Bingo, right there sums up one of the reasons I bought a Fit. Currently in America the Fit is the only car with ties to Honda's past, where they made incredibly reliable, fuel efficient, light-weight, super fun to drive cars. And they were very simple and easy to work on, even if the engineering was superb. I love the fact the Fit is so basic, and that it has a slider control for inside/outside airflow, that it has basic knobs to control the radio and climate systems, the more basic the better.

I got the model with the navigation system and I think it's incredibly well equipped, especially compared to Honda's of the 80's and 90's. ABS with EBD, traction/stability control, front/side/curtain airbags, active front headrests, automatic tensioning seatbelts, and a body shell created from CAD engineering. The only way to get that amount of safety equipment in the 90's was to buy an expensive German car, and now we have it on the little Fit. Amazing.

The Fit is the only car I have ever driven that makes me feel so alive and connected to the road. Every day is an adventure. Almost a year later and I still love driving the car around everywhere. People who don't own a Fit will never understand the joy it brings us owners. It very well could be the last Honda I purchase, as they seem to be moving in the direction of bigger, heavier, more complicated, and more expensive (that new hatchback Accord is like $35K ).

 

I get compliments all the time in my TW GE8, not hate. for instance:

-im walking to my car from starbucks and an old caucasian man is staring and doing a walkaround on my fit. asks me, i bet you get great mileage? i say yeah im doing pretty good with mpg. he admires the car some more and tells me hes been to europe several times and loves the small hatchbacks and wants one!

-i stop by 7/11 and right when i open my door a man waiting in his car yells out "hey cool car" i say thanks and he asks me about price and how cool it looks. i explain to him it is a handler and not so much a goer. he gets way excited and tells me hes in the market for a civic or a corolla but, he might just go and check out the fit.

at this same time (still at 7/11) a vietnamese gentleman in his 40's ogles the hell out of my car while im inside shopping. i come out to get in my car and he tells me wants one. i just LOL'd

i have several more encouters i can write about and never ever had anyone give me crap about my car. ive only had compliments and praises.

my wife always wants to switch cars with me (her DD is a 08' G37S coupe). i tell her NO!!!! dam G gets 340mi per tank and each fillup is like $50+. also, im more prone to be bad in her car than in the fit.

 

Yes, yes and YES! This is precisely the mindset I have about cars in general and the Fit in particular. I would take it a step further and get rid of power windows and door locks as well. The first new car I ever bought was an '84 CRX 1.5. Here I go dating myself. Anyway, unless my memory is failing me, the car had a curb weight of around 1800 pounds and the little 1.5 put out a massive 75 HP. The car mags of the day loved it, but gave it a hard time because it took nearly 10 seconds to reach 60. But I worshipped that car and regret selling it to this day. It was so light a responsive that it always left a huge grin on my face. If Honda reintroduced a carbon copy of that car today, right down to the manual window cranks, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Anyone have a time machine I could borrow?

 

My first Honda was a 1970 N600, and it possessed all these attributes. I once replaced a clutch by the side of the road. Our last Honda was a 1982 Accord, which wasn't as reliable as I would have liked (burned out ignition switch stranded us in the middle of a blizzard, bad starter motor, ate clutches), and when we went looking for a replacement in 1990, the Hondas of that era didn't impress me -- the low end models felt very cheap.

The Fit driving experience is the closest I have had to that of the N600, even though it is much bigger, and has power steering. With a 78.6" wheelbase (20 inches shorter than the Fit!), unassisted rack and pinion steering, and 10" wheels, the N600 really had go kart handling -- a BMW Mini is a luxo barge in comparison. On the street, it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than it is to drive a fast car slow.

 

Just spent a week in the Netherlands for business and was impressed to see that several European cars have similar body profiles as the Fit.

 

The only car I've owned that I hated to drive was an 82 Honda Accord with automatic transmission.... It was also about the most dependable vehicle I've owned and very close to that of BMW motorcycles in dependability.... The Fit takes me back in time to small FWD hatch back vehicles like the Austin American my sister owned in the early 70s and VW Rabbits I owned in the 80s and early 90s..... The older cars had much less power but were much lighter and every bit as much fun to drive, but lacked the reliability of Honda products.....It is hard for me to understand why today's vehicles have to weigh so much more than what older cars did considering the strength to weight ratios of modern steel and aluminum alloys..... The most obvious reason I see is to protect the manufacturers from liability lawsuits whenever someone is killed or injured in an accident involving a much larger and heavier vehicle that is limited in stopping power and maneuverability of lighter cars..... The only people that I have met that hate cars like the Fit are the ones that drive large vehicles and consider people that own small cars as being irresponsible fools that deserve to die.

 

First post guys.

Just got a new 2010 fit sport a/t, and went to the liquor store with my fiancé and I parked right in front of the entrance/exit. She stayed in the car, but when I got back she asked if I saw some gangster dudes inside the store. I did hear them, but I didn't want to look because they sounded like the would try and fight anyone that looked at them funny. Anyways, she said when they walked out, they stared down my car and were saying that that new Honda looks tight. She thought that was cool until one of the three tried to correct the othertwo and said that it was a Yaris. Haha! Anyways, yeah if public opinion was so great then we wouldn't have famous people like Paris Hilton, Kim kardashian, or even Sara palin.

If your gonna trust any kind of public opinion it should be experienced reviewers, and they all love the fit. Your own personal opinion should not be influenced by others. Reviewers are their to give their opinions based on their comparisons of many other cars in a specific class. From their reviews, you yourself are suppose to make your own opinion of the car you feel will suit your needs. Not your uncle or neighbors. Maybe you did make a bad decision if you have a family of 6 and you bought a fit. Other then that your have bought one of the best cars in it's class. If the car fits you and you feel too, then that's all that matters. Forget the rest of the ignorrant people in the world.

 

Welcome to FitFreak

And for the ignorant people who hate on our cars...well...they have to give it a chance and see if it's the right fit for them. It's called a test drive

If they still dislike it, fine, it doesn't meet their standards or requirements. It's the people who've never even set foot in the car and judge it as badly as they can that are really rather stupid

Hope you enjoy your stay and your GE8 Fit!

 

Living in GM country I get a lot of "buy American". This car is way better than any GM product in the same class!

 

For all the references to Europe, a recent trip to Italy involving 7 days of driving leads me to believe the Fit would be a large car over there. Of course, I was driving a diesel Volvo XC70, which dwarfed nearly everything.

I think a lot of the maligning may simply be due to misunderstanding. People who had heard about the Fit were quite excited when I told them I was looking for one, while people who had no clue what the car was would suggest other (horrid) options, offering tips that indicated complete ignorance on the topic... e.g. suggesting that cars with very little headroom might be better for a taller person like me.

As for the odd to insane comments on other forums...
1.) review statistics on the general population's view of evolution
2.) understand that this is the Internet
One of the many implications: ignorance is combined with (a feeling of) anonymity leading to asshattery aplenty.

 

the fit looks like a confident midget from space, and we all know people love to laugh at midgets

let the haters hate all they want

 

Last week I did some tailgating with my girlfriend before a Bears game in the parking lot at Soldier Field. I could tell, as I pulled in my parking spot, that people were definitely looking and talking about my car as I cruised through the line. Low and behold, I get to park between a massive Expedition and a Yukon Denali. I popped the hatch and began unloading all my supplies and the background laughter went slowly away as I pulled out 2 tables, a decent sized grill with propane tank, 3 coolers full of beverages and food, and finally a set of fold-up chairs.

The rear space is so unbelievable when the back seats are down. I also liked the fact I had probably the smallest car in the entire parking lot :-)

 

You wrecked those guys' day. They bought all that heavy iron just so they'd look good tailgating.

Cheers

 

were they really laughing at your car? i've never really felt intimidated while driving my Fit's... not sure, i use to own a MINI and i didnt feel intimidated either.

i do drive pretty quick though, so that might be why?

 

Our 09 Fit LX manual 5speed (living in Canada) is my 3rd honda.

My fav is/was a 93 civici si hatchback. 1.6L 125hp 5speed engine. It was low, lite, and fast with a wonderful shifter and sunroof.

I had many complements as here in Canada this only sold here for 2 years.
Sold it 10 years later with 235000kms - and it kept its value. With kids arriving at home if it had 4 doors I would still be driving it.

The fit is as close to it as I could find, with 4 doors.

Better on gas and almost as fun to drive - but no sunroof.

Here in Canada, smaller cars overtake SUVs, and since day one, people just ask what is it, what makes it tick etc etc....The 'fun' factor is there, just like the civic, just no as fast. A few mods and it will be in the same class. Unless there is a winter storm out there, this is our family car (with 2 kids in their carseats), and our nissan xtrail relaxes in the garage.

For me, I look at it this way, not many people know about it and its potential, and its always great surprising them with its capabilities or while zooming by on the highways.