Hi folks! Just bought a 2007 FIT Sport (automatic, silver) as first car for my 16 year old daughter in Tampa. I live a couple states away so have made several trips down there looking for a good car for her and are really pleased with what we found.

I've used a similar forum (Maxima.org) to keep my cars on the road (presently have 2000 Max with 367,000 miles and a 2002 with 157,000) and was glad to find fitfreak as it has already been helpful.

A little background on our search, daughter really needed a car as she goes to a magnet school about 15 miles from home and is involved in so many activities. We needed a new FL tag so we were looking at having to add about $1000 to any purchase price. We really wanted to stay around $6-7000. By far and away the best cars we drove in that range were Accord sedans typically late 90's - early 2000's. Perfectly fine cars but she had driven a 2004 Mazda3 hatchback that looked and ran great until we put in on the rack and saw the results of at least 6 Ohio winters. Anyway, we wound up deciding to spend a day looking at other Mazda3 in Orlando and came across this FIT at the Hyundai dealer.
Car is 2007, 142,000 miles totally clean, new tires filters etc. Third owner, the first put on about 68,000 miles, the second put the remaining 74,000 in 16 months. Clean carfax, not much info. Paid $7500.00

In keeping with my "all used cars will still need $500 spent on them right away" theory I immediately did the following:
Had locksmith come out and make dupe key as we only got one: $100.00
Had transmission fluid changed (used Honda ATF) replaced serp: $106.00
Bought set of factory all weather floor mats and
replacement inside drivers side door weather seal: : $137.00
Coolant, belt, wax, cleaners etc : $100.00

Issues fitfreak has already help me on: Coolant res was empty, coolant looked new, heater gurgled, topped off a couple of times while running with cap off, seems to work fine, no leaks or apparent head gasket issue.

Intermittant immobilizer issue. Sometimes will turn key, starter will spin, but engine doesn't fire. Followed owners manual instructions about partial throttle and try again and it always fires. Seems to be more of an issue after a short, cold run (move around the driveway etc). How serious is this? Could this just suddenly totally go out leaving one stranded?

Also need to keep an eye on the mpg, first half tank around town was 23 mpg, hoping for a little better

Love the versatility, interior room, safety features. Hoping we can keep it for a long time.

 

Welcome to FF.

 

Welcome to the freakworld. A GREAT first car for your daughter. You'll find some interesting threads on high mileage Fits here. Coil packs are something to keep an eye on. Is the starter spinning the engine or simply spinning? Could be a starter issue.

 

Congrats on your purchase. I recently bough my '08 Fit Sport A/T, after six months of ownership my only complaint is my MPG. I'm getting 27-30 around town and only 33mpg on the highway. Other than that it is a great car! Welcome to Fit Freak!

 

"Is the starter spinning the engine or simply spinning?"

The starter just sounds like it's spinning, not engaged. We've got a good mechanic in town who did the transmission fluid and serp belt change. His first comment about this was "sounds like fuel pump" which my understanding is what the immobilizer does when it doesn't recognize the key. He also checked and no codes. It always fires right up the next time you turn the key. I thought the comments about clearing "flooding" etc by giving it partial and if that didn't do it, full gas pedal in the owners manual were kind of odd. Sort of like old carb days, not the don't touch that pedal I've been used to for the last decade or so. If gas mileage doesn't improve I'll do plugs and valve clearance check next. Won't a coil pack cause rough running and and SES light?

Wish this thing had a temp gauge (and an armrest). Otherwise seems like really a nice little car.

 

Welcome to fitfreak! A good friend has a 1997 Max with a ton of miles also. They are great cars. We don't have high miles on our Fit yet, but so far no troubles at all. Hope it serves your daughter well.

I'm in agreement with your mechanic. The starting problem sounds to me like the fuel pump isn't pressurizing the system well enough during the first key cycle. Try turning the key to on for a second, back to off, and then starting the car. If that works every time, then the pump is weak or the in tank filter is blocked. Either way, you want to replace the pump and filter while you are in the tank.

 

Thanks, My first max was a 97 drove it to 278,000 before trading for the 2000. The 2002 with the 3.5 is ok for an oilsucking pig, but the 3.0 drivetrain is bulletproof. I think any car well engineered/wellbuilt/properly maintained car should last 200,000 miles. Toyota/Nissan/Honda are first on the list for me. I drove a couple of Cressidas and had a nice basic truck before switching to Nissans. Also had 83 RX7. This is first Honda.

I saw a previous thread about this starter issue, I think I'll go find it.

 

"Either way, you want to replace the pump and filter while you are in the tank."

also thanks, I am go ahead and get an OEM fuel pump/filter on hand anyway.

North Ga's nice, Athens is cool.

 

Yeah, we really like it here.

Just in case you didn't know, the fuel filter is just a sock that attaches to the bottom of the pump. Sometimes the new pump comes with a new sock and sometimes not. They can also be cleaned if you prefer. I like to just replace them when installing a new pump.