John Wayland wrote: > Have to disagree with you, Roger.
[snip] > As many know, back in > April, I had something 'more' than a fender-bender with my > car! It was very easy finding a high quality shop right here > in my hometown that were experts on the Insight, and who had > already worked on three of them. The type of impact my car > sustained, would have totaled a normal type of car, [...] > My Insight's aluminum > body structure held up in a surreal way Sorry John, but what exactly are you disagreeing with? I didn't say the Insight construction was flimsy, just that aluminum frame and body repair work will involve special skills not necessrily found at just any body shop, and ~may~ incur higher costs than repair of similar damage to a car of conventional steel construction. Certainly, aluminum body panels and repair sections for the Insight are likely to be more expensive than their steel counterparts, just due to raw material cost. You were fortunate to easily find a local repair facility experienced in the repair of aluminum construction cars, and particularly experienced in Insight repair, but the fact remains that the vast majority of vehicles are of steel construction, and most body shops are going to be proficient in repair techniques appropriate for them. People in less major centers will be less likely to find a shop capable of repairing an aluminum vehicle at any cost. > If the cost of repairing an aluminum Insight were as Roger > suggests, the insurance company would have surely totalled my > car, but instead, it was expertly repaired at a cost of > around $5000... It cost US$5k to repair damage that looked like the car had only been hit in the bumper at 10mph in a parking lot, and didn't require repainting of anything except the [hidden] rear bulkhead piece that was replaced. Sorry John, but that sounds very expensive to me. You were very lucky, but had the car been hit in such a way that it needed a rear quarter panel replaced, or the frame was twisted, etc., I think you would have been shocked at the repair cost and might very well have had the insurance company trying to write off your just 2yr old car. Just hope your car doesn't experience similarly minor damage in a year or so, when its book value gets dangerously closer to today's repair cost... > The subject, was discussing a 100% electric Prius (read the > post title)...you're describing a hybrid. And yes, if this > were the desired goal, I'd agree that the Prius is a much > better choice, for the reasons you've stated. Absolutely correct, John. If you recall the earlier posts in the Insight thread, you will recall the mention of what might be done with the perfectly good engine removed from the 100% electric Insight... that's right, use it to return the vehicle to hybrid operation for longer trips, but using the ackward trailer approach. Of course, since the Insight doesn't support any pure-electric mode, the only way to get 100% electric operation is to do as suggested and remove the hybrid compenents entirely, then band-aid them back on as a trailer if/when you need longer range. Since the Prius ~does~ support pure-electric mode, it is possible to achieve the goal of a Prius that can be driven on 100% electric without having to sacrifice the hybrid capabilities or band-aid them back on as a range-extending trailer. And, it does yield a Prius usable as a 100% electric vehicle provided it includes plug-in capability; it just happens that the vehicle includes a gasoline-fueled range extender that is carried on-board instead of on a trailer. Surely your 100% electric Insight wouldn't cease to be an electric vehicle if towing around a gasoline-fueled range extender trailer but not using it at the time? This may or may not be at all what the person who asked the question had in mind, and may or may not yield a vehicle that satisfies his mission, however, it seems of value to note how the Prius 'conversion' has some advantages over the Insight conversion, particularly since the person stated that the Insight is ~not~ an option for them because of its limited seating capacity. Cheers, Roger.
