Doing the Genting Run
- Honda Insight
Here in Malaysia, one 'test' considered by most motoring enthusiasts as crucial to pass for a car worthy of praise from an enthusiast is the infamous Genting Run (What is the Genting Run ? Read about it here). As there seems to be an unusually high amount of discussion about the performance (or lack of) of the Honda Insight, I took it on a Genting Run when I had it for full review.
During the run, I paid particular attention to one of the oft-made objections to the IMA's approach of mating a smallish engine with an electric motor to boost its torque, which centers around the possibility of draining the battery pack on a very long uphill trip. The 'Genting test' is an almost perfect test for this.
This article is the beginning of a series on driving various cars on the "Genting Run" here on TOVA, a series which hopefully will in a small way start to return our focus back to the enthusiasts.
Uphill to Genting Highlands
Access to Genting Highlands is via our East-West Highway, also known as the 'Karak' Highway. The early part of
this highway, leading to Genting Highlands and Bukit Tinggi is continous gentle uphill highway roads. When
nearing the exit turnoff for Genting Highlands there are some wide corners which can be enjoyed at high speeds.
On this part of the journey, it was very easy to maintain quite high speeds with the Insight despite the continous uphill climb. I was doing 100-110kph (60-75mph) with hardly any pressure on the throttle. When I tried, I was able to hold up to 140kph (80mph) without much seeming effort from the Insight. However the IMA indicator was showing a constant mild assist all the way, even when I slowed down to speeds below 80kph (50mph). I tried all three modes - ECON, normal and SPORTS and the assist was constantly there. Consequently by the time I reach the exit to turn off towards Genting Highlands, I was concerned that the battery was already partially drained.
Consequently the early parts of the Genting Run proper, which comprises some averagely steep and easy turns was also an easy drive in the Insight. There was a lot of low-rpm torque due to the IMA assist so I was actually driving in normal mode. Again there was constant IMA assist on this part of the journey.
Then I reached the latter part of the run. This is where the tight hairpins are and by now, the battery did not seem
to have much charge left. As a result, after a few WOT runs, I could see little to no assist from the IMA motor on this
crucial part. I drove this portion with
the gear selector in S so there was a lot of ramp-up of the engine's rpm when I floored the throttle especially to
negotiate the hairpin. On practically just power from the little 1.3l SOHC engine alone, the Insight handled this
part of the journey reasonably well and I was actually able to overtake the slower vehicles, usually on the hairpins
where they either slowed down too much or struggled with even lesser torque. Here it was actually the advantage of
the CVT which helpled the Insight along as even with whatever little battery charge available, the assist from the
IMA motor is weak at the high rpms the engine was spinning at on the uphill.
I came away from the uphill climb wishing there was a way for me to control when the IMA assist will come in. The selection of ECON, normal, and SPORT do offer some degree of control over how much assist there is according to throttle pressure, but there is no way to switch assist off. I wasn't able to really enjoy the charge up the twisty hairpins with the boost from the IMA motor. As the Insight was able to handle the journey along the East-West Karak highway, I would prefer to drive that portion without any assist so as to conserve battery charge for the Genting Run proper. Admittedly however, this kind of requirement is probably perculiar only from a driving enthusiast.
Downhill from Genting Highlands
I drove the downhill portion of the Genting Run with the CVT mostly in S mode and occassionally in 'L' mode. The
Insight did OK in D mode when I tried it briefly but constant light braking is needed. The programming of the ECU is to
rely on the retarding effect of the IMA motor in re-generative mode to provide the equivalent function of 'engine braking'
on throttle lift-off. The engine is effectively switched off, not running - only spinning. VTEC has switched the cam
rockers off, the valves are not working and there is no fuel pumped into the cylinders and no sparks at the spark plugs.
Very little braking effect is available at the engine in this fuel saving mode and all the braking effect is from the
IMA 'generator'. So the Insight picked up quite a bit of speed and light brake pressure is needed to avoid building
up too much speed.
On the approaches to tight hair-pins, the brakes of the Insight handled admireably well with a good firm brake pedal feel and confident consistent braking. Even when I intentionally applied constant light pressure on the brake pedal to emulate a common mistake made by in-experienced drivers (which can lead to brake-fade), the Insight still stopped confidently when required. So the brakes are quite resistant to brake-fade as long as it is sensibly used. In S-mode, I was able to brake late into all of the hairpins when I am not blocked by vehicles in front.
Despite its economy car design, the Insight is able to handle turns quite well and I ended up overtaking practically every car I encountered on the way down. Even some of the faster travelling cars, like a Toyota Camry I encountered kept up initially but was still eventually left behind. In many of the hairpins, I actually could 'cheat' by cutting into the inside of the hairpin, using part of the emergency lane (after confirming it is empty) in order to overtake slow vehicles blocking all of the road. This means in a tighter turn, I was still able to out-turn most normal cars. My speed around these turns is between 30+ to 40+kph, almost 50kph at the gentler, and therefore faster hairpins. In some gentler hairpins I could have gone faster but the approaches were blocked by vehicles slowly down to a crawl.
Conclusion
Subjectively from a Honda and driving enthusiast's point of view, the Honda Insight handled the Genting Run reasonably well taking into account its 'economy car' nature. The brakes and handling outshines the engine in this case and the downhill run was done in a much faster and enjoyable way than the uphill run. Confirming many comments on the internet, when doing a long uphill run, the battery will run out of charge but even when left to soldier on by itself, the 1.3l LDA engine performs well for its size. But ultimately it lacks the outright torque and power for a proper "performance run". The saving grace however is the superb CVT gearbox and it was soley responsible for the Insight's ability to take the uphill hairpins without embarassment. In the hands of more 'adventurous' and more capable drivers, the Insight might even be able to throw some surprises.
August 2011
© Temple of VTEC Asia
