Perfectly Imperfect
My friends and family would probably call me peculiar when it comes to my taste in cars. I've owned almost exclusively Hondas for as long as I can remember, a 2007 Accord that carried me through most of high school, a 2015 Civic through a good chunk of college, and eventually my first 'sporty' car being my 2017 Civic Si. Fast forward to today, my interest in cars evolved into my niche three car Honda fleet with the same 10th Gen Civic Si, 2nd Gen Honda Fit, and now 1st Gen Insight.
Getting into cars was always a unique experience. It started with appreciating supercars and sports cars for being exotic and visually striking compared to the average vehicles I'd spot in town. Talking about cars is a funny topic in general because most people who aren't deeply invested in the automotive world see them more as a tool rather than an extension of somebody's personality; something I touched on in my last post about my Honda Fit. In some manner, I think that car enthusiasts can get disconnected from the idea that a car is, at it's heart, a tool and form of transportation.
With that said, I wanted to share my appreciation for my 2001 Honda Insight, which has been my daily driver for the past 2+ years. I was scrolling through Facebook Marketplace, my toxic habit I have yet to quit, and kept finding myself drawn to the first generation Insight. It was quirky, polarizing, and its shape was oddly fascinating to me. In a spontaneous decision, I pulled the trigger on one in the Spring of 2024 that had relatively low mileage compared to most I came across at the time.
If there's one thing that defines me, it's that I'm detail oriented. I place a high value in how I do something because I believe that how you do anything in life reflects back on you as a person. When it comes to my cars, I am especially methodical in how I approach working on them. Naturally, my Insight's imperfections bothered me from the start. The paint is rough, the door sills are covered in chips from years of careless entry and exit, and more than half the original hardware holding the car together is missing, making it very much a parts bin car at this point. On the brighter side, the hybrid battery had already been replaced somewhere along its 25 year life, which has been a relief as it's continued chugging along without much complaint. Something interesting about this particular car and its condition is that it spent a good part of life in Canada and lived on the East coast for at least a decade before making its way to me in California with surprisingly little to no rust since these cars are made of mostly plastic and aluminum.
An old friend of mine once said something that stuck with me, that my own personality gets in the way of me actually enjoying my vehicles. That I struggle to use them as they were intended, much like how most people simply see a car as a tool and nothing more. Ironically, the Insight has been refreshing to me because it isn't perfect, I've let go of the obsession over door dings, rock chips, and all the small things that used to quietly consume me with my other cars. If anything, those imperfections have made ownership genuinely freeing in a way I didn't expect. My Civic Si is a perfect example of this, it's a car I've owned the longest of the current 3, for the past six+ years, and was a car I used to drive freely and enjoy daily that has slowly become something I'm almost too worried about. The paranoia of it getting door dinged or worse has left it sitting far more than it deserves, which is its own kind of irony for a car that was built to be driven.
I'll admit I've questioned this car more than once. The 1st Gen Insight has 73 horsepower from a whopping 1.0L three cylinder hybrid engine with a 5 speed manual transmission in a two seater coupe. My cars have gotten progressively slower, smaller, and a bit more unique. Going from 205hp in my Civic Si, down to 117hp in the Fit, and now scraping the bottom at 73hp in the Insight. Does it bother me that my daily driver struggles to keep up with most scooters? Absolutely. Does it get me 50+ mpg when I commute anywhere from 70 to 150 miles on a regular basis at a price point that makes a Prius look expensive? Also yes.
That said, the Insight isn't without its charm on the inside. For a car pushing 25 years old the interior has held up remarkably well, and was a deciding factor when I bought this one. The headliner is starting to show its age and a few trim pieces carry their fair share of scratches and scuffs. Where I do find myself putting in effort is in the details that actually improve the experience of living with this car as my daily driver. I've done a good bit of maintenance from valve adjustments, replacing worn suspension components, poor ground wires, and other odds and ends this car needed. Aside from general maintenance, I also updated the sound system with new front and rear speakers and a Pioneer Super Tuner Radio from 2006 to keep it period correct and just recently added a powered subwoofer that filled the nonexistent bass this car needed.
Stripping away the performance and the practicality of the 1st Gen Insight, the few things this car genuinely offers over my other two are comfort on a long commute, a good music listening experience, and the MPG to feel like any drive isn't a waste of money, or the guilty feeling of racking up miles onto a car that was designed to be driven. The Insight has also made me more confident and capable of working on my own vehicles. From replacing my first radiator, front main seal, and valve adjustment, it's given me the space to work on a car without the anxiety of making a mistake or feeling like I'm ruining a car that I'm trying to keep on the road because there are few of these left in the U.S. running around like mine.
One day I'd love to give the car a full respray and bring it back to something presentable, because deep down that detail oriented side of me never fully goes away. Despite that, there's a part of me that recognizes the double edged sword in that. The moment it becomes pristine is probably the moment I start caring too much again, and I'd lose the very thing that makes owning this car so enjoyable in the first place.
So for now, the scratches and imperfections stay and the Insight remains exactly what it was meant to be for me, a learning experience and the perfect side-quest car for the life I happen to live.