Hello to all Fit owners, sorry if this gets winded but not much else to do on a cold snowy day here in MN except surf this fine forum you have.

Well as the title says I may be in the market soon for a new vehicle, and lately I have been drawn to the fit. I am a young guy on the negitive side of 30 and currently I drive a '97 Mercury Grand Marquis that I love to death, I have owned the car since 30k miles and it is currently at 180K all repairs and maintenance done by myself. I have never owned a FWD car in my life, just the Grand Marqius, a Caprice and a few domestic trucks. For a young punk I am old school when it comes to technology(I have a 1950's era half sleeve tattoo to prove it!), I know my way around it but am a bit scared when it comes to electronics on my vehicles, I like things as simple and plain as I can get them, less to go wrong in my opinion.

The Mercury has been a great car and has served me well no major issues through its life just regular maintenance, but living in the rustbelt has had its toll, rusted through a few sets of brake lines, exhaust work about once a year and now the oil pan is nearly rusted through and I belive its days are numbered. Great running car currently, and I believe the engine will more than outlive the rest of the car.

So the next thought on my mind is the current gas prices and how I don't see them going down to nice prices ever again. The Mercury gets on average of 23-24 mpg and that is about 90% highway driving. I live exactly 50 miles from my work which comes out to a 100 mile round trip daily commute. With gas going up the $300-350+ range per month, it is getting old quick. I would buy another Mercury in a heartbeat for their comfy ride, safe feel, outstanding reliabilty, cheap parts, and battle tank like stability in less than desireable weather conditions that we all love to hate here in the upper midwest.

I come from a family who has always owned domestic cars and I mean always. So I guess the reason for being attracted to Honda now is because we have and currently always own Honda brand toys, IE: motorcycles, atv, dirtbikes, scooters, and I have always been amazed at their reiliabilty and if they ever did fail, they are very easy to repair, and that is the same mind set I have with buying a new vehicle that I plan to depend on every day to get to work and home every day safely.

The Fit appeals to me partialy because of the great gas mileage it gets and partialy for its looks. I have always loved the first gen Scion XB's and I get the same feel from the Fit. As stated above this will be 95% a commuter car as I have a truck for doing the heavy lifting and we do not currently have any little ones.

As I end this short novel on your fine Fit forum (ha say that three times fast) my only concerns are how this little rig will hold up in Minnesotas everchanging weather conditions. In my 50 mile drive I may encounter -30F below temps, icy roads, snow covered roads, unplowed roads, and lots of deer. I know nothing except a abrahams tank can take a deer hit without susataning some damage, but the low ground clearance scares me a bit when encountering road debris or larger snow piles. I know snow tires and a block heater are a must, you don't have to tell a native Minnesotan that tip. Maybe I worry to much and this is the perfect car for me, whatever I choose I plan to drive it til the wheels fall off, i'm in it for the long haul. So any help or info on my next vehicle purchase is much appreciated even if it may not be a Fit. Thanks so much and have a wonderful day!

 

Hi 1967c10.Welcome to FF.About your question if the Fit is a good Fit for you i will said that this little car is making history over the world.I can see that your ride is a Grand Marquis and this car is totally a legend.I hope you will keep it and still drive it on Sundays to have fun.I also have for about 17 years a 1976 Chevrolet Nova and this car was a great car in my life.Right now a don't have the Nova but one day i will buy one again.In this time gas is very expensive and it looks that gas will never go down.Today FWD cars are going better and better.MPG for them are very good.You will feel strange maybe driving this kind of car and not your Grand Marquis but for sure the Fit will be a good car for you.You will be glad to save money with gas prices.What your are spending in gas is like paying for a new car payment every month.If you like you can rent a Fit and see how the car rides for you for a week.I hope that you can get the perfect car for you.If it is a Fit or not make that big step.Take a look of the the new 2011 Hyundai Elantra.The car looks nice and give 40 MPG.Good luck my friend.....

 

I can't say enough good things about the Fit but if you're not sure, don't buy it. I wouldn't buy any car I wasn't sure of.

 

Well I'm yet to face a winter with my '11 Fit, but I went through 4 IL/WI winters with my '07. I've gotta say, that thing was amazing, and I can only hope my new one will be as good.

My commute was 80 miles round trip and, knowing Midwest weather, about 9 months out of the year it seemed to be snowing during my drive The only time I ever had an issue was when, during a blizzard, they couldn't plow the highway fast enough so i spun out. But that little Fit handled it very well.

My suggestion would be to make sure you LOVE it. But I am about 99% sure if you did get it, you wouldn't be disappointed.

Di

 

as long as you have snow tires even pretty deep snow is no issue. i speak from experience. i use Blizzak WS60's from Bridgestone. very good snow tires.

 

Thanks everyone who posted so far! This is exactly the kind of stuff I was after when I made this thread, out to get as much opinion as I can from folks who may have a similar commute to mine or experience snowy/ very cold driving conditions.

It may not be for a few months that I make a vehicle purchase but so far you are doing a good job of helping me make up my mind. Just happy the leather couch on wheels that I currently drive is still getting decent gas milage, filled up today and got 25.5mpg not bad for a 260hp 4200lb rig, but 36 plus from a Fit would be awesome

 

like the name

and the truck

 

Taken while out driving in a blizzard with 50mph+ winds drifting snow over 3ft in some places:


Stopped in between drifts:


Plowed its self out of my driveway snow is over a foot and a half deep in my driveway in this pic:


By morning we had a record of 27" average across my yard. All I needed was dedicated snow tires and a some aggressive driving to keep forward momentum.

3 winters so far, including a couple record snowfalls over a given period of time and we had a regional record this year as well. All in all I have been impressed.

 

Definitely get yourself a Fit, the car is very practical with tons of space and decent fuel economy. However, i would not buy a brand new Fit right now, simply because Hybrid and EV Fit will come out in the next 1-2 years... if you need to replace your car, perhaps get yourself a 1st gen Fit, they are relatively cheap (~6000-9000$) and they still give you EASY 30-35+ mpg. When Hybrid version come out, just trade it in perhaps?

 

I don't know your budget, credit situation, etc. but I'll offer you up a few different options. I'm 32 and have owned nothing but Hondas all my life, my family all owns Hondas, and I've worked in the Honda service industry for a total of 14 years now. I currently own:

- 2011 Fit Sport
- 2005 Element EX 2WD
- 1992 Civic CX w/B18C5 swap
- 1990 Civic Wagon DX 2WD w/B18B1 swap

I also do not live in a snowbelt area, so my snow/ice info is a touch limited, but I've had to drive in some nasty snow/ice even here in GA. We get our rare, but nasty storms.

So my options/opinions:

The Fit:

You have the option of buying brand new, and perhaps in your case this might be the best idea unless you can find a used Fit in a non-snow/rustbelt area. Brand new is great, especially if you plan on keeping the car forvever (or just a long time) since you'll know you will take care of maintenance.

I'd buy an extended warranty (I know, I know that sounds stupid) but you already stated that you're a touch skeptical of the advanced electronics. I too don't like the idea of having the potential for a Christmas tree of indicator lights on some years down the road, and working in a dealership service department I can tell you it's eventually going to happen. ABS, TCS, VSA, EBD, SRS, MIL, etc. etc. - these systems can be expensive to repair, and few non-dealership shops can even diagnose, let alone repair them. THIS is where the extended warranty comes in. HondaCare and Fidelity are both good options, and I can tell you they actually do pay for repairs without hassles.

As far as the Fit it's one of Honda's most reliable current-gen vehicles, if not THE most reliable. It and the Element are a tie IMO. We rarely ever see Fits or Elements in for repairs.

FWD is good for snow/ice, but my other options would be even more ideal...and cheaper.

Option #2?

Used Element 4WD

They are rock-solid reliable. My 2005 has only had one actual repair since I've owned it, and it was elective - slightly noisy drive belt idler/tensioner pulley.

The RT4WD system is great for snow, you'd have great ground clearance, and they are safer than the Fit because they are built more like a tank than the Fit.

The biggest drawback with idea?

Not much better mpg, if any, than your Mercury...seriously. Elements just suffer in the mpg department. Getting a 2006-up will help as they had the 5 speed auto vs. the 4 speed auto found in the 03-05.

Option #3?

Used CR-V



I say get the older, first-gen 4WD. 1997-2001 are IMO the best, most reliable, and certainly most affordable models. Finding one in non rusted condition might be hard for you, but if you can find a minty one they are amazing vehicles.

Option #4, and my favorite option along with the Fit:

1990-1991 Honda Civic wagon RT4WD!!!



Since I own a Fit and a Civic wagon I can tell you that the Civic wagon has nearly identical dimensions in every aspect. Exterior size, interior volume, cargo, etc.

Obvious drawbacks here would be finding one in good condition, and repairs needed on the older vehicle. You'd get everything you would with a Fit, but it'd be faster, easier to work on, get as good mpg, cheap insurance, and 4WD!

I do love my Fit, but it's truly a gutless turd. For you it'd probably get better mpg than my other suggestions (the wagon could be very close though) since you do a lot of highway driving, but if it really does stay snowy a lot then RT4WD would be a nice feature to have.

Just thought I'd offer some alternatives!!!

 

I used to sell Honda motorcycles and I would use a similar description when talking to a potential customer about the reliability of the product. However, I never had the balls to suggest a customer buy an extended warranty after he decided to buy the motorcycle.

 

I'm a bike guy too, and I'd probably not suggest an extended warranty for a bike either. Most people use bikes as fair weather, occasional transportation. A Honda automobile will need to take a lot more/frequent beatings than a bike.

Five years ago I'd have not suggested the extended warranty when buying a Honda automobile. A few reasons being there were not as many electronic systems offered on basic Hondas, and I'd not dealt with the extended warranties on a daily basis before.

Think about how a simple TPMS light (not the low pressure exclamation indicator) at 40K miles could cost $105.00+ to simply diagnose, then hundreds of dollars more to fix depending on the issue.

Same goes for power window motors/regulators, blown suspension parts from hitting some nasty bumps, etc. etc. An extended warranty would cover this stuff if he got a good one.

I'm not so much worried about major drivetrain problems/failures with Hondas (unless it's anything with a V6 and automatic lol!) but it's all the "little" stuff that can fail that can also cost a ton to fix.

 

4WD is overrated. I've been driving FWD car for 16 years since day 1, crazy winter every year here in Canada. No problem what so ever, you just need to know how to drive and have decent winter tires.

As for the other poster about keeping the car "forever", i would definitely agree 10 years ago, but now with the rising fuel cost pretty much every month, i don't think that's such a good idea.

I have my Fit, and i still have my 1999 Integra. I will keep the Integra for fun (been paid off like 8 years ago), but will surely trade in my Fit when they come out with a hybrid.