Quote Originally Posted by MetroMPG View Post
Where the g.1 Insight really shined was at moderate cruising speeds on the highway, in lean burn mode. In my aero-modified 2000 I was able to get 100+ mpg US cruising on back roads with an 80 km/h (50 mph) limit. (That's a round trip result over several hundred km.)
IMHO any car would shine in conditions like this. We were getting at least 80MPG+ in Gen3 prius with windows down putting on 1000 islands pkwy, but MPG started dropping down as soon as we switched to 401. No wonder, going from 80km/h to 110 increases aerodynamic drag 2.6 times!

Just an impression but I think Mirage may have lower aero drag than "C", and the ECU mapping was specifically optimized for highway cruising. In steady 50-60mph flat road test it may actually be the most efficient car sold in US.

With respect to fitting hybrid to it, I am glad Mitsubishi didn't. It would surely make car more expensive, and increase in MPG would not cover it. It would be nice if Auto stop&go were offered as an option for more city-driving oriented, but A/C shut off would make it hard to sell.

Perhaps something more mild similar to Mazda's iEloop combining electric A/C and recovery braking could make more sense, but it may end up costing too much to be practical.