Mat777's Insightful Purchase - a shite collection thread

[mat777]

Morning all! 

Waking up way too early excited but drenched from the humidity count: 1

Bacon sandwich count: 1

Poo count: 1

This one is effectively in Narnia, nearly 4 hours drive or a £lol train ticket from me in the Pool of Livers.

Luckily, a family member in Cheshire was destined for a Monday morning meeting not too far away from my pickup, so I've hitched a lift 

 

So what is it? It's something a little different from my usual fare - a mid 00s Japanese 2-seat coupe...

[Dick Cheeseburger]

MR2? 

What sort of car are you travelling in? I've completely lost track of moderns...

[mat777]

  On 21/07/2024 at 07:56, Dick Longbridge said:

MR2? 

What sort of car are you travelling in? I've completely lost track of moderns...

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Not as sporty as that

The modern is an Ovlov XC60, which is a lovely car totally ruined by the optional extras (adaptive cruise with "extra Volvo" levels of piling-on-the-brakes-for-a-lane-changer-100m-ahead levels of pessimism, and 22 inch wheels with 35 profile tyres that commit suicide over the slightest of Cheshire's many potholes) 

[mat777]

Cherwell.... 

Wee stop count: 1

KFC/BK count: 0 (for now) 

Travel hours left: 1

[IronStar]

CRX?

[GeordieInExile]

Insight.

[mintwth]

Copen? 

[DVee8]

Nissan Sunny 100NX

[High Jetter]

MX5? Chodspeed

[wuvvum]

[hairnet]

silvia 

rolled bongo van

 

[mintwth]

Integra

[Ghosty]

350Z is the only thing I can think of that fits the bill for a two seat coupe...

[mat777]

Apologies all for the radio silence, I wanted to get home asap from the collection due to Sunday afternoon M25/M6 traffic (and still copped some  of it!) 

There is a correct guess on here, sadly it isn't Wuvvum 🤣 

Collection achieved - celebratory Triple Bacon Cheese XL  whilst topping up with fuel 

Oooh, it's 5% of something important looking 😉 

[wuvvum]

That's not a very insightful clue, we need more than that.

[Ghosty]

That's an emissions sticker, but I've no idea what it means - Translate tells me it's 'horsepower base +5% rickshaw'.

Pretty slow then...

[mat777]

  On 21/07/2024 at 18:08, wuvvum said:

That's not a very insightful clue, we need more than that.

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ISWYDT 😁 

Yes, collection achieved of the Insight previously belonging to @jonny69, now safely back at my parents for the weekend. Just under 1/3 of the 40litre tank used to cruised the 180 miles back at 70mph, which is a good start

Got quite a lot of curious looks on the motorway, I suspect the lack of any badges further confuses onlookers! 

Also looks tiny compared to the neighbours Camry Hybrid, and I suspect weighs 1/3 as much  😅

 

 

[mat777]

So, some thoughts from my first few hours as an Insight driver...

Many thanks once again to Jon for his hospitality today, answering my many noob questions, and also for his patience in putting up with my very protracted attempts to get the cash together whilst the car has been up for sale! 

I was forewarned by Jon last night that the car had been stood for some time, and had signalled its displeasure by running extremely lumpily on its horribly stale petrol whilst being washed and cleaned.  A few litres of new super being chucked in had improved things slightly but it still wasnt happy.

Upon arriving at Jons, a short test drive saw the lumpy idle causing stalls at junctions and throwing an EML. I was 50/50 worried for my purchase and mortified for Jon - I really didn't want to have to go home on the train empty handed! An OBD reader scan showed the code was for an exhaust O2 sensor... not the end of the world and very likely due to the fuel situation, so the punt was taken and money changed hands. 

As soon as I could, the tank was brimmed with fresh super unleaded, and after the food stop it was time for the long schlep home. Stop-start roads prior to the motorway were dealt with by flicking the drive mode into sport, which raised the idle speed and cancelled the stop-start, meaning no embarrassing stalls in the busy traffic of Surrey!

Happily, some hours of sipping fresh super on the motorway meant that when I restarted after a halfway pee break, the EML had banished itself. Further good news was to follow once home,  as leaving the car idling for a good 5-10 minutes resulted in a step change from the 300rpm verge-of-stalling and 1500rpm high idle, to a nice sensible and steady 700rpm or so. 

Fuel consumption for the 180 mile drive home? The fuel gauge is 1/3 gone, so about 13.5 litres from the 40 litre tank. Thats 65+ mpg sat at 70-75mph with the (very good!) aircon running. Will be interesting to see if I can crack 80, 90 and 100 in time with good fuel and driving experimentation! I am told that the CVT cars struggle to get quite as good figures as the manuals, but it is definitely a much more relaxed drive  

Speaking of which...  many of the period road test mentioned an uncomfortable driving position/ergonomics. I can't say I share the sentiment at all, the slightly reclined seats are very comfy, the view out is fine. The only thing I could mention is some road noise, but given the lightness of the construction that's only to be expected. Performance is best described as leisurely, even with all 8hp of the battery assist, but then that's not what this car is about! I've got driving fast out of my system with the Boxster, and didnt enjoy it due to the very limited opportunities for a spanking. Driving as economically as possible? That's a challenge I can rise to all the time  

[hairnet]

  On 21/07/2024 at 21:14, mat777 said:

 

That's a challenge I can rise to all the time  

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yeah but after - not while yer in the car ok?

 

[mat777]

  On 21/07/2024 at 18:21, Ghosty said:

That's an emissions sticker, but I've no idea what it means - Translate tells me it's 'horsepower base +5% rickshaw'.

Pretty slow then...

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Ah, who doesn't love a literal translation 😅 I'll have to ask my Japanese friend for a proper translation!

 

Is it bad that the first purchase I'm thinking of making is a small period-correct stereotype for the bootlid? 😁

[jonny69]

Really happy to see this stay in the fold and really relieved the idle sorted itself. It’s been parked since the MOT in October last year. 

65mpg sounds about right for your first go! Usually sits around 70mpg at 70mph and mid-to-high 70s if you sit at 67-68mph. Lean burn works in all conditions up to 64mph. If the weather is right it does it up to 67mph and then in some very rare conditions it’ll do it at 70mph. If you sit at say 64mph and hold your right foot in the same position you’ll feel lean burn kick in (the throttle goes a bit dead feeling) and you’ll see the mpg meter jump up to 20+ miles per litre. If you move the accelerator too far up or down it comes out of lean burn. When in lean burn it does something like 10 miles in lean, then purges for 8-10 seconds, then goes into lean burn again. 

Another thing I forgot to mention is it’s got a Peter Perkins IMA Current Hack board fitted to the BCM and MCM. It’s currently switched off but you can increase the current by up to 40% (14kW assist instead of 10kW). The resistor to enable it is in the Jiffy bag in the boot. Obvs read up about it on insightcentral and be aware it puts extra strain on the battery. 

[Tickman]

I can't recommend one of these enough.

Gives you loads of information and the little led lets you know you are in lean burn at a glance.

[mat777]

  On 22/07/2024 at 10:03, jonny69 said:

Really happy to see this stay in the fold and really relieved the idle sorted itself. It’s been parked since the MOT in October last year. 

65mpg sounds about right for your first go! Usually sits around 70mpg at 70mph and mid-to-high 70s if you sit at 67-68mph. Lean burn works in all conditions up to 64mph. If the weather is right it does it up to 67mph and then in some very rare conditions it’ll do it at 70mph. If you sit at say 64mph and hold your right foot in the same position you’ll feel lean burn kick in (the throttle goes a bit dead feeling) and you’ll see the mpg meter jump up to 20+ miles per litre. If you move the accelerator too far up or down it comes out of lean burn. When in lean burn it does something like 10 miles in lean, then purges for 8-10 seconds, then goes into lean burn again. 

Another thing I forgot to mention is it’s got a Peter Perkins IMA Current Hack board fitted to the BCM and MCM. It’s currently switched off but you can increase the current by up to 40% (14kW assist instead of 10kW). The resistor to enable it is in the Jiffy bag in the boot. Obvs read up about it on insightcentral and be aware it puts extra strain on the battery. 

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Ahhh that makes sense, I had noticed some points where the throttle had felt a bit disconnected, but now I know it's deliberate I can attempt to keep it there - let the hypermiling commence!   
Good to know about the current hack, is there a specific use case where it helps? I've been finding so far that by accelerating gently, I barely trouble the motor assists - should I in fact be doing the opposite to get up to speed quicker with the battery, making it weirdly inversely economical?

 

  On 23/07/2024 at 15:52, Tickman said:

I can't recommend one of these enough.

Gives you loads of information and the little led lets you know you are in lean burn at a glance.

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Interesting, I assume it's a monitor that plugs into the OBD? Do you have any more details please on where it's from and how much it costs?

 

First mod is already planned! One thing that began to get slightly wearing on the long drive back was a lack of a centre console armrest, with the standard fit being a small plastic tunnel trim aft of the handbrake:

 

Luckily it appears I'm far from the first person to notice this, and some clever people on the Insight forum have worked out that a period Civic centre console is a drop-in fit once the leading edge has been trimmed slightly and the plastic has been sprayed a matching colour:

https://www.insightcentral.net/threads/yet-yet-yet-another-arm-rest-thread.131993/

Luckily, I know a man with a garden full of 90s Civics who has confirmed he has the bit I need, so watch this space!  

[bezzabsa]

very much a 'future' car that actually still looks quite recent , think they shot themselves in the foot by dropping these

[jonny69]

  On 24/07/2024 at 11:25, mat777 said:

Good to know about the current hack, is there a specific use case where it helps? I've been finding so far that by accelerating gently, I barely trouble the motor assists - should I in fact be doing the opposite to get up to speed quicker with the battery, making it weirdly inversely economical?

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Yes, use the motor assist for your accelerating. It’s basically free energy because you recouped it last time you used the brakes. Then try and do as much of your braking as you can with the top part of the brake pedal where it activates the regen but isn’t yet applying the brakes. 

The current hack tricks the system into using 40% more of each across the board. It makes the car a bit faster with no penalty to the fuel consumption and it used less fuel in traffic. I also changed the main fuse from 100A to 200A. This is what’s on there and how it works:

https://www.insightcentral.net/threads/2019-current-hack-pcb.124179/

[Tickman]

  On 24/07/2024 at 11:25, mat777 said:

Interesting, I assume it's a monitor that plugs into the OBD? Do you have any more details please on where it's from and how much it costs?

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http://www.solarvan.co.uk/

Peter Perkins is the man who makes them.

There is a newer version that you can override the control of the motor to add extra assist and increase the amount of regen you can get as well as when it does its thing.