given the fit is my first hatchback car, i have a question and hopefully some of you can give suggestions.

i know the fit has a small footprint and it's easy to parallel park. but i always get nervous when backing up because I am still not too sure on how far to go back on?

someone mentioned on another thread that the back window is basically in line with the bumper..i dont think so right?

any tips on how far to back into the car behind you without tapping the car? thanks

 

There's not much past the rear window (basically, the thickness of the hatch and the few inches of bumper). You'll get a feel for it with time.

In spaces that have hashmarks on the street side of the space, marking the corners, I watch my rear tire in the mirror. The most important component of the parallel parking skill though, is pulling past the space, cutting the wheel sharply to the right while backig, and once the rear is within the space, cutting sharply to the left to guide the front in. Generally speaking, getting the nose in without clipping the car ahead is the main concern, but the short "snout" on the fit makes this easy as well!

 

The GEs are easier to parallel-park than the GDs because there really isn't much of a rear bumper to watch out for. From the rear window there's barely 3 inches to the bumper I think.

Couple that with the short snout and you have a very easy parallel park with very little danger of hitting anything.

On my GD, I like to use the rear wiper and its motor mound as my "target" for judging rear distances - although I do have to look out the window or the doorsill to check if my bumper will hit anything.

 

I had a good part time job for several years driving and delivering motor homes all over the country. Some were as large as 45'. One thing I learned when it came to driving these vehicles was there's nothing wrong with stopping, getting out and looking at the distances to be more certain of not damaging anything. The more often you do that the more comfortable you will be in your judgement of distances from the drivers seat.

 

haha, I can picture you doing that with a 45' tow... but if I ever see someone with a Fit getting out of the car to check distance I will start laughing uncontrollably.

 

Maybe you shouldn't....if people didn't feel self-conscious about getting out to look, maybe they'd be more likely to do so instead of just feeling their way and leaving a big scrape on your bumper!

 

Very true!

 

you can practice using 2 large plastic trash cans.

typically when parallel parking in front of a store, you can use the store glass reflection as your aid for distance to the car behind you. that's wat i usually do when i need to parallel park. im from racoonville burbs so 99.9999% of the time i dont need to parallel park.