Considering buying a 2009 Fit with 104,000 miles. car appears in great shape, but seems quite slow when above 65-70 mph. I drive on highways, and in the NY-NJ turnpikes, and sometimes need to accelerate to at least 75, and be able to push hard to avoid trucks, jerks in cars, etc. I also drive uphill, sometimes with passengers.

Can anyone tell me of their experiences with the Fit at high speeds?

 

If all you do is hwy driving at higher speeds, maybe the Fit isn't for you.
Like most small cars and hatchbacks, they don't handle the best at fast hwy speeds. Bumps and rough roads are felt harder, higher road/wind noise, and you will feel being tossed around a bit when really windy.

The little engine in the Fit is only 1.5L. If you're driving it with automatic transmission then it's definitely sluggish. Given the Fit is a light car with a relatively small engine, you will feel it when you've got a full car with people and stuff. Not much you can do about that, other than drive calm, anticipate ahead and signal early.

Here's something you should keep in mind when you're test driving cars, especially now in the winter. Most people suck at checking tire pressure regularly when it's nice outside...in the winter most people never even do it. So with colder temperatures it's very likely the pressure dropped considerably which will negatively affect handling, steering, acceleration and top speed. Also winter gas has slightly less energy and colder air is denser, so more drag at hwy speeds.

If you really want a Fit, you should consider getting a stick-shift one. Mine is 5-speed manual and I can easily downshift to 3rd gear and have decent power to accelerate at hwy speeds. I love mine and wouldn't trade it for another car.
Plus driving a stick shift in US is an amazing theft deterrent. A great car thief can obviously drive stick, but he won't be interested in your used Fit. Also your friends won't ever ask to borrow it to move some stuff.

 

My dad has a 2008 Camry with the 3.5 L engine. It's an awesome hwy car. Handles great at high speeds, decent mileage on hwy (bad in city), the V6 pulls good, it's very quiet and smooth over bumps or rough roads...like a couch on wheels.
But it's not as fun to drive as my Fit.

And not as versatile.

 

The Fit is a momentum car to be honest. If you're going to be put in situations were you have to "dig out" on a flat or frequently uphill stretch and get up to those speeds then you may want to reconsider. Though if you do have elevation changes that work to your advantage or on your typical routes have areas were you can "think ahead" and predict/see when you can accelerate to make merging or passing less of a headache go for it.

Even though the Fit is under powered that can actually scoot pretty good in stretches. I've road tripped my A/T Sport from effectively Houston to the Tail of the Dragon and back doing at least 80 MPH the majority of the way and was fine. Passing at that speed was a little bit of a headache some times like previously mentioned... Just have to look further ahead and compensate for the additional room needed to accelerate or know the area and use any room or elevation changes to your advantage.

 

If you have an AT sport, you can downshift with the paddle shifters just as you would in a manual. You can go up to ~75mph in 3rd gear.

It's not a fast car, but I never have issues maintaining 70-75mph even with a full car up west coast mountain passes.

 

I believe the official numbers are:

Top Speed - Slow
Acceleration - Slow

 

I have a 50 mile one way commute to work. Maybe 2-3 miles of 35mph a 1/3 at 55mph and the rest at 70mph. I have a 2017 with 6 speed MT. When it was warmer out I was getting 40-41 mpg average. Anyway the shape of the car. Narrow, boxy and light make it dart around real bad around semis especially if it's a little windy. If it's really windy it's like driving a sail at 70mph. I'm used to it so it doesn't bother me. I know if my wife had to drive it in those conditions, it would be the last time. Another thing with the 6 speed at 75mph it's like 3500 rpm. At first I kept wanting to find another gear. All I can think if is it needs to be there for any power? Hope that helps?

 

You also have to put everything into context. In 1987 I bought a VW GTI. It had roughly the same HP as the Fit, actually weighed more, had about the same skid pad numbers and was considered a nimble sporty performance car. The Fit is considered an economy car and slow by today's standards. I have a 2013 WRX and the Fit is a slug compared to it. The best gas mileage I've ever had with the WRX has been 24 mpg. I didn't buy it for that. Likewise I didn't buy the Fit to be a performance car. You really should be asking yourself what do you want the car to do and what's acceptable gas mileage for you? Cars are a series of compromises. You can't have everything in one car

 

You can.

 

Sorry, nothing wrong with having an AP1. Last year I was actually looking for an AP2 C/R. I just don't see three people and luggage traveling comfortably in the S2000. Besides what's the fuel economy 25-30 mpg on the highway?

 

My highway ranges between 29 and 34 MPG, city between 26 and 29.

Three people is clearly too many

 

Replacing the stock 185/55-16 tires with 205/50-16's greatly improved the stability of my 09 Fit Sport at highway speeds, especially in cross winds and when semis are passing.

 

Do you keep track of fuel consumption/mileage?
Can you give us ballpark on the hit it took from wider tires...was it roughly 10% ?

 

No hit with the wider tires.

 

That's nice

Wider tires give you better stability and grip against wind because there's more area in contact with the road = higher friction between the rubber & pavement = more fuel burned to overcome it. Wider tires will slightly increase your cars' frontal area which will increase the drag at hwy speeds and thus burn a bit more gas again.

There's a reason all the small eco cars get narrow tires as OEM -> lower mileage on the sticker. The manufacturer saves a bit of production costs, but their main benefit comes from selling more cars. Saving a bit in manufacturing costs means nothing if the cars don't sell well. And the people buying small eco cars usually care a lot about mileage.

off-topic:
It's a known business strategy that car manufacturers don't make money on the entry level small eco cars - they sell those almost at cost. The Fit, Fiesta, Yaris, Mirage, Micra, etc are all meant to get the new young buyers happy with their brand and hopefully become a brand loyal customer for life so that when they have more money they will buy that stupidly expensive SUV or truck. That's where they make the real profits.
Same strategy is used by McDonalds and their Happy Meal. Including a free toy for kids means they aren't making a profit on the Happy Meals. However they are making life long addicts (oops, meant to say customers) that will bring them lots of profits over the years as the kids become adults and start buying the bigger more expensive burgers.

Either way, unless you switched from narrow winter tires to wide LRR (low-rolling-resistance) all seasons, it's generally physically impossible that you didn't take a hit to fuel mileage. Or you must have changed the rims or higher tire PSI, better oil, less short trips, removed roof rack, etc.

 

Nice detective work.

You can also step down from your podium.
I'm fully aware of the factors that affect vehicle mpg, and which vehicles manufacturers make larger profits on.

 

Fair enough. Nobody likes a smarta$$.
I'll try to tone it down and keep my rants to a minimum.

 

My experience has been that the Fit, while no powerhouse by any stretch, is perfectly capable of maintaining the legal speed limit on any road I've taken it on, including interstates going over the Rockies.

I don't think a comparatively slow vehicle is unsafe in itself. It's only unsafe if you are relying on it to do more than it can. Instead of rushing to merge in front of a truck, for instance, you can always let up and merge behind it. Every truck I've seen has both a front and a back end. Similarly, one can putter along behind a slow driver until there's a big enough clear space to pass them, rather than powering through a smaller space.

 

Here's what I found:

2009 Honda Fit Sport 0-60 mph 8.2 | Quarter mile 16.1

And there is a vid on youtube of one topping out at 110mph.

These sound about right.

 

16.1 is a bit off. More like 16.8 or 16.9 to be realistic. Run around 85 in 1/4 mile, +-.