Hello Fit freaks!

First post, but been a frequent lurker here.

Here's my story, worth a nice read

So I originally had a 2006 Scion xB (1st gen box), but I kept getting into an accident (not my fault, just dumb luck). So i got was looking at the FIT and a CIVIC last year (2007), but couldn't find a decent FIT for my budget, so I ended up with a CIVIC HX 2000 with bout 83k miles.

Fast forward a year and 3 months and I still have my civic, with about 103k miles on it. No problems whatsoever other than the regular schedule maint (timing belt, water pump, oil and air filter, and tires) but now it's come to the point where I want my wife to drive the car as well if she doesn't want to drive her Matrix. Yet she's really doesn't want to learn to drive a manual, so i'm kinda stuck ..

As luck would have it, I was browsing around Craigslist and found a 2007 Honda Fit Sport in TW with 79k miles for a bit under 11k being sold at a dealer. I'm sure I can work them to drop the price down a bit more..

I've owned a Honda for pretty much all my life (first honda was a 89 prelude, then a 2000 accord, then *ahem* scion xb *ahem* then back to the civic.

But my questions for you guys is...
1) How reliable is the Fit past 79K? I'm looking at the forums for any kind of answer. Common problems, things that need to be taken care of .. I know it's a Honda, but still

2) Gas milage. On my HX, i'm getting about 36mpg if I drive aggressive, and 40mpg, but will I get something similiar with the Fit?

3) What other cars should I be looking at?

Thanks everyone and look forward to your response,
Will



Some things to consider..
* According to KBB, i'll get about $5k for the civic as is, so i'll have to make up the difference.

* On my civic, I have about 1k worth of parts on it that i'l probably have to part out before selling the car stock.

 

Well the USDM fits have only been around for a few years, but based on models from other countries, and the fact it's a honda...I would imagine that the reliability is good.
79k is a lot for an 07 though.

Gas mileage: I get around 30mpg around town if I don't try to save fuel.
About 37mpg on hwy around 70mph
And about 39-40 mpg going around 60 mph.

 

The Fit reliability past 79k is likely to depend on who had it more than the car (which has a good reputation for reliability as does the HX); no car survives poor maintenance or goofy mods.
We have both a 2004 HX with 110,000 miles and zero repairs. It uses Mobil 1 and is maintained strictly so it gets 40 to 45 mpg verified by mileage reports used to get mileage payments.
Our 08 Fit sport auto gets 30 to 35 mpg in real world driving, hills, traffic, highway and downtown routes. So far the Fit needs no repairs either.