2009 Honda Fit Sport: A Wok in the Park (ing Lot)






Yesterday was our first 100-degree day of the year, and the 2009 Honda Fit Sport revealed a weakness.


(1) Tons of glass = a lot of heat inside. They don't call it "greenhouse" for nothing. The worst part is the windshield: this heavily-sloped baby extends so far back that it readily exposes the steering wheel and most of the seats to direct sunlight. The wheel in particular stays hot to the touch for quite awhile. Visibility is indeed a two-edged sword.


Such a thing as "solar control glass" exists, but it costs money and is therefore left out of low-priced cars such as this.


(2) Honda air conditioning = still weak in this case. My old 1986 Acura Integra had weak-sauce A/C, and the Fit isn't much different. The air coming out of the vents isn't cold enough, so cabin cool-down drags on forever in the face of all of that sun-load. Perhaps this is because the Fit isn't an Ohio-developed Honda. How hot does it ever get in Japan, anyway?


(3) No rear A/C vents. OK, this condition is par for the economy-car course, but others get away with it if they don't have condition (1) or (2). As it stands, the Fit's front center vents aren't able to push much cool air between the front seats to the rear. My daughter complained bitterly about being too hot back there, even when it was just 80 outside.


Bottom line: Buy and use a sunshade or park an extra 100 yards away if it means you get to park in shade.


And don't look for the 2009 Honda Fit to be named "The Official Car of Phoenix, Arizona" anytime soon.


Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing @ 5,451 miles

• Posted by: Dan Edmunds April 21, 2009, 8:09 AM

 

that dude is weak...

he could have just rolled down the windows for a second.

what the hell is he expecting... rear vents??? come on..

 

I agree with Dan Edmund's. The AC is on the weak side, which I immediately noticed last August when I took delivery of my car. That was essentially fixed once I applied 35% tint all around except for the windshield. And I always have a sun shade for that. Plus my car is black. Yet with yesterday's 100º temps, my cabin was cool.

 

yeah i'm gonna get me a sun shade cause my car gets parked out in the sun while i'm at work.

 

as if cars with smaller windshields dont get hot... lol

my mr2 had a smaller windshield and was WAY hotter after i left it under the sun for awhile... could have also been been because it had black leather seats and a dark interior

and i try to park in the shade no matter what car im driving

 

he's testing cars and have never been to Japan? LOL

you will know what HOT AND HUMID is like if you go to Japan
in August.

get a sunshade. tint the windows. get some mugen visors
and keep the window cracked open. stop being a wimp.
just some recommendations.

 

I'm in AZ. No problems with heat yet. All of my windows are tinted to the darkest legally allowed and my Fit's white. I actually think that the 09's A/C is much stronger than my old 07 (which was black, BTW).

The place I got my tint done also offers a special non-tinted coating for the windshield that block a lot of heat. It's $100, plus they throw in a tinted strip at the top of the windshield if you want it. I already have a few chips, so I may just invest in a good fitting sunshade.

 

I get 40*F air out of my Fit's air conditioner. This is about the coldest you can get from a car air conditioner. Any colder and the evaporator would ice over blocking any air flow and cooling would cease. If you are not getting 40-45*F air from you vents you may have a problem. I live in Tennessee, although it's not the Sonoran dessert, it can get prett hot (and humid) here too. My Fit's A/C performs as well as other cars.

 

The sheer amount of glass on this car does create a heatsink; but high quality tint like Formula One Pinnacle and a shot of "Ice 32" has done wonders compared to when I first bought the car.

I have a temp gauge coming out of my vent, and I too am getting down to 38-40 degrees F on a hot day. At this point, I have no complaints at all with my A/C.

 

Window Visors allow the windows to be cracked to circulate air and deter theft at the same time!

SUCCESS!

 

Has anyone tinted their front windshield???

 

with a light light light tint?! hahaha

 

get your windows tinted and sunshade.. problem solved.

 

this guy i work with tinted his front windshield. dark too. i don't know how he gets away with it. he did it probably because he has like $10,000 work of stereo equipment in there. he's got monitors too. he doesn't drive a fit but its cool as hell. he takes it to car shows.

 

FWIW, I started another thread where I've been measuring vent temperatures - I live in Phoenix. I was out of town the past several days, but will be taking more readings in the next few days. I've seen vent temps (when it's cool outside) as low as 35 deg. F, and tonight, after I got back on the plane and drove home, I was seeing 40 deg. vent temps with outside temps still over 90 - but after sundown.

BTW, I use a big reflectorized window shade in the front, and have max legal tint on all windows. I also have a way of datalogging temps every second that I'm going to try. My car's problem isn't vent temp - it's that the compressor cycles on/off/on in the hottest weather, giving you these hot bursts of air. No idea of if this is normal or a problem. I'm going to get the data and take it to the dealer.

 

that's disgusting.

 

It's dry heat.

 

There really is a difference! I absolutely prefer the 112F it can get here over the 95F with high humidity in IL (where I grew up). In the desert you just kinda bake, but humidity makes things like a sauna.

 

I agree, here in Tennessee we have very high humidity. I was in Las Vegas a few years ago and the humidity got up to 40% (low for TN). Temps were in the 80s. Those people were dying, I had to laugh at them.

 

That's what I was saying. Believe me, I know what hot and humid is. I grew up in it in New York, but I've also been around the world in places that make Texas (or NY) look mild by comparison.

Don't judge someone by the residence under their name. That's only their current residence.