FIT reliability?

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone in here has owned a Honda FIT sport manual for a
year or so and how the reliability was? Have there been any repairs or out
of the ordinary maintainance that was done to the car? What about the
general ownership satisfaction? How is the car handling bumpy roads,
handling curves, hard braking and acceleration and general comfort and
convience? Did anything happen that would make you want to say "never again"
with this car?

I am still considering this car. If I decide to get one in 2008, it will
probably be the FIT Sport 5 spd manual.

Where I live, the FIT Sport manual is about $16,100.00 with the delivery
charge, and the Civic EX manual would be about $19,700.00 so its a savings.

Thanks,
Al

 

Well, I don't own the Fit yet, but I intend to make it my next new car
purchase, after having read numerous reviews and having taken the manual
trans Fit Sport for a test drive. However, in case you have not read the
article in Consumer Reports, I will tell you that the Fit (especially the
manual trans.) is recommended in their annual April Automobile issue. Among
other accolades, it was judged as one of the "top picks of 2007," and one
of the "best vehicles under $25,000." Every year, Consumer Reports surveys
their subscribers (who are original owners of cars purchased new) on 16
different categories of reliability. For 2007, the Fit received the highest
recommendation: "much better than average," in 15 of the 16 categories. The
only exception was for "body hardware," and that received an "average."
Quite impressive for the most inexpensive of the "best vehicles under
$25,000.00, don't you think?

If you have already have read this article, my apology for telling you
something you already know.

Robert A. Cunningham

 

I’m probably bias saying this, but it it’s a Honda, it’ll be reliable.

 

I have a FIT Base Model with 5 speed so it's not exactly the same
model but close. I bought mine in late April 2006 and I have 16,500
miles on it now. So far the reliability has been fine. I have had no
mechanical repairs at all. I did hit a deer in Jan 2007 so it was in
the shop for body work for about a week. But, even after that, it's
fine.

Likes:
Economy: 40 to 44 mpg on dual lane highway/moderate traffic

Handling: good for what it is. (see dislikes below). Does well with
country roads highways. It is lightweight so expect to get bumped
around a bit by the wind.

Interior Features: pretty comfortable for my 6ft/200 lb frame and my 1
hour commute each way to work. Radio is ok though I wish I had a CD
changer (see dislike below). Hatchback, folding seats work great.
Suprising amount of room in back seat for passengers.

Engine: suprisingly tuned for torque if you can believe it. Not as
high strung as some Honda engines are. Moves out pretty good for a
1.5 L.

Dislikes:
Brakes: not a linear feel at all. Almost too grabby or however you
want to describe it. Very hard to smoothly and consistently brake the
car.

Rear wiper: needs an intermitent setting. It's either on or off which
is a bit of overkill here.

Wheels/Tires: nitpicking here but I'd like 15 inch alloy wheels and
nice tires on the base model please. This thing has wheel covers.
Come on Honda!

Radio reception: is terrible. Not sure if it's the little black
antenna on the roof or the actual radio itself. I'm told "they all do
it" so whatever....

You'll love the sport model since it has cruise control and the
upgraded radio. Otherwise, everything else is the same as my base
model.

 

I thought the EPA rating for the Fit was 33/38 City/Hwy, you’re
getting better? More power too you. Other then that, it was an
excellent write up, thanks Santos. :thumbsup:

 

Although EPA is known to overestimate for many makes, Hondas tend to do
better than EPA estimates, at least with good driving habits and care. EPA
rated the 1993 Accord automatic at 28mpg on the highway, but my '93
regularly averaged 33mpg. And in the 6 months I have owned my 2004 Civic LX
automatic, it has been averaging 40-42mpg on the highway, slightly better
than the 38mpg estimated by EPA.

 

Yeah, I was expecting mid-30s for my mpg estimates. But, I drive on
two-lane highways at around 50mph or so for most of my commute.
Cruising along in 5th gear like that puts me down at 2,000 rpm engine
speed or so. So, I'm getting a bit more mpg than expected. Don't
worry I'm not complaining!

This is my first Honda (I've had Ford's, Subaru, Jeep, and even an old
Renault) and I'm quite impressed with it. I tend to put about 100 to
150 thousand miles on the cars before I trade them in or sell them and
I expect the FIT to easily last as long as the others did.

Well, except for the Renault that is... That barely made it to 55k
miles. LOL

 

Thanks for the information everyone. I'm kind of leaning toward the Civic a
little more. I have a 2005 Accord EX Auto right now and my combined city and
hwy mpg is about 22 mpg so I am not too happy with that. I drive 65 mph
average on the hwy and use the AC with cooling or heat so I dont know what
the problem is since I only have 32k on it. Thinking strongly of getting a
civic ex next time. Thats rated at 30-40mpg i think.

Al