Hello all. I've been browsing the forums for a little while, as I am a potential future owner. Wife and I are shopping for new cars right now, and I am highly considering buying a 2012 Honda Fit Sport. I have a couple of questions.

1) Manual or Automatic??? I realize this might be personal to a lot of people. I've always loved manual transmissions, but my wife doesn't know how to drive one. I like that the manual costs less, and I was able to test drive a 2009 Fit Sport with a Manual transmission and I thought the gearbox felt AMAZING for a car of this price range. Wife is apprehensive about learning manual, though. Is it worth fighting for a manual, or is the automatic going to be just as satisfying?

2) If I do go with an Automatic...is the Honda Satellite-Linked Navigation worth the extra money?? I am confused as to why the option is an additional $1,800 or so. Is the Honda system any good, and is it really worth this much money just to get bluetooth and an in-dash nav? I've always just used a Garmin and kept it in my glovebox previously.

3) My local dealer is just starting to get 2012's in, but they told me that the first batch is all automatics and no manuals, and if I want a manual it could be quite a wait. I need to double check elsewhere for a second opinion, but is this pretty true that the manuals aren't out yet? So far, they've gotten in about 5 or so 2012 Fit's, and they have ALL been Fit Sport Automatics with the Nav option.


Thanks in advance. I realize there is a lot of "that's up to you" factors in my questions, but any insight would be appreciated.

 

Hello there I'm not sure ill be of much help but from my point of view of your 1st question. Note i own a M/T Base. I love driving Manual and thats the only transmission i could ever drive on a car. Well to the point teaching manual on the Fit is very easy. As I taught my sister on my fit and was very easy to catch on. The clutch is lovely, not deep. so inwhich teaching stick on a Fit shouldn't be a problem. imo

 

For stick vs auto, it's mostly a personal choice. The main areas the auto might be better though is if you do a lot of highway driving. The gear ratio is better on the auto at 70. But beyond that it's entirely up to you.

As to the navi, it's not worth the upcharge IMO. When the navi also got you steering audio controls and vsa, it was at least arguably worth it. And personally I value built in with no dangling cords. But the Honda navi is poor in a lot of ways.

 

Thanks for the replies so far. Good to know that the navi isn't worth it. I didn't want to forego it and then find out later it somehow was an amazing sytem that was completely worth the money. I can live without bluetooth and I am OK using my own navigation unit.

 

From my experience with a '09 Fit Sport auto, I'd tell you to go with a manual... the Fit needs every bit of muscle it can muster, and should be a ton more fun of a drive with a stick shift. Does you wife absolutely need to drive the car too? If so, it probably isn't a bad car to start her learning to shift either. She might not want to give it back to you after she's trained.

Despite the calmer cruising (lower RPMs) in the auto, it will still shift down to 4th a lot at the slightest hint of a hill/grade/etc, if you're using cruise control at 70.

The navi is probably not worth it as others have mentioned, unless you plan to take a ton of road trips into unfamiliar areas, and in that case, the Fit isn't really that great as a long distance cruiser, its far better as a daily runabout.

 

I just bought a 2010 sport, manual, non-nav a few months ago. I have also written a 30 day review on the car floating around on here, search by my username and you'll find it.

I think that this car really needs a manual tranny, in fact, it would greatly benefit from a 6 speed with slightly closer 1-3 gears and another overdrive. I am going to be teaching my wife the manual tranny here shortly, it should be easy as the car is an easy feeling manual transmission for a new driver.

I also had a harder time trying to find a manual sport, Honda makes substantially fewer manuals than autos, unfortunate but true. When I was shopping and considering a new one my dealer also told me "all of them coming in are autos and you may be waiting" in a move to try and get me to settle for an auto. When I stood firm and said "I'll keep shopping for a manual." the dealer found me one the next day at another dealer in the state. I'm not saying your experience will be like mine but these guys are not in the business of giving you what you want, they are in the business of moving inventory, their sales manager wants them moving on hand cars, not shopping around and shipping in something they will make their minimum profit on, its not a $45k Odyssey.

As far as nav, in retrospect I really wish I had it, but I would not spend the $2k premium for it. To me its only worth about $500 over the standard, and most of that is due to the lack of steering wheel audio controls, now they offer those on the regular sport models. Nav is not necessary with everyone having smart phones.

I would encourage you to find a deal on a 2011 if you can, Honda dealers need to sell the 2011 and will offer a better deal and the differences are not much between the 11 and 12 models. I ended up buy a really low mileage certified 2010 model as it saved me over $3k off a new 2011. My car was a spotless single owner bought and maintained at the dealer I bought it from, has a better warranty than the new car, and was under 10k miles when I got it.

 

I would definitely consider a 2011 if the deal was right, but it doesn't sound like there are many of them left to be had around here. I wouldn't mind paying a little extra for a 2012, because I am hearing positive things so far about the addition of the extra sound deadening materials in the floor and in the pillars and front windows. Plus, I like the idea of the audio controls on the steering wheel as well.

We're not in an insane rush to buy, either, so I wouldn't mind putting down a small deposit if I had to and waiting for my dealer to search out the exact car I want

 

I think you're right waiting on a 2012 unless you get a great deal on a 2011... the extra insulation is something the Fit sorely needed. Its not something you can see, but will impart a nice, higher quality feel day to day when you're in it driving.

 

I Just bought a 2010 Honda Fit Sport also, I was always a Chevy girl. So this is my first Honda, So far i love it. My BF is the one that got me turned onto these cars. last December he bought a 08 Fit Sport manual. he really liked it and driving manual all the time he decided a month and half ago to upgrade so now he bought a 2011 Honda fit sport automatic and he said he likes it better than the manual. it's got the paddle shifter's So you can always put it in Sport mode,that's what he does when he misses driving a manual. I don't care for the factory radio, so i am going to upgrade it to an after market one and get navigation and also all the futures i want with it.

 

Let me start off with... I'm not trying to pick a fight with you specifically. I guess this goes too all the folks that think downshifting to pass or on hills is "bad."

Whats wrong with the AT doing that?

I can't speak for other MT drivers... but I find it perfectly acceptable to do when I'm driving around.

 

I guess with the AT, atleast you get paddle shifters on the automatic, so you can get the car to hold a certain gear if you are tired of it jumping around? Just seems kind of unnecessary.

I'm just worried that if I buy an AT, it's going to make an already-slow car feel even slower.

 

Also, another question for you Fit owners...my wife and I are planning on having a kid in the coming year. Any of you use the Fit to transport a baby around? How well does the backseat of the Fit accomodate a car seat?

We have another larger car (Subaru Outback Wagon), so hopefully we'll be using that most of the time. But the Fit will have to carry a baby sometimes if we buy it.

 

It is somewhat annoying since it leads to a lot of hunting between 4th-5th, and cruise is engaged typically when the driver is not in a huge hurry and trying to get some decent fuel economy/smooth cruising. The Fit AT does more than other AT equipped cars, the extra noise/reduced fuel economy this causes makes it a rather annoying habit caused by the aggressive AT program.

Then again, maybe the base Fit might not do this as much as the sport?

People here often point that the AT might be a better highway car than the MT, but I don't think so, not with how the AT has been programmed to downshift at the slightest hint of upgrades in the Sport at least. Its not just the gearing at fault, and the paddle shifters can't keep you in a constant 5th unless you keep bumping it to life since you'll be in Drive which won't hold gears, since it goes back to full auto after a few seconds.

P/S - Aren't you driving an MT Fit? In that case you're shifting the transmission yourself, and you want it to downshift... of course it would be acceptable then. There's reason to downshift on steeper grades to keep up speed, but I find it perfectly acceptable to lose a bit of speed on a slow incline and regain it on the decline on the other side... just more efficient on fuel economy that way.

 

Having driven manuals for most of my life and having recently sold my MINI after 6 years of great fun, I ended up with a 2011 Fit Sport/AT and really like it. It has plenty of pep with the A/T for everyday driving and those who say it doesn't or say you must have the manual are driving the wrong car anyway. If you are looking for a rocket ship the Fit in either configuration ain't it, but it does have a great little engine that loves to be wrung out and the handling is quite good. The A/T is geared just fine for all-around use and the paddle shifters and sport mode will let you have a little extra fun. It's a very efficient tranny helping achieve a real 38MPG (for me) average in mixed driving. Yes, it will hunt around the gears a little going up hills but so will you with a stick so, again, I don't see what the gripe is, it's just doing what it's supposed to do to find the most efficient gear for the circumstances. It's all a matter of personal preference and I'm sure you could be happy with either depending on how much work you want to put into it.

 

Manual or automatic is definitely a personal preference. Skip the navigation system.

 

I've owned many manuals ranging from SUVs (CJ7, Trooper) to small cars (VWs, Toyotas, Citroen) and one abomination (chevette). Likewise I've owned many autos ranging from fullsize chevies, toyota (Cressida), Honda (1st gen odyssey) and now an auto Base Fit.

The one thing that sets the Fit apart from the other autos is it has 5 speeds. So it's going to work the gears more. I like knowing it's eeking as much as it can from gas at highway speeds and will downshift all on its own.

Honda also uses grade sensing tech in their autos so the thing downshifts by itself when you're going downhill and apply the brakes. Similarly, if it downshifts going uphill it holds the lower gear until you level off. Pretty cool.

The torque converter on older cars only locks out above 50mph or so. On the Fit it will lock/unlock at any speed.

So with 5 speeds, grade logic, and TC lock logic, it is a busy little box. But not annoyingly so. The 2speed powerglide I had once upon a time was annoying.

If you want an auto it's fine. If you want a smooth-as-silk-auto, maybe look at Sentras with CVTs. (Honda makes a CVT and it's available in non-US fits, wonder why not here?)

For me the decision was based on how I use the car everyday; commuting in stop-and-go traffic in metro Atlanta.

 

Thanks for the input!

On a side note, a CVT is one transmission I can say for certain that I will never own. I hate the way CVTs feel....it makes the car feel so unresponsive and dead. It adds a "mushy" feeling to everything.

Luckily we don't live in a very high-traffic area, so stop-and-go isn't really a big part of our day to day lives. I'm about 50/50 between the manual/auto right now, although I need to go personally drive an auto again which will help me figure out if I am OK with it or not.

I have heard light talk from people about Honda having trouble making quality automatic transmissions, but I think this mostly applied to Honda Accords from a couple of years ago. Has anyone on these forums reported much along the line of transmission problems in Fits?

 

I taught both of my girls to drive my 2007 base model with MT. They got the hang of if it pretty quickly. We have lots of cul-de-sacs in our neighborhood and those proved helpful in gaining experience in starting out in first gear. Once they got the hang of that I looked for intersections with a slight incline and taught them how to use the emergency brake to prevent rolling backwards (until they mastered the clutch).

My youngest just turned 16 and will become the primary driver as soon as my 2012 Sport model shows up at the dealer. I looked for a 2011 MT Sport and couldn't find one in my area so I ordered a new one. I'm looking forward to the upgrades.

 

You ordered a 2012 Sport MT? Did they happen to quote you an expected date of delivery?????

I've never actually tried the emergency brake trick to prevent rolling backwards. That might be really helpful though if I need to teach my wife, I think I understand the general concept of it and it might make her a lot more comfortable if she ever has to stop on a steep hill. Do you just hold the parking brake on with your finger still on the button, then do your normal start (clutch slowly out, gas slowly on) while releasing it?

 

Hello,

I just picked up my 2012 A/T Vortex Blue Pearl Sport on Monday. Been test driving the '11s for a number of months, as soon as I saw teh announcement for the '12s I called our large local dealer and was able to lock one on. Now that I'm driving it, I'd say its def. worth a small premium over the '11s. Engine and road noise is significantly reduced, the controls are nice, and the new exterior and interior trim features look especially good with my paint color.

Driving characteristics wise, compared to my old '03 CRV it certainly has more pep at sub 55 speeds, and felt just fine zooming around some hilly and curvy side roads through the forest last night. The only time I have felt a bit more power would be nice is on some of the large, long hills on the I-95 on my morning commute, takes significant revs to maintain 70.