There's a lot of information that can be gleaned from our Insight's gauges in a quick glance. Of all the screens available in the multi-information display, I tend to use the eco guide (pictured above) the most. I had some questions on the readout, and after consulting the manual, the answers were clarified and I even got an interesting surprise.
The leafy stems show how eco-friendly you're driving (it will further reward drivers with blossoms atop the stems, but I have yet to see one). The moving bar underneath indicates how efficiently you're accelerating or decelerating. The gray boxes on the high and low end are the areas you want to avoid. Stomp the accelerator and the bar shoots to the left, well into the gray box, and you begin losing leafs. No big surprise, but hard braking is also inefficient, since the momentum is scrubbed off by the brake pads rather the regenerative braking. Smooth and steady is the most efficient, but that also sets you up for getting cut-off by other drivers. In L.A. traffic, an open space in front of your car is basically saying, "go ahead, I'm in no rush and don't bother using your signal either."
The manual also shows a feature that I would never have noticed, Lifetime Points. When the key is turned to the "off" position, the screen briefly displays the Insight's cumulative eco score. It takes months to accumulate or change a score, and after charging down to the parking structure to see what we've got, it looks like we've got further to go. No score as of yet.
The manual also shows that there are different stage icons to be attained. Driving inefficiently will show an upside-down leafy icon - as if it's wilting. Sad. The highest stage gets you a trophy icon - Cool! Stay tuned to see if/when our score changes.
boxermike says:
01:29 PM, 10/ 8/09
Thanks. Exactly what I wanted to know.
-mm
boxermike says:
01:37 PM, 10/ 8/09
^ That was funnier when this post went up with no picture or information.
-mm
crowb says:
01:49 PM, 10/ 8/09
HA! @ Magrath trying to be a jackass.
jeepsrt says:
02:44 PM, 10/ 8/09
Wow, that is really lame. A leaf for driving eco friendly?
firstwagon says:
03:05 PM, 10/ 8/09
Probably makes more sense in normal cities with normal drivers then it does in that alternative reality called LA.
compliance says:
04:35 PM, 10/ 8/09
LA city drivers are way more laid back than east coast city drivers. Too laid back for me actually. Slower traffic doesn't know to keep right on this coast.
hybris says:
04:42 PM, 10/ 8/09
When this car gets sold has used the ones driven efficiently will be in higher demand just because its a sign that the car was not driven hard. Personally I think its real gimmicky on Honda's part.
tinyelvis says:
05:42 PM, 10/ 8/09
All this video-game points garbage makes me want to hurl; instead of a cheeseburger fix I'm gonna have to go drive a V8 RIGHT NOW.
hybris says:
06:50 PM, 10/ 8/09
^Quick! Someone get the man a Mustang!
mheikka says:
08:09 PM, 10/ 9/09
I agree that some of the displays are gimmicky. Fortunately, you can toggle the MID to a simple odometer display and forget about the gimmicks. You can also turn off the glowing green speedometer backlight if that bugs you.
The fact that the Edmunds car has no lifetime points (after 7k miles) confirms my suspicions and makes the low reported fuel economy statistics understandable. They are driving this Insight very hard. If you drive the Insight gently (not hypermiling, simply gently) you'll consistently accumulate points and get about 44-47 mpg. Gently doesn't mean snail-like or miserable. Simply stay under 4K RPM.
I take the easy route - I toggle the MID to a "pure" odometer page and simply keep a casual eye on the speedometer backlight. The longer you stay "in the green" the better your fuel economy is. At the end of the drive, the ECO SCORE pops up, and sure enough, I'll have at least three solid bars and nearly three full trees.
aznraptor says:
11:04 PM, 10/10/09
sounds kinda fun to me actually :X
but then again im 19 so what do I know
*shrugs*