Hey guys, I am looking to buy a 09 fit sport/AT but I have some concerns so i wanted to see if you guys can give me a little feedback as Fit owners. I am deciding btw a 09 civic and the fit sport (both around the same price). Here are the pros and cons that I came up with if I buy the Fit:

Pros:
-magic seats (wife owns a corolla, so having a civic will have the same capabilities)
-"drives more like a car" (sharp handling, high rev, etc)
-Better MPG

Cons: (most of these are from information i gathered, so not sure if they are really true since I don't own one yet)
-inadequate acceleration to get on the highway
-I take couple of longer trips (200 miles) monthly, so I am worry about the Fit's highway performance
-Even in a corolla, during heavy wind/rain situations on highway, I can feel the car "moving", since the fit is even smaller, will this effect increase?
-Safety, since it's a much small car (Texas trucks are gigantic!)

As you can see, I am in need of so feedback from actual owners, not reviews that I have read here and there. So any comments/suggestions will be appreciated.

Thank you!

 

I've had my GE8 for almost 11 months and have 18k and i'll chime in;
-acceleration is ok, i personally use the paddle-shifters and drop it to 3rd and acceleration becomes adequate enough for me to reach 60-70mph, which is what i usually travel at.
-highway performance is fine with me.
-this was a major issue for me until i changed to a wider rim and tire setup which significantly improved this "moving" problem u speak of. It helps A LOT to go to 205 tire width, rather than the skinny 185 stock width on the 16" rims.
- As for safety, i feel safe enough in the car. Its got high crash test ratings so thats fine enough with me.

hope this helps, it theres anything else u wanna know or dont understand from what i wrote, let me know and i'll gladly help u out.

 

Can't comment since I have a 09 manual, but with 3 adults, and 2 kids with their car seats, didn't have issues on the highway - but I did have to hold the gear a little longer

airbags galore

the thing is you need to make sure the others know where u r! The little horn in the fit is rather punny

 

your looking at all this the wrong way.. and sadly it looks like your leaning towards the civic reguardless. but.. heres some opinions.. i basicaly bought the honda fit on looks.. because lets be honest.. both cars weigh 2500~ pounds and both don't exactly have 200+ HP.

the honda fit would compare with the accepration of a honda civic thats pre-06. (iam just guessing because they have simular HP)

now for the weight.. ehh its not that far off... if you took the lowest line civic (modern civic). it weighs just as light as a honda fit sport.

and crash test rating? wherse your reference to say the honda fit has bad ratings? if your comparing it to the civic.. then it would be surprising to the see the same compact frame honda mass produces for both cars to have different crash test results. (don't quote on me on this... but i thought starting from the 06+ honda civics they switched frames to share with other cars they mass produce)

and on one of your con's it says "highway performance" what kind of highway performance were you lookign for? because as of comfort and great gas milages.. its high way performance is almost unmatched... but if your talking about acceleration.. then you can almost say.. it would perform close to how any car would performance having 110~ HP weighing around 2500~ pounds. aka... 2002-2006 civics.. ect ect.

Now comparing it to a new honda civic... that 30 extra HP... your not goign to notice any difference with that extra weight the civic has compared to the fit.

i hope this clears some stuff up for you... if you like the civic get the civic, the honda fit is not for everyone.... I personally got it because it looked cool. And its gas saving abilities was just secondary for me, i would have easily just bought the honda civic if only (in my opinion) it looked better.. that few extra MPG isn't worth it if you don't like the car you know?

And this is coming from a person whos doing nothing but highway driving and bought a new car just for highway driving.

 

I'm new to the Fit community, and this is the first car I have ever owned, so what I say probably shouldn't hold much weight, but..

-inadequate acceleration to get on the highway
I have never had a problem getting on the highway. The only case where this would be true would be if it was an on-ramp going uphill. Even then, you would still have no problem, just have to push it harder.

-I take couple of longer trips (200 miles) monthly, so I am worry about the Fit's highway performance
My fist week with the car, I went 500 miles (one way). I have a base model, so that means no cruise control. The car performed well, and that was going on mountainous highways in PA. Truthfully, you can really notice when the car hits a hill or steep incline. It can still take it though, and I was going no slower than the other cars.

-Even in a corolla, during heavy wind/rain situations on highway, I can feel the car "moving", since the fit is even smaller, will this effect increase?
I have a hard time keeping the car straight in these conditions, but I am a very new driver so that could be lack of skill compounded with the inherent tendency of the car to be thrown about in the wind.

-Safety, since it's a much small car (Texas trucks are gigantic!)
I don't think the ratings get that much better than with the fit. I don't worry about this.

 

Thanks for all of your replies so far. As for the "cons" that I mentioned, I don't mean them as "facts", they are just "concerns" I have from reading posts/articles here and there. Like I said, i don't know if the "concerns" are true or not because I don't own the car. The reason for my posting is that I wanted FIT owners to give me feedback.

Thanks for all of your constructive feedback. I appreciate it.

 

since you asked for comments and i own both the 08 and 09 (MT and AT) and have owned corolla's in the past (by mistake...my wife wanted one), and i owned pretty much all generations of the civic since 1990, i can say from actual experience that:

1) the fit is a better car vs corolla.
2) the corolla feels faster off the line due to gearing, but in actual not that fast.
3) the fit can carry HELLS OF A LOT MORE vs your other candidate, the Civic.
4) the fit is fun to drive, where as corolla's are not. civic is quite a bit more fun to drive vs corolla, even the AT ones.

5) i did a near 300mile one way trip earlier this summer and it felt fine. no issues. got like over 42mpg too.

 

Unless you're looking at a Civic Si, the basic question is:
Do you want a hatchback or not?

That's pretty much what it comes down to.

 

Hey man i just bought a 10' sport A/t fit..and i love it..lol..ive never had a better car..yes its not the fastest but thats not why i bought it. I drove on the highway the second i got the car..test out top speeds..hehe..and i loved it..didnt feel like i was moving at all..and it was reall windy that day..

 

as for "inadequate acceleration".... what's inadequate to one person may be quite adequate to another.
i have an AT sport and i find driving on the new jersey turnpike is fine and comfortable, especially once you become accustomed to the car and know exactly what it can and can't do.

windy days do blow the car around a bit.

i'm perfectly happy with the car 13,700 miles later.

 

If you are worried about the car not being stable on wet conditions Get a Fit Sport with Navigation which adds the VSA (Vehicle Stability Assis or Traction Control). The Navi model on the fit is the only one to have this feature, just as the High end Civic model.

It will make the car more stable on the road.

 

I've owned a 1974 Datsun 260Z in the late 70's and this car (mine is an '07 Sport) out handels my Z-car...

Getting blown off the road by trucks is based on your ground clearance and the air that gets under the car...not much gets under there!

Get the Fit!

 

Civic and Fit are really apples and oranges. The Civic is quieter, smoother, and slightly faster. It's more expensive but you might get a better deal on it. It's also a sedan and in many ways just like any other car out there, save for that wacky speedometer. I drove a Mazda Protege for ten years and when I test drove the Civic it just felt like a slightly updated version of the Protege.

The Fit is something else. It's noisier and rougher. It is not as quiet on the highway. It's fast enough, it's comfortable enough, and it's more versatile than the sedan. It's a hoot to drive. It's not for everyone, but it's got a heck of a lot more character than the Civic. The Sport is noisier and rougher than the base, something to keep in mind.

In answer to your questions, yes, it's noisier on the highway. We took the family on a 900 mile round trip over the summer in the Fit and it did fine, you get used to the noise level. It's not a make or break deal unless you really want the quiet. Both cars are going to get demolished against a Suburban, so that's probably a wash.

 

Can you elaborate on why this is? I drove both (I borrowed a friend's base and later bought a sport) and I'd swear that the base had more road noise, but a good two weeks also passed between me driving them (so I'm not disputing your claim, just curious as to the reasons behind it).
__

David

 

Oh, and as for the original comparison: I was also torn between a Civic and a Fit. The price was comparable at teh Sport v. LX level (with the LX being slightly more). Everything said in the driving comparisons I'd agree with--Civic is a better ride and quieter.

I eventually went with the Sport for various reasons, mainly the six speakers (v. four in the LX), the extra cup holders (I do a lot of road-tripping and having a few extra is important), the utility (I went on tour with one of my authors and we had so much room with the seats flat it was ridiculous; we even put one up once when I picked up a third passenger), and...there were more reasons, but I forget them now. But it was mostly stuff that the EX had, too, but the LX didn't, and the EX was out of my price range.

As for highway driving, I regularly average 38/39 mpg on the highway, so it performs a bit better than it's rated for (although I'm sure the Civic does, too). But that tour I talked about was a week after I bought it, and I put about 4,000 miles on the car, averaged 38.9 mpg for the entire trip (this included a fair amount of city driving, as well as sitting in Chicago traffic for hours), and absolutely loved the car.

(For reference, my previous car was an Infiniti G20. Before that I had a Mitsubishi Galant and a Mazda 626. So breaking from the sedan format was a little difficult, but no complaints here.)

Oh, and I absolutely hate the Civic Cyclops cockpit. I'm sure it's something I could get used to if the LX matched up elsewhere, but it didn't.
__

David

 

wider, lower profile tires. I bought the Sport anyway, but it really did seem to ride somewhat rougher than the base. I've seen others comment on the same thing so I don't think I'm (too) crazy...

 

- There are legit times when you're stuck on a short entrance ramp that you have to accelerate from a stop, but almost always, ramps are of sufficient length these days. With that in mind, I suggest most people don't know HOW to enter a highway/freeway properly. You enter at or very near highway speed, and there's usually plenty of ramp to get up to speed without forcing the issue. There should be almost no need for quick acceleration. It should be a painless process, but so many can't do it, as I have witnessed, they rely on a heavy sprint. In any case, the Fit will get you on a highway with no trouble, ime.

- What performance on the highway are you concerned about? It gets superb highway mileage. It maintains speed very well, and it'll keep up, trust me. The only thing I've heard is it can be a pain on hills. I haven't experienced this. I have some decent hills and valleys on the expressway and I'm doing 70 easy when it's flat and I'm doing 70 easy going up. I don't experience a problem in this respect.

- I also haven't noticed problems beyond any typical car when it comes to wind pushing me around. I've gotten pushed a bit by some strong 30-40 mph wind gusts just last week. But I thought the Fit handled it well. I've had it worse in much larger cars. I wouldn't say the Fit is any more prone to being pushed than what you'd normally expect in any car on a very gusty day. Winds- no problem. I've driven on windy days and do not get pushed at all.

- Big trucks sharing the road? Do the horn mod on your Fit, should you get one! At least they'll know you're there. But again, there are things you can do as a good defensive driver to avoid problems, even surrounded by the big boys. Will they win in an accident? Sure, but they'll wipe out most any car, not just the Fit. Drive smart. Remain in THEIR sight at all times when approaching or passing. Generally stay clear of them, and don't tail gate them.

I have an A-T Sport and I just could not be happier with it. It's the one piece of gear in my life I can depend on now. Before the Fit, it was quite the opposite.

Good luck.

Dan

 

Thank you so much guys, from your feedback, I am much more secure in getting a FIT.

It's nice to know that the FIT will be adequate in getting on the highway (like the civic or corolla)...and I agree with the previous poster, i build up plenty of speed before entering the highway

It's also nice to know that the FIT handles highway well. Whether in wind or rain. I think I can push through some highway noise.

If i do get the fit, I will look into changing the horn.

Now off to go convince my wife.

keep the feedback coming if anyone else has any.

Thanks! This is a great community!

 

Well duh (at me), that makes sense. But from driving both, I swear the difference is negligible, at least it was in my experience. I think my Fit is actually comparable in noise to my G20 (my old car), although that could have as much to do with that car being a 1995, ha. Anyway, thanks for the reply.

 

the only time I notice road noise is when I'm driving with the seats folded down. Actually, I rather enjoy the Fit's somewhat "sporty" exhaust note (but then, my other car is a Harley-Davidson).