Since I bought my Taffeta White Fit Sport AT in 2009, it has been an incredibly great car. The engineering on the car is typical for a Honda in a lot of areas. The doors shut with the touch of a finger, the engine runs like a champ, and the fit and finish is great. It needed its first oil change at 12075 miles, and another at 17050, which is absolutely incredible! As of this posting, it has 22,000 miles on it.

It is really sub par and cheap in others areas. My car has all the typical problems (crappy A/C at idle, rip in pocket of passenger back seat, "thinning" carpet, inaccurate MPG display, and it will clunk when put in drive with the brakes not applied.) The clunking in drive is easily solved by following the rules of ALL cars with an auto transmission......APPLY BRAKE BEFORE SHIFTING, then when the transmission engages, release brake and drive. You must follow this procedure especially when backing up and then putting it in drive. This method eliminates the clunking sound. The seats are the most uncomfortable seats I have ever been in. Kind of like sitting in an "old school" theater seat. It is horrendous to drive in the snow, and it definitely isn't winning any drag races. The paint on the radio buttons are wearing through (especially on the 1 and 6).

Overall the car is fun to drive, and gets excellent gas mileage. Some of the stuff listed above is FINALLY available to fix at the dealership, and I will have to take it in soon. I posted all my problems with the vehicle because I think these are the things people want to know about a car before they purchase one. I consider all these issues to be minor, as I have definitely seen worse wear and tear at the same or lower mileage in other cars.

For those of you who live in areas with 4 seasons, be aware of how low your front bumper is when entering and exiting gas stations and driveways of businesses....These places generally have steep angles for snow/rain drainage mating to streets that are designed for the same. This results in steep entry and exit angles, and your Fit will "feel" them out if you are not careful. I still rub my bumper even though I always enter these areas at an angle.

As far as highway/interstate travel, this car maintains speed fine. I lived in Albuquerque and now Utah, and it does really well maintaining speed even at these altitudes. It will hold 75-80 MPH on steep hills above 5000-8000 ft. This is with myself (200 pounds) and about 300 pounds of stuff in the car.

As far as in town driving, the Auto Transmission is slow. It takes forever to downshift and spends a lot of time struggling to find the right gear every now and then. It definitely hates going up a slight hill when merging on an interstate or something similar. It absolutely will not downshift till you press the peddle to the floor in this scenario. The shifter paddles are "silly", but really cool to play around with. I'm not sure who I would race with the Fit because 1. Who would be looking to race a white 4 door mini car and 2, who would I beat with it anyway....maybe a 4 cylinder Jeep Wrangler or a Suzuki Swift (although that would be a close one).

 

 

Damn it, I'm not and ese, I'm a term paper......

 

I'm confused. You went 12,000 miles before the first oil change and only 5,000 until the next??? What gives?

Dan

 

I put a butt load of interstate miles on it in the first 8 months (bought in December 08). Then after the initial oil change, I did "normal" city driving. Trust me, I was shocked to, but I'm still not complaining!

 

Best car I've ever had for snow :/

 

That's cool. Maybe it's because of all the hills and such here in the Rockies. My Dodge Neon did better, but it was a little heavier, in the Fits defense. On flat ground it does fine. Of course, my AWD suburban does better than both of them.....

 

haha, I suppose it's all relative. We don't have hills out here and all previous cars were rwd.

 

Besides the AC, which I still argue is a clutch cycle timer programming issue, my only significant complaint is that Honda uses the softest windshield glass of any marque I've ever owned. I had a Del Sol VTEC before this, too, and both seem to pick up an inordinate amount of minor pitting. At roughly 1.5 years, my Fit has a significantly more-occluded windshield than my 12.5 year-old pickup. I realize that the pickup has a higher windshield, but it's also driven in considerably harsher environments. My old 82 Rx7, which was probably lower than the Fit windshield, didn't look this bad after ten years.

My Fit is a 2009 Taffeta White Sport MT, so is comparable to the OP's car. I went in intending to get the AT, but like the OP, didn't like the way or when that it shifted, so I went for the MT instead. I've been happy with that choice except for the occassional stop-and-go traffic jams where you end up rowing on the shifter.

 

I am not sure that the windshield is softer. I to had to have mine replaced, due to the way they gravel the roads here in the winter. I believe it has more to due with the surface area the windshield covers....THE DAMN THING IS HUGE!

 

That's still not normal. You either changed the oil earlier than the MM was reading, or something isn't right. I do 95% stop and go suburbs and I'm in the midst of driving after my first change. I'll be going no less than 7,500 on this oil- perhaps more. If your MM is ticking you down that fast, you're either beating the crap out of your fit of something isn't right. If you CHOSE to do a change at only 5K, that's a different story.

Dan

 

Nope, I believe it was because of letting it warm up for 5 minutes every day in the winter.......Didn't do anything different, except for really short distance driving and not much interstate travel, which is the complete opposite of the first 12000 miles i put on it...........This oil change is lasting much longer, as I have put approximately 5000 on it, and the meter is at %50.

 

Well that's better! Winter is tough, no doubt.

Dan

 

That's not my experience. If my 09 Sport SEES an incline it will downshift. As far as the paddle shifters go, I love them. Use them pretty much daily.

 

Could also just be tougher with AT. It's also relatively flat around here in phillyland and I have MT but I thought it did just fine in the snow.

 

I luv the fit on a recent 4700 mile road trip past Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Reno, Sacramento, LA, Las Vegas. Had no problems.
the paddle shifters were awesome in the mountains.
A lot of people were surprised to see a little honda fit sport passing them up the sierra nevada's
the 1.5 L has a lot of power, its not the quickest off the line, but had no problems passing V8 Suvs up the hills. really enjoy the car, its fun to drive, great on gas and super reliable