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What's the word on the Honda Fit?
Reckless
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hey all,
I'm thinking that this summer is going to be the death of my first car, a '91 Accord. For my 20th birthday, my grandparents are offering to help out quite a bit with the purchase of a new vehicle. I've been really looking into the Honda Fit. I like smaller, sporty cars so it looks to be right up my alley. The MPG seems great and all that.
Does anybody here own one and have anything to say on it? All the professional reviews look great but I'd like to get some thoughts from the average driver. Specifically, how does it handle winter conditions? I go to school in Western NY, but I live on campus so driving in terrible conditions in never a necessity, it's just nice to get off campus at my own will on occasion.
Thanks for any help.
I'm thinking that this summer is going to be the death of my first car, a '91 Accord. For my 20th birthday, my grandparents are offering to help out quite a bit with the purchase of a new vehicle. I've been really looking into the Honda Fit. I like smaller, sporty cars so it looks to be right up my alley. The MPG seems great and all that.
Does anybody here own one and have anything to say on it? All the professional reviews look great but I'd like to get some thoughts from the average driver. Specifically, how does it handle winter conditions? I go to school in Western NY, but I live on campus so driving in terrible conditions in never a necessity, it's just nice to get off campus at my own will on occasion.
Thanks for any help.
Reckless on
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I guess you should always be, but in this case in particular: before I ended up getting my Scion, I tried to get a Fit from a Honda dealership. Ended up talking to a man who called himself "Honest Rush". No, I'm not joking.
Anyways, "Honest Rush" said that he was "told" by Honda that they had to charge 3000$ over MSRP because the car "is so popular".
Obviously the $3k thing was a load of bollucks. I told him where he could stick it, and walked out the door.
Now the thing is, I don't know if it was just him being a sleazy salesman on his own, or if that was actual Honda sleazery... which would mean you'd likely run into the same line in that latter case.
Anyways, don't let them convince you that the car's worth more than its MSRP. Walk away if they start laying that crap on you.
Arm yourself with info, but as you know it's a Honda and you can't beat that.
[Unless you bought a Passport, which is actually an Isuzu, which is crap]
This is good news - I'd be fine with an '08 Sport model especially if I could get it below MSRP.
I had to deal with a bit of snowy conditions over the winter. Left all season tires on and never had any troubles.
No real complaints with it
PSN: Robo_Wizard1
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one that didn't possibly carry over problems from the previous owner.
one that statistically should be pretty damn reliable to get to and from school and work etc.
and surprisingly you know honda's keep their resell pretty well, he could either own this car for 20 years and drive it literally to death or sell it once he graduates and get a good chunk of what he paid back.
That's why I got excited at the premise of the '09 models driving down the price of the '08s. But, Hondas do have an amazing reputation for a long life. My '91 has lasted over 300k, and I'd have no problem driving another vehicle down to it's death.
As a college student, I guarantee you insurance will be much more expensive for a new car than a used one, unless he buys something like a used Ferrari.
PSN: Robo_Wizard1
The Fit is the car I really want right now. This is one of the reasons why. The foldable seats sells it beyond other hatchbacks.
When do you get to the part that distinguishes a brand-new Fit from a Honda-certified used Civic or somesuch? Because all I can see being different is the price.
Don't get me wrong, Honda makes great cars (I'm driving around in a 1990 Civic right now), but for the kind of weather you get up there, a Subaru is going to be a better choice for the 9 months out of the year you'll be driving in snow and ice.
Note, with these things being listed, I still like the car cause these issues aren't a big deal to me. With Honda reliability and resale, it was a more attractive choice than the direct competitors (Nissan Versa, Toyota Yaris). Just want you to know exactly what you're getting into.
One thing you'll notice right away on the test drive is that the suspension is STIFF. You will feel every bump in the road. You'll also get really crisp cornering and turn in.
Next is road noise. Twist it any way you like, this is still an entry level car so sound proofing isn't top notch. But just turn up the sound system or crack a window and presto! no problem!
If you get a manual transmission, highway speeds (100kph/60mph) will run the car at 3k rpm which adds to the "road noise" bit. The Fit could have really benefited from a 6th gear. The automatic runs a fair bit lower in the rpm range though. I still got 40mpg on a trip through the Rockies.
The difference in gear ratio between first and second gear is large and requires a slower shift. It just takes getting used to though.
There is no dead pedal, the foot rest you put on your foot on when you're not using it to operate your clutch. Buy an aftermarket product, Zeta makes an awesome dead pedal specifically for the Fit, or buy a patch of carpet to go under your slush mats that extends far enough so you can rest your foot on it.
There is no center arm rest. You can rest your arm on your lap.
The glove box does not lock. But it keeps things out of sight. Out of sight, out of mind.
The gas cap does not lock. Unless you're in a REALLY bad neighbourhood, you dont have to worry about people stealing your gas or fouling your gas tank.
There are no map lights. So know where you're going before you leave. Or recline back and use the light located above the rear seats.
There is no passenger side vanity mirror.
The paint is apparently very thin and prone to scratches according to Honda Fit Forums.
I shouldn't have to bring this up, but you said you wanted a smaller, sporty car. It'll hold pretty well, and much better than the competitors, through the corners, but you won't get any flash in a straight line. It's a 1.5L Inline-4... You can't expect too much out of that.
In the snow is it ok. Thin tires help cut through the snow, but if you get the Sport the ground clearance is a little low for heavy snow fall. In ice... well every car is bad in ice. The Fit is light which helps it stop, but the tires are thin which doesn't do it any favours...
edit: Oh, a few more things. Some people find the driving position uncomfortable. The seats are not height adjustable and the wheel doesn't telescope, but it does tilt. The car is made for a "smaller" person, but at 5'10 i find it comfortable. Also some people find the seats not cushy enough and find the seating position to be too high. A lower seating position would give it a more sporty feel, but makes getting in and out of the car a pain.
QFT
I'm driving a '96 Impreza, and I absolutely love it. All of the 'common' maintenance things are all obscenely easy to get to, so there's no contorting yourself to get to the various bits of the engine.
I've had a lot of electrical issues with it though... turns out it was because there was a loose engine ground this whole time and the shop I took it to either knew about it and decided not to fix it for continued work, or didn't see it proving their incompetence.
I called another shop and the guy basically fixed it over the phone.
So yeah. You'll need to get the clutch replaced too, eventually because you're going to tear it up, the car being fun to drive.
Great car, all in all.
Sorry. One of my friend's has one, its a bright freaken blue, seeing a lot of the blue now, get a white one if you do, yet to see a white one...
And Oh yeah, it's good on gas, great on room, crappy on performance but common it's like $12,000 new and like ~90hp.
Actually it's usually a bad idea to use a new-car for pizza delivery.
Are you still open to other cars in that price range? Don't fall in love over one car, be willing to go with something else. Check out the Versa, Astra, Civic, Sentra, these are all small cars that are good on gas and can be only nominally more expensive.