Honda Fit

We need a small light weight car! My wife likes the Honda Fit. Me not so much. What are your experiences? Underpowered? Build quality? etc.

Very relevant to my interests right now. Especially the manual version of the 2nd gen variety compared to the new ones.

I bought a manual 2013 Sport last year and absolutely love it. Lots of people here on the board have them and like them. Built very well, surprisingly fun to drive, and extremely practical with great gas mileage. Obviously not going to a powerhouse, but at 2500lbs its 117 horses are more than enough and the manual transmission gearing is very athletic. Easily one of the best cars in its segment. I drove a 2015 (current/3rd gen) and didn't like it at all, they managed to lose all of the sporty feel of the previous generations and made the interior awful to my eyes. Probably the second most fun car to drive in its class behind the Mazda2, but holds value better than the Mazda and is much nicer and more spacious inside.

There's also the typical Honda aftermarket, which I'm very excited about taking advantage of once it's out of warranty.

Some good discussion here: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/honda-element-vs-honda-fit-as-a-dog-hauler-and-tra/110026/page1/

We've had a few threads on these. We have an '09 that we bought new, now at 130k-ish. No issues other than having to replace the A/C compressor - they have a lot of greenhouse and pretty wimpy A/C. They don't have a ton of power but you can wring it out, and they handle pretty well for an econobox. They are a bit noisy on the highway and the stereo isn't great, and I don't love the seats for long drives. The steering wheel foam on ours is starting to get pretty shoddy looking, but you can swap in a leather wheel out of a Sport model (or just buy a Sport in the first place) and solve that problem.

However, they get great gas mileage, are extremely reliable, have super cheap consumables, and the interior space is like magic - you'll be amazed at what you can fit in there. Parallel parking is ridiculously easy thanks to the tight turning radius and tons of visibility. With snow tires it's a beast in the winter, and ours has been through 7 New England winters with no appreciable rust. The base model in '09 didn't get cruise control, which is a bit annoying. I have no experience with the automatic in these but the manual trans is fine, it doesn't really compare with my Miata but few things do. Ours is still on the original clutch and second set of brakes.

All in all, 2 big thumbs up for ours. We're planning on keeping it until it stops moving, which we're expecting to be a good long while.

My mom just bought a new fit. With cvt it is a good appliance. Lots of room in back seats for adults.

Our 2011 Sport has served us well. It has 80k+ miles but doesn't show (or feel) it at all.

It makes better use of interior space than just about any other vehicle, with the possible exception of a stow-n-go Chrysler minivans. The 2015+ have managed to make for easily best in class, or the next class larger in my experience, rear seat legroom with minimal impact on rear-seat-up cargo space. I never found rear seat legroom to be a problem on ours either, being 6' and easily able to sit behind my own standard seating position with legroom to spare...But if you have any expectation of using rear facing car seats, nothing else I have seen even comes close to the 15+ Fits until getting into mid-size vehicles.

It's not the fastest car in its segment, but that has never actually been a problem for me. If you're uncomfortable using the full range of both pedal travel and rpm, it's a little under powered but will still have no trouble keeping up with traffic. If that doesn't make you squeamish, it's quicker than 99.9% of traffic. I drive ours pretty aggressively and it still averages almost exactly (2mpg better than in sumer and 2mpg worse than in winter) the EPA combined estimates in a hilly environment. On straight highway driving it will easily beat the EPA highway estimates. It's no Miata, but it is still quite nimble and surprisingly fun in the twisties.

Maybe I just didn't drive it hard enough, but on a fairly short and sedate test drive I didn't find anything overtly objectionable about the 2015+ vs ours. My only real complaint was that they added a gear to the manual transmission, but didn't make the top gear any taller...So the 6-speed still runs the same relatively high rpm on the highway as the previous 5-speed. The auto, and presumably the CVT on the 15+, run considerably lower rpm at speed.

All in all, if you want a practical small car, it is second to none...With the bonus of reasonably enjoyable handling.

Driven5 wrote: Maybe I just didn't drive it hard enough, but on a fairly sedate test drive I didn't find anything overtly objectionable about the 2015+ vs ours. My only real complaint is that they added a gear to the manual transmission, but didn't make the top gear any taller...So the manual still runs pretty high rpm on the highway. The auto, and presumably the CVT on the 15+, run considerably lower rpm at speed.

My impressions after driving the 2015 and 2013 back-to-back is that the 2015 felt "softer" in regards to steering/suspension, removed some visibility from the greenhouse, took away the headroom I really needed at 6'2" by adding a sunroof, and made the dashboard a heck of a lot busier without really making it any more useful. For some reason the gauge cluster really offended me, too. And yes the useless 6th gear is a real head-scratcher.

I walked in ready to buy a purple 2015 and left with a red 2013 after driving both. The 2015 wasn't BAD as much as I found the 2013 more enjoyable and it also happened to be three grand less. *shrug*

We had a first generation Fit, and it was everything people have mentioned. Slow, but fantastic handling for an econobox. Unbreakable, awesome mpg. Loud on the highway, weak ac. For a fun and versatile small hatch, the Fit and now discontinued Mazda 2 are the class of the field.

Driven5 wrote: My only real complaint was that they added a gear to the manual transmission, but didn't make the top gear any taller...So the 6-speed still runs the same relatively high rpm on the highway as the previous 5-speed. The auto, and presumably the CVT on the 15+, run considerably lower rpm at speed.

So many companies do that these days. I drove a 6 speed Versa that had a 6th gear that was so similar to 5th you really just didn't need it. Then doing 80 on the highway you get 28 MPG when you could be over 30 if they had a REAL 6TH GEAR.

Why do OEMS do that in this segment? Grinds my damn gears.

We live in the south where summer time highs range in the upper eighties to lower nineties 8 or 9 months a year with humidity thick enough if you stomp your feet it starts to rain. Just how wimpy is the A/C for those conditions? Good enough or it will never keep up?

I have an 09 Fit base 5 speed-love it. Sometimes the AC gets overworked-think driving into a setting sun, 95 degrees in a Tennessee summer. Most of the time, it is adequate. I have had to have my door (and ignition) locks replaced 3 times (no remote locks). That ends my complaint list. For the money, there isn't another player in town, but I admit, the Fiesta and Mazda 2 would be on my must drive list if I were shopping today -maybe an Accent, also. Not a Versa fan

Oh god. Don't get me started.

Ours (2011? Manual) was great until it wasn't, but a lot of that was the dealer's fault. Long story that I won't go into for fear of #banhammer

Fan quit at under 20k. A TPMS sensor quit at under 30k, which was kind of a bummer for a japanese built honda.

Aside from that, I LOOOOVED that car. Underpowered? Sure. But very much like a Crx in the "tossable" category. ~3,800 RPM(?) at 79mph was annoying but livable.

The fold-up rear seats are berkeleying brilliant.

SWMBO loves her 08 fit. Seems bigger on the inside than the outside. We have had no problems save replacing the clutch and doing routine maintenance. It's not fast but it is fun to drive and we have thus far managed to survive a rear facing car seat in the back and still use the front seat, but it's a bit cramped with the car seat.

We got a 2008 Fit Sport automatic just before the wife had left ankle surgery. We tried both 1st and 2nd generations and preferred the older ones, since the newer one felt cheaper. We've had the '08 for almost two years (20K miles) and it's treated us very well. We put some lowering springs, tinted windows and a sporty stripe on it and it looked a lot better, but we'll have to go back to stock springs since I can't find anyone willing to try to get it on their alignment rack as low as it is with the Sport front lip. Other than that, we keep putting gas in it and changing the oil and it keeps chugging along on its thankless commuter duty. I like the flappy paddles to change gears. Commuting in DC Suburbia it gets 28 MPG.

We've had an '09 Fit Sport automatic for 175,000+ miles since new(and pick it back up with a new airbag tomorrow). It's held up to our use/abuse with nothing more than basic maintenance & a pair of headlights, and surprisingly isn't rusty at all despite most of those miles being in the Midwest.

The only issues have been a sticky rear hatch handle, and a radio that doesn't always recognize our phones.

pirate wrote: We live in the south where summer time highs range in the upper eighties to lower nineties 8 or 9 months a year with humidity thick enough if you stomp your feet it starts to rain. Just how wimpy is the A/C for those conditions? Good enough or it will never keep up?

It'll keep up, but instead of having the fan on level 2 like a lot of cars, you'll have it on 3, or maybe 4 on the very hottest days. The a/c isn't totally useless, it's just not as strong as you'd like.

I am thinking tinted windows would go a long way in helping the AC keep the temps down in the car while driving.

As if there aren't enough good post on here about it, I had first gen base model with a 5 spd. Was it slow? Of course. Was it an absolute hoot to drive? Yes, again.

I've gone through many cars in my short 26 years of life, most of which were boring but I've had some exciting ones (E30 and Focus ST), and the fit is the car I wish I still had.

Just to add another voice of agreement, I had a 2013 manual for about 18 months. Practical, fun to drive, and great utility. A/C was able to keep up in the 100+ degree summer of Dallas.

I'd definitely recommend one, and will have another of my own some day.

Had a 2012, traded it in when I decided I wanted something sportier. Agree with most of the comments here, but I will add, make sure you don't do too short of a test drive. The seats were a little hard to get comfortable with for me, but acceptable. However, there seems to be a small number of people who could never get comfortable with the seats, and actually had some back pain after riding in the car too long. So, I'd suggest a long enough test drive to figure out if you are in that minority.

Love the Fit. Yes, I have a Honda bias, but will tell you the Fit is easily the best thing Honda's made since discontinuing DWB civics in late 90s. They are not fast and no one's yet been able to crack the ECU of the L-series engines, but they are the best tool for the job it's supposed to do. Lots of space inside, it's basically a Tardis. I'm pretty sure you could push it off a cliff and it would still run. It's definitely not a highway cruiser and can be a bit floaty and buzzy above 70mph, but there are some suspension tweaks you can do to make it more palatable.

One personal anecdote I always like to relay when people are considering a Fit is that it took me and 3 other big dudes, all of our guitars, amps, bases and keyboards from Baltimore to Nashville without complaint and we even had a little space for a tiny cooler.

I bought a first generation Fit sport with an auto. It was a great little car. I haven't driven any of the newer versions, but I would absolutely consider buying one again. Our Fit became my older son's car and later was sold to some friends of ours. I would recommend that anyone consider any of the small SUV things, consider a Fit instead. It probably gets better mileage and can carry more people and/or stuff in comfort.

pirate wrote: My wife likes the Honda Fit. Me not so much.

In other words: Your wife has good taste in small utilitarian cars. You, not so much.

penultimeta wrote: They are not fast and no one's yet been able to crack the ECU of the L-series engines, but they are the best tool for the job it's supposed to do.

That is actually not true anymore, KTuner released a setup for tuning the second and third gen cars late last year.

http://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-engine-modifications-motor-swaps-ecu-tuning/86764-ktuner-ecu-reflash.html

http://www.hamotorsports.com/ktuner-flash-fit.html

pointofdeparture wrote:

penultimeta wrote: They are not fast and no one's yet been able to crack the ECU of the L-series engines, but they are the best tool for the job it's supposed to do.

That is actually not true anymore, KTuner released a setup for tuning the second and third gen cars late last year. http://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-engine-modifications-motor-swaps-ecu-tuning/86764-ktuner-ecu-reflash.html http://www.hamotorsports.com/ktuner-flash-fit.html

Huh. Cool. I knew they were working on it, didn't realize it materialized.