HFS's car thread | Nearly-5000-miles update
- Thread starter homeforsummer
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Not quite the scenic quality of @Ferraridude308's MINI'n'Utah shots, but a quick service station stop last night did remind me how great the Insight's paintwork can look in the right light. It's just a pity it's so often uniform grey skies here, really doesn't do shades with a bit of depth any favours.
Had a reaffirmation of being glad I bought the car on my drive up the country yesterday too. It was just cruising really nicely up the motorway, with not much traffic, at sunset, and I was just happy to be driving it. The only other car I've owned that had that with is the MX-5.
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It's pretty good actually. The one thing it could do with is a slightly quicker steering rack, as you always need a little more lock on the wheel than you'd expect, but that's common to most older cars in comparison with newer ones - most new cars seem to have really quick racks these days.
I've not yet properly thrown it around, but because of the light weight it seems to hang on okay even given the skinny tyres and the fact they're all at 40 psi. Higher pressures actually improve the steering too, it's an electric rack and can feel a little dead at 30-odd psi, but the car has been designed with higher-than-normal pressures in mind.
One odd sensation it does have is I think caused by the narrower rear track. If you really pitch it into a corner there's just a momentary feeling of the back of the car catching up - like the back suspension is loading a fraction later than the front because it's sitting a few inches inboard. I suspect such a sensation is even more exaggerated in proper three-wheeled cars like the Morgan.
I quite enjoy it though. Helps that you sit really low, doesn't feel much higher than an MX-5's seating position. Has quite thin, low seats too and the wheel from an S2000. That's one thing I may change actually - the wheel is the same design as an S2000's, but it's plastic rather than leather. A leather one is basically a straight swap, so it's on my list.
I've not yet properly thrown it around, but because of the light weight it seems to hang on okay even given the skinny tyres and the fact they're all at 40 psi. Higher pressures actually improve the steering too, it's an electric rack and can feel a little dead at 30-odd psi, but the car has been designed with higher-than-normal pressures in mind.
One odd sensation it does have is I think caused by the narrower rear track. If you really pitch it into a corner there's just a momentary feeling of the back of the car catching up - like the back suspension is loading a fraction later than the front because it's sitting a few inches inboard. I suspect such a sensation is even more exaggerated in proper three-wheeled cars like the Morgan.
I quite enjoy it though. Helps that you sit really low, doesn't feel much higher than an MX-5's seating position. Has quite thin, low seats too and the wheel from an S2000. That's one thing I may change actually - the wheel is the same design as an S2000's, but it's plastic rather than leather. A leather one is basically a straight swap, so it's on my list.
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Hah, it's one of the things I've always liked about it. When the car came out I was really into second-gen Honda CRXs, so this was just the modern version of it for me. I like the CR-Z for the same reason.
I've seen examples of these modified where the rear wheels have been uncovered and a regular wheel arch put in place, and they just don't look right. This one isn't the best example (smaller wheels and lower suspension would work better) but I think it looks too truncated with the rear wheels uncovered:
- 3,455
- Brisbane
- Uriehusky
- Uriehusky
Hah, it's one of the things I've always liked about it. When the car came out I was really into second-gen Honda CRXs, so this was just the modern version of it for me. I like the CR-Z for the same reason.
I've seen examples of these modified where the rear wheels have been uncovered and a regular wheel arch put in place, and they just don't look right. This one isn't the best example (smaller wheels and lower suspension would work better) but I think it looks too truncated with the rear wheels uncovered:
Forcefully making it "normal" just doesn't work. That doesn't look natural as much as I want it to..
I don't know what it is but that comes close to being appealing.. but falls short due to the rear looking disproportionate.
I dunno.. I guess I'll just have to live without having one of these rad little cars in my driveway because this one seems to be a case of "Better the devil you know"
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- Uriehusky
- Uriehusky
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I'd tend to agree, though the "K-sight" swaps are quite appealing, particularly when they're done with a factory look (the most popular one floating around the internet has the digital gauges from an S2000, which fits right in).
A few people in America have also done turbo conversions to add a bit more performance and they still get great mpg, but while it's appealing I a) don't have the cash and b) am not sure I want to do anything that'll reduce the engine's lifespan, as untouched they just seem to go on forever.
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Nice day for a drive, innit?
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The weather isn't always crap in good ol' Blighty. In other news... nothing really to report. Haven't driven it much over the past few weeks as I had a press car in for a week, and there've been no long trips to make. This tank's economy is "only" around 63 mpg UK (52 mpg US) so far...
- 8,225
- Drayton Bassett, North Warwickshire
- Duffers999
- Clark Duffy
The weather isn't always crap in good ol' Blighty. In other news... nothing really to report. Haven't driven it much over the past few weeks as I had a press car in for a week, and there've been no long trips to make. This tank's economy is "only" around 63 mpg UK (52 mpg US) so far...
That arrow straight road
Could hit some naughty speeds down there
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New boots!
Old ones were right down to the legal limit at the front and not far off at the back.
New experience for me tyre-wise too. In the past, I've usually bought either the cheapest decent brand I could get (Fiesta, Rover) or paid a little extra to get some decent performance tyres (MX-5, Panda). In this case, I scouted around for the best economy tyre that didn't sacrifice grip. Ended up with a set of Kumho Ecowings - not too expensive, rated C for economy (best I could find, it's on an A-G scale), B for wet weather grip, and 68dB noise on the new European noise level scale.
They're certainly quieter than the old tyres and the ride is better too. We'll see how they do for economy but I imagine they'll be better than the old knackered ones in that regard too.
Old ones were right down to the legal limit at the front and not far off at the back.
New experience for me tyre-wise too. In the past, I've usually bought either the cheapest decent brand I could get (Fiesta, Rover) or paid a little extra to get some decent performance tyres (MX-5, Panda). In this case, I scouted around for the best economy tyre that didn't sacrifice grip. Ended up with a set of Kumho Ecowings - not too expensive, rated C for economy (best I could find, it's on an A-G scale), B for wet weather grip, and 68dB noise on the new European noise level scale.
They're certainly quieter than the old tyres and the ride is better too. We'll see how they do for economy but I imagine they'll be better than the old knackered ones in that regard too.
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So, decision time.
With having the tyres replaced recently I spent rather a lot of time looking at my absolutely knackered alloy wheels.
Through no fault of my own - it's a mixture of previous owners and the laws of physics - they're both very kerbed and very corroded. I decided some time ago that I wanted to get them refurbished, but the question is how.
This, if I remember correctly, is the rear right. The fronts are in better shape:
As you can see, pretty scabby. However, there are a few problems with regards to refurbishing it. The main one is the diamond-cut finish. Firstly, it's expensive. Secondly, if the wheels aren't too damaged for them to do it, it's probably a process they can only do once, and because diamond-cut alloys are notorious for corrosion it may be the case that in another three years - if I own the car that long - I'd have to have them re-done, and probably re-done in a different finish since no more alloy could be cut off.
Problem number three is that the centre caps are also diamond-cut... except they're small aluminium facings on plastic backings, and that basically requires buying new ones when they're as knackered as mine. From what I heard, that alone can cost as much as the wheel refurbishment... However, they do look awesome when done - see below:
Option number two is to have them completely refinished in a non-standard way. The owner of the wheel shown above had to do that a few years later due to exactly the corrosion issues I described. He just had them painted silver, which to me seems a bit of a shame - you lose the cool finish, and I could also see it looking a little flat, and a little odd on an otherwise shiny and dark-grey car. Here's a silver-painted one - it looks like a wheel trim rather than an alloy:
What I'm leaning towards is a completely different finish. Nothing too weird and wonderful, but maybe a darker metallic or semi-chrome finish that has some of the shine of the original, and is much more durable (I'm thinking powder-coated) but is a slightly different shade. Thinking something like that of the second image below (first image is as it looks standard):
That's not entirely accurate of course as I've just made the diamond coating darker in photoshop. But it's more the shade I'm after, and a finish that'll look good without the wheels going off over time and looking crappy again.
So whaddya think? Would darker look okay? Suggestions? And incidentally, replacing them altogether with a completely different alloy wheel design isn't really an option, as I don't really want to make it look like someone has inexplicably riced a 75-ish horsepower hybrid...
With having the tyres replaced recently I spent rather a lot of time looking at my absolutely knackered alloy wheels.
Through no fault of my own - it's a mixture of previous owners and the laws of physics - they're both very kerbed and very corroded. I decided some time ago that I wanted to get them refurbished, but the question is how.
This, if I remember correctly, is the rear right. The fronts are in better shape:
As you can see, pretty scabby. However, there are a few problems with regards to refurbishing it. The main one is the diamond-cut finish. Firstly, it's expensive. Secondly, if the wheels aren't too damaged for them to do it, it's probably a process they can only do once, and because diamond-cut alloys are notorious for corrosion it may be the case that in another three years - if I own the car that long - I'd have to have them re-done, and probably re-done in a different finish since no more alloy could be cut off.
Problem number three is that the centre caps are also diamond-cut... except they're small aluminium facings on plastic backings, and that basically requires buying new ones when they're as knackered as mine. From what I heard, that alone can cost as much as the wheel refurbishment... However, they do look awesome when done - see below:
Option number two is to have them completely refinished in a non-standard way. The owner of the wheel shown above had to do that a few years later due to exactly the corrosion issues I described. He just had them painted silver, which to me seems a bit of a shame - you lose the cool finish, and I could also see it looking a little flat, and a little odd on an otherwise shiny and dark-grey car. Here's a silver-painted one - it looks like a wheel trim rather than an alloy:
What I'm leaning towards is a completely different finish. Nothing too weird and wonderful, but maybe a darker metallic or semi-chrome finish that has some of the shine of the original, and is much more durable (I'm thinking powder-coated) but is a slightly different shade. Thinking something like that of the second image below (first image is as it looks standard):
That's not entirely accurate of course as I've just made the diamond coating darker in photoshop. But it's more the shade I'm after, and a finish that'll look good without the wheels going off over time and looking crappy again.
So whaddya think? Would darker look okay? Suggestions? And incidentally, replacing them altogether with a completely different alloy wheel design isn't really an option, as I don't really want to make it look like someone has inexplicably riced a 75-ish horsepower hybrid...
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Cano
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