Calling all Fit people

Pete Gossett said:

Jaynen said:

Speaking of which, I am likely inheriting my moms 2010/2011 that only has 40k miles on it and will likely be selling it (its an auto tho). I think it may be a sport and it has the alloy wheels. (Car is in Oregon)

How many miles & how much?

Like I said 40k ish, I think 47k. My brother and I are hoping to get around the "clean trade in" value for it off Nada which would be around 6k (trade in value is around 4k but they add 2k for the super low miles) it has a fresh set of decent tires on it less than a year old and a set of snows with studs that are not mounted that will go with the car. Car is currently in Albany OR. However we have to see what happens with her estate stuff she didn't really have much but it has to resolve, when I said I may be inheriting it I literally meant it =/ Its the blackberry pearl purple color with grey cloth interior

I have a second gen that I daily.  If you average 60-65 on the freeway enjoy 40 mpg.  The trans gearing isnt ideal for over 70 though.  Around town its great, as everyone else mentioned too it has a awesome ability to swallow huge amounts of cargo.  I dont regret getting mine one bit.

In reply to Jaynen :

Thanks, keep me posted on the status please. We miss our 09 that went overseas with our daughter & son-in-law. 

Will do!

I have a 2008 I inherited from SWMBO and we love it as a second car for a growing family. Have one child expecting second momentarily and we can get both seats in the back with enough space for the driver to be comfy and the passenger (rear facing child seat) to be not uncomfy. Now that the first munchkin is front facing it will be better.  I would only caution you that while it will swallow a massive amount of stuff (more than any small car has a right to) it will be hard pressed to serve as a primary people mover for a family of four. As you said, you have a Camry as primary so. go for it. They are fun to drive and reliable.

We got the girlfriend a lightly 2015 Honda Fit to replace her dying 2009 Smart Car. 

It's a base model Fit, so cloth seats, normal stereo, etc.  But it's been a good little car other than a battery and front sway bar link around 20k miles and within a few weeks of each other. 

I would say it's not any louder on the highway than my BRZ was. And once you lay down the back seats, you can fit quite a bit of stuff in it. 

We've got an 09 Sport, auto. Maybe 115,000 on it now and she bought it new. AC compressor clutch went last summer but that's the only unexpected repair, ever. 

Holds more stuff inside than my Focus, great gas mileage, super handy fold-down seats, handling is pretty good.

Not a good highway car, seats are rough for me (6'5") after an hour or so, red paint starting to fade (from living most of the 9 years outdoors). 

Can't fault it - we will keep it until it dies which may be a long, long time from now. 

Any Fit people have recommendations for quiet all-seasons for this car? Went with Kumho ECSTA PA31 last time and after 3 years they are really loud. Not worn to the point of replacement but the road noise is aggrevating. 

Wiscocrashtest said:

We've got an 09 Sport, auto. Maybe 115,000 on it now and she bought it new. AC compressor clutch went last summer but that's the only unexpected repair, ever. 

Holds more stuff inside than my Focus, great gas mileage, super handy fold-down seats, handling is pretty good.

Not a good highway car, seats are rough for me (6'5") after an hour or so, red paint starting to fade (from living most of the 9 years outdoors). 

Can't fault it - we will keep it until it dies which may be a long, long time from now. 

 

Any Fit people have recommendations for quiet all-seasons for this car? Went with Kumho ECSTA PA31 last time and after 3 years they are really loud. Not worn to the point of replacement but the road noise is aggrevating. 

Driving my moms car when I was in Oregon the road noise was definitely one of my big observations. I wonder if using the same sound deadening stuff Keith and crew put into their miatas would make a difference but not add much weight

I made a protege5 on studded snows quiet with sound deadening and insulation. A fit on all season tires cant possibly be as loud, so it would have to work.

McMaster mastic, home depot foil backed jute, and time.

Road noise! You people think of everything. I dd a 28 year old pickup with leaf sliders and UCAs that don't have bushings. I don't even notice road noise anymore. But it is good to know. Quite looking forward to the test drive. I'll report back my findings.

You must've followed the s10 forum drivabeater.....

In reply to Dusterbd13 :

Doesn't ring a bell. Link?

edit* I found it. I'll do some reading. Most of the mods on my truck were advised to me from that forum. Good stuff.

In reply to Wiscocrashtest :

Ours is on its second set of Continental DWS tires, with no complaints, and will probably do the same again if it gets re-tired before it gets retired.  Going from the terribly chosen 185/55R16 to 205/50R16 opens a notably wider and, more importantly, better variety of options.

In reply to barefootskater :

I was one of the first in the pro touring s10 scene......

I also designed the ub machine c10 upper ball joint arms.

Kinda miss that truck. Jeremy cloned it for the truck class this past year, and it did surprisingly well. 

In reply to Dusterbd13 :

I really like my truck. the 4.3 is mucho torque-o and very reliable. It handles good (for a truck). Decent MPGs and it even does truck stuff. But lack of A/C (my fault) and lack of seating has it squarely on the chopping block. Someone is gonna get a good truck (challenge friendly price. Hint hint...)

Driving my moms car when I was in Oregon the road noise was definitely one of my big observations. I wonder if using the same sound deadening stuff Keith and crew put into their miatas would make a difference but not add much weight

Any Fit people have recommendations for quiet all-seasons for this car? Went with Kumho ECSTA PA31 last time and after 3 years they are really loud. Not worn to the point of replacement but the road noise is aggrevating. 

Check these guys out for sound deadening materials.  Both are long-time GRM supporters:

Design Engineering Sound Barriers

Thermo Tec sound and heat barriers

In reply to barefootskater : My one negative comment about Honda is in general they put very poor wearing tires on them.  It’s not unusual to see them worn out in 30,000 miles or less. And they are definitely not good in the snow.  

Luckily the sizes involved are not expensive and if snow is a issue where you are there are plenty of good snow tires. ( I like Blizzack’s)  

I had an 07 and it was fantastic and I hauled more crap in that thing than one could imagine and never gotten less than 30 mpg. Find a base model to avoid the body kit that scrapes easy.

Wifey has a new 18 sport cvt.  Fantastic car.  Fun to drive.

My only complaint...center armrest is about an inch too low

Id consider one for myself if I becom rich and someone totals my yaris

Well, I drove it. It is whatever orange Honda is currently using*, and I don't have a problem with that.

I'll start by saying that I generally don't like driving modern cars. I like an analog experience and dislike computers.

I am no giant. 5'8", so the seats did not offend. Though I did notice that the rear did not have an abundance of headroom. The stereo is good. Much like. The seating position and pedal positions are good. The recirculation/fresh air switch is analog, just a lever. I don't know why but I really like that. I also like the lack of any dumb plastic engine cover. I hate those. The clutch was surprisingly light, though to be fair I am used to driving a truck.

This was the first car I've really driven with electric power steering. I liked it. Gave decent feedback and the weight was great. And aside from not being able to see the hood at all, I thought it had good visibility all around. The Mrs. really liked the rear view camera.

The shifter is really good, at least I liked it. The engine is smooth, not powerful. I would call it eager. I liked it. Fun to drive a slow car fast and all that. Handling was better than I thought it would be. I didn't want to be irresponsible, but the car is quite grippy and agile.

I expected more little cubby holes and storage. I could have done with rear seat cup holders in the center console. I also dislike power windows. I know they are standard equipment but I don't have to like it.

I also like the way the engine sounds. It doesn't make any real power but it lets you know that it is trying to. Almost growly through 4-5k. Could be louder but I get it.

Highway was what I expected it to be. Again, not fast, but eager. Easily got me up to 85, though I could tell it was starting to get a little light on it's feet. The engine was doing ~4k which made my head panic, until I remembered I wasn't in my truck and redline was not 4500.

I shouldn't have driven it. I think I may buy it.

*edit. It is called Orange Fury. 

I know the price. They are figuring payments. This may be a thing. I should slow down.

My 07 actually was quite capable at 80-85 on the highway (even with buzzing at 4k)..

You can do way worse on buying a new car. If you do end up buying it I really don't think you'll regret it. Once you do get it throw a beefy rear sway bar on it and call it done. 

In reply to CyberEric :

I don't find those A pillars a hinderance..everything is moving, the car, the pedestrians and your head.

Well that happened fast. I maybe shouldn't have opted for the warranties but the mrs thought it was a good idea. Hopefully it is many boring years ahead and lots of trouble free miles. Glad I got the orange, it adds a bit of drama.