Long story short, tired of my ek sedan beater. And I don't wanna keep tacking mileson my 08 supercharged Si... So, thinking of a fit!

Anything I should watch for/known issues with 07-08 ? Or isnit worth the bit more for a 09?

Thanks guys

 

If you like the body style of the 2009, it's a newer model/lower miles. For me, it was an '08 or nothing, I hate the way the '09 model looks. Otherwise you are getting a great car. I would say it is best for city driving simply because it is a small car, so for highway driving you are up against 18 wheelers and SUVs and the only thing you have going for you is maybe being a little more nimble. But there is a troubling delay in response from the accelerator, which could be life or death. I would get my college student a Fit but he does drive to come home, so...he's getting a 4 runner or a Highlander if I can find one.

 

Personally I think the 07-08 are better looking, other then that I really can't comment in te 09+ Fits. I have had my 08 Fit for 4 years so I'll try and touch on the completes I have heard and my own personal ones.

Recalls
there has been three recalls that I know of.
-Airbag failure. there is a harness that runs under the drivers foot that could get wet and damaged causing the airbag light to come in.

-Headlight failure. There has been cases of the headlights to just stop working. I'm not 100% but I think this one only affected certent Fits.

-Window switch. The driver side window switch painless can get water into it and have te potential of shorting it out and causing a fire. The just inspect the switch, replace if needed and then cover with a plastic cover

Owners complaints
-Seats are uncomfortable. If your a avradge size guy I think you will be fine, it if your on the talk side it sounds like leg room can be tight.

-throttle slow to respond. Some have said there is a big lag in the throttle, I have never noticed a problem.

-brakes are weak. Again some have complained the stock brakes are to weak. I have always felt they are more then capable of stopping the car in a hurry with no problems

-Stock tire suck. This one I actualy do agree with. The OEM tires are not very good and in snow they are pretty much worthless.

My complaints
-sun visors. It alway seems that when I'm driving into the sun it is ALWAYs in a spot that the sun visors can not block.

-A pillard. Coming from a 06+ Civic you should have experience with the big a pillard that can cause a blind spot.

-wipers. There are only three settings for the front wipers and one for the rear. It always seems that the wipers are to slow or fast.

-Defroster. With only you in the car it can be hard for the car to keep up with keeping the windows from Figging up. Get a passenger or two and about ll you will be ble to see out is the front window and will likely end up cracking the side windows to help the fog.

This is posted from my phone so sorry for any errors, I will add to this if I think of any more

 

thanks for the replies!

coming from my 08 supercharged k20 si, the car is slow. LOL

but - that's what i expected. i ended up with a 2009 with 30k miles on it (53,000 km).

got it for a good price, she was a bit desperate to sell. it's in fantastic shape and well loved. clean carproof and when we put it on the hoist, we went over it with a fine tooth comb and i am happy with my purchase.

to do: mugen skirt package, lower, rims, recaros.

 

Congrats on the purchase. I bought my 08' fit a month a go & been so happy.

 

congrats on the purchase, and yea its going feel slow. When compared to a SC Si the fit is going feel like its not going anywhere, lol

 

The mention of the throttle lag was good - it's definitely there but I don't think it's any worse than other cars with wireless electronics. I was going to advise you to drive the car before buying it to hear the road noise (it's very noisy) and to feel that lag, it can be a bit startling when you are trying to respond to a truck driving up your tailpipe or something...you have to plan for it so you can get away in time.



Congrats on your purchase - what color is your new baby?

 

Yeah you can always make up for the lag with boost. A honda's best friend haha.

 

"It's more fun to drive a slow car FAST, than drive a fast car SLOW"



That said, I think the Fit is a hoot to drive. Definitely a go-kart sense of immediacy in the steering.


Consumer Reports just said that the Fit is one of the best values to drive over the first five years... $0.44 per mile.

 

You can get an electronic throttle controller to eliminate throttle lag and rev hang.. If you had gotten a 1st generation Fit you could have fixed it with a KWSC high boost kit.. Mine is 5 1/2 years old and has been boosted since spring of 09....I do miss having to keep the revs up to maneuver through slow moving traffic.... I got my first speeding ticket in 27 years when the car was pretty much stock.

 

Rev Hang? Hmmm so thats what i'm experiencing when I shift quick huh? I thought I was driving like a noob. After 15 years on a standard I thought I was loosing my touch hahaha.

Yeah the car is def. fun to drive stock. Plus its a Honda so you have one of the mostly reliable cars on the market. The ETC is def the next step for me to help my MPG's out. I am also really wanting the AFE intake kit. Hear a lot of good rings about it. I want to keep things pretty much stock until I go boost or K.

 

wow this thread is great...throttle lag...wow...i think they did it on purpose to save gas...lol i am also looking at a fit.

 

it's the downfall of "drive by wire". all new toyota's and honda's suffer from it (plus domestics, but i cant pin point which because I don't know them that well).

my 08 Si suffered from it. flashpro got rid of most of the lag, and the supercharger helped too :P

im enjoying my fit thus far. way better mileage than the s/c Si, lots of room, but my complaint is road noise.

i have a few huge rolls of dynamat left from my stereo install days. im gonna rip out the full interior/door panels/carpet/headliner and do the whole car in the spring.

 

Nope, it's all drive by wire these days and you will notice it in all cars. It may be a little worse in some, compensated better by others, but it's not just our car. I don't think that would save gas anyway because you end up tromping on the pedal to get it to move.

 

I get the same thing on my other sedan but once I switch it to sport mode its a whole new animal! Love that sport mode button.

 

I am also looking into getting a 07-08 fit. I researched alittle on edmunds, and people were talking about the tires wearing too quickly. is that true?

this thread as been great, i never knew about the high road noise, as well as the rev hang.

this is my first car and I just plan on lowering it and stance it, most of the time it will be a city driver, but occasional road trips. Kinda want to get the best of both worlds, haha

 

Yeah, the standard tires aren't great, but you won't get a 07-08 that hasn't had the tires replaced by now.

The road noise you just have to take. All Hondas have more road noise than most other cars. Ours is the cheapest in the line, so [shrugs]. I would not pay even $25K for this car with this much noise. But for $15K, I made the trade off.

Rev hang, haven't had it happen.

I hope you find a good used Fit to love and have fun driving!

 

what are other well known problems, or something you just cant stand in the first gen fit?

 

For me, none. I love my car, in spite of a few flaws. It was cheap, it's fun as hell to drive, it's unusual (we only had 2 years of this body style in the US before it was completely redesigned so the new Fit doesn't even look like the same model). It gets decent gas mileage although mine never breaks 30 mpg even on the highway. Maybe I just have a lead foot!

I love the roomy interior. It's truly amazing how much cargo this little micro-van can hold.

It's so mod-able too.

OK, you asked for stuff I can't stand, sorry!


















Still thinking.....










Nope!

 

The throttle response doesn't bother me at all. The rev hang is super annoying though. Seems to be typical of the newer electronic throttle Hondas that I've driven.