speak for other docks though, as I've never been!

[Merlin]

That's good to hear

[jjmartin349571]

Right I'm a little bit behind here as things have been pretty manic in my private life lately, outside of work it feels like I barely have a moment to stop! Seeing as I'm in front of a computer right now I'm going to attempt to bring this up to date...

As some of you may have seen in the 'look what I did today thread' I went and picked the Insight up from Southampton docks last Wednesday:




It did the 70 mile drive home without fault, and I was relieved to see that the IMA battery charged up and then held its charge despite my fairly enthusiastic driving

Here it is on arrival at the barn, over all I'm pleased with it, there's some scuffs and scrapes as expected from the auction report but overall it seems to be a rather clean and straight car:









I noticed the car was quite loud on the drive home, the exhaust note was quite deep with a bit of burble, not at all what I expected. On closer inspection, it appears that the rear silencer has been replaced with a smaller straight through style one I'll be leaving it like that, I love it!



And with that I tucked it away in the barn, meaning to come back to it at the weekend...



I did make a trip up to the barn at the weekend, but only to drop off my second gen Prelude on the Saturday. Then friends and family got in the way and I didn't make it back over... The car was due in for MOT this week so that meant I had to go straight from work last night and fit the fog lamp. Wasn't too bad a job, and it turns out that there is a switch blank in the dash the same size as one in the centre console of a pre-facelift 4g so I was able to use an OEM switch for the fog light. I was rushing though and forgot to wire in the tell-tale light, I think that's an MOT fail Here she is with a rear fog on at any rate, I know the hang down ones split opinions but I hate re-purposing reversing lights.



I dropped it off with my mechanic last night, not sure when I'll hear the result as he just tests my cars as and when seeing as I'm never in a rush for them back. I'm hoping it shouldn't need much to go through, if anything at all - fingers crossed!

Once the MOT is sorted all I'm waiting on is the NOVA letter from HMRC, there's a 4 week lead time on these at the moment though Once I have that I can send the registration forms off to the DVLA, and then it's just a matter of waiting to be sent confirmation of the reg before I can get some plates made up and get the car out on the road

[norks27]

Really smart looking with a futuristic feel. It'll look very distinctive on UK roads.
Wonder if the Jetsons' had one.