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MIMA # 029 Andy L Living in northern Illinois we have continuous rolling hills, not big long hills, but continuous. Before installation my 40-mile trip to work with stop signs, rural driving, and small towns would yield about 55 to 65 mpg. To get the best mileage I would have to be very careful to build momentum and charge the battery on the down hill runs, and not try to accelerate up the hills. Sometimes speed would bleed off to around 47 mph at the top of hills to maintain a reasonable MPG. Now that I have installed my MIMA and learned some about how to program it I average 65 to 75 mpg and maintain speeds of 55 to 65 mph all of the time. I believe it is very important to be able to drive at what most people would consider a reasonable speed while getting the best mileage attainable. It is not my quest to sacrifice my personnel time or driving pleasure to get this type of mileage and the MIMA helps me do exactly that. This is a wonderful tool. After first installing you cannot believe how much potential the electric part of your Insight has that you never were able to tap before. It is also possible to drain the battery in a very short time having the "sports car'" kind of fun that the power of your thumb now holds. With playtime over and the real intent of my purchase ahead I began adjusting the programmable part of MIMA to my driving style and terrain. This thing works just like the rest of the owners will tell you, coming up to a hill a very small change in foot feed pressure causes the electrics to pull you up the hill with minimal change in instant mpg reading. On the downhill run an equal change up on the gas and assist changes to regeneration. This action uses the electrics of the Insight more aggressively but maintains the battery charge mid-scale. It also evens out your driving speed to what the rest of the drivers around you are doing. Down shifts approaching a stop sign cause the regeneration braking to charge at a more useful rate, I may never have to change the brakes on my car it works so well. With the development of an easier to install "plug in" version of the MIMA in development, all Insight drivers should consider this modification.
Installation pictures yet to come after I am happy with a permanent location. Andy Lamm
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