I’m not a car enthusiast at all, I’m just an average guy in his 30s. I’ve been looking at the Fit for a few years now and I was going to buy one last year, but then they announced the 2015 model and I have been waiting to get one ever since.

I’ve had my 2015 Blue EX Manual Honda Fit for almost a week now and I’m pretty pleased with the purchase. However, it is not all roses and sunshine.

My other car has been a 2004 Saturn ION 2 and has been my car been my car for the last 10.5 years. My experience buying it was actually pretty great and I miss the days of Saturn and their customer focus.
My car buying experience was horrendous compared to my Saturn purchase 10 years ago. Apparently the process at the dealership is to start with an Internet salesman who passes you off to a real salesman once you have figured out what car you want. In my case this was not explained and the handoff was not smooth. Since I contacted them in April and the car wasn’t here till June I ended up on several contact lists and there was quite the shark feeding frenzy with me when a car would come in. I told the first salesman what I wanted and I wanted nothing else. However others kept calling me trying to sell me a car I didn’t want. Then once my car came in and I put a deposit on it to hold it, they went and added a bunch of stuff to the car I didn’t ask for and then wanted me to pay for it all. I ended up walking out at one point, which sucks because this dealer is in Phoenix and I am in Tucson. Three days later we finally came to an agreement on the price. I got the car and now I’m happy to have it, although I think I might need a cigarette, just from the experience.

After all of that, I’m starting to like my Fit, however I have gotten used to some of the settings in my Saturn that I miss now in my new Honda Fit. For example, on the Saturn, the window lock out feature just locks out the rear windows from the passengers back there. I can still do whatever I want and the person in the front passenger seat is not affected by the lock out at all. Having three kids in the backseat this has become a great thing as I can keep them from messing with the window settings and I can set it and forget it. This is not the case with the FIT. It locks out all of the other windows except for the driver window and the passenger, nor you, will be able to do anything with all the other windows.

At one point the Lanewatch camera was not working. It would turn on the rear camera… then it just was blank. However after a stop and restart of the car it went back to normal. This I think is a bug in the software as I have read of other owners complaining about similar issues.
The Infotainment system isn’t quite ready for primetime… here are a few quirks for me.

I thought I would miss the volume knob, but in reality if you drag your finger down the screen on the left side it works like turning down your radio and works pretty well… although I sometimes have issues with touch screens as they don’t like my touch for some reason in this dry heat.

Oh and I wish I could get rid of that annoying warning screen. There should be a setting that says “Yeah, I know, I know, I’ll drive safe” and you can pick that so the warning doesn’t come up anymore.

I really wish the titles would scroll on the screen when the filename is longer than the display. I also wish the info button would have more than just the clock. For example, if I am listening to my music from my USB stick, why not have the artist and title listed on the info screen? Either that or allow the background to be on more than just the “info” screen. MP3’s have several layers of META data than can be displayed, so why not have more options.

I also noticed that the extra stuff that stations display are not displayed automatically on screen when you listening to the radio. For example, the pop station here displays the artist and title of the song and that doesn’t appear on anything I’ve found so far.

The system works ok with my updated Android device…. It plays music and will make phone calls… I’m just annoyed that it is really geared to Apple users. I have a feeling this will change in the near future with Google adding Google Auto to the mix later this year. I’ve found that when I have the AC cranked up, it is really hard for people to hear me on a phone call and vice versa. Overall I’m not happy with the Phone calling part of the setup. Part of it, is the location of the mic for the phone call. There are two dots on the top of the display on each side of the CD player that are supposed to be the mic. The salesman said it was in the middle by the sunroof button, but it is not. The AC vents are so close to the mics that the sound that most people hear is just wind.

The backup camera angle that points down is misleading. If I back up to something using that angle and I used it as a guide, it will show that I’m right on the line. When I go to the back to check I’m actually about a foot away from the line. Not all the helpful so far… but I may just need to get used to it.

The cup holder on the left side is nice and all and does what it is supposed to. I had a bottle of water that was room temp and by the time I got to where I was going 20 min later the water was cold. However, I did not get to feel much of that air myself since it was being blocked by the bottle.

The look of the car in pictures does it no justice to what it looks like in person. I liked the look of the car in pictures, but when you see it in person, it just looks better. However, it does look smaller than I thought it would, but then I get inside and it feels huge. Since I got the blue one, it really does feel like my own little TARDIS. I’ve even added my own background of the TARDIS doors to match that concept.

The break-in period is not defined in the manual and the salesman gave me a strange answer when I asked about it. He said to not use the cruise control for the first 1000 miles. I think that is so you vary the RPMs. Other places I’ve read, say to not rev it too hard for the first 600 miles. So I’m not entirely sure. So far I’ve only redlined it once just to see how it felt and I must say it was quite fun. I’ve got about 400 miles on it so far, so I’ll give it another gas tank before I start my “normal” driving mode.

The wife doesn’t like the short throw of the shifter, but I personally like it quite a bit. However, it seems trivial to go from 5 to 6 and if I follow the shift points they want for fuel economy, I’ll be in 5th for a very short period of time. In fact I’ve come to the conclusion that I just don’t like the “econ” mode it wants me to follow for fuel economy as you really don’t get any good movement from the car and it is quite boring.

I have three car seats (one baby and two boosters) and they all fit in the back just fine, almost exactly the same way they fit in my ION. The kids love the leg room they now have and I haven’t had any complaints from the few passengers I’ve had. In fact they say that it feels bigger inside than it should.

Fuel economy has been pretty good. The stats from the car say I am around 31MPG right now, but I’ve been jumping on it a bit lately so it has dropped in the last week.

Cornering has been a blast as it hugs the road nicely. Not quite as nice as the ION, but then again the fit isn’t quite as wide. I’m sure I’ll explore more as I pass the break-in period.

Like I said, overall I like the Fit and it has become the car of choice for all of our little jaunts around town. My 25 min commute to work has become quite enjoyable. In Oct, we plan on a road trip to really put it through the paces, so I may have more to say about it after that trip.

 

Just like most other owners who are reviewing their M/T GK's, your write-up shows the pros and cons of your new vehicle up to this point. Thanks for this great effort!

People must give you a second look when they see your Blue Fit drive around. Just like PBP, it seems to change shade under different light conditions.

Glad to know you find the shifting acceptable. Am looking forward to making that conclusion for myself once ownership becomes a reality. Nothing beats hand-on DAILY driving!!!

Congrats on the new wheels and post pics from your upcomin trip. Let's see what the mpg results will be.

 

Great writeup Fenster! Thanks for taking the time to share. It is educational to others at the least.
Even though I am still about 5 months away from buying one, this site is addictive.
Enjoy your ride....

 

Congratulations on your new Fit and thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts. That's especially helpful for those of us waiting our ours to hit the ground.

 

Nice review. interesting tidbit about putting drinks into the side cupholder and having it chilled. i'll need to try that

 

Thanks for posting a detailed review. I really liked reading about the pros and cons and surprises. It helps the rest of us who are waiting.

 

Works the opposite in the Winter with the heater and hot drinks too

 

I've had my LX manual for 2 weeks. Haven't found anything to complain about. Mpg indicator is off by about 4 mpg, but not worth complaining about. The kids like it since it is so easy to get in and out of. Sometimes, they want to take Bumble Bee instead, so they squeeze into that, and love the acceleration kick in the butt. I like the Fit so much that I never drive the Camaro any more unless the kids cry for it. Great car.

 

I found in the audio settings where the display RDS was, so now I get to see the text from the Radio Stations... still can't find where I can scroll the long file names on the USB, but at least it is something.

 

Hate to burst your bubble but they are adding Android support, not necessarily Android Auto. If they would actually come out and say they are adding Android Auto, I would buy one tomorrow.

 

You should consider purchasing the Honda back seat covers, with three kids in the back. I would (and wish I had when my three were small and sitting in the back of my Volvo 850).

The things I found.....and the stains they made....worse than having puppy's!

 

How is the road noise? When I had my 2007 Fit I loved the car but the road noise was at times unbearable.

Have they improved that with the new Fit?

 

I think they have... I went from a 2010 to a 2015, and I feel like it was quieter at cruising and about on par with acceleration!

 

Road noise isn't bad, the AC when on full blast is louder than anything else.

 

I highly recommend test driving the car in both freeway and city conditions and seeing for yourself. I've been test driving numerous different vehicles to compare. Ultimately, pretty much every car in the subcompact and compact class has noticeable road noise as they are cheaper and have less sound-deadening materials in them to keep costs down. I don't have the exact db levels, but the subcompact I felt had the quietest ride overall was the Ford Fiesta.

 

Alot of what you said I believe is personal opinion & will vary drastically depending on owner and owner use. But some points I do agree on but are no where near enough negative evidence to not want or enjoi this car. But comparing a Honda to a Saturn is just obsured. Saturn has to be the cheapest crappiest car company out there with no automotive history (even what they do have isn't worth anyones time)but like you said your not an auto enthusiast so I'm sure you were shopping for just an Eco box to go from A-B. & as far as customer service that all depends on which dealer you go to & how you handle them with negotiating. Even if all the dealers in your area suck you can't generalize all Honda customer service with just one persons bad experience. Do your own research & learn what you can, don't rely on someone who's bein paid to sell you something.

 

I like this review very much and has all that I have been wondering...
Thanks

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Fenster! It's a big help to those of us thinking about getting into a Fit.

 

Yeah, but that window locking feature that the Saturn has for locking out the rear windows and only allowing the driver to control is kinda cool.

 

As someone who has had both Saturns and Hondas, the Saturns have been more reliable and much cheaper to operate over their lifespan. This is for pre-GM ran Saturn though so that needs to be taken into account. And when you do need to make a repair on an S-series saturn, it is really easy to do so. I have never worked on a car that was easier than the S-series. On top of that, my saturn that now has 242k miles on it (original motor, transmission, and clutch) still gets around 35mpg in the city and 40mpg on the highway. It burns more oil now but still runs just as strong as the day it was purchased off the lot. That is pretty great considering the mileage and that it is now 13 years old. I will have to say that the Saturn is gutless and is certainly not the funnest to drive but in no way would I say they were a crappy company. It is too bad that GM drove them into the ground.

The problems with the Hondas that I have had (94 accord and a 92 civic hatchback) were the annoyance of timing belt and water pumps (never had to do either on the saturn because the water pumps lasted and had a timing chain) and the hatchback also lost a head gasket. Not expensive fixes if you do the work yourself but still a pain in the ass. I am glad to see that on all Honda 4cyl they are using timing chains now.

That being said, I am excited for a new Fit since I am coming to that point in my life when I can afford a new car and have really fallen in love with the Fit. I am also tired of purchasing used cars since I am tired of not knowing what work has been done to a car over its lifetime so it would be nice to have a car with a fresh start in which I know what maintenance has been done.