From my experience going top speed with econ off on the Insight, once i step on throttle @ around 100km/h, rpm jump to 5.5k, assist needle goes to full, the car will surge quite fast to around 160km/h when the battery level drop to half/ slightly below half. Then the engine will be forced to charge the battery with charge needle drop 1/4 from center. If i continue to floor the pedal, the charging will stop but the car will get limited assist, needle only slightly up from middle and the battery will immediately charged anytime i reduce throttle pressure.

Means at 160-170km/h, give the car some nice 10-15 seconds charge and the battery level will show 1 bar below full, floor the throttle again, rpm will climb to 6k, and u'll be surprise the car can easily pass 180, 190, but i notice whenever the battery depleted and the car going to charging state, the top speed would reduce by 2-3km/h.

And that 200km/h easier to achieve when the highway is going downhill. haha... all car like that what?

Its slightly complicated than just add up the numbers. There were some overlap in power delivery between combustion engine and electric motor. The actual total output (calculation) were also different between toyota's HSD and honda's IMA. From my readings, IMA approach is more on 'as light as possible' with normal CVT, brushless single motor while HSD is more heavier & more complicated drivetrain with planetary gearset etc. The advantage of HSD is it could do extended slow, full battery run with engine shut off (where its get more range), while IMA with smaller capacity battery quite limited in that area. For high speed, IMA seems more suitable with low resistance drive-train and low friction internal while Toyota HSD felt heavier and resist to be pushed faster. Try it. The most comfortable high speed for Prius is around 140-150kmh, while IMA Insight felt light on throttle @ 160km/h. As usual, Honda make it drivers likes to drive fast, while Toyota make its drivers like to drive slow.

This post has been edited by watonk: Jan 18 2012, 10:56 PM

Yeah not much downhill there but i guess u play your momentum quite well...
I prefer Elite highway for top speed run.

I dont think its a joke. Honda is producing both, Insight & CRZ. If Insight can easily hit 200km/h (some foreigners even up to 205-210), I'm quite confident they tuned the CRZ to edge slightly more. Or at least both have similar tops but CRZ accelerate much faster. Maybe the owners of the new CRZ still not yet master the art to bring it to the absolute top speed (as stick shift and clutched car need more skills) and maybe most of the units on the road is still very new and the engine is not loose enough for absolute top speed.

Dont mind the Golf & 308T, but prius 1.8 atkinson output is not far off of Insight's 1.3 otto. From my experience, test driving session will give u only that much of impression of a car compared to owning one. 200km/h is fast for normal driver. I guess u're a champ level.
And comparing Prius's handling vs Insight, u really need to test it again. Really. At least not so so

Insight acceleration slow? . Now how fast is fast.
The figure is similar to prius what.

I get it. Some people not used to that CVT rubber band effect (RPM jump, followed by speed). U should use a scooter last time

Yeap. its about 0.2-0.3 seconds faster than Insight on century sprint.

Different league.

Haha. Very seldom saw lowyat thread hijacked as nasty.

---

Added on January 26, 2012, 11:07 amThey are enjoying they new car. Giv em sometimes.

This post has been edited by watonk: Jan 26 2012, 11:07 AM

My salute to engineers working on VSA (honda)/VSC (toyota).

That thing really kicks in when i think i've had it and waiting for crash. Saves me/my wallet few times oready.