So i have been tons of research almost 2 to 3 hours on average a day. Should i buy 2011 honda fit? Or should i invest in a reasonable price for small cars like these. For example, mazda2. I am really at a lost right now.

I also heard that 2011 honda fit do not actually have 27-35 mpg, is this true or just rumors? Cause last time i check that is consider false advertisement.

Also, is honda fit really uncomfortable to drive because the seats suck???

Just one more question, can somebody gives me some few pointers or tips something that will help me negotiate honda fit price.

I'm looking for honda fit sport either manual or auto doesnt matter. If the dealership doesnt make a nice offer to me I was thinking about checking out mazda.

Help? discuss.

 

FYI: We might be a little biased here... lol

MPG depends on your driving style. I average anywhere between 32-36 depending on where im going and how agressively I drive. I like to be a little heavy-footed at times so I'm usually at the 32mpg region.

Comfort is something you have to find out for yourself. Go to a dealer, get your butt in one and take it for a spin!

Part of what you should take into consideration is what you really need the car to do for you. Do you need the space? The fuel economy? To look cool? How long do you plan on keeping it? The answers to those questions should help you figure out that is best for you.

 

mazda2 would also be a great alternative. yes the seats in Fit suck as well as the A/C...takes forever to cool cab down when its hot out.
read some reviews, heres a good site
Best Car, Truck and SUV ratings, pictures, and reviews from U.S. News - U.S. News Rankings and Reviews

 

i appreciate the help. I wish I can go in for a test drive right now, but currently deployed right now. All i can do is speculate.

Well, mr. Spline lol, i know this place can get bias, but i really do like the look of the fit. I'm looking for a car to commute, large enough room to travel and put my stuff in. Maybe take up the mountain with my snowboarding gears. I'm definitely looking for gas saver and money saver, because Im not made out of money. I will probably keep this car until the day i die in my future garage. Im thinking bout putting sun roof, more audio options, and maybe some interior redesign.

 

Go try them out. You can read numbers all day, but it won't tell you whether you'll actually enjoy the car.
It has nothing to do with advertisements. They are required to publish the EPA tested fuel economy estimates. From Honda.com:
" Based on 2011 EPA mileage estimates. Use for comparison purposes only. Do not compare to models before 2008. Your actual mileage will vary depending on how you drive and maintain your vehicle."

Some see them higher mileage results, some lower. The EPA estimates seem to be about average for the slush-box, perhaps a bit low for the manual.

In my case, yes. That is why I don't own it now. Some find it just fine, others not so much. There are a few "OMG I HATE THE SEATS" threads on here. The seats are a bit small, and the bottoms don't have much bolstering. The seatbacks are pretty well lambasted on here (the pressure mid-back from the active headrests, and the angle of the headrests in particular). It's going to come down to whether it's comfortable for you specifically, and reading polls and reviews isn't going to determine this.
There are quite a few cars in this segment now... Also consider the Nissan Versa, Ford Focus*, and Toyota Yaris.

* The Focus is frequently blasted on here, mainly because it is such a good competitor. The Fit isn't the uncontested champ of this market segment that it was a few years back.

 

The mpg is a big function of driving conditions and style. I get ~25 mpg, but I make short trips (typically less than 5 miles round trip), drive like a caffeinated chihuahua, and haven't tinted the windows. The few times I've done any interstate driving, I've gotten mid to high 30's. The seat is great for drives of under 2 hours, sucks after that. It's worth sitting in the seats for a while to make up your mind for yourself.

As for stick vs auto, the gearing is a bit different, it depends on what you want.

 

Yopo23...My friend just ride the Mazda2 and the 2011 Honda Fit.Remember....the dealer salesman will make you buy but don't buy anything after riding these cars.Check around if you can find a 2009 or 2010 used Honda Fit.You will save some $$$.I hope you can find the car that you really need.Good luck my friend.

 

I'm still doing my research, I would love to go down, be a jerk and test drive cars especially after seeing ford fiesta. But i'm deployed right now so all i can do is ask questions.
I check out around, apparently 2009 and 2010 still cost nearly the same amount. Expensive.

 

Deployed? Can you buy the Fiesta through AAFES new car sales? That would be enough to sway me!

 

I recently bought a Fit and chose it for various reasons.

The Mazda3 went way too upmarket and I didn't like the looks, The Mazda2 was a good choice but the Mazda2 and Fiesta seemed to give less for the money. The Focus also seemed to be less of a "value." The Versa I rented gave really good mpg's, but the quality and refinement wasn't there.

If you are going to keep the car 10 years or more, I'd say the Fit is a no brainer. The value (what you get for a given price) is definitely there. It has a nice mix of looks, comfort, efficiency, reliability, refinement, quality, resale value and low maintenance costs (the Fit has a timing chain, not belt). The Honda Fit has been one of Car and Driver's 10 best a few times and is always highly recommended by other sources (consumer reports, etc).

I've only had the car for 500 miles and just did my first 4 hour commute. I don't think the seats suck. For me, they are nicely firm and supportive. Just my opinion tho. Good luck!

 

I was also really undecisive about which car in this segment I should go for. I've tested Nissan, Mazda, Ford, Toyota subcompacts that are Honda Fit competitors, but once I sat down in my Fit I knew that was the subcompact for me. I know Honda Fit is more expensive than other cars in its category, but believe me every time I sit in my Fit I'm glad I bought it and not some cheaper alternative. As for seats I find them very comfortable. I took an 18 hour road trip couple of times since i bought my Fit and found seats to be very comfortable. On highway I constantly get 38mpg and up while during the city driving I get anywhere from 31mpg and up. Do yourself a favor and buy Honda Fit Sport with manual transmission and you won't regret it.

 

Gotcha. Well I live in SoCal. I've taken it over the grapevine a few times and it has enough power to NOT be a nuisance on the road and then some. A trip from SFV to Fresno yielded me 35mpg at 80mph non-agressive driving.

I'm a short Asian guy and I find the seats very comfortable. You may or may not feel the same way.

I absolutely love my car ('11 sport M/T). There are a few minor issues but I like it so much the negatives are easily looked over. I plan on keeping it for a long time (my old CRX had 298k miles on the odo). You're smart starting your research early. I'm sure you'll make a good decision regardless if its a Fit or not.

 

I'm just under 6 feet tall. I was worried about the seats--especially thigh support. After owning the car 16 months, I have found them very, very comfortable. Good support for hours on end of driving and no problems at all. Some people don't like the headrests. Again, I have found them perfect for my needs. So it's a YMMV type of thing.

The biggest issue with seats was finding a nice balance between leg room and arm reach to the steering wheel but I got it dialed in pretty early in the game. For my build Hondas seem to give me problems. When the legs are dialed in, the steering wheel is too far away. When the steering wheel is just right, my legs feel cramped. But I can find a good compromise. I did with the accord, and I did with the fit.

As for mpg, I get about 38 average but I'm doing a lot of highway driving and the local roads are pretty good here--not much stop and go. So again, YMMV.

MT fits are harder to find but I won't drive an auto if you paid me so I had to go dig up my MT fit in white. I love the stick and clutch on the fit and while some really want a 6th gear, I'm fine with the 5. Works for me.

The passenger and cargo room in the fit are really awesome. Makes other cars in it's class look like they were designed by clowns. You have to see it in person to believe it.

So I give the fit high ratings after owning it. All the thigns I worried about turned out not to be a problem and all the positives are still there. The biggest compliment I can give the fit is that if it was stolen tomorrow, I'd buy another one.

 

Ask yourself what you are looking for in your next vehicle... once you have the answers to that question you will know what vehicles to look at.

I was looking for the following:

-excellent reliability
-economical to operate
-some measure of cargo capacity
-reasonably comfortable in the driver's seat
-dealership close to home

I spent over a year considering the whole thing before finally pulling the trigger. Some of the other vehicles I considered were:

-Ford Fusion
-Hyundai Elantra
-Toyota Camry & Corolla
-Mazda 3

So far with my Fit I am averaging 30 mpg which is mostly around town driving with a small bit of highway driving. I also only have 800 miles on it so this will likely get better as I adjust to the vehicle and those parts start to mesh together a little better.

I'm 6' 260lbs and am comfortable in the seats. However, seat comfort is highly subjective... you'd be best to sit in one and take it for a test drive to determine your fit to the Fit.

Visit the Honda dealers in your area and find one you are comfortable with and go from there.

Know exactly what you want when you step into the dealership but be flexible and able to think quickly on your feet and realize how your decisions will affect the bottom line.

Figure out in advance...

-manual or auto
-color choices
-new or used
-accessories
-extended warranty

Interesting thing about extended warranty is that it can drive down your interest rate if you finance through Honda to the point where the warranty basically costs you nothing. I was dead set against the extended warranty knowing the reliability of the Fit but when I learned this it was a no-brainer.

Good luck and have fun with your search.

 

This seems to be fairly common in Japanese cars in general, particularly when they were built for the Japanese Domestic Market with a population that is shorter in stature than the in western nations (IIRC the average height in Japan is 5"4). Luckily, the current cars tend to have telescopic steering wheels, which allows one to adjust for this. Some of them have extremely short, extremely light throws on the clutch, which feels odd - my ex-wife's Echo had a clutch pedal that almost felt like a duplicate of the gas pedal!

When I read this in CR: " Tall drivers will find surprisingly abundant space all around, especially for their long legs. Short people may have to sit closer to the wheel than they like, though, to floor the clutch pedal." "This small sports coupe has surprisingly good room for tall drivers, with enough leg, knee, foot, and head room. However, short drivers thought the clutch was a far reach; they had to sit closer to the wheel than they'd like" in relation to my current car, I knew I had to check it out.

Best advice, of course, is when you get a chance, sit in it. Take a nice long sit. If you can find a year or two old one, sit in it, and you'll get a good feel for how the seat feels after having a a driver's bum mashing it down for a couple of years.

 

Paul56 said
Paul, I don't understand ...even tho I got .9 % financing the EW added 1700 to the bill

 

I think he's sayin that the money you save with the 0.9% basically equals what the EW would cost, therefore a wash. He'd be right.

 

get a 2011 mustang, so sexy.

 

Ok, let me explain...

Given I am a Canadian in the States on a work visa with no established credit here the interest rates offered are on the high side. My buddy also in the same situation is paying 18% on a BMW M6.

Without the EW I was offered 10%; however, if I took the EW they offered to lower the rate to 3.5%.

What I am saving on interest pays for the EW plus the small loan allows me to start building some credit in the States.

That is how it worked for me.

 

Don't take this the wrong way, but I think they used the interest rate against you. I've heard of this before. You probably qualified for the lower rate, but they started high with you and basically told you you have to buy an item (EW) to get the lower rate.

I recently read an article on car buying so I could see the latest tricks the salesmen are using, since it's been a while since I last bought a new car.

Once they run your credit, the first thing they look at is your credit score and credit history. If your credit score could use some improvement, they basically act like, "well, the only way I can get you into this car is if we get you financed at this higher rate (which gives them a higher kickback), oh you want a lower rate? Well you'd have to buy this product AND your car to get the lower rate." Either way, the salesman and dealer found a way to get more money.

It's not a big deal, though, you still have a nice car and a bitchin warranty!

Don't shoot the messenger please.