I currently have a 2007 Civic si sedan and a 2010 Fit auto, but I have been thinking to purchase an Insight to replace my Si because of the high gas price($4.79 in CA). The only reason I am still frustrating with the buying decision is that I might regret for getting rid of my Si for the manual transmission and performance aspect. Since the Fit is an auto already, I might get bored for getting another auto. (Reason I bought the Fit with auto was for my wife! But turns out she is not driving much anyways.) At first, I choose the Fit instead of the Insight is because I like the car is more unique and sitting on the Fit can look better. Overall, i am a little sad that the Fit doesn't get good gas mileage in city driving. It would be nice to own an Insight for able to get 40+ city driving. Now, I am hoping someone can share some similar experience. What would you pick if you are in my situation?

 

Eh? Is it really worth the trade?

How much would you save on gas? How long would it take to pay off the new car?

While its true the Fit probably can't match the Insight in fuel economy... you can get some pretty good mileage out of it. Enough that it would take a long time to pay off the difference... and by then, who knows, you might want another car.

Try this... you drive the Fit (I assume you drive more often than your wife) and if possible, carpool with your wife. If she objects to that, compromise, drive the Fit when she doesn't.

Leave the Si for weekend trips and whatever.

 

Is your wife open to learning to drive manual? I think its best that she drives the SI and you drive the Insight since she doesn't drive too much.

If you get rid of the SI you wouldn't have a fun car to drive.

 

Thanks guys... all your comments are really reasonable. At this point, my wife mostly stay home and I am the only primary driver.

I totally agree that purchasing another new car like the Insight would probably end up paying a few thousand dollars up front and won't save me much money by buying the Insight for achieving higher MPG than the Fit. Yeah, sorry guys for this topic. Someone might find boring but I really appreciate all your comments.

Maybe I will just wait to see what will be the 2012 Insight will look like and any improvements. I also like the 2012 civic hybrid but the price is much more than the Insight. Let see....

 

Keep the Fit and get the wife new shoes

 

Trade si in on crz. Still 40+mpg and way sexier than the insight. Also crz can come manuel with three settings...eco, normal, and sport. That way you can eco drive or kick it up to spirted drive. Wife will still have auto fit.

 

Hang on to both for another year. the FIT EV should be arriving on North American shores in the near future.

How many miles do you put on the Si a year? If you practically never drive it, then it may be time to get rid of it but realistically, the insight would replace the FIT in most cases.

If you don't need the cargo room or the extra doors, trading the fit for the CR-Z would also be another option.

What's your economy on the FIT & SI. if they aren't much different, upgrade the FIT as you don't really have an economy car. In the current market, you could probably get a decent rate selling the fit 3rd party and put that towards an insight, CR-Z or Civic Hybrid.

Just some thoughts...

~SB

 

If you like your Si and its stick shift I would just keep it unless you REALLY want an Insight, which it doesn't sound like you do. The Si isn't that bad on gas unless you're caning it all the time and the gas savings would be more than offset by the cost of the new car. If you're not going to be thrilled with the new car then it really doesn't seem to be a good choice on merit.

Trading the Fit makes less sense to me since it's already pretty good on gas so there would be even less cost benefit.

Since I love cars so much if it were me I would wait until I found a car I REALLY wanted to have and liked as much or more than the one I'm replacing.

I know the feeling of liking a good stick-shift and if you're like me you'll start missing the Si if you get rid of it. I bought my 5MT Fit because I missed a manual even though I had a sports car already with a dual-clutch gearbox that I love to bits. I love a good flappy-paddle gearbox but it's nice to also have a stick-shift every now and then

 

Call your insurance company. I would be willing to bet you have more potential savings than you realize, just by getting rid of the SI. Make your fit less boring also, and you will like it more.

 

I like this idea, but my 2 years old son will sit in the trunk in the CRZ

 

+1 Agree!!!

 

If he's in his SI and it's not a stick shift... well... he's the only one

Re-thinking this, there would be some cost savings to getting rid of the Si (insurance, not paying for premium gas, better economy on a CR-Z or insight) but much of that he's already getting in the FIT. Trade the FIT for the insight if you want to up the fuel economy and keep the Si for a weekend vehicle since the wife isn't driving much.

My wife uses the Ridgeline as her primary vehicle because she'll do maybe 70 miles/week and I'm doing 300+. The ridge is our heavy snow/utility vehicle and the fit is obviously the economy car getting over 2x the ridge's economy.

I'd say keep the Si and teach your wife to drive a manual transmission if you think she can learn. My wife doesn't drive the fit much (5MT) but when she does, she loves it. It reminds her of her Civic (also 5MT) and both she and I feel more in control of the car.

~SB

 

Sorry but was there anything in my post that implied there was such a thing as an auto Civic Si?

I've driven Civic Si's before and almost bought one but the Fit won out on utility and gas mileage so I do know they only come as a stick.

 

The Si is my daily driver whereas the Fit is used only in the weekend with family. Why? I am too lazy to remove the baby car seat and the Fit has more rooms to store stuffs. And finally I will wait until a much better Insight in the future, so the Si and Fit will get to stay with the family for now.
Comments are welcome!

 

Keep both, turbo the Si, when EV come out, trade in the Fit.

 

Sigh... that's the garage I want. Colors too. We'll I'm half way there. Love the Si in White.

oh gsx... as for the Si/auto thing... I added an apostrophe when reading where it shouldn't have been. its vs it's. ~sigh~

~SB

 

EH, Gas isn't THAT expensive. With the turbo at 10psi and boosting like there is no tomorrow I only get 22-24 mpg in the fit (still get 35 if I stay out of boost). Maybe when it's $10 a gallon you worry then?

Anyway, if money is so tight that gas is a big deal, you should sell both your cars and buy a 99 explorer for like $3000. It uses gallons and gallons of gas, but youd still spend way less on car payments because you wouldnt have one. Also you wouldnt have to carry full coverage insurance and overall you'd have alot of extra money compared to now.

Gas prices always peak in early may and slowly decline. They decline half as fast as they increase, its a known market phenomenon. Don't overeact and regret it later.

 

No worries. I try to keep my its and it's straight but it's understandable lol.

Here's an idea for be12nard - sell both cars, get a new Fit 5MT and mod it, drive that as your daily, and then when the wifey has the rare need for a car use Zipcar or some other car sharing service!

Lol, crazy idea...just thought it was worth a laugh

Lyon has a good point though. We haven't reached the point of no return for gas prices (yet) so I think it's still early to make a big decision to change cars. I got my Fit because I hated the idea of wasting gas in my SUV or sports car just driving back and forth to work by myself (although the money saved is not unwelcome )

 

I have to stop reading these kinds of threads.

 

The only time you should be thinking about saving money on gas and buying a new car is if the old car went to heaven. Otherwise, there is no saving money going on at all.