Recently I took a very long road trip. I drove from Massachusetts to southern Florida and back. These are some of my experiences driving my 2012 Fit sport with auto transmission.

The good:
On a 3032 mile trip I feel my Fit sport handled very well for a small subcompact. Even some strong crosswinds and 18 wheel truck's buzzing by didn't seem to make me feel uneasy.
For a little car I felt fairly comfortable. As you know fits are quite roomy inside and I enjoyed the ride. I spent 10 days in Florida visiting my sister so you know I brought plenty of stuff with me and the cabin in Fit just swallowed it up no problem with tons of room to spare.

The bad:
The fit is woefully underpowered and it lacks torque. It can roll along quite nicely at 65–70 okay except when you go up inclines it downshifts a lot and if it's a long incline or grade it downshifts to third gear. The little engine is buzzing away I can tell you that. It has almost 0 passing power making it very uncomfortable passing a slow-moving driver. The people behind you get pissed off.

While I was traveling through the deep South being July and during the day it was in the 90s and very humid. At one point I noticed I was getting hot and there was almost no air coming out of the vents. I'm not saying no cold air, I mean almost no air at all. So I pulled into a rest stop to see if I can find anything wrong. I couldn't see anything on the inside so I jumped out and open the hood and here is what I found. The cool side compressor hose had ice covering it. Which told me that the evaporator was frozen and no air was able to blow through it. What I did was leave the fan on and in just a few minutes it thawed out because it was blazing hot outside. So I just would leave the fan on and turn the compressor on for a while and then shut it off. I believe the combination of driving at 68 mph and 95° plus very humid was just too much for the small fit air-conditioner to handle. Most any other time it does okay.
Oh, the fit desperately needed tinted windows. The sun is brutal in the southern states.

Most of the time I had my cruise control set at 68 mph. I drove 3032 miles and I used 71.7 gallons of gasoline. Now, if I am figuring this right I got 42.2 miles per gallon. I think I did pretty well on my journey. It's nice being retired LOL.

 

Thanks for the post. I am heading out on a road trip soon and will heed your air conditioning advice.

 

No A/C including the Fit's should freeze up under any conditions.

A large number of members here are reporting this issue (me included). Here's another thread on the subject (recent posts at the end).

If it's under warranty get it fixed. Honda charged me $275 to replace the high-pressure sensor, clutch relay, and recharge it. This happened last month on a trip to FL. Had it fixed at Largo Honda. Trip back was fine. Ambient temps/humidity were the same both ways.



Also I think it's to be expected to shift down in order to maintain speed on such a small engine. But yeah, it's not a great highway car.

 

Cost me $95 to have the A/C looked over, drained and recharged at dealer. I do not have tinted windows...A/C works great now, even in this heat and humidity. Wonder if all Fits are just doing this. In any case, if under warranty, get dealer to take a look. Or even if out of warranty.

 

Yeah I think there's a quality control issue with the A/C charge from the factory. I suspect the charge alone was the fix for mine and the extra repairs were "just in case"...

 

Steve223, let's say I bring my fit back to the dealership and they say it needs the AC system to be recharged. Being that I bought the car in June 2012 would this be covered under warranty?

 

David223, I would take your Fit back to the dealer and tell them the A/C stops working after a while and you know the evaporator is freezing up, and to check everything out. I'm sure they'll figure it out from there. If they give you a blank stare tell them to make sure it's properly charged because you keep hearing of others with the same problem. In my case they did a full diagnostic and discovered the low side pressure was something like 26 psi, so they flushed and refilled the system and it's been good since then. They found no leaks. I'm out of warranty, but I can't imagine that they wouldn't cover your work under warranty.

 

3 years, 36K miles bumper to bumper warranty (excluding maintenance items), so unless you drove a whole hellavulot in the past year: yes. Refrigerant is not a maintenance item like oil changes.

 

I drive on a stretch of highway daily that has a 70MPH speed limit, also with hilly sections (no steep grades, just rolling hills) and I have not experienced any problems passing or with the engine staying in lower gears. I bought my Fit from a dealer about 100 miles away, and have been back twice, so I have put quite a few highway miles in my first 800, but I am not seeing the negative highway driving experience you are.

Perhaps it's a matter of perspective. My previous daily driver was a 98 Saturn.

 

If you're used to a larger car with a v6 or v8 and lots of low-end torque, the Fit can be a bit buzzy. Understanding that it produces pretty even torque up to 6800RPM (VTEC) and HP is a function of RPM and torque may help some to appreciate why it shifts down. Downshifting is not a bad thing, especially when you're still getting 42mpg average. Also it has "grade-logic" that senses when it's on an incline which will cause it to hold a lower gear, rather than constant shifting as demands for power change.

 

Well I called the dealership and I am going to bring it in tomorrow July 16. I will post what happens.

 

When I bought the Fit I knew it had a small engine and not a great deal of horsepower. In my post I was not trying to knock the Fit saying it was lousy. A 3000 mile trip is quite a driving experience and I wanted to point out the positive and the negative. Overall I think the Fit is a great car and there's many, many things to love about it.

The Fit would be pure gold if Honda would keep the gas mileage the same but increase the size of the engine 10%. Also with factory installed tinted glass like just about every other car in the road has.

And yes, driving at 68 mph and getting 42 miles per gallon is awesome.

 

Thank you to everyone for discussing this. I've been enduring this problem since I got my Fit back in 2010 and brought it to the dealer multiple times to ask about it, and they were never able to figure it out. Then come the more temperate months and I forget about it, but then it struck again yesterday, which got me to think to search here.

Way back when, when it was under warranty, I asked them to make a note of it in case the problem was detected when it wasn't under warranty. So the trick now will be to see if they'll honor that (I doubt they will, but hey).

So, david223, please do post your experience.

And for everyone else--sorry if I'm missing the obvious, but--is there a simple summary of what exactly the problem and solution(s) are? We all know how valuable it is to be able to accurately and succinctly explain something to the dealer...

Thanks!

 

The majority of issues are due to condensation freezing on the evaporator (the heat exchanger that cools the interior of the car). Or simply "it's freezing up."

The symptoms of freezing evaporator are:

• Reduced cooling after using the A/C for a period ranging from minutes to hours. Typically it works fine around town in stop-and-go traffic for shorter periods.
• reduced airflow (this may be subtle)
• and in some cases water dripping on the floor of the car near the center console.

The causes may be many and more than one.

• The simplest is the incorrect amount of refrigerant; too little actually causes the compressor to run extra and cause freezing.
• Temperature sensor. An electronic sensor embedded in the evaporator that shuts off the compressor when the evaporator is colder than needed.
• Expansion valve. Meters the flow of liquefied refrigerant to the evaporator based on cooling needs.
• High pressure switch. Shuts off compressor when not needed.
• Clutch relay. an electronic switch that controls the compressor clutch

Just tell them the symptoms and let them diagnose it. If your symptoms indicate the evaporator freezing then tell'm that...

 

I am not sure what happen with my A/C last July 2012. Was driving back from Atlanta Ga. around eight hundred miles the A/C would work then I would have to shut it off to kind of reset it would stop blowing cold air. Got into a gas station in West Virginia and heard something drop off the engine bay. Look under the car was a chunk of ice. It was 95+ outside. Since then I have not had any problems but I am always worry on long trips of no A/C. My dealer is running $49 A/C service check been temped to do it.

 

By shutting it off (turning off A/C switch) it shuts off the compressor, stopping any cooling and allows it to defrost.

Normal operation the system doesn't get that cold, or the compressor shuts off for a few seconds allowing it to defrost on its own.

 

This is perfect--thanks so much. I was there three times and they only looked from in the inside--checking the fan and mechanics of the system (which are very basic and simple switches*, so any problem would have been evident there).

(*You obviously know this, but am posting it for the benefit of the others; the Fit, affordable as it is, is based largely on a very manual system.)

Hopefully I can get this fixed before too long (unfortunately, the only dealer I've dealt with is in another state).

 

Okay, I just got back from the dealership. I explained the problem to the service writer and then hit the waiting room. Almost 2 hours later (they were busy) the service writer came and got me.

Basically, it come down to my system was a "little low" in refrigerant. They did a die test to make sure there was no leaks and there were no leaks found. They did an evacuation and proper recharge of the refrigerant.

On the drive home the air coming out of the vents felt colder than it ever did. The service writer told me the service guy said he saw some type of service bulletin about this problem. I wonder if there's a way to look that up?

When my system froze up I was highway driving through the Carolinas and Georgia and I have no way to re-create that because I live in Massachusetts and it's not as hot or humid here as it is down there.

I'm hoping problem solved.

 

I almost forgot on the 4th of July drove from Wilkes Barre, Pa to home about 70 miles on the way home with the A/C on it look like steam coming out the top vents but was still blowing cold. My wife was laughing about because she had never seen anything like it. I don't know if it was the lines defrosting or condensation in the vents. I have to go the dealer in the near future probably have them do a A/C service to be safe.

 

Good deal. It's definitely hot and humid here and I haven't had the problem since they recharged the system.