Honda Fit New Owner Reports

Replying to: jtbryant12 (Jul 01, 2007 5:52 pm)

Our Fit (just a week old) doesn't have any trouble at highway speeds. I'd be more concerned about comfort during a 40 minute commute. My husband doesn't have any trouble, but I have a hard time getting comfortable.
 
If my legs are comfortable, I'm reaching for the steering wheel with nearly straight arms; if my arms are at a comfortable angle, my legs are too bent. I read a post from some woman somewhere that talked about the car aggravating her carpel tunnel so I was wary when we test drove the car. I could tell it would be an issue just sitting there for 5 minutes but since my commute is 10 minutes and everything else was right, we bought any way. Hope we don't regret it in a year.

Replies to this message:
• carfit4me (Jul 03, 2007 7:16 pm)

Replying to: lydkid (Jul 03, 2007 6:35 pm)

Replying to: johnd15 (Apr 21, 2006 3:35 am)

Since you have now had your Fit over 1 year are you still in love with it? Have you had any problems with it at all. ANYTHING.
 
I am looking to buy one but to be honest I have only ever had a Ford Ranger. I have read all 32 pages (lol) of the forum and dont seem to see anyone posting anything after 3 mos about their Fits. Could you please respond and tell me how you feel after a year of use. THANKS SO MUCH!!

Replies to this message:
• stevecebu (Jul 07, 2007 11:50 pm)
• jethaden (Jul 12, 2007 5:32 pm)

Replying to: mudpuddles (Jul 07, 2007 5:37 pm)

I am looking to buy one but to be honest I have only ever had a Ford Ranger. I have read all 32 pages (lol) of the forum and dont seem to see anyone posting anything after 3 mos about their Fits. Could you please respond and tell me how you feel after a year of use. THANKS SO MUCH!!
 
I bought my Honda Jazz same as the Fit in the US in Sept. 2005. I sold it March 2006. So 6 months. I sold it because I was moving and in this country that is very very complicated if you car is registered in one place and you want to move and register it in another.
Anyway with the exception of lower fuel economy that I would have likes 24mpg in the city and never any better. The only problem I had with it was a handle in teh rear hatch that you grab to pull the hatch down with. It would pop or fall out sometimes. I told the dealer about it but it didn't ever really get fixed they said no to glue it as it's used access light bulbs or something. But if I had kept it I'd put a drop or two of glue to hold it in.
The other problem was the rearview had terrible vibration even on a smooth road. The dealer switched out the rubber part from another car and it was fine after that. Other than that I had zero problems with it. Oh I had the base 1.3L Sport manual which isn't sold in the US. I had plenty of power for city driving and loved the way it shifted and teh magic seats were so great and easy to use.
I only have 3 problems with possibly buying a Fit when I get back to the US and one involves how well the 1.5L will do on American highways and my back is not so good and the seats are very hard in the Fit. The other is how well will it do in New England winters going up and down hills. Yeah snow rated all seasons most likely. My wife likes the car except she can't see the front of the nose. Seats from a Mini Cooper S would be awesome and solve my back problems but no more magic seats either.
The Ft is a really good car and as long as you aren't getting old and fat (like me) and your back is good it should be fine.
We are also considering other cars and I will test drive a US fit when I get there next year. If I were to go to the US today the it would be in my top 3 choices. In 2008 in the top 5. You've gotta drive one and see if the seats are comfortable. The 2008 accord looks so nice tho and comfy seats but almost zero utility. My wife likes the CR-V but the rear tire blocks her view backing up.
So 6 months for me and now I own a Toyota Hi-Lux diesel. i passed on the Ford Ranger diesel,. Diesel is what is prefer but not until 2009.

Replying to: Sylvia (Apr 21, 2006 3:54 pm)

Replies to this message:
• mudpuddles (Jul 08, 2007 7:41 pm)
  • tgun (Jul 09, 2007 12:45 pm)
    • mudpuddles (Jul 09, 2007 2:33 pm) and 3 more...
• nthomas (Jul 08, 2007 8:12 pm)
  • stevecebu (Jul 08, 2007 9:11 pm)
    • nthomas (Jul 09, 2007 6:58 am) and 1 more...
• anahita61 (Jul 10, 2007 4:45 pm)
  • caldodge (Jul 17, 2007 4:03 am)

Replying to: zarathustra (Jul 08, 2007 12:24 pm)

Thank you both so much for replying. I will be happy with and gas milage that's more then 12.5 mpg. That's what my '90 Ranger gets now.
 
Anyone else have any grips, complaints, love-it's or hate-it's?????

Replies to this message:
• tgun (Jul 09, 2007 12:45 pm)
  • mudpuddles (Jul 09, 2007 2:33 pm)
    • tgun (Jul 10, 2007 4:44 am) and 2 more...

Replying to: zarathustra (Jul 08, 2007 12:24 pm)

Replies to this message:
• stevecebu (Jul 08, 2007 9:11 pm)
  • nthomas (Jul 09, 2007 6:58 am)
    • stevecebu (Jul 09, 2007 7:57 am)

Replying to: nthomas (Jul 08, 2007 8:12 pm)

#1 - Are you driving city, highway, lots of stop and go, etc.? There's so many variables that can have an effect on mpg.
 
Yes, how you drive can and does affect your economy to a point but there is so much overwhelming evidence that some Fit/Jazz cars get poor economy right out of the box no matter how they are driven that it's undeniable.
But no one listens if they have a good one and they just say it's your driving habits.
If it was just that, Honda never would have sent factory technicians to look at my car. Honda cannot fix the problem, probably because they don't know what's wrong.
Toyota is denying lots of problems to it's customers and saying it's normal or blaming the customer, just read up on the Camry or RAV4, that many people can't be wrong!
Sweeping the Good mpg Fit, Bad mpg Fit under the rug won't help. With mine no one could get better economy out of it not even the factory techs driving it! Somehow I don't think they were redlining it in every gear.
I will say this tho, on my Jazz it rarely would drop below 10.5km/l no matter how hard I drove it. Also unless I had really long roads with no traffic I wouldn't get much above 12km/l and that's driving for hours, as close to a highway as there is in that part of the country but the roads were winding and usually busy except late at night.
This is enough of an issue that even tho my wife wants a Fit, I'm very leery of buying another one because I'm afraid it will get worse economy than a V6 Accord!

Replies to this message:
• nthomas (Jul 09, 2007 6:58 am)
  • stevecebu (Jul 09, 2007 7:57 am)

Replying to: stevecebu (Jul 08, 2007 9:11 pm)

Replies to this message:
• stevecebu (Jul 09, 2007 7:57 am)

Replying to: nthomas (Jul 09, 2007 6:58 am)

I understand that you're saying there's differences in the cars, that some are good and some are bad when it comes to mileage. Still, I was replying to someone with only about 1000 miles on the car, and without knowing in what conditions the car is being driven, it's probably too soon to say that it's one of the ones that you think will get bad mpg.
 
Sure, I understand, I'm just saying that for me that would be 1,600km and the dealer kept saying it would get better and it never did. Keeping that in mind there is absolutely nothing a person can do if they got a low mpg model except try and drive it very slowly and see the economy versus driving it like they normally would there should be very little actual difference in the mileage between the two if it's a bad mpg Fit. I got 10.5km/l if I drove it gently and maybe 9.5km/l if I drove it like Mario Andretti. On what amounts to long roads it would get 12km/l at best. So not even close to what it should get.
 
So the poster should drive a tank and baby the car. This is from from fillup til the fuel light comes on. Use the exact same gas station if possible if not at least the same brand.
1) Fill Up tank til it either shuts off and we all added a few cents to round it up usually. But if you do that do the exact same thing the next Fill Up. Make certain that you write down the exact amount you put in the tank like this (example 8.63 gallons), or whatever it is but to 2 decimal places. Make sure that you zero out one of your trip meters. I zero out both of them just to be certain i don't make a mistake
2) Now drive the car as someone posted a link to, shift at 2,000-3,000 rpms, coast a lot be gentle with the brakes etc...
3) When the fuel light comes on do not wait, but Fill it up right away, hopefully this is possible. Then record what you put in for fuel (example 8.71 gallons) whatever it is. Then reset your trip meter and calculate your economy based on the amount of miles drive and divide by the amount of gallons to 2 decimal places. Write that down.
4) Now drive the car like a teenager, by this I don't imply breaking the law, but give it an Italian tune-up. Have fun going up the highway ramps, drive at a fast pace on the highway, don't worry about shifting at low rpms or coasting or anything like that. Just have fun with the car and don't do any of the gas saving techniques.
5) When the Fuel light comes on, try and Fill it up right away. Record the fuel you put in and then do the math and see if there is a big difference. If it's a fairly small difference then it's possible that you have a low economy car because driving fast etc... should really affect your economy and if it doesn't then you'll know about the car.
Yes it will probably improve some over time, mine never did and I had the 1.3l.
After you do all this post the difference in fuel economy and what the actual figure were in the forum and we all can debate it for a long time.
If you drive one tank all city and another all highway of course it will be different. But your normal driving routine for 2 tanks should answer the Do I have a low mpg unit. This isn't a guarantee, but it was what I observed with my own car.