I got my '08 Sport in May '09 with about 10K on the clock. It had the rear seats up when I bought it. Seats went down and I put a piece of 3x5' carpet rubber side up across the load floor.

That was five years and 100K ago...haven't had the rear seats up since. Sound familiar?

 

Can't say I've gone that long as I do fit the family in the car on occasion. I put my seats down when I'm going solo though, I like the open feel of the cabin.

 

I really only have my seats down when I've got lots of cargo to load in, then after I usually put them back up.

The Fit is already front heavy, so I like having the extra weight of the seats upright and further back.

 

I use the car with the seats both up and down somewhat regularly.

As of right now, the seats have been down for about an hour, give or take.

 

ok I am guilty of maximizing transportation space (to the point that I cutout the metal rear seat supports on my fun car many years ago). For my fit, I have to park it in too many questionable urban areas where its kinda a big deal that if someone walks by my car that they can't see things like jumper cables and monetize what the worth of copper is in those cables vs breaking my window. So I would have flat out removed the seat backs if it wasn't for security and visibility.

 

As a general rule I keep my seats down and covered with my Elemmat. Generally my rear passengers include guitars, congas, drums, amps, etc etc.

Every now and then I put my seats up. Went to Quebec City with 3 passengers, 2 different types of djembes, 2 guitars, a bass and effects unit in my trunk. Man I'm glad I have a manual transmission, my poor ole GD really struggles to get up to highway speed!

 

My rear seats are almost always up. That way seems easier to carry a bag of groceries or other stuff without it flying all over the place when I drive.

Note: This seats are heavy. I have often wondered how the car would handle with them removed.

 

i keep mine down all the time. lower center of gravity. lol

 

@ zhao: Yeah, I was thinking about that, too.

 

Same. I can't remember the last time I had them up so that must mean they've been down for years.

 

Mine are constantly up and down between kids and hauling my bikes. The headrests have stayed off, though, as I hate taking them on and off (GD). Kids are still in car seats so doesn't matter.

But each time I do change the seat configuration, I am still amazed at the utility of the magic seats. Many people have commented on how much stuff I can fit in this thing, and even odd shaped things (again, magic seats are awesome).

 

I like keeping the headrests too as its very easy to see out of the hatch that way.