My protracted search for a newer vehicle finally ended last weekend when I picked up a 2013 Fit Sport 5-speed. I gotta say, you Honda guys are onto something!
Coming from someone who has driven mostly used European stuff for the past decade, this thing is a blast! While certainly not fast, it's wonderful to be back in a car I can drive the snot out of and still get 32MPG from a tank. The seats, brakes and shifter are great (jury's still out on the steering and clutch), it holds four adults comfortably, the "magic seat" is actually a pretty useful gimmick, and it has that ironclad Honda depreciation resistance. I think an axle-back exhaust and a rear sway bar are the only mods I intend to do; otherwise, it's pretty great as is!
I had been looking at the Mazda 2, but couldn't find a local dealer that was willing to work with me on price. If Mazda was selling the new generation here, it likely would've gotten my money, but I was smitten with the Fit as soon as I took it for a spin. Mine's a Milano Red one with 12k miles, still plenty of factory warranty left, was out the door and on the road just over $15k. I think I did pretty well (at least, I don't feel like I got ripped off).
I initially thought that coming from a BMW E39, I'd be missing a lot more, but I guess I'm figuring out that I didn't need all the luxo-crap that car had to begin with. It's been a while since I've had a simple, honest car like this and I'm enjoying the hell out of it.
Anyone else here a Fit owner? I know the Mazda 2 gets a lot of love on this board but I don't see the Fit get mentioned too much.
In reply to pointofdeparture:
They're my "go to" recommendation for non enthusiast friends when they need something brand new, cheap, dependable, and fairly simple....
I have 2 enthusiast friends who bought them attempting to polish a turd....mixed results thus far.
Not a current Fit owner, but had one for several years. They're slow, but are silly levels of fun to drive. If I drove ours conservatively, I could get 40mpg out of it. The only complaint I really had about it was that it didn't enjoy highway cruising very much. Otherwise, I'd recommend them to anyone.
In reply to Klayfish:
Just don't take it to Hennessey Honda of Woodstock......
My wife loves her 2008. Bought it new, and it's been rock-solid. I think we replaced an O2 sensor at one point, but that's it other than fluids over the last 140k miles.
It's not the ideal freeway cruiser - too buzzy, too darty - but other than that it's perfect as a commuter. Way more fun to drive than it has any right to be.
She wants another just like it when it dies.
My father had a 2009 Fit Sport 5 speed. I love, love, love that car! My sister owns it now.
We have an '09 with north of 150k on it that's been a wonderful car.
I have a 2011 base. It is fun to drive in the way that the A1 Rabbit was fun - responsive, cheap and urging you on to misbehave. Slow? Sure, absolutely. But how often can you go 100 mph on your commute? I ended up taking mine to a HPDE weekend when my normal track wheels were laid up. Yes, I spent a lot of time pointing people by and trying to avoid being a mobile chicane, but it was fun. It ate a set of tires and the stock front pads over the weekend, but they're cheap.
In the last session of the weekend, I got put out with the novices (on the assumption I'd be slow) and ended up passing an E46 M3 driven by a tentative novice. That was fun, and he still talks about getting passed by a Fit on howling tires on his first time out.
You don't have to go fast to have fun!
It's like the only modern Honda offering which I think is worth a damn. I don't find the sport package compelling, but that's just me. I wouldn't even bother with an exhaust and swaybar, it's a cheap econo box and love it for that (which is something I don't like about the sport package). It's something you can't go over to Hyundai or Kia and get. Great car.. Cheap, reliable, and holy hell do they retain their value. The back seats lay flat and there's a ton of hauling room.
The downside.. it's a small mini-van. Sorry, it just looks like one.
I don't mind the look, really. It reminds me of a Super 2000 rally car. I think the axle-back and RSB are totally justified; it already handles great, it's just a little understeer-y for my tastes. And the engine sounds like a vacuum cleaner, I think just a bit of an exhaust note would help balance out the noises a little bit.
I will say, I am DAMN glad I managed to find a nice 2013 like I did. One of the stealers I elected not to do business with basically shoved me into a 2015 EX (no more Sport trim). I hated it! The 6-speed was worthless (new 6th is same ratio as old 5th, so the perk is basically "more shifting!"), I couldn't stand the new dashboard layout, the seats weren't nearly as nice, and the exterior is very "meh." The sales guy spent a bunch of time babbling about lease deals and interrupting me to tell me about the dashboard "mood lighting," backup camera, and a bunch of other crap I didn't care about. I like the simple goofiness of my 2013 MUCH better!
I have a 2008 5-speed Sport that I've had for almost a year.
I don't know how "band-wagony" I am about it though. I thought it would fill a void left by my old Geo Prizm (albeit with more utility), but it hasn't hit all of the requirements.
It's not as easy to work on as the Prizm was. I get right around 30 in the city in the Fit, but the best I've gotten on a 100% road trip was barely 33. The Prizm used to get near 40 on road trips. The Fits TPMS light turns on and off regularly even if the tires are all correctly inflated. It also doesn't seem as fun to drive as the Prizm was. It feels super SLOW after I've been driving my slow beat and neglected near 200k 3.9 auto Dakota. It also struggles mightily to get up my slightly steep driveway on all season tires in any snowfall over .5". Parts also aren't nearly as cheap. I can get a full set of Depo headlights, signals and corner lights for my Dakota for less than what ONE Depo Fit headlight costs. It's also leaky, but I'll hit that later.
On the plus side, it SWALLOWS all of the crap accumulated from my GF and I shopping at Costco, Sam's Club and the local department store on the same Saturday afternoon. The magic seat is awesome for transporting my two small dogs. It seats four adults pretty comfortably. It's the most comfortable car I've owned for long trips. I can set the cruise and sit for hours in it. It also has a real nice sound system, which comes in handly since it's coming up on 4k at 80MPH...
MAKE SURE YOUR BACK DOORS DON'T LEAK. The Fit is notorious for this, and I know it extended into the 09-13 model. I left mine sit for almost a month while it was rainy this past April and May. When I finally went to drive it, it was practically a lake. The way the door is laid out somehow allows water to collect between the vapor barrier and the door where the panel mounts and then leak through the VB seal. There's a fix out there that calls for some HVAC foil tape to cover some of the access hole, and a stronger sealant for the vapor barrier. I did it to mine and haven't had an issue since. It's just smelly now.
All in all, the Fit has sat most of the spring and summer, except to go on one roadtrip and a small handful of trips to Costco. Just found my DSM and Dakota more enjoyable to drive in the summer, even when they both don't hold a candle to the Fits fuel economy.
Yes, it's pretty much a 'micro' van...And that relatively immense practicality and versatility is a large part of why I think it's bar none the best all around econobox available. The rear seat bottoms folding up on the 'magic seat' don't do much for me, but the rear seat backs folding flat makes it far and away the most space efficient and functional interior of any subcompact (or compact) car I've looked at. I do wish ours was a manual, but sadly it started life out as my wife's car. The upside to the automatic, is that it's geared MUCH better for the highway. Pretty much the only thing the needs is a smaller torquey-turbocharged engine and a properly geared for the highway manual transmission. Even if I don't care about everything included in it, I do think the Sport trim was worth every penny.
While my test drive of a new one didn't impress me enough to turn mine in, it did turn up one major bonus for people with, or planning on, babies who are in the market for a new econobox. The repackaging of the rear seating area makes it the only subcompact (or compact) car I found that allowed me to physically be able to sit in any reasonable manner in front of a rear facing baby seat.
I think I forgot to mention it in my not-a-TDI thread, but the Fit's back on the radar. My biggest gripe is the lack of power once you're up to freeway speed, but I otherwise think they're neat. There's a near-TARDIS level of inside/outside space relations...
We're leaning new, but I do wonder about picking up a clean previous-gen, and looking into a turbo or SC to fix the lack of power. But this probably would have more impact than I want on the 90%-around-town usage. I don't miss the power at 25mph.
We don't do a lot of road trips, but I do prefer the idea of spending those in something quieter, with more relaxed freeway manners. The Columbia River Gorge is a crazily blustery place, and doing that trip in my Sister's Volvo XC-whatever-number SUV thing made it awfully calm...
I've driven a 2007 Civic Si many times, and drool about putting a K20 in my Fit....
In reply to Ransom:
We've made numerous trips with ours from Central-IL down to the coast/New Orleans, and I've never found fault with the car on the interstate. If I were going to say it has a lack of power, it would be when needing to pass on a 2-lane. It's not a luxurious or refined car, and it's definitely sprung on the sporty side, but it really doesn't have any bad highway manners. It cruises along just fine at 90+ 
I've owned a 2008 and a 2011. Both sports, both flappy paddles. Slow, great mileage if you stick with the tires made of wood. Handles like majik. Terrible in snow if you drive like a granny. Barely manageable if you drive like a rally driver. At adhesion limits it likes to get crazy throttle lift because the gas tank is located midship, so watch for that. Especially gravel roads. Off that reason alone I swapped to 205/50/16's. Cheaper and stickier. Instead of getting 55mpg, I get about 47. Meh. Fun car, some aftermarket, ZERO gains. And I mean ZERO. You will not fit one performance part to this engine that will do ANYTHING. Why? The electronic throttle defeats you. It dials back. Thus why I will get rid of mine some day. Great handling appliance from a librarian manufacturer.
In reply to Trackmouse:
You know that there is a Hondata setup available now for the '09-13 to delete the factory throttle re-mapping, right? 
It's my first order of business once mine goes out of warranty...
I had a 2007 Fit Sport 5 speed. I loved that car. I drove it hard from 48k all the way up to about 115k miles. I was a vendor on the road every day for work for a couple years driving it and it hauled all kinds of crap and always got around 35 mpg. I loved the magic seat in the back. You name it and i've probably hauled it in that thing. Only mod i'd recommend to it is a rear sway bar. I got the itch for something else and moved up to a Mazda 5.
Is that for the manual trans only? Went to hondatas site- only thing they show is for the 07-08' which was a bust anyways.
In reply to Trackmouse:
E36 M3, I could have SWORN I read that they were finally offering one! I'm trying to find that link now though, and I believe that may not be the case 
I have 5 friends that have Fits. Seriously, I'm not exaggerating. Three are actually the same color. There is nothing on the market right now that does what the Fit does better. Good MPG, mechanically simple, insane storage space and can actually fit 4 adults (well, five, if you put a smaller friend in the hatch. Not that I've ever done that...). From my perspective I wouldn't exactly call it an enthusiast's car, but I do think they're a good bit of fun and untouchable by almost anything else at that price point. I wouldn't really bother with tuning anything if it were me, but I think that's a road some people go down. Are they bandwagon cars? Probably, but for good reason.
If they ever defeat the god awful ECU in that car it would be great. Some guy tried megasquirt a few years back, gave up after blowing a FEW L15a1's and never came back. I haven't been to fitfreak in... 4 years. I checked in when I bought the GE8. Promptly found that the performance situation hasn't changed, never went back. It's sad really- the engine has awesome potential- that's why formula Honda uses it. It can be enhanced, but only honda knows how to do that, and they won't share it with the tuning community. Ironically, it's the very easy tuning that got them the notoriety they have. Where would they be without spoon, mugen, or hondata? Honda- you're a bunch of unthankful, stuffy idiots. Fire your engineers. Fire your penny punchers. Find someone from the old days to design an engine.
The magic seat was a big selling point for me. Otherwise, I might've gone with a Pontiac Vibe since they're cheaper and my Dad's has been bulletproof.
Anyone ever put theirs in "relax mode"?
I keep "relax mode" a secret from SWMBO, since she might make me use it if I bring anymore project cars home...
Trackmouse wrote:
I've owned a 2008 and a 2011. Both sports, both flappy paddles. Slow, great mileage if you stick with the tires made of wood. Handles like majik. Terrible in snow if you drive like a granny. Barely manageable if you drive like a rally driver.
This surprises me. I live in Canada (interior of British Columbia), so I'm extremely familiar with snow and ice. My driveway is nearly 1/2 mile long, steep and with a hairpin corner in it, and I DD it all winter on indifferent snow tires. No issues at all, it copes with all that mother nature throws at us with an indifferent shrug. And I never drive like a granny ('though if you had met one of my grannies, you wouldn't use that expression!).
shelbyz wrote:
The magic seat was a big selling point for me. Otherwise, I might've gone with a Pontiac Vibe since they're cheaper and my Dad's has been bulletproof.
Anyone ever put theirs in "relax mode"?
I keep "relax mode" a secret from SWMBO, since she might make me use it if I bring anymore project cars home...
Looks like a 40's Nash! A woman I met years ago who was in the UK during the war, described the Nash as a "fornicatorium". I thought that was hilarious as a 14 year old!
