Hello. It seems I'm blessed with a pretty good situation. I've found two used silver Fits that I'm considering. One Sport that I think I can bargain down to about 9250 and one LX for 8000. They both have 70k km (45k miles) but the sport is fully loaded with two sets of tires and rims, remote start, hood deflector, etc etc. The sport is for sale by a private seller but the LX is a dealer car and comes with 6months warranty.

Obviously, I really want the sport but I can fall back on the LX for 1k less (but no stock aluminum rims, no spoiler, fog lights). What should I be looking out for when I test drive the Fit Sport? I will check the dipstick to see if the oil is dirty/showing signs of engine wear and try to determine the state of the dampeners since changing them is expensive.

I am looking for advice as to potential mechanical problems I should look out for. Thanks in advance for your help! I'm so excited on owning my first Honda next week!

 

It's best if you can secure a complete service history for the cars.

You'll want to check out the paint; the GDs have notoriously thin clearcoat. Tiny spots of rust or otherwise corroded metal can develop in the door sills. You'll also want to look into the fitness of the door seals, especially at the rear. If you have the time to spare you can check the rubber strips running down the length of the roof as well. Mine are loose at the back, near the hatch hinge area.

You didn't mention what transmission the two had. If the cars have manual gearboxes, check the bite point of the clutch. Fit shifters tend to balk sometimes going into reverse and sometimes just go in halfway; this looks like a normal occurrence and can be remedied by repeating the shift.

GDs have a small battery - I think the same size is used in North America for some motorcycles. From my experience in tropical climate (28-35 deg C), those tend to last two or three years before one of the cells begins to malfunction.

Finally, check if the seats and driving position fit your physique. I'm 5'8"/185 lb, slightly long of leg, and I resorted to swapping out the stock seats because the seat squab is just too short for my thighs and knees on longer drives.

Otherwise you should be golden. Good luck with the purchase

 

By the way since you mentioned the dampers - if the car has been driven over a lot of road acne or rutted streets, you'll want to look at the suspension top mounts. These are basically a shaped donut of rubber. They're the meat in the sandwich between the front shock towers and the dampers themselves.

The easiest way of determining their condition is by seeing if the tops of the front dampers are no longer flush with the shock towers. When this happens the rubber top mounts basically aren't flat any more and have gone more conical instead, hence the added "poking" of the tops of the struts into the engine bay.

 

Dampers are actually incredibly easy to replace on this car. You can get a set of OE KYB replacements for less than $300. A local performance shop quoted me $100 to put them in. I did my own, so don't let a worn suspension dissuade you.

The sport also has all extra aero kit pieces, which honestly, are a pain in the butt to add after the fact.

 

The drive belt/serpentine belt is easy enough to replace, too. I hear they're rated for 100,000 mi on US Fits but inspect them for cracking or fraying. It's a tight fit for larger hands/arms but it's an easy DIY job and all you need are a 10mm and 12mm socket.

 

Wow! Thank you so much for your advice! Both gearboxes are manual and the Fit sport comes with Eibach lowering springs which I'm not interested in because I want better clearance for winter and in the spring/summer/fall, Montreal is a riddled mess of potholes (you'd think it was Afghanistan). The seller is including the original springs in the sale but because of the Eibachs I was worried about premature damper wear.

I'll take care to look for rust. I saw a fit sport with 44K kilometers (27k miles) for sale and it had a considerable amount of rust so that worried me a little. I'm going to get the carproof (canadian carfax) for the car and I'm gonna get the car inspected by CAA (canadian AAA). Both these will cost me 200$ but I think it's worth it to know the car hasn't been in a major accident and to get a mechanic to check the state of things.

If I get the sport (probably will) I plan on getting König rims. I read somewhere on fitfreak that the sport aluminum rims are 15" but I thought the were 16" rims. Can someone confirm the size of the stock aluminum rims on the GD? Also, how much does it cost to change the clutch on a Fit if I have to?

 

I daily drive the car, and attend quite a few trackdays. Mine gave out at ~70,000 km (~45,000 mi) after five years, with a bit of friction material left on the face.

The cost of labor is much cheaper where I live compared to Canada so I can't quote an exact amount for a clutch swap. I don't remember how much exactly I spent on an entire clutch assembly (pressure plate + clutch disk + release bearing) but you can bet it'll cost you about $150 in parts. Expect to take up half a day for the job. As is normal with FWD cars you have to chuck a lot of stuff out of the engine bay before you get to the transmission.

Stock Fit Sport wheels are 15x6 I believe, with some really high offset typical of Honda's rolling stock. We didn't get the exact same wheels, but I got a set of OEM six-spokers that were stock on the Japanese GD3 Fit/Philippine GD8 City and they were 15x6 +53 offset.




If you're planning to swap wheels, anything +45mm offset and beyond should fit with no rubbing at the back.

 

Thanks for the help! So even if I need to change the clutch, it'll probably be a sub 500$ repair. The bassist in my band drives an Acura and he told me it cost him over 1k to change his clutch.

Your wheels look nice! Sorry for being a total n00b but I don't understand what offset is. The reason I ask about the rims is because a user on this forum was selling nice könig 16" wheels; I would have bought them and kept the stock sport rims in storage so they look brand new on the car in the event I decide to sell it a few years down the road. However, if the current stock 07 sport rims are 15" then if I got the 16" königs, I suspect I'd have to shop for new tires as I expect they wouldn't be compatible with such a size rim.

 

Thanks for the invaluable advice. The seller is calling me back on my offer later today (because he's selling his g/f's car). He's accepted to give me the VIN so I can get the carproof for the car. He's assured me the car has not been in an accident but I'll check just to be sure. After test driving the car I'll have a 200 point inspection done at a CAA approved garage. I worry about corruption here in quebec so I will divulge the garage only the day of the inspection.

I hear ya for the battery. I wonder how it will perform in the cold winters of quebec. The Honda fit is extremely popular in Montreal and in Quebec so I imagine people get by. A dying battery is not going to detract me from buying the car since it it such a small repair.

As for the stature, I,m 5'8 like you but I guess I have shorter legs because I preferred the lower seating of the GD to the higher seating of the GE. Perhaps if I'd have experimented with reclining the seat of the GE and using the telescoping steering wheel I might have found a more comfy driving position. I still find that the shift knob is placed too far back for me and which I could extend my right arm slightly farther to reach for it but I guess I'll get used to it!

 

When you test drive either car do some quick turns to see if there is a damper problem. Its not likely you'll find unstable turning on dampers at 70km. But if you do you'll want to have the alignment checked but not realigned, (haven't bought it yet) and check the shocks motion. Again you';rte not likely to fingd squirrelly body movements on shocks at 70km but even if you do replacement is easy and the cost anywhere from $60 to 150 depending on your taste per shock. And you want the car to pass 'hands-off'tracking, too.
After the test drive in which you check cruise, turn signals, shifting both paddles and auto if equipped,brakes, lights, and watch for a dash warning light, you'll want to check for damages to the Fit and for modifications to the engine or suspension. heck tire wear patterns for possible misalignment. Don't do a burnout but do use the clutch if equipped enough to get slippage, do make a few high rpm runs ion lower gears, even all thed wasy to redline.
One real caution here: its not unheard of for sellers to reset the OBD II monitor knowing it won't come back on for at least 25 miles and even 100 +; if you can either take your own OBDII checker/scanner or go to an aftermarket store that offers free OBDF II checks to ensure that there are no hidden 'defects'. In many plac es before you register the car in your nasme an inspection is required and if the OBD II check shows a fault you will have to repair at your possiblt expensive cost. Dealedrs as well as private sellers will do such stuff.
make sure all the exterior lights work properly and check for interior abuse like stains, tears, or misalignment.
finally take a good look at the oil. Run your finger around the inside of the oil fill opening. and check for sludge. If the oil is dark and murky looking on the dipstick or on a white background quiz the seller about his maintenance efforts.
Thats the best advice I can give from a dealer tradein respective. Remember youre a buyer looking for a good and fair buy.
And consult autotrader, NADA, Kelly, and CarFax for the fair price and vehicle history. Carfax is not infallible but if you find something it will be written in stone.
good luck. BTW, the applies to either car, dealedr or private seller though hopefully a dealer warranty is valuable, but not always. They can wiggle out in many ways./

 

Hello. Thanks a bunch for your advice. I am only interested in manual tranny so paddle shifters will not apply in my case. I'll still try and see if I can test the cruise but I have to be going over 25 mph for it to work I believe. I plan on buying an ultragauge but do not have OBDII scanner right now. However, since I'm taking the car in for a 200 point inspection, the most obvious thing will be to check for error codes at the garage.

I will check the dipstick for sludge first thing but seeing as this person has put eibach springs, JDM badges, HFP muffler, door visors and installed a center console, I suspect he knows about honda and has cared well for the vehicle. First thing when I sit in the car I will check all auto windows and A/C to make sure that's in working order. I think I'll get a good feel for the clutch just with simple driving in the first three gears. I will try and rev 2nd gear past 4000 but I don't want to scare the buyer still and make it seem like I'm gonna drive his car like a psycho and not buy it.

He lives outside of the city and says his g/f wants an SUV which is the reason of the sale. He seems pretty trustworthy so if the carproof and the inspection checks out, I'll buy it. If I end up having to change the breaks or dampeners, Ill try and negotiate that with the seller but it'S not something worthy of knocking off 1000$ to the sale price IMO.

Fingers crossed I'll have it tuesday and I'll post pics. First up on my shopping list: zeta dead pedal (if there isn't already one), zeta rear bumper appliqué, custom clazzio seats, all weather mats and progress sway bar.

 

Thanks for the compliment; I keep those wheels as spares these days though.

Offset is an essential, critical specification on a wheel. Imagine a line running through the center of the wheel barrel, if you viewed it from the side. A zero-offset wheel will have the wheel face running right through this line. High-offset wheels will have their faces closer to the fender side of the car; low-offset wheels will have their faces closer to the suspension side (usually characterized by a lot of lip and a 'wide-roller' look).

High-offset wheels are ideal for FWD cars like the GD and most other Hondas. Low-offset wheels are usually the domain of RWD cars. People say you can run as low as +38mm offset on a GD without having to roll the fenders, but over here we get tire rubbing on the rear fenders with anything below +42mm.

And yes, if you decide to buy the 16" Konigs you'll have to get new tires. I ran 16s for two years and I shod them with 205/45 R16 rubbers.

Hope this helps!

 

Thanks! The good news is the seller has accepted my offer. The bad news is he's asking 200$ more for 14" Acura 5 spoke rims. I find he's asking too much for the Acura rims but then again, I don't know what they go for. I guess if I don't buy the Acura rims I will have to find 14' winter rims to fit with the included winter tires (that are currently on the Acura rims). Do I have to worry about offset with the winter rims I chose to acquire? I'll try and do some research to find out what the offset is on Acura rims (I think they are from about 2002-2006). Does the offset have a high incidence on traction for winter driving? What about 14" rims as opposed to 15"? Is the smaller wheel better for winter driving?

 

If the WRC is any indication, narrower tires seem better for the snow than wider ones are (their ice tires are as narrow as motorcycle rubbers). Then again, take that with a grain of salt as I've never seen snow for myself

I reckon any wheel with +45mm offset or above should work fine, even in winter. I'd be more worried about the tires than the wheels in the powdery stuff, personally.

 

Narrower tires of proper supporting capacity plow easier through snow and increases the contact pressure to 'dig' into thed snow. The larger the diameter of the tire increases traction as it is easier to roll up the incline of the snow in front of the moving tire.

As for which tire, check the November issue of Consumer Reports (pg 58) for a really excellent testing of most of the winter tires sold in the US. Generally, Michelin, Continental, and Pirelli lead the pack on proper attributes for good tires, including tire wear ! Choose your tire in your budget.