I'm about to buy my Fit sport, and was wondering if I should pay the extra grand or whatever to get the VSA. I don't care about navigation because I've got a navi unit already. Is the VSA worth the extra $$?

 

vsa and navi are sold together.

seeing you're in CA, i doubt you will need vsa.

 

take the car to autox or drivers school instead.

 

not worth it imo

I had vsa on my Acura and hated it.
I drove the fit in 3+ inches of snow in January and it drove like a champ without vsa. 10x better than my Acura.

I find vsa to be more of an annoyance than a help but thats just my opinion.

 

The Nav is slow and not very attractive looking. The RNS510 on my VW R32 is Hard drive based and much faster.

But as for the VSA, My other car is AWD, so I'm used to being planted, that being said, I bought the nav for the VSA, and cause the stock integrated radio looked HORRIBLE!

Also I have a thing about getting the Top of the line model.

 

if you're not in a snow prone area im not sure if it's going to make
that much of a difference, but i suppose if you use crappy tires it
can help in a rain storm.

personally for anyone in snow prone states i recommend
snow tires over VSA + stock tires. MUCH more effective.

if you run snow tires + VSA more power to ya.

 

Great point. I had VSA on my 02 GTI. The only time I ever saw it engage was when I tried going from stop to start too fast in the rain. I also took several auto-X driving courses and that was very much worth the time and money.

Driver training > VSA

 

First time you swerve to avoid something in the road you'll appreciate the seamless VSA. The light comes on, maybe the engine cuts a little, and nothing much else happens, except you missed whatever you were avoiding, and there was no drama about it. I like it on dry roads or wet roads. You never know when the next raccoon is going to amble out in front of your Fit.

Another year or two and every car will have it.

Cheers

 

factory nav and vsa holds it's value pretty well in resale.
dunno if that matters to you.

 

While driving school is always a great idea, I don't think it's necessarily a replacement for active vehicle safety features like ABS or VSA. I've been to driving courses and have a few years of autocrossing experience and have still been in emergency street situations where I've locked the brakes on a non-ABS vehicle or overcorrected into oversteer in a non-VSA vehicle. Being in the at-the limit mind set on a track and knowing what's coming as far as turns go is ENTIRELY different than having an emergency situation pop up in your normal driving. Unless you practice it a lot, when that "Oh sh!t" moment comes, even people that know what to do often resort to less-than-subtle reactions. The electric nannies are nice when/if that happens, and can also do things even a trained driver can't, like apply brakes at an individual corner.

 

According to these guys it is....
https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...tml#post615814

 

VSA is absolutely not worth it if you don't want the navigation system. VSA is a wonderful tool, but it's not wonderful at the cost of $1,800.

I'm still not understanding Honda's boneheaded decision to bundle VSA with navigation. Those two are like completely different features/systems. It's not like buying a navigation system and being forced to upgrade to a more expensive stereo, or getting anti-lock brakes and being forced to take VSA as part of the package. One is a safety system the other a navigation device. The logic behind that decision is so boneheaded it makes me wonder who is making these kinds of decisions at Honda. Was that a group decision or did one idiot say, "make VSA and navigation a bundle?"

 

Not all VSAs are created equal. I've driven my Fit in lots of snow this year and the thing is unstoppable and as stable as hell with stock tires, as long as it stays under 6 inches deep. I imagine with oil slick roads after rain showers in CA, VSA will do you much good.

VSA = worth it! - let alone the added navi.

 

Don't think you'll find much consensus here re:VSA, especially bundled with the navi.

Re: VSA, my general view is that it's a very good thing, wet or dry roads, or overall handling. I think most people (probably including myself) tend to over-estimate their driving skills for all conditions. So while not "needed" to drive, I don't think there's any question that it's a safety benefit.

The uplift of $1800 is steep no question, but this is a value discussion for everyone, VSA, and integration of a decent navi (not the greatest, not the worst), flash card integration, onscreen ipod controls, navi voice commands etc, all nice, but certainly not essential.

VSA was a buying element for me, I live in a snowy area, so I will no doubt have opportunity to use it more than some. This winter it was flashing a lot on our Fit, and Odyssey helping keep the vehicles moving in the right direction, and away from curbs etc.

I don't expect to see that happen too much as it dries out, but with everything I've seen & read I'm glad to have it if needed to help me avoid crashing my favorite new car.

Tough decision, good luck...

 

VCA=Magnificent solution for a non-existent problem

 

Ha ha... so was electricity when we had gas lamps working just fine!