My husband and I have been talking about buying a Fit for several months now. He currently uses a Vespa scooter to commute, but it's time to upgrade to a car for him (I drive a Honda CR-V). The Fit seems like the perfect choice - affordable, great reviews, lots of room if needed. So we're quite excited!

Anyways, we are having a hard time figuring out the differences between the Sport and Base. What are the benefits of getting the Sport? For a mainly commuter car, is the Base the way to go?

Secondly, we're trying to figure out what OTD price we should be aiming for. We're in CA, so sales tax is 7.75%, which adds quite a bit to the price. We've got a quote for 2012 Base automatic for $19108 OTD, and for a 2012 Sport automatic for $21003 OTD. Both of those seem quite high, so I'm hoping we can negotiate down. However, I know the Fit is in high demand, so I'm not sure how much room we have. We don't have a trade-in, and we don't need to finance.

Any advice would be very appreciated - thanks!

 

I'm not a fan of comparing OTD prices. Sales tax as well as registration fees, dealer fees, tire fees, inspection fees, ect differ from state to state so it doesn't make for a good comparison.

You may not have much negotiating room with regards to the sticker price, but watch out for added dealer fees and options that you do not want. Many dealers try to sell the car with an option package such as all-weather mats and wheel locks or something similar. You can order these items yourself for much cheaper from one of the online dealers (college hills, bernardi, hondapartsdeals, etc). The floor model Fit I saw had a similar package, marked up even higher than the Honda MSRP. Before I even took a test drive I firmly told the sales rep that I did not want the car with that package. I'm reasonably sure if I did not do that, they would have tried to tack that onto my car claiming it already comes with it.

The dealer where I bought the car sells every car with a ripoff $239 phantom footprint security coding insurance policy that they would not eliminate, but I got them to take the $239 off the sticker price of the car. I planned on pushing harder to get a better deal, but my bargaining power went out the window when they no longer had the color I wanted and had to try to locate it from another dealer (which took almost 2 weeks). None of the other local dealers had my color, so I essentially paid the sticker price for the car.


Some states have laws about how much a dealer can charge you for processing the registration/plates, and you should know what your registration fee should actually cost. My 2 yr registration in NY was 198, when I went to another dealer for a quote, they told me registration would cost $300 something. NY allows the dealer to charge an "optional" $75 fee for processing. You can bargain hard and get them to waive this if you have some leverage. Unfortunately I didn't.

My OTD for my 2012 sport AT was 20,394 and that is with .08625 (I think) NY tax, so I suspect there are some extras tacked onto your OTD price that you can eliminate or bargain down.

It is my thinking that paying cash is not a bargaining chip when buying a car, because the dealer also makes money with or by obtaining the financing. I think it's best not to let on that you plan to pay cash for the car (or have obtained your own financing) during negotiations.

The sport has some nice extras like cruise control, radio controls on the steering wheel, usb connection, and the 16" alloy rims which look pretty awesome. I believe it also handles better due to an added sway bar. It also looks "sportier". These things may or may not be worth the extra money to you. Check the boards here, many people have struggled with the same decision. Some have regretted not getting the sport, some are happy with the base. It is purely a personal decision based on a combination of preference and finance.

Good luck with whatever you choose, and make sure to let us know how it went.

 

All 2011 and 2012's Fits have cruise control standard. We have a 2011 base model with 5 speed automatic and the cruise is very accurate. We don't regret not getting the sport. We are averaging about 36 mpg since purchased in mid april.

 

In terms of pricing for the 2012 Sport AT, I was able to get $19,617.26 OTD deal for it with a trade-in baggage from a dealer in central OC. So you should try to get or beat this price. Message me for the dealer name. The break down of the charge can be found here https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...ml#post1055713

 

The 2012 base also has the USB connection (in addition to cruise control, as was already noted). The sport model has additional lower panels and a spoiler, but with my neighborhood's high-crowned streets, the front bumper of my base scrapes on driveways pretty often -- can't imagine the damage I'd run into with the lower front lip of the sport. The sport model has attractive alloy wheels, but they seem to attract a bit more theft risk, too, so I was happy to add that to the + column on the base. I'm very happy with my base model; the only things I really wanted from the sport package were fog lights, map lights, and the sway bar, and those can be wrangled far more cheaply than the price differential on the sport, should I decide I can't do without them.

 

I just ordered mine 20k OTD. i'm in seattle with 9.8% sale tax.

 

9.8%? OMFG!!! I shouldn't complain, though, 'cause it won't be long till the day when the price you have to pay the government to buy a car is your first born!

 

For the current model year, the Sport adds these things:

• Rear Stabilizer Bar
• Fog Lights
• Body-Colored Underbody Kit
• Body-Colored Rear Roofline Spoiler
• Chrome Exhaust Finisher
• 16-Inch Alloy Wheels
• 160-Watt AM/FM/CD Audio System with 6 Speakers
• Steering Wheel-Mounted Paddle Shifters on Automatic Transmission-Equipped models
• Illuminated Steering Wheel-Mounted Audio Controls
• Floor mats

Is there anything on that list that you'd consider must haves? For me, the steering wheel mounted audio controls were a must have, for example (and I had to buy the navigation version for that). And remember, you can always add some of those items pretty easily yourself. If you don't want something from that list, then there's no real reason to get a sport.

For negotiating, the basic rule is to remember that you want to compare totals paid to the dealer, including all fees, but not necessarily including taxes when comparing across state lines.

 

I would give poway honda a call! I bought a 2012 white sport in manual transmission for 18,5xx.xx OTD. Three in phantom footprint thing, wheel locks and mats free of charge. Speak to Thomas, great guy easy to deal with painless process. Goodluck!

 

^^i forgot to mention I bought it yesterday 12/09

 

Thanks for all the great info, everyone! It looks like the Base model might be enough for us - DH is a big music fan, but not sure that the audio benefits are worth the extra cost. Does anyone know about arm rests? DH test-drove a 2011 Base model a few months ago, and for some reason thought that the Base didn't come with arm rests, but the Sport did. He's not sure if he misunderstood, or maybe this has changed with the 2012 model?

As for pricing, we had initially tried to go through the Costco Auto program, but I guess the Fit doesn't qualify for Costco pricing (probably too popular/too limited right now). The prices I listed above are from the dealership that Costco connected us with. However, based on the OTD prices discussed in this forum, I'm hoping we can get a bit of a better deal. We actually got an email from the dealership yesterday saying:

"I am striving to become the #1 Volume Dealer in our region. So, I am authorizing our internet sales manager to sell you any new or pre-owned in stock vehicle at special prices! I am motivated to accept offers that under normal circumstances would not be considered. We have some great financing available too! I will do everything in my power to win your business."

So I'm just trying to get an idea of what price we should offer. This dealership is also quite a drive from us, so for us to give them our business instead of a closer dealership, it would have to be a pretty good deal. Seems like $19500 seems reasonable for the Sport automatic, would $17500 be a good offer for the Base automatic?

 

The Sport comes with a driver's seat only armrest. It is not much & I found it got in the way. There is a nice OEM Honda armrest console you can buy and many decent aftermarket ones on ebay that are less expensive. All work better then the one that comes on the Sport.

 

Excellent, thank you for this information! Both the Base and Sport come with a center console, though, is that correct?

 

Yes, there is a console with cupholders, etc. With the Honda armrest, it has a console, with it. The aftermarket ones are an armrest only--do a search on this forum for "armrest" and you will find photos of both types.