So, when I was shopping around for cars I came accross the Fit and fell in love. The look, the gas mileage, and the "#1 rating" from Car and Driver had me sold. However, my father questioned my purchase, calling the car "disposable". This means that its a car that will be made for a few years and thats it. I'll be left with payments to make on a car that ceases to be made...and parts will be hard to find. What do you guys think about this? Disposable car? or not?....Personally, I think its accepted all too well in America to become a "disposable" car, and that Honda realizes that and are on their way to a HUGE mass production and marketing for this vehicle...

 

Hyundai's and Kia's are disposable cars.

I don't view the Honda Fit as disposable at all unless you're used to driving 6 figure Mercedes Benz's

 

well, it's been made for a few years allready overseas. and they have a 2008 comming out. not sure how you call that disposable. but yeh, hyundai, kia and suzuki's are disposable IMO

 

I can not think of any Honda product (car, bikes, watercraft, lawn mowers), that anyone would call dispoable. On the contrary; folks buy Honda products because they have a history of standing the test of time. Even if Honda does a model change out, and you want the lates style, you'll always know they will be standing in-line to buy your 5-7 year old Honda-ANYHTING.
Next time your at a magazine rack- take a peek at Consumers Report ratings of any Honda product- you undoubtly will see lots of RED.

 

My cousin went to sacramento or san jose and went inside a junkyard. he said he barely saw any hondas or toyotas, and as for american cars you see many of them, even as new as 2000 models

My bro has a CRX and he's like the ?-th person to drive it. It has 250k miles.

 

^its not a question of reliability because I know Honda reliability. My brother had a honda prelude and put 250,000 miles on it before it "pooped". My question is regarding the years of production and availability of parts in the future.

 

no offense to domestic owners.... but i owned a 00 lincoln navigator for 1 year and boy does that thing loose value FAST!! Can't even get a good decent trade in with 75k miles on it and plus recall problems too...! things starting to break in here and there.... i had my integra for 4 years and its still running good like the day i purchased in 2002!

I read this report thing on msn.com a couple of weeks ago saying import cars are by far the best for safety and reliability....

for parts wise, you look for JDM parts and aftermarket! The FIT has more good thing coming could be replacble or upgradable with newer model fits maybe.... just like the civic and integras......

 

The Honda Fit is absolutely a disposable car.

In 10 or so years and 150,000 or so miles, I will probably dispose of it, just like all the rest of the cars I've owned in the last 30 years.

All cars are disposable.

The idea that there will not be parts available is pure nonsense. Major manufacturers make and stock replacement parts well into the future, and when they stop, the independent parts suppliers have already been busy manufacturing parts. Parts will be available long after you've gotten rid of the car.

Safety, reliability, economy, value for the money.

The Fit is the safest car in the subcompact class. Air bags all around, ABS standard.

Anybody have any doubts about Honda reliability?

In almost 8,000 of driving my Fit, I've averaged approx 35 real world miles per gallon. Consumer Reports last reported the Civic hybrid at 38 real world miles per gallon.

The Fit costs about $7,000 less up front than the Civic hybrid. If you drove 10,000 miles a year, you'd use 22.5 more gallons of gas in the Fit than in the hybrid at the mpg quoted above. If gas was at $3 a gallon, that would be $67.50 more in gas a year. However, it would take about 103 years of driving (1,030,000 miles) to make up in gas money saved for the initial $7,000 you saved in buying the Fit. And I believe that the Fit will have lower maintenance costs over its lifetime than the hybrid.

Besides, the Fit is a serious kick-in-the-ass-fun-car to drive.

All cars should be this disposable.

 

TOTALLY AGREE!!!!!!

Any car is disposable, they are pieces of metal to take us to place ato b, but in the Fit is having a hell ton of fun while doing it!!!!!!

 

My parents were the same way. They said the car seemed cheap and they didnt want me to finance for too long because I would be paying for a car that Ill hate or wont have later on.

Ive had my Mx6 for almost 5-6years now. Its an 89 and Ive kept the car in mint condition. I LOVE that car and the parts are almost impossible to find. Ive gone through 5 transmissions and each one took me a month to find.

I dont see why they said that about my Fit. Now that I got my Fit they love it. My mom wanted to trade me her tC. Hah! Never!

Honestly, I dont see the Fit going longer than 2007. After 2007 I think Honda will stop production due to other Honda sales. That would be SICK!! Rare little car thats already rare its first year.

 

I think the idea is that the Fit is only being sold for a few years until gas prices stabilize at which point we'll all go back to driving gas guzzlers and it'll be hard to get parts. I suspect this is based on the habit US producers have of reacting to gas prices by running out and finding some import to rebadge for a few years. (Remember "it's a Ford, it's a Festiva" when it was actually a Mazda built by Kia and badged as Ford)

Though I've never heard of parts problems on any of those.

And certainly, I expect the Fit to be around for a long time and it's built and designed by Honda, so there's no reason to think parts would ever be an issue.

 

Gas prices will stabilize all right, but they'll still be high. If people get used to the idea of $2.50-3.50 gallon gas then yes, I suppose gas guzzlers could regain popularity.

 

that would be interesting if the Fit stops selling over here after 2007 or 2008...that would make us all drivers of a rare car...i would not worry about parts cause Honda would send parts to dealers for our cars...but all cars are disposable. This will be my first car that i am going to own for more than 1 1/2 years (until i am done with payments) i have never owned a car longer than that...i love the Fit though...

 

Car manufacturers are required to have parts available for models 10 years after production has ceased. Availability of Fit replacement parts will be a non-issue.

I have no problems finding model-specific parts for my ITR that is 9 years old, and its a hell of a lot more rare than a Fit.

 

thanks, guys, for all your input.....examples are well appreciated....now i can have some form of argument when my father talks about "disposable" car stuff again.....keep 'em comin!!

 

No, that's not going to happen. Honda is building a Greensburg IN facility in order to build the Fit (and other models) in the U.S. Granted that their production setup is and will be so flexible that, if push comes to the shove, they can always idle the Fit production. But why would they do that? In order for Honda to stop producing the Fit or any car, the sales must go down so siginificantly that running the line would be unwise. Would the gas price fluctuation today cause that? Maybe, maybe not. But remember, when the Civic was the smallest model of the Honda lineup, we had times when the gas was barely a buck a gallon. Yes, the Civic has always been selling well. Not a Honda, but the Corolla is the same way.

If a car is good, getting a good mileage, offering a good ride and driving experience as well as staying reliable, then it would not be "seasonal." To me, the evolution and success of the Civic is all the evidence I need to know that the Fit will continue in North America (it will continue for sure in the rest of the world).

By the way, there is also a marketing reason for the Fit to be continued. Honda has pushed the Civic upscale, so that created a vacuum in the lower segment. Honda needed another car to be just as the Civic was before it got bigger and fancier. In addition, thanks to Toyota's success with the Scion brand, the Japanese auto execs have realized that there is a very active market in the U.S. for that kind of price level. And gas price is not the only reason for Scion's success. Why give it all to Toyota when you can step in with the Fit?

 

excellent point!!....I was thinking the same thing....Honda needs something to compete with its rivals in the "cheaper car" market, and the Fit is that something...

 

My dad used to talk about "throwaway cars". Basically, all new cars are plastic and crumple in an accident and that is what made them throwaway cars.

I think that is nonsense. Big, old RWD domestic car lovers think any FWD and especially foreign car is a throwaway car.

My point has always been that after an accident, I'd rather throw away the car than my life. Cars crumple to take the impact so the driver doesn't. Old cars absorbed nothing and the driver took the hit.

I realize that has nothing to do with your father's idea of the Fit being a disposable car. However, I'd bet he has some bias against small or foreign cars. To me, a new Malibu or Cobalt are throwaway cars, because after 15 minutes in them, I'd want to throw them away. And yes, I have had both as brand new rental cars, so it is not just my bias speaking.

 

parts will be available for 20 years.... that is how it has been and how it is. dont let any one fool you.... If it changes then that will be the way it is across the board for other reasons perhaps but not because of the philosopy of Honda..

 

I think the word "disposable" is not being used correctly here in the original post.

All cars are disposable... I think what was he meant to ask is if the FIT was going to be "orphaned" by Honda at a later date. Orphaned usually means the manufacturer stops production and support of a certain model. American car companies come to mind... Dodge Dart, Ford Falcon, Dodge Neon... etc. I cannot think of a single Honda product that has been orphaned by Honda except the Passport, which was made by Isuzu anyway.

If they orphan the FIT, someone at Honda needs their heads examined... or better yet, they should be fired!