Obviously everyone is scrambling to be one of the first Fit drivers on the block. Think this will last 3 months, 6 months, a year? I'd like to purchase a new car somtime this year, but feel like waiting until supply/demand evens out a bit. Any guesses as to how long that might take?

 

It's probably going to be a bit over a year before production is ramped up enough to satisfy the US market and they immediate hype has died down.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

 

No one knows yet for sure how well or not the Fit is going to do in the US market. It has alot going for it but so do alot of other cars and that doesnt mean there selling as well as expected so right now its all up in the air.

 

I've got a feeling it will do REALLY well. Subaru was totally unwilling to bring the WRX over until response to the RS was proven to be amazing. Look how well the WRX is doing.

I know it's a bit different, but I've got my hopes. My vague point, too.

 

I have this impression that many people will be going it to buy a Fit and will be driving away with a Civic once they learn of the long delivery delays and dealers are willing to sell the Civic under MSRP with less fuss, making the price difference irrelavent.

 

The new Si is a pretty awesome hot car.

The price difference between a base Civic and a Sport Fit isn't that much. If anything once the negotiating on a readily available car is done. Word.

 

Well, in Canada the Base Civic (DX sedan) is 200$ less than the Fit LX.

 

The Civic starts at $14560 or so here.

 

Thats with no air/pw/pl, etc.

 

I'll be waiting a wee bit till year-end to see to see if seasonal consumer buying advantages exist. I'm also looking into a few on-line negotiation services to do some shopping for me.

I'll walk-in to the dealership not speaking and just present the pre-negotiated terms.I plan to be a mute and only basic head movements and gestures to say, "hi", "yes", "no", "forget-about-it", "F-U" and "thankyou", "bye" will be in the vocab. I want to see how they treat a guy with special needs.

My best trump card is that I don't really need a car right away.

 

The only scrambling are the people here in the forum, which represents not even a small fraction of potential Fit buyers. With so many choices and options now and in the very near future, the Fit will not be very hard to find. I'll stick to what I've been saying all along... by May, the Fit will be selling for invoice and there will be plenty available.

 

Maybe, but none of the Civic models comes as a hatch. I think a lot of people looking at the fit are looking at it for cargo room as much as gas milage.

 

Mav:

Good point. Though I do think there are a number of people out there like me who miss the inexpensive Honda hatches of previous generations. My long gone '91 Civic DX HB remains one of my favorite cars, and I see the Fit as a perfect modern 4n4log. There's always a rush of "Me first!" people whenever a new car is introduced, and I think that at least for a short while the dealers will be able to demand a premium if they choose to. That said, I agree that the level of demand can seem much larger than it probably is based on the amount of enthusiasm in the forums and the marketing hype. It would be really nice to be able to have my choice of Fit by mid-summer.

 

True, but many people have the attitude of:

"I can get this upscale car with more power for just a bit more money, even if it's a sedan/coupe."

 

Oh, I don't disagree. I'm just saying that there will be those who have a specific need (such as my need for cargo room) and those just shopping for "a car". Now that I think about it though (and have finally gotten a cup of coffee in my system), most people are probably just shopping for the best car for the money. People like me that _must_ have a hatch are probably a small percentage of the group that will be looking at the Fit.

 

I agree with you, Mav. I had a '90 Civic DX HB and I loved it. I would have gotten another one when I bought a new car in 2002, but since there wasn't a HB other than the Civic Si at the time, I had to settle for a 4-door sedan. I think the Fit will just as fun, if not more so.

 

Yep, we are a small percentage.

 

Every car should come available as a hatchback. That's how it is in Europe. It really makes me mad that we can only get sedans here. Probably a big reason why everybody is driving around in these stupid SUV's.

 

Yeah. I totally agree. You can't argue against the overall practicality of a hatch. When in Europe (Italy) for six weeks, I'm was amazed at how many of the cars are hatches and how much smaller the average car was. I wish we got more hatchbacks than we do. Then again, I doubt anyone driving a Suburban, Expedition, or Navigator would "downgrade" to a hatch even if there were more choices available. All you need to do is turn on the TV or radio to see that "practicality" is not the message we're receiving on a daily basis.

 

Not good, gasoline inventories are way down, too much refinery maintenance after running the dog poop out of the ones able to stay on-line after Katrina.