My little brother is looking for a first car as he's about to start college. His budget is about 13-15K and I suggested the fit as the family has always loved honda (00 turbo civic, 01 CL-S, 99 CBR600F4, 00 S2000) and it seems to be a cool small fuel efficient car.

I've read that it's pretty tough to find them in stock while some people walked into the dealer and drove home in one. I'd like to know what everyone paid on their sport model fit's and if there are any discounts at all. Any info in the socal area is a bonus but if there are any dealers in the US selling at a discount that would be great to know too.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CosmosMpower &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">My little brother is looking for a first car as he's about to start college. His budget is about 13-15K and I suggested the fit as the family has always loved honda (00 turbo civic, 01 CL-S, 99 CBR600F4, 00 S2000) and it seems to be a cool small fuel efficient car.

I've read that it's pretty tough to find them in stock while some people walked into the dealer and drove home in one. I'd like to know what everyone paid on their sport model fit's and if there are any discounts at all. Any info in the socal area is a bonus but if there are any dealers in the US selling at a discount that would be great to know too.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Why don't you suggest to your bro to get a used car for 10k and save the 3k for the multitude of upcoming expenses. New cars are a terrible investment as they lose the most value as soon as you drive them off the lot. I only bought the Fit because that particular car filled my needs. But a college student doesn't necessarily need all the features the Fit has to offer, imo.

The Fit sales dynamics change weekly. The best thing to do is to keep calling dealerships in a 100 mile radius of you until you find one that will accept your out-the-door sales price.

I don't believe there are discounts. The Fit is in demand. I think you should be satisfied paying MSRP plus tax and license. Just make sure you add up what tax and license is so you have a price you can offer. Don't leave it a some price + tax and license because dealerships are creative at defining what tax and license can be. Most people are paying a dealer markup on top of MSRP but if you do some legwork you should be able to find a dealer who'll accept your terms.

 

Well, any used car you buy for say 10 grand is going to have 50-80k miles on it and be at least 2-3 years old (even a basic civic). There's no reason at this price range to buy used unless you don't mind having a car that is out of warranty and already has the miles piled up. The depreciation on a economy honda isn't the same as a 50 grand corvette, it's better to have a bit of peace of mind.


Besides, it's not like the fit some kind of luxury car. I was driving a BMW M3 sedan through college and a S2000 towards the end so I don't think a 15 grand econony car is too much to ask.

I just wanted to get an idea if everyone is just taking the usual honda bend over and paying full MSRP or anyone has gotten close to invoice.

 

I bought my Fit in May when it was just gaining sales traction. At that time I called a zillion place and found one to sell for MSRP. These days the Fit is even more popular and I believe it is highly unlikely you'll find anything under MSRP. I could be wrong but I haven't read anyone paying under MSRP on this forum. Most people have posted MSRP plus a markup while some have posted they only payed MSRP.

 

In the Northeast, the witing list for the Fit is 6 months+. Most dealers aren't even taking deposits anymore. I was lucky, and bought mine the DAY they came out. My GF went in the next day, and they were sold out. It took 2.5 months for her to get hers.
We both paid MSRP+TTR, no markup.