The Iceman is here

Typical of Kansas weather, we skipped fall this year and went straight from summer to winter. Last week on Thanksgiving day we had near 80F temperatures. Today it is about 25F. Yesterday about noon it started raining a bit, misting mostly. But as the afternoon trudged on, the temps dropped rapidly and the rain began to freeze. By the time I left work, the cars in the parking lot were covered in an opaque blanket of ice.

The thing I hate most about rain, sleet, freezing rain and snow is that it simply kills the miles per gallon in my little Honda Insight. I commute 130 miles round-trip to work each day so in 2001 I bought a Honda Insight. It's not the most comfortable car in the work, it only seats two, and the road noise is extremely noticable. But I have a lifetime average of 58 MPG. On modestly temperate days I get in the low 70's for MPG travelling to and from work. Granted, I figured out last year that if I drove 55-60 MPH, I could get that great mileage. I read at InsightCentral.net that some people get in the upper 70's - lower 80's by travelling at 45 MPH. I just can't see that the extra 5 - 6 MPG is worth the extra time it would take to get home after work. As it is, if I travel 55-60 MPH, I get in the lower 70's and upper 60's. If I travel 70-75 MPH, the MPG drops to the upper 50's. That is significant enough to take the exra time.

Where was I? Oh yeah, the inclement weather plays heck with my MPG. Yesterday morning I did 68 coming into work. When I got home the MPG was down to 51. That was average for the whole day, which means I probably got around 40 MPG on the trip home. But it still beats the 18 MPG I was getting in the Grand Cherokee I had before I bought the Insight. Sadly, I read that Honda will cease production of the Insight after the 2007 model year. This is sad because my little car now has 160K miles on it and unless there is another extremely high MPG vehicle like the Insight, I don't see that it is worth the money to buy another hybrid vehicle since most get in the mid 40's for MPG which I could get with a diesel rabbit. Heck I could get mid 30's with a diesel Dodge Ram truck.