Test Drove a Fit today

[gcomstock]

Most of the OC dealers seem to have obtained their first deliveries, so I wandered down to the closest store to have a look. There was a silver sport model with manual and a blue base model with automatic.

Typical Honda store (sorry to say, since the product is so fine) with plenty of sales people standing around anxious to help "get me into a new car today" but less knowledge about the Fit than I already had (or anyone who merely perused the Fit website would gain).

I'm a tad under 6'4", and weigh 235. Was amazed at how roomy the car felt...great headroom, good legroom. Kinda tight sideways (easy to brush your passenger's knee when shifting) and the lack of a true deadpedal was less than ideal. When the cargo area is completely flattened...it is indeed huge, flat and low. Folks should note that the floor surface of said cargo area consists of upholstered seatbacks, and the fiberboard panel over the spare (don't go sticking a washing machine back there...just cuz it fits...without reinforcing the floor).

Anyway, I told the sales guys I wasn't buying today, or even soon, since I still have a few months on my RL3.5 lease (which brought the predictable "hey, if we pay off your lease, can we send you out with a new car?" pitch). They nevertheless twisted my arm and made me take a short drive. Too much crappy traffic at 4:00 in the afternoon to even bother with the freeway, but the car was way peppy, excellent acceleration in the low gears.

Getting back into my Acura to drive home, I really appreciated how buttery and quiet it was. The 3.5 liter (non Vtech) V6 goes 100 mph as easily and quietly as 55. I'm also lucky to get 20 mpg, and tired of $500/month payments. LOL. In a perfect world I'll win the Maserati from Squawk Box. On this planet...I'm thinking the Fit is a great choice.

PS...the seating position feels a good bit more upright and taller than the Civic....like a mini-minivan (similar to the Scion XB). Stereo in the Sport model sounded very good, and the extra body panels (that I really didn't want) actually don't set much lower than the base model. The B-pillar does indeed create an epic blind spot (using the windshield rearview) but the well placed side mirrors completely solve the issue. All in all...nifty!

PPS...now to find a dealership that doesn't run Spanish-language infomericals on Sunday with hot chicks touting used cars, and focus on pounding suckers. They didn't even have time to stick on the "Market Adjustment" stickers, but I'm sure they'll be there after a couple days.

[Paulo107]

thats funny we posted the same thing

[hen88]

Can you please elaborate more on the blind spot that you mentioned. What exactly is a "B-Pillar". Can you see pretty well when you are turned around and driving in reverse?

[gcomstock]

Originally Posted by hen88

Can you please elaborate more on the blind spot that you mentioned. What exactly is a "B-Pillar". Can you see pretty well when you are turned around and driving in reverse?

Maybe I've got the terms wrong (sort of just picked them up reading posts here) but I think the B pillars are the ones that basically frame the rear window, and the A pillars frame the windshield.

Using the rearview mirror, you can see out the back just fine for normal backing purposes, but there is a pretty big blind spot which corresponds to the rear quarter panel, on either side of the rear window. Certainly no worse than many other cars, but noticeable since the visibility in the Fit is otherwise *excellent.*

Changing lanes on the freeway should always require physically turning your head (in addition to checking the rearview mirror). In the Fit I'd make very sure that my side mirrors are set to exactly where I need them. Still, not a big deal imho.

[MtViewGuy188]

From the Car and Driver review the only downsides were 1) no left foot dead pedal and 2) the rear three-quarters vision could be better. But otherwise, it left every other car in that economy car comparison far in the dust.

[BKKJack]

Originally Posted by hen88

Can you please elaborate more on the blind spot that you mentioned. What exactly is a "B-Pillar". Can you see pretty well when you are turned around and driving in reverse?

Starting at the windshield is the a-pillar. The next time glass is framed by metal is the b-pillar and so on. A four door sedan would have, from front to rear, an a, b, and c pillar.