My wife says something similar and has called mine a "nerd mobile". She's just jealous.

 

On paper there are several Ford, Chevy, and Korean hatch backs that offer more features / value and longer warranty for the money, but they simply won't match the resale or reliability of the Honda Fit. Just looking at major car mags and reviewers and the Fit has always topped the sub compact (b-segment) categories, even with increased competition lately.

We test drove about a dozen competitor cars, but one look at my trusty 16 year old Prelude and I knew we should only buy a Japanese built Honda that stayed true to the company's original roots...

We picked up a 2012 Silver MT Sport in dec for just under $16k out the door with no trade (no sales tax in OR) and on a recent road trip we averaged 43.1 mpgs. That's way better than the EPA rating and the mileage seems to get better as the engine gets more broken in...

 

I live in Atlanta.......(insert horror stories about "worst commute time etc")but I wouldn't have an auto. In fact, I waited over eight weeks for my 2007 (R.I.P.) and a bit longer for my 2012, simply because I wanted a 5 MT. I've only got 600 miles on it, and am averaging 34 mpg. Of, course, as previously stated, get what suits YOU best! Just my $0.02 worth!
2012 VBP Sport 5MT w/ minor appearance & comfort mods (w/ more in store!)

 

On the road, I don't get that impression. I usually scare other drivers. Crazy goes a long way.

 

My view is that with the automatic you will be on or slightly above the EPA estimate; with a manual, people seem to no trouble beating it with ease (this has been my experience in the past too). I don't know a reason for this, aside from the driver being able to make decisions based on what s/he is going to be doing in the next few seconds - the automatic has to decide based on immediate information and has no idea what will likely happen in the future.

The Sport Auto is 27 city. I think I probably can beat that in stop & go, but would not hit 30.

 

O_o Dude, seriously? I won't even touch 880 during commute, unless I have absolutely no other option. I commute down Mission blvd from Hayward instead; south in the am, north in the evening, but not for much longer, I'm moving to Fremont in July. ^_^

I've got a little auto '09 Fit, and she's generally around 32mpg with that horrid commute I have, depending on how many idiots I have to dodge during my commute, and if I get to let my little River car stretch her legs with whatever I'm up to on the weekend. I was pleased as punch last summer when I did the drive up to Napa for my cousin's wedding, and hadn't bothered to play with the cruse control yet, and was up at like 38mpg with having filled the tank before heading out.

On the topic of the Ford Focus. Ug. Horrible car. I dated a guy for a while who had one... and he had me drive it once. We didn't get 10 minutes from my friend's house before I told him that I was never going to drive his car again. Holy Marinara... the visibility in the Focus is absolutely horrible! I had a Kia Sephia at the time (no tears shed when I traded her in to get my Fit) and even that piece of crap had better visibility than my ex's Focus. >_< The Fit's visibility is worlds better than either of those cars.

 

Interestingly it is the lack of Japanese built Fits in Canada that drove me to the Michigan built Focus in the first place.

Ours are all "Made in China" (or "Panda Powered") and it is what keeps me from pulling the trigger on the purchase. Not that I won't....I just need more data. Frankly this scares me and since I don't NEED a car, it is keeping me from buying it.

I've owned Japanese built Hondas, American built Hondas, and one Canadian built Honda. There was a difference - the Japanese built one was just more...well..Honda. No rattles, fit an finish was always impeccable.

For the Can/AM ones....still great cars, but a few rattles, a few misaligned items, one with horrid paint that chipped easier than nail polish. More like the assembly quality of an American brand (better engineering underneath, but mediocre assembly) Just my own experience.

 

This is why I won't trade in my 09 Japanese built Fit I thought about it because I am getting up there in miles .. but I baby this car so it should last me another 100K

 

I've tried taking Mission before and it seems like a crap shoot during rush hour, never really saved me any time. If the freeway is a complete parking lot i'll get off and take Mission on the way home, but I come from San Leandro in the morning, so it doesn't really make sense for me to go all the way back to Mission to head south.

Also, Mission Blvd through Hayward is probably one of the worst maintained streets i've ever driven on in a major metropolitan area, my car's dropped on stock shocks and i'd prefer them to last more than 10k miles . So far so good. Hopefully when this construction is finished it'll be much better.

 

I currently live just off Mission blvd, near Harder, so getting down to 880 to start with is a bit of a detour for me. I miss 75% of the construction shit with my route, and other than the final paving and plant fluffing, the end down here is pretty much done. The construction is super obnoxious though, it drives me up a wall when I have to head north towards CV or something, so I feel you on that... and considering you're coming from SL, that can't make hitting Mission any easier.

I don't know that I actually save much time, if any, taking Mission, but I'd much rather be moving somewhat than stuck in the stop and go parking lot. Once I get down to the Union City part of Mission, and further south, I tend to keep moving pretty well. I've also learned the flow of traffic enough that I know which lane to be in at what part of the commute, I can usually keep moving close to speed limit. Stupid stop lights are the only hang up, but I'll take that over stop and go.

 

My wife drives a 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid and it's a great car. We have 2 kids and we road trip with that car. My 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe died 4 weeks ago and I donated it to charity. I wasn't about to go Hyundai again and in my opinion those cars are a piece of crap.

Anyhow, I test drove these 2012 models: 1) Ford Focus SE hatchback twice 2)Toyota Corolla 3)Honda Civic 4)Subaru outback 5)Honda CRV 6)Honda Fit 6 times. It was down to the Ford Focus or Honda Fit. I actually liked the pickup better on the Ford Focus but my wife really liked the ride in the Honda Fit. She didn't feel comfortable riding in the Focus as a passenger.

I ended up getting an Alabaster Silver 2012 Honda Fit Sport. I LOVE it. I almost convinced her to let us go Ford again, but eventually I agreed with her on getting the Honda Fit Sport. We love our 2010 Ford Fusion hybrid but I am very happy so far (2 weeks) with my 2012 Honda Fit Sport.

 

There is an article that hit today about how Ford as dropped way down in the reliability ranks and it was due to the Explorer, Focus and Fiesta. So take it from there.

 

ford POS <<<< ALlllllllllllll day

 

Thanks for posting. The cars are not as comparable as one would first think.

 

I almost went for a Focus but went for the Honda due to reliability ratings and more cargo space. Look into the Lemon Law if you have brought the car back to the dealer 4 times. I owned a 2001 Ford Focus that had 175,000 miles on it when I sold it and it had no issues leading up to that point. Luck of the draw I guess.

 

I traded in my Mini Cooper when it started having issues. I also looked at the Focus and the Fit, went with the Fit for reliability. So happy.

 

I've had my 2010 Fit base AT since 28 August this year. I live in a mountainous area and work out of my car (traveling nurse), so I wanted an AT so I would have less to do with my hands when I'm multitasking in the car. I owned an AT '94 Civic for 247,000 miles and always liked the transmission. The Fit's AT is *completely* different from the old Civic, and it's taken some getting used to. It doesn't like to upshift as you get to the top of a hill the way the old one did, and sometimes it doesn't like to downshift as soon as I'd like it to when coasting down a hill (I like to use engine braking as much as possible to save on pads and rotors). I can't say I'm 100% happy with the AT's performance, but it's not a deal breaker on the car. I'm pretty well used to it by now.

 

My wife has a friend who had a 2010 or 2011 Ford Fiesta Hatchback and the water pump went south on her and the dealership couldn't get another one so they gave her a new Focus instead!

 

Yep, me too on the AT. I don't have any problems with it. I am averaging 31-33 mpg mixed driving. That includes lots of driving in the mountains.