2nd Generation (GE 08-present)The New Fit... Generation specific talk and questions here.
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It doesn't matter, the fact is Honda blew it by not offering VSA across the line.
I wouldn't say blew it, have you see their sales numbers, the reviews of the GE?? If I owned a company I'd like to blow it(dirty joke here is fine with me) like that...Its not exactly an Aztec...Honestly I had ESP(Audi's version of VSA, which I always turned off anyhow) and now I dont have VSA on a lighter shorter wheel base and for the life of me dun really know what the big deal is???? I don't miss it at all(btw I dont drive like a granny)
I wouldn't say blew it, have you see their sales numbers, the reviews of the GE?? If I owned a company I'd like to blow it(dirty joke here is fine with me) like that...Its not exactly an Aztec...Honestly I had ESP(Audi's version of VSA, which I always turned off anyhow) and now I dont have VSA on a lighter shorter wheel base and for the life of me dun really know what the big deal is???? I don't miss it at all(btw I dont drive like a granny)
It is impossible to know whether or not this move will hurt sales. From my perspective, they lost a sale. It also seems that way for a few others here. Will the Fit still sell? Of course it well, people are buying up the little cheap boxes (although my local dealer has 6 or 7 Fits that have been there for a few months, this with CFC). Despite that, I have no doubt Honda with move lots of their Fit boxes, but sales lost are sales lost. I am not asking for a luxury car here, I don't think my desires are unreasonable.
The big deal is that I live in an area where there is bad weather (Central IL) and I would feel more comfortable in a vehicle with VSA as I share this car with my fiancee and it needs to be safe for her. I don't drive like a granny either, but in dangerous weather anything can happen and I would rather have the option to turn VSA on or off than to not have it at all, no matter how good I think my driving is.
I thought about VSA as more of a precaution "just in case". Chances are you will never need it, but maybe for just that "one time" it saves your rear. It's a $1800 dollar option on top of the base Sport I guess you can call it, not base Fit. Apples & Oranges.
yeah, but a rear stabilizer bar does not automatically=harshness. the bigger sidewall of the tires on the base is whats doing it, and might i add that its probably not that much.
perhaps the fact that the model is called fit 'sport' that its making you FEEL like its rougher.
its true that the larger sidewall does add some comfort... but seeing that our cars are torsion rear suspension... it DOES add the feeling of being stiffer... a bump on one end is felt on both... hence stiffer torsion bar would equal rougher ride... add that to the lower profile tires... and i can understand why people say the sport rear is a lot stiffer feeling then the base
It is impossible to know whether or not this move will hurt sales. From my perspective, they lost a sale. It also seems that way for a few others here. Will the Fit still sell? Of course it well, people are buying up the little cheap boxes (although my local dealer has 6 or 7 Fits that have been there for a few months, this with CFC). Despite that, I have no doubt Honda with move lots of their Fit boxes, but sales lost are sales lost. I am not asking for a luxury car here, I don't think my desires are unreasonable.
The big deal is that I live in an area where there is bad weather (Central IL) and I would feel more comfortable in a vehicle with VSA as I share this car with my fiancee and it needs to be safe for her. I don't drive like a granny either, but in dangerous weather anything can happen and I would rather have the option to turn VSA on or off than to not have it at all, no matter how good I think my driving is.
I think Im looking at it in a more global scale...Of course from your POV you will need the proper equipment for your area, With a million GD's sold, and a gain in sales(the only model to do so in Honda's fleet), if your dealer has 6 its because you are in a cold weather state, Something a Fit is not made for...
It may be impossible to predict final sales numbers but given the accolades the Fit has gotten and almost every internet and magazine raving about this "cheap" box, I'd say that losing a few sales in cold weather places is not going to hurt Honda, and is probably anticipated. Not to mention, if they don't offer VSA across the board on Civics also then there business model is very sound, because in California Civics are like grass in park. No disrespect to IL, but it is not the cross section of Import auto sales. you may feel VSA is a drop off in quality, but thats because you need it. Here in cali (socal) VSA is pretty much pointless, If I lived in your state Id be in a Forester or WRX right now!!!
BTW a great example of the difference in car cultures is, you are mad there is no VSA Im mad there is no glass roof. I still got it anyway...its getting good gas mileage, carries my mountain bikes, my big friends (6-4) fit comfy in it, and its actually fun to drive. that's hard to get a former driver of a 300 horse power Bi-turbo S4 owner to say....
BTW a great example of the difference in car cultures is, you are mad there is no VSA Im mad there is no glass roof. I still got it anyway...its getting good gas mileage, carries my mountain bikes, my big friends (6-4) fit comfy in it, and its actually fun to drive. that's hard to get a former driver of a 300 horse power Bi-turbo S4 owner to say....
Oh I am mad about the roof, but considering it will probably never been an option here, I just default to my anger about the US car market in general.
And I agree with everything you say about the Fit. It just isn't the car I want to spend my money on.
Oh I am mad about the roof, but considering it will probably never been an option here, I just default to my anger about the US car market in general.
And I agree with everything you say about the Fit. It just isn't the car I want to spend my money on.
With your need for a more stable platform in bad weather I don't blame you, question why VW and not Subaru? The new impreza is all wheel drive, gets gas decent mileage, and that boxer engine is proven reliability...is it the diesel part? Just wondering, I think Subie has been doing some good things lately. And I'm a fan of euro cars too...well maybe just cars in general....
With your need for a more stable platform in bad weather I don't blame you, question why VW and not Subaru? The new impreza is all wheel drive, gets gas decent mileage, and that boxer engine is proven reliability...is it the diesel part? Just wondering, I think Subie has been doing some good things lately. And I'm a fan of euro cars too...well maybe just cars in general....
The mileage on the Subaru isn't where I would like it to be. And I would prefer a diesel for my next vehicle (I really like VW as well.) It looks like Subaru are making some changes and dropping the price on the Impreza 2.5i Premium by $1000 for 2010.
I have looked at Subaru in the past and didn't gravitate toward anything. I will keep them in mind for 2010, thanks for the tip.
the gas mileage on the base and sport are the same. i dont think anyone will be devastated by 1/2 - 1 MPG.
What people dont understand is the "dealer sticker" is an estimated average. Ive never had lower than 35 mpg on my sport fit, even though its rated at 28-33 MPG
The info on VSA from the NHSTA and IIHS sounds like it has got to have value in the warmer southern states, or it wouldn't be able to reduce crashes as much as they claim it does. Now you can debate if they are right and honest or not, but if true might be money better spent than airbags.
Actually, coming from the north of the state I'd say VSA is probably more valuable to the snow-transition zone than it is in the snow-usually zone. The transition zone is usually poorly plowed and the drivers don't know how to deal with snow/ice conditions.
We got the Navi because of the VSA. All it has to do is prevent one accident and it'll pay for itself dozens of times over. Will it actually prevent an accident for me? Who knows. But I buy insurance to protect me after accidents so it seems to make sense to get VSA to protect (prevent) me from them too.
its true that the larger sidewall does add some comfort... but seeing that our cars are torsion rear suspension... it DOES add the feeling of being stiffer... a bump on one end is felt on both... hence stiffer torsion bar would equal rougher ride... add that to the lower profile tires... and i can understand why people say the sport rear is a lot stiffer feeling then the base
its true that the larger sidewall does add some comfort... but seeing that our cars are torsion rear suspension... it DOES add the feeling of being stiffer... a bump on one end is felt on both... hence stiffer torsion bar would equal rougher ride... add that to the lower profile tires... and i can understand why people say the sport rear is a lot stiffer feeling then the base
i can see why they say that too...
but a base ge has a torsion beam rear as well.
i'll i'm saying is that any perceptible stiffness over the base has very little to do with a stabilizer bar. i want proof that it does. i still say its a tire issue, and above that, i say saying the sport is SO much stiffer is a petty exaggeration.
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if i could travel through time sometime....
pep pep?
Originally Posted by Btrthnezr3 Say Wha??? You mean, there's another reason to have a suspension?
It is impossible to know whether or not this move will hurt sales. From my perspective, they lost a sale. It also seems that way for a few others here. Will the Fit still sell? Of course it well, people are buying up the little cheap boxes (although my local dealer has 6 or 7 Fits that have been there for a few months, this with CFC). Despite that, I have no doubt Honda with move lots of their Fit boxes, but sales lost are sales lost. I am not asking for a luxury car here, I don't think my desires are unreasonable.
The big deal is that I live in an area where there is bad weather (Central IL) and I would feel more comfortable in a vehicle with VSA as I share this car with my fiancee and it needs to be safe for her. I don't drive like a granny either, but in dangerous weather anything can happen and I would rather have the option to turn VSA on or off than to not have it at all, no matter how good I think my driving is.
its not impossible. you can view hondas sales at various websites.
if safety is that important to you, it should take precedent over 30-40 dollars a month more for a car payment. (a carpayment, that mind you, gets you into a nicer car.)
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if i could travel through time sometime....
pep pep?
Originally Posted by Btrthnezr3 Say Wha??? You mean, there's another reason to have a suspension?
its not impossible. you can view hondas sales at various websites.
if safety is that important to you, it should take precedent over 30-40 dollars a month more for a car payment. (a carpayment, that mind you, gets you into a nicer car.)
Well it is impossible to know whether or not they lost sales. Their actual sales numbers would obviously not include sales lost. What I mean is, they may sell the same number of cars in 2010 as they did in 2009, that does not however include sales that were not made. In other words, those that decide not to buy the Fit are not accounted for in the sales numbers. On first glance this could be construed to include ALL people who do not buy a Fit, but I am merely speaking about people who were planning to buy a Fit but decided on something else. In this case we are talking about those who were unhappy with the changes for the 2010 model.
Let us say 200 people were considering buying a 2010 Fit. Those people decided not to buy because they were unhappy with the options on the new model. Honda may sell the same number of cars as in 2010 as they did in 2009, but they would have lost 200 additional vehicle sales. I am not looking for differences in sales numbers, but the unaccounted for additional sales.
The real question is does this matter? Maybe and maybe not. I cannot say, but sure it probably doesn't given the numbers I gave. But we can never know exactly how many are actually lost as there is no way to determine this. That is what I was getting at when I said it is impossible to know how many sales have been lost. It could be 1,000 sales or 1 sale. I can only assume Honda does not want to lost 1000 sales, but as they say ignorance is bliss and surely most business would be ignorant to the sales that had potential without a vast amount of research.
I agree with your assessment on price, and my concern is not price (I do have limits of course).
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