Hey guys! Hope your day is going well. I'm seriously thinking about getting a Fit in about a year and I know its still pretty early to ask questions about them but I want a good base of knowledge for the car before I shell out the money for one. I'd just like to know the up's and down's of the car. What parts exceed and what could be better. Are there any common problems with them? Stuff like that. Also which seems to be the better buy? I know most people get the sport model but the Standard one seems to be better, not by much though. Its lighter, has a little better turning radius and is about $1,300 cheaper. It seems that the Sport model just has the more creature comforts than the Standard. Any information about the Fit would be greatly appreciated.

I know alot of people say, "Oh well why don't you go look it up or do your research?" well there are somethings that you can't look up you need a person who has first had expirence to tell you, and to me part of the car culture, especially Honda, is to share all your knowledge about what you know and to "help a brotha" out. Thats what makes honda so BA.

But all that aside, I'd appreciate anything you can give me, thanks a bunch!

-Ewing

 

Ill run it down quickly , the fit is a low priced economic car the sport model comes with a better looking wing and body trim, 6 speakers, ipod aux, cruise control, and 15 inch alloy wheels. The car is not the fastest thing but it handles well. Spoon tuned one and it is a great endurance car candidate. The monocoque body is reenforced with gussets and well placed supports. THe car is LIGHT, which makes it fun to drive. It looks good and saves gas and has Unlimited potential. HOped that helped

 

I drive a EG hatch now, the two cars seem very similar, I havent driven a Fit yet but am dying too. They seem like they might handle the same. Am I on the right track by thinking that?

 

keep in mind i have a sport model

things i like
-aux jack for my ipod
-paddle shifters so i can downshift or stay in gear when i want
-magic seats, i store alot of stuff so it's a very big + in my book
-turning radius is very good, make parking easy
-aftermarket support is blowing up like crazy
-sport model bodykit looks very good for oem piece
-very easy to work on, changing rear springs took me 5 minutes on both sides
-girls love to talk to me at red lights ("what kind of car is that? it's very cute!")
-car handles well for stock
-5 cup holders!!! what more can i say

things i dont like
-seat position feels too "upright" (i'm used to super low rails)
-interior panels get scratched really easily
-when you drive aggressively though the city, gas mileage is mid to high 20's
-when you have 3+ people in the car, it gets really sluggish
-uphills is a constant battle =P
-automatic transmission makes a weird noise when i shift into drive (heard it's normal)
-wind noise is pretty loud at 80mph
-no audio controls on steering wheel
-no power door lock switch on passenger side

 

Yeah I read on one of the other forums the the plastic is very prone to marks and stratches, but thanks alot for everyone who is replying to my post, its helping out alot!!

 

Can't tell you how it compares to what you have now, but you are really doing yourself a disservice by just asking to be told about the car and not researching it yourself -- what people tell you can be biased or outright incorrect, so better to assemble the facts yourself and make your own conclusions. Besides, answers to all of the questions you asked are out there, you just have to know where to look. If you haven't been to http://www.fitfreak.net yet, that'd be first on the list as most of what you want to know is there in spades. Also (shameless plug), check out my HP, you can read my experience with the car for the past year and a half or so in reasonable detail, plus the links section should give you more than enough leads for parts, clubs, forums, etc. to look into: http://homepages.apci.net/~sirmyt/ I researched the car for 3 mos. straight before I bought mine and bought it the day it was released. I knew more about it than the dealer did by that time.

As for which is a better buy, you're wasting your time with the Base, period. For the ~$1300 or so that you save, you give up a number of features that will cost much more than the difference to add to the base after the fact, and some will never be available aftermarket, like cruise-control , paddle-shifters on the AT, and the body kit. The weight difference and turning radius are minor concerns and performance-wise are offset by the crappy 14" tires and wheels you get, so there's no real benefit gained. Just buying new tires and even the stock 15" rims to get the performance lost back will use up a good half of the savings you got from buying a base in the first place, and still leave you w/ no cruise, paddles, aero, etc. It just not worth it in the end unless you absolutely are the kind of person who buys a car just for transportation with no thought to its potential.

 

Well if Im looking at turning radius and differene in weight im obviously looking for the cars potential. And sometimes its better to ask people who already have them and have first hand expirence on what they like and dislike about it. Ive done alot of research on the car already. So I'm just looking for advise. Thanks for the site tho.

 

Sorry, wasn't meaning to come off with attitude, it's just that there are a number of threads on Fitfreak alone about 'what do/don't you like about your Fit?', 'what would you change?', base vs. Sport, MT vs. AT, etc. that have tons of replies and would be a great source for the info you want. There's nothing wrong with asking advice, it's just I think that for owners that have had the car for a while, we see this question come up so often and the info is so readily available, that we're not so apt to just type up a review every time anymore. In my case, my only real complaint was with the seating position and gas pedal location initially -- it was hard to get used to at first after my prior car, but now it's no big deal. Others often complain about no armrest, no dead pedal, no locking gas cap, or adjustable-height front seat, but how important those are to you depends. For me they were a no issue.

As for performance, I figured that was your aim, hence not recommending the Base. The turning radius is 1/10 of a foot less than the Sport, which is 1.2" -- not even worth considering, and the weight difference (~40 lbs) is more due to the body kit and wheels of the Sport than anything else, and still pretty minor. Mechanically, the cars are identical -- steering ratio and lock are the same, tranny ratios the same, suspension is the same, engine, all of it. What you're giving up is creature comforts mostly, as mentioned earlier. There's really nothing wrong with the Base ultimately, it's just that for the price difference you're giving up a LOT of nice features that would cost you way more later on to add then if you just gotthem from the get go.

 

You mention it not having an armrest, but if you can find a JDM centor console, it has one. Someone posted a link in another thread for AJ's racing that was selling them for about $300.

edit: link for console:
http://www.aj-racing.com/catal...age=1

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chikubi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Sorry, wasn't meaning to come off with attitude, it's just that there are a number of threads on Fitfreak alone about 'what do/don't you like about your Fit?', 'what would you change?', base vs. Sport, MT vs. AT, etc. that have tons of replies and would be a great source for the info you want. There's nothing wrong with asking advice, it's just I think that for owners that have had the car for a while, we see this question come up so often and the info is so readily available, that we're not so apt to just type up a review every time anymore. In my case, my only real complaint was with the seating position and gas pedal location initially -- it was hard to get used to at first after my prior car, but now it's no big deal. Others often complain about no armrest, no dead pedal, no locking gas cap, or adjustable-height front seat, but how important those are to you depends. For me they were a no issue.

As for performance, I figured that was your aim, hence not recommending the Base. The turning radius is 1/10 of a foot less than the Sport, which is 1.2" -- not even worth considering, and the weight difference (~40 lbs) is more due to the body kit and wheels of the Sport than anything else, and still pretty minor. Mechanically, the cars are identical -- steering ratio and lock are the same, tranny ratios the same, suspension is the same, engine, all of it. What you're giving up is creature comforts mostly, as mentioned earlier. There's really nothing wrong with the Base ultimately, it's just that for the price difference you're giving up a LOT of nice features that would cost you way more later on to add then if you just gotthem from the get go.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yea its cool bro. and i see what you meen about the base vs. sport on saving money with the options. ultimatly the sport is the better buy, and after my previous cars, i kinda want the little luxuries that the sport offers. ill be sure to check it out, thanks for all the help.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JJSpecTuning &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">keep in mind i have a sport model

things i like
-aux jack for my ipod
-paddle shifters so i can downshift or stay in gear when i want (mine's manual... so no shifters)
-magic seats, i store alot of stuff so it's a very big + in my book
-turning radius is very good, make parking easy
-aftermarket support is blowing up like crazy
-sport model bodykit looks very good for oem piece
-very easy to work on, changing rear springs took me 5 minutes on both sides
-girls love to talk to me at red lights ("what kind of car is that? it's very cute!")
-car handles well for stock
-5 cup holders!!! what more can i say

things i dont like
-when you have 3+ people in the car, it gets really sluggish
-uphills is a constant battle =P
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Ditto...

My differences:
things i don't like
-seat position feels too "soft" (i'm used to the recaro seats in my EP3... hehe)

I don't know why it's not mentioned... Maybe because it only applies to the Canadian model? But the rear seats on the Fit Sport fold down flat with the trunk where the base doesn't for us. And our base model OEM deck doesn't play MP3 files... only regular audio cd's.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Chikubi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

As for which is a better buy, you're wasting your time with the Base, period. For the ~$1300 or so that you save, you give up a number of features that will cost much more than the difference to add to the base after the fact, and some will never be available aftermarket, like cruise-control , paddle-shifters on the AT, and the body kit. The weight difference and turning radius are minor concerns and performance-wise are offset by the crappy 14" tires and wheels you get, so there's no real benefit gained. Just buying new tires and even the stock 15" rims to get the performance lost back will use up a good half of the savings you got from buying a base in the first place, and still leave you w/ no cruise, paddles, aero, etc. It just not worth it in the end unless you absolutely are the kind of person who buys a car just for transportation with no thought to its potential.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Wasting my time? Maybe I don't need the crappy looking lip and sideskirts, or cruise control, or alloy wheels. What I do need is a practical car that can drive on all sorts of roads (ie it has atleast some ground clearance) and gets good gas mileage (the LRR tires come only on the Base).

I'd say if you want any "potential" you wouldn't buy an automatic in the first place, but what do I know, I bought a Base.

 

I just want to add that there are no mud guards for the Sport model.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CivicWagonRUS &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Wasting my time? Maybe I don't need the crappy looking lip and sideskirts, or cruise control, or alloy wheels. What I do need is a practical car that can drive on all sorts of roads (ie it has atleast some ground clearance) and gets good gas mileage (the LRR tires come only on the Base).

I'd say if you want any "potential" you wouldn't buy an automatic in the first place, but what do I know, I bought a Base.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I bought an MT, but for those that still want an AT and like performance, having the ability to shift at will is a great option and not something that can be added later. If you're happy with your car, more power to you, but most owners want a bit more from their car from the get go, so buying a Base with the idea to save money now and add the options later is a waste and will cost you much more in the long run. If, like you, they know they will never want/need those options from the start though, then it makes sense to get the Base.