fricka

Howdy Y'all,
I currently drive a 1994 Subaru wagon, and with 220K miles finally need to replace it. I'm really attracted to the Fit, but have a question about camping in it with a load of gear.
I take trips to nat'l forests in NM, AR, CO, and other points west. I occasionally find myself on forest service roads with moderate (6" and less) rocks/ruts. Would these roads be practically impassible in a Honda Fit loaded down with me (160lb), a 100lb rotweiler, and another 500lb max of gear? The Fit is "officially" rated for 850lb of cargo, but considering the low clearance of even the 15" wheel version would this be an impractical camping vehicle for me?
Thanks for any advice y'all!

$amGD3

If you're gonna be doing some off roading,i would NOT get the sport.Or if you want the sport,take off the lip kit and sell it to me,lol.But no lip/base fit with maybe a little rugged tires,should be all right for some LIGHT stuff,and i mean LIGHT

rei

I wouldnt get a Fit if you were planning on using it in those situations often. Id stick with Subaru in that case.

swifty4u

I would look into getting an element..a lot of room with the fold up rear seats, awd and I bet a bit more ground clearance..

b501

awd > fwd when it comes to offroad, however you could definitely sleep in the back if you folded down the rear seats.

fricka

Thanks for all the replies. It's really helpful.
The thing that really irritates me is that Subaru hasn't made replacing my super-utilitarian Legacy wagon a no-brainer. Thirteen years later not even the base manual Impreza matches the MPG I get in my nearly 3,000lb vintage wagon. Stupid. That's what has me looking for a different new car model that combines practical utility (for me, camping roadtrips) with at least 30+ highway MPG, preferably 35 for under 20K. Can't believe that an automaker hasn't clued into this yet. Doesn't seem like a hard vehicle to manufacture with today's technology.
That's what had me looking at the Fit, but thanks to the useful replies from y'all looks like I'll have to consider things some more. Element is definitely utilitarian, but again the MPG just isn't there for conscientious roadtripping. I think that a manual Pontiac Vibe'll have to be the thing for me.
Thanks again for y'all's time and info!