Why I chose the Honda Fit
I’ve been in the market for a new car for several months. My 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee was starting to give me issues (not starting occasionally, computer malfunction, rough shifting (automatic), etc.). The Jeep had close to 145,000 miles on it and it was my daily driver. It was mostly highway miles and it was in excellent shape for a 10 year old car with that many miles. I bought it in 2000 and at the time, even though I considered myself greener than the average bear, I didn’t seem to mind the 16-20 MPG that it got. I wanted something big enough to haul around clients at lunch and something that I could get “out there” when I wanted to (I traded up from a Jeep Wrangler to the Grand Cherokee). I went with the loaded version (leather, seat heaters, moonroof, V8, Quadradrive, etc.)
While shopping for the new car, I wanted something with good fuel economy, but didn’t want to sacrafice on cargo space. As I told every salesman that I visited, “My three dogs go everywhere with me.” I didn’t really need the 4WD, even though it had come in handy a few times. I also didn’t need the gas guzzling that came along with the 4WDs.
I did a lot of research on the internet and looked at the following cars:
I had pretty much settled on the Jetta Wagon TDI, the Mazda, and the Fit. The Ford just seemed boring, the Subaru not big enough, and the Versa too new. Admittedly, there were others in the class and a few others to boot (like the Mini Cooper) but you can drive yourself crazy (like my brother-in-law who spent months deciding on which car to buy) if you start with too big of a selection.
Personally, I didn’t want to use CARS (Cash for Clunkers) as my Jeep would make a great 4WD for someone living up where the salt the roads as it was in good shape and with some transmission work will provide several years of service. However, I did want to use the leverage that CARS allowed me during the negotiations.
I was dead set on a manual transmission as I just don’t feel like driving a golf cart around. I did drive the Jetta TDI, but there were no more 2009 TDI manual shift cars anywhere, and very few of the wagons at all. I also drove the Mazda and the Honda.
The Mazda was a fun little car with more horsepower, and very nicely appointed, but:
- the seats didn’t lay flat
- less cargo room
- more expensive
- so-so gas mileage
- visibility (Granted, it was much better than most Pontiac rental cars I’ve driven. I’m short and I felt I couldn’t see the front right quarter and after driving a SUV for years I felt unsafe.)
The Honda dealer wasn’t accepting CARS (Clunkers), but I was able to show them what the Mazda dealer had put in writing to help negotiate the price of my trade up to the same I would have received with the Clunkers deal. I also liked:
- the lower price (2/3s the price of the Mazda)
- the better gas mileage (combined 29 vs 25 on the Mazda)
- more cargo space (significantly so)
- the seats that lie flat (and the magic seat deal)
- the front seats recline all the way
- higher crash rating (in fact, even significantly higher than my Jeep)
- visibility (there are no discernible blind spots and the small windows in front of the external mirrors are great)
- the USB attachment for the stereo (they both had AUX input, but with the Fit the iPod can be controlled via the stereo and you can use the steering wheel controls)
- Honda resale
- Honda brand loyality (my (other-)brother-in-law loves his and they do have the highest satisfaction surveys and highest percentage of return buyers.)
I was a bit conflicted about the sportiness of the Mazda 3 vs. the Fit, but I had to remember that I was in this for the efficiency. We’ve (at least I have) become more humble since 2000 when I bought my gas guzzler. I sort of like the fact that I spent less than half on this car as I spent on my last new car (and in that same vein, the Fit was 2/3 the price of the Mazda 3).
I’ve had it for a few days and have put a few hundred miles on it to date. I’m very happy with it. So far, the meter says I’m getting 42 MPG as I am driving pretty conservatively. I’ll post a comment below when I start filling it up and calculating actual mileage.
I filled up the Fit for the first time yesterday and calculated based upon mileage that I got just a hair below 38 MPG. Not bad. I also read that after the first few tanks of gas (the engine break in period) that mileage improves.
I exchanged a few e-mails with someone who read the blog post and put additional information about my Fit in the message. I’m going to post them below as anonymous and my responses by me:
Good morning, sir,
I stumbled upon your blog when I was looking for reviews of the Honda
Fit. It seems like a great little car for the money. My only
concerns are comfort and noise. It’s really hard to get a good view
of a car on a 15 minute test drive. I’m curious what you think about
the Fit, now that you’ve had it awhile. Is it comfortable to you on
longer trips? Do you notice the road noise?
I peeked around the rest of your site. Did the whole WOW thing as
well, and have no pangs to return. It is/was a great game, but good
grief, what a time sink! And it looks like you have some great brews
going. Some day, I’m going to start brewing.
Thanks!
Andy
@Anonymous E-mailer
My response: I’ve made one round trip which was about 4 hours each way. I was as comfortable as I was in my previous car, which was a large SUV. I also drive a lot of commuting distance and around town and I’m not at the least bit uncomfortable (I’ve had it 6 weeks and already have 3400 miles on it).
Road noise does leave something to be desired, but it’s not unlike most of the other cars in the class. One particular part of my commute is over a rough grade of concrete and it is really the only time I notice it over the radio (I listen to news and talk radio mostly so I’m not jamming out). I left the radio off on my drive home yesterday (as I wanted the full effect) and it wasn’t too bad even at 75mph on pavement. I also use a bluetooth speaker phone a lot in the car and nobody complains and I’ve actually lowered the volume from where it was set in my Jeep.
If I were to try to be nit-picky:
My wife, who is a little technically challenged, hates the navigation system. Thinks it should function like her Garmin. The search function does leave a lot to be desired (e.g. we were meeting a couple of Macaroni Grill last weekend and it couldn’t find it until we entered the address (using 411 to get the address), once we entered the address it came up as “Romano’s Macaroni Grill” … if we had only searched on Romano..?).
The iPod menu also only shows playlists, artists, albums, and songs (no podcasts) and scrolling through 100GB of music on my iPod takes forever if you happen to want to listen to White Stripes or something way down in the alphabet. I’ve compensated by this by creating a bunch of playlists, and dragging in my favorite commute podcasts.
Auto door unlock only unlocks the driver door so I hop out of the car, open the back door to grab my briefcase and have to pull the keys back out of my pocket and unlock the doors using the keyless entry.
I got a stick and there is no passenger arm rest and the driver arm rest is kind of a joke. I’ve been leaving it up for the past two weeks and just yesterday when I was thinking about your e-mail was the first time I really missed it.
Other than those nit-picky details, I’m very happy with my purchase. I’m averaging over 40 MPG (on the 8 hour road trip I averaged 47!). It’s a stick and I drive conservatively. I haven’t had a problem with cargo space and I’m usually hauling around a ton of crap (I thought it would be tough going from a Jeep Grand Cherokee to a hatchback, but I haven’t had an issue yet). Legroom, even in the back, is more than my Jeep.
I know it’s a tough decision. I chewed over it for weeks. My wife finally reminded me that the reason I was doing it was for carbon footprint. I’m still glad I went with the Fit and haven’t really doubted my decision.
My advice, take a test drive when there is no traffic and get up to 75-80mph and see what you think. If you have an iPhone or a PDA that can record set it in the console to record and have a conversation with the person in the passenger seat … do this for every car you drive so you can compare the differences.
sid.
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Sid Boswell
sid@sidboswell.com
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Sid,
Thanks for the good writeup. It sounds like we have similar
requirements of our cars. I mainly listen to our NPR station, use an
iphone, have a tech-challenged wife (who has a Garmin Nuvi), and we
both drive way too much. My commute is about 100 miles/day, sigh.
My ’98 Honda CRV has been a solid car and has around 143k miles. It’s
a stick as well. I tried an automatic version before I purchased it,
but the auto felt way too sluggish. It doesn’t have a center armrest
for either the driver or passenger. I don’t know if I’ll be able to
take it when I finally get a car that has one.
I hate crappy search algorithms like you experienced with the Macaroni
Grill search. At least we have options to work around it. I do wish
that I could get bluetooth without going full in with the navigation
option on the Fit (several other cars have this same problem…have to
go with top trim level to get bluetooth). Other than the search
issue, has the nav system been decent?
One car that I am seriously considering is the Mazda 3 hatchback. I
drove one last weekend and totally loved it. I just don’t like the
gas mileage it gets. A car that small should get better, IMHO. I
love hearing about your and other drivers’ real world MPG with the
Fit. 40+?! Wow! The best I’m reading for the Mazda 3 is low 30′s.
Still not bad, but…
I bet you’ll love your Fit for a long time. This is my 2nd Honda
(both bought used). They were/are both crazy reliable. I bought my
’98 CRV in 2001. It’s never stranded me on the road.
Thanks again!
andy
@Anonymous E-mailer
My response:
I too listen to NPR and when it’s not news, I’m usually listening to NPR podcasts (old version of This American Life and Car Talk are my favorite).
I got the navigation system and it does not have bluetooth. Rather, I have a Blue Ant speaker phone that sits on my visor. I got it off of woot when it was dirt cheap (I think I paid $29 + $5 S&H). The fit (as far as I’m aware) doesn’t come with bluetooth. It’s one of those additions I think they are adding to some of their cars and of course it would be in the Acura line.
The navigation system is pretty accurate. It is DVD based so you can upgrade it if you happen to move to Canada or if you want new roads. Of course, you can do the same with Garmin, I recently updated my wife’s Garmin for $75 when she realized that it didn’t contain a major interstate in our area (part of 440 in Raleigh).
It also warns you when you are entering an “unverified” area and I do work in several rural communities in VA where the streets in the navigation system are accurate, but the map data must be suspect.
Like you, it was a tossup between the Mazda 3 and the Fit. The clincher for me was mileage, and cargo room. In particular I really didn’t like that the Mazda 3 seats don’t lay flat. I have three dogs who go everywhere with me and I didn’t like the non-flat seat issue. The 3 did have better pickup (117HP in the Fit to 176(?) in the 3), was a bit tighter, and had shorter throws and therefore was more fun to drive. The one I looked at also was loaded with the leather, seat heaters, etc. In the end, it came down to economics (both in terms of mileage and the wallet). Like I said, I was in it for the mileage. Since it’s a stick, the Fit isn’t boring….but it’s not the fun little 3.
I also drove the Mazdaspeed 3 hatchback which was a little ROCKET! But I just couldn’t stand the mileage and the supreme fuel requirement.
sid.
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Sid Boswell
sid@sidboswell.com
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Thanks for the idea of the Blue Ant system. I think I’m going to get
one for my wife. She talks on the phone quite a bit, but is resistant
to using bluetooth headsets. I bet I could convince her to use
something like the Blue Ant. I’ve only gotten one thing off of
woot…a Roomba. And I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that I bought
one.
Just out of curiosity, what other cars did you consider besides the
Fit and 3? I don’t know why, but this car search has found me to be
more wishy washy than normal. Whenever one car pulls to the lead,
another one piques my interest. Argh!
Dude – I bought a Roomba on Woot too. However, we love the Roomba. We have three house dogs and a Pot Bellied Pig (new addition to the family) that also comes in the house quite a bit. The Roomba lives upstairs in the bedrooms, but I bring it down on weekends and it does the lower floor. It doesn’t do as good of a job as a manual vacuum, but it does a better job than not vacuuming at all.
I understand the wishy-washy attitude. My brother-in-law was worse than I was and ended up buying a Volvo, but the decision took months. I read reviews and stuff online for a long time before actually driving the cars and I didn’t take a month to make my final decision.
I spent most of my time looking at these cars:
• Jetta Wagon TDI – 40+ MPG!
• Mazda 3 Hatchback
• Subaru Impreza
• Scion XD
• Nisan Versa
• Ford Focus
It was down to the Jetta Wagon TDI, the Mazda 3, and the Honda. I really liked the Jetta, but was a bit frightened about repairs and the total cost of ownership.
Hope that helps.
sid.
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Sid Boswell
sid@sidboswell.com
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I swear, you are bizarro me. Hehheh. That’s pretty much the same
lineup as what I’ve been looking at. About the only different things
I am considering are the Hyunda Elantra Touring (it’s a wagon) and the
usual character mini-SUVs (Forester/CRV/RAV4). I want to test drive
an Elantra Touring, but the 2010 just came out so there aren’t very
many around yet.
Like you, I have been intrigued by the TDI series. The closest dealer
only has one with the DSG (funky automatic transmission) in stock and
I just don’t like it. Still waiting to try it in a stick. And like
you, I’ve been reading just enough VW stories to make me wary. But
wow, great highway mileage and lots of nice torque.
Regarding the Roomba…my wife kind of rolled her eyes when it showed
up. But now she uses it more than me! I am surprised at how much
crap it does pickup. You’re right; it’s no substitute for a regular
vacuum, but for what it is, it works fine.
Thanks again for your thoughts. I’ll try not to pester you with more
questions…but I’ll drop you a note when I finally make a decision
(might be in 14 years, but hey).
Andy
I just couldn’t get over the Hyundai brand. Everyone I talked to said they have improved, but nobody that I personally know has one and could give me the 1st hand experience. Resale on them sucks, but if they have really improved, that should change over the years.
I wasn’t looking for an SUV. I was getting rid of one. We have a F-250 if I need something really big. My mom has a CRV and loves it.
sid.
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Sid Boswell
sid@sidboswell.com
Stalk me on Twitter…
text “follow sidboswell” to 40404 or go to http://twitter.com/sidboswell
Another Fantastic blog post, I will be sure to bookmark this in my Furl account. Have a great day.