Hah...Yeah, I'm well aware of the problems foxconn has been having. But Tim Cook is aiming to fix a lot of those problems with his reign. He's moving Apple in an even more positive direction.

I'm not anti any particular country--I'm more of a "wait and see" type of person. If it is going to be a good product, I'll buy it--regardless of origin. I'm kind of the anti-"buy American" kind of person.

I tend to loathe labor unions and the "Detroit mentality" behind jobs, cars, etc.

 

its funny that the op hasn't replied yet :P

 

LOL I hate trolls

 

his TDI might be back for a recall

 

Original poster here - am I'm not a troll...

First off, Honda cites it's reasons for assembling Fit's in China is to lower productions costs. So if that's the case, why aren't they dumping them in the U.S.? The market has to be far greater than Canada given the population is 10 fold and guess who's geographically closer to China? I feel like it's a marketing test to see how well it goes over. Otherwise, why not just keep them coming from Japan until the Mexico plant is on-line. But anyway, after much soul-searching, I came to the conclusion that it wasn't something I could look the other way on. Maybe it was because I was lied to. Maybe it's the fact that our landfills are filling up with Chinese goods that just don't measure up or last very long.

Those posters who suggest the Golf doesn't measure up to the Fit in terms of quality should take the time to review the data in Consumer Reports. Those that like to bash Consumer Reports haven't taken the time to comprehend how the data is collected. Hint - it's not subjective or simply opinions. That said, Honda MT Fit's rate at the top of their catagory and their overall score is 76/100. Golf TDI's also rate at the top of their category with an overall score of 88/100. Reliability is slightly higher with the Fit but owners satisfaction is higher with the Golf TDI so it's a wash in my books.

Yes, I'm very aware of the DPF requirements. I work in a HD truck shop. Canadian Golfs are currently imported from Germany.

So, current owners can defend their purchase all they want (isn't that what happens in these forums?) but would they feel the same way if it was them signing the agreement? What if they offered the same car for $1000 more but said it was a Japanese option? That's probably about what Honda is saving in China.

 

Not anti American, Just Pro common sense and personal responsibility maybe? The Unions generated a HUGE number of Entitlement complexes with high paying jobs with little responsibility and even less work. They often times kept horrendous employees in jobs preventing people who would have been good hard workers from moving up. Unions had their time and place and maybe still do a little bit, but they often times are too involved in the wrong things. IIRC, you are a teacher and know all about the teacher's unions. At my mom's school, they kept a teacher in a job for 4 years before finally conceding that someone who was in the classroom less than half the year. They defended her even though attended the same family members' funerals about 5 times each, was constantly on medical leave, and never stayed to help students. They wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars keeping an awful teacher employed, missing the fact that it was the students that suffered.

I'd buy it either way. It's a Honda. As for why they aren't selling them (yet) in the US. Your first statement above assumes that they could just transfer all production of FITs to China which may not be an option. It may have to do with a number of things including:

• Production may not be ready for the US volume. I'm assuming US citizens purchase a few more than Canadian Citizens. Honda may need to build more factories in china to handle production for the US while for Canada, they may need only to add another shift or increase their current factory output.
• Politics & Trade agreements differ between the US & Canada's Relationships with China. Same with Taxes.
• The strength of the US dollar VS the Yen and also what the CAD vs Yen may be.
• A combination of the above and/or other unknown reasons.

And for the Marketing Test... I doubt that is the case as I don't think the canadian public would like to be considered a "subset" of the US. I know many american's don't even want to be considered this currently. Also, much of (at least Eastern) Canada has more of a European mentality than a US one and if Canada was a test for anyone, i'd say it would be "across the pond"

To me, it sounds like you really wanted the TDI and were settling for the fit, not the other way around. You found an excuse for justifying to yourself the switch to the TDI. Realistically, as long as you are happy with the car, that's what matters.

Good luck with the TDI. A guy I work with has one and likes it. It is more comfortable and has more features/options/amenities than the FIT but that does come with a cost difference.

~SB

 

Just wanted to throw this out there, Spec...

I'm not a member of any teacher's unions. Boo on them, I say! It wouldn't make sense for me to be anti-union and all that and then be a member.

I let my hard work ethic and my kids be the voice for my abilities as a teacher.

To the OP...I'm glad you enjoy your car and are happy with your decision. That's what matters.

 

Have you checked the place of manufacture on everything you buy? Nowdays its a safe bet half comes from China.
Consider that Chinese companies are buying US auto suppliers at a horrendous rate. Within 5 years it is estimated that half the US suppiliers will be Chines companies. Imported parts then may be labelled as domestic no matter where they were made. And in truth you can't be sure where Fits are made, they're all imported And its easy to attach any VIN number you want on a vehicle. And there's no reason why, with the suppliers reeling from the Tsunami Japanese suppliers haven't been replaced by Chinese, Thai, or Indian parts or cars.
good luck with your TDI.

 

In my lifetime anything "Made In Japan" was considered JUNK. Right now the Chinese are in the middle of an industrial revolution that started in the 60's, during the time frame when anything "Made In Japan" was considered JUNK. A Chinese fit would be fine as long as the inspection process has been standardized between Japanese and Chinese Fit's. If you think Chinese auto assemblers are incapable of assembling a quality product, I would say your wrong IMHO.

 

I'd still like to see big-ticket items like cars made in a first-world country using parts made in that country or other first-world countries. None of this "save 5 cents/part by making it using abusive environmental/labor/social practices". That's not sustainable.

Henry Ford, while he was a sonofagun in many ways, got one thing right. The masses have to be able to afford what they build, or shortly the whole enterprise shrivels up from lack of buyers. I doubt the Chinese workers assembling the iPod, Fit, or our computers could afford those products after saving for a reasonable amount of time.

I bet the Chinese Fits are all right cars. I still wouldn't want to buy one, knowing that it'd further aid a country that permits its workers and environment to be destroyed in the pursuit of our dollars.

 

My Fit has been good, but I have had and seen some pretty sloppy work out of Japanes built Hondas, so stop ragging on the Chinese and Mexicans. It all depends on the quality control. And Japanese Honda quality is no better than anywhere else. I bought my 2010 Camaro, and my Fit within a month of each other. The Fit went back for warranty work. The Camaro...perfect.

 

I'll take back calling you a troll, I've seen it happen a few time. Anyway I wish you the best of luck with your TDI, You should post some pics.

 

Glad you came back OP. What an attention-getter you picked for a title... These type of titles can go well beyond cars... can become personal, anti-this/that, pro-this/that as some responses already have become. I'd be pissed at the salesman's out and out lie also. Ignorance is not an excuse in this case. From that angle, I'm with you.

Landfills will fill up anyway, whether it's local or not - consumerism, capitalism... they're all 1st cousins... Landfills fill up because it's cheaper and easier to buy than fix... and can go on and on... like a soap opera... All part of evolution - industrial revolution, 1st world evolution, green revolution then green evolution... We all learn as we go... They're all recorded in history's footprints...

Freedom of choice and free will are beautiful intangibles that we should hold dear... but everything has a price... and a flip side...

Your 1st sentence is answered by your last one... We are now a co-dependent global market... no longer clusters of niches spread out in one continent... Maybe in decades past perhaps...

As long as you are a consumer, whether you are doing your due diligence or not we are all aiding something somewhere that is not within our morals...

Just my take and enjoying the view... with open windows... Hello World!

 

Hum... I don't know what think about this thread.

If you don't mind being bored, read on... otherwise, skip my post.

I'm a mix of Chinese and Cambodian, so one would naturally assume I have some "patriotic" bias towards China... but really, I don't care all that much.

Are working conditions horrible in China? I'm sure it is. But on one side of this "coin" is the fact that its part of the industralization process of a growing nation.

China, I assure you, has every intention of becoming "THE" (next) superpower, whether that's a good or bad thing, i haven't decided. And so, it has to go through a massive industrial modernization process. The only way China can "skip" the harsh working conditions (which is only a subset of human rights in general) is with money... lots and lots of money.

A person's safety is dependent upon conditions of the environment, from the building(s) to the equipment being used and, of course, actual safety equipment (fire suppresion systems, protective barriers, etc). Purchase and maintenance obviously requires money. Inspections, audits, or reviews (aren't they all basically the same thing?) require dedicated professionals. Sure, there are plenty of nonprofit organizations that do this, but the individual doing it can easily be "influenced" by a little bribery. And the only real way to combat that is to bribe them with a better offer on the condition that they do their job.

So, between higher wages, better maintained equipment and the fees for the audits, who will foot the bill?

The government? Ha, even if there weren't a bunch of corrupt bastards siphoning money left and right (as in all governments), there is no way they have enough money to do this for however many companies there will be.

Nor is it the government's responsibility in capitalism.

So, then.. who? In capitalism... that answer is, ultimately, you and I, the consumer.

The company that maintains the facility needs to have the price of their services cover those costs (ie Foxcomm), which mean the contracting business (Apple) has to charge more for their products to cover the cost.... and therefore, the "end consumer" has to foot the bill.

But how many of you are willing to pay even more for many of your products?

Before I continue, I acknowledge that, just like in the government, there are plenty of people in business that "siphon" money for themselves.

So the business has to make a ccompromise somewhere. They turn a blind eye to this and that at some level, which gets compounded the longer the manufacturing chain gets.

What would happen if China's citizen had the power to (effectively) demand higher wages and better conditions from their end and consumers refused to pay higher prices for products?

The contracting company shifts somewhere else, as it has from the States to overseas. And that is the flipside of that coin.

If China were more on the ball about human rights... guess what? We'd all still be complaining... only about a different ccountry.

Just my two pragmatic cents.

 

Well said Goobz.

I sorta heard that same story somewhere... oh yea, the good old USA went through a very similar process. Child labor, sweat shops, ungainly capitalists, environmental disregard... then there were the isolationists.

Today it's a global economy, plain and simple. We need to get over it or get sourly left in the dust.

I try to buy American. Hmm, I bought a car that was solidly made in Japan, like the rest of you. Wonder if there's more Japanese, Chinese, American or who knows who's parts on my FIT?

If I can find a product that meets my needs and it's not made in the USA then I need to decide. I looked and really wanted to get a US car, but the FIT fit.

My cookware, however, is, for the most part, good old Pennsylvanian cast iron but I don't think any of my clothes are made on US soil.

 

Oh god... the isolationalistic capitalist are the worst! GM, Ford, I'm looking at YOU.

If they had been focusing more on improving the quality of their products in the past, than cutting out the competition from US soil (yes, put more tariffs on their stuff, great idea! not.)... that would've saved our government from having to bail out at least one aspect of the recent recession. Considering that better performing cars can reduce our dependence on foreign oil (though maybe not much)... who knows what else would've been affected (for the better).

Instead, we end up getting double whacked by the fact many american consumers are buying, now higher priced, foreign products for their, if nothing else, perceived quality over US products (items like cars, TVs, phones, etc). And that, in turn causes more Americans to lose their jobs... and be unable to afford things in general. Both hurting the US economy.

 

Heheh, Goobz, KC, now you got me going... As I mentioned to the OP, what a choice of title he had for this thread... This can branch out to who knows where... Good question... What is made in America anymore? Well there's still a few things but not like before when I could say my Levis and my Converse were made in the US... To be more accurate and reflective of the changing times and global market, "Conceptualized In America"-type label would have a larger clout nowadays.

 

Welcome to Chinadian Tire. (AKA) Canadian Tire, where most of our consumer products are made in China. They should change the sign.

Test drove a 2012 Fit, looked and drove as good as my 2008 Fit.

However, why are there no audio controls on the steering wheel, as in the US model. Just a hole where the button should be. Arrrr ! What else are we not getting?

Why does the Canadian sales data show a a US model?? Penny pinching really concerns me.

I have bought many good products made in China, but I am really on the the fence on my next Fit.

 

Being the previous owner of a tdi, I wish the OP luck. Mine was in the shop more than any other car in my extended family. The last car any family member owned that was worse was a 1978 MGB. The VW had turbo, injector, timing belt, etc problems under hood. Inside it had the fabled window problems where each window one at a time came crashing down into the door and the peeling paint on the plastics made it look horrible within 3 years.

 

Working in an industry where I regularly encounter Japanese QC inspectors I can say without a doubt that their standards are much more rigorous that their American or Chinese counterparts.

However, I will admit Chinese QC can be quite a pain in the ass

I would prefer a car built in Japan, by Japanese workers, but I wouldn't boycott a car based soley on it's production origin. I've said in other threads that i'm 90% sure Honda will be sending it's own QC to their Chinese and Mexican plants... they take it pretty seriously.